This 1976 Ford Pinto looks a lot like one we featured in 2016, with some key differences that are hard to ignore. This Pinto features a distinctive plaid interior and Cologne V6 with a four-speed, just like the one Barn Finds editor Jamie wrote up a few years ago – you can check that car out here. This example listed here on eBay has the same engine/transmission combination but with green carpeting and an engine block that is a different color entirely. However, so many of the other details line up, even the missing paint on the passenger door – more on that below.
If you check out the older article, you’ll see that car had its passenger-side window smashed out and some plastic sheeting was held on with tape. My guess is the paint lifted right off, especially if the heavy-duty tape was left on for an extended period. As you can see, the Pinto here has the same pea-green door panels and lower dash, along with the plaid upholstery on the seats. The carpet is no longer tan, changed to an unusual shade of green, but the four-speed manual transmission thankfully remains in place.
The Pinto also wears the same mudflaps as the car we profiled previously, along with the park-bench like bumpers front and rear. The seller notes that he’s tackled some maintenance on it, installing new brakes pads, rotors, calipers, shoes, and drums, along with replacing the shocks and mounting four new tires. This seems like exactly the sort of work you’d do if you just wanted to get an older car running and driving around town safely. The seller has also installed straight piped exhausts exiting out of both sides of the car – and with that Cologne under the hood, it probably sounds great.
What’s hilarious about the engine block being a different color is our own Jamie Palmer scoffed at a previous owner choosing to paint the block Chevrolet orange. He even said that it should be changed! Well, that next owner took his advice to heart and also cleaned up the factory air cleaner assembly. Under the hood is looking quite sharp, now, and wears the proper shade of Ford blue paint. This is a neat car that has had some smart improvements made since the last go round, and there’s just one bid to $3,999 with no reserve.
every time I see a runabout pinto I think of the movie Cujo. man that movie freaked me out when I saw it as a kid.
I think of the fuel tank exploding.
I think of the movie Top Secret. That movie still makes me laugh til I cry!
Name a three door / hatchback that has the tank anywhere else
The referenced 2016 article had a comment that mentioned the tendency for the shift lever to spontaneously snap off on these cars. Mine did exactly that one evening many years ago, leaving only about 1/2 inch of shaft left. In those days I always traveled with my toolbox in the back. And once again I was rewarded with the wisdom of vise grips to get me out of a jam.
Mine did the same, luckily I was home, and was able to use a piece of a shower curtain Rod as a makeshift repair….. I drove it like that for longer than I care to admit.
The V6 only had 8 more horsepower and 22 more foot pounds of torque than the 2.3 liter 4 cylinder, so I wouldn’t go in expecting a huge performance difference.
I love the 2.3, great engine. I used to not have a very good opinion about the 2.8 until I 2 Rangers with them in it. I changed my mind and really like them now. They like to rev. That’s where the really come to life. If you check out some of the European racing sites, you’d be amazed at the power they can put out with some simple mods. If you have something with an automatic it really enjoys having 4.10 gears. If it’s a manual you’d still want something with high 3s closer to 4.10
So this is a flip? Why replace the carpet with something akin to AstroTurf? And even a limited paint retouch on that passenger door, blended with some Ajax, would be better than the missing paint now. Doesn’t there need to be something like a boot or mini-console around that shift lever?
I wouldn’t consider it a “flip” after 4 years. I think a flip would have to be bought and then sold within a year to qualify.
I do agree with you that the carpet choice is really a poor one.
The only options these really needed from the factory is a repair manual and hazard cones (and a blanket for cars sold in cold climates)…however most did come with the new left factory with rust option.
Just tap it from behind and you’ve got one speedy roman candle.
I owned a 76 Pinto, though mine had the 4 cylinder engine and automatic transmission, it also didn’t have power steering. (You really need the power steering with the bigger bumpered Pintos.)
The car that preceded the Pinto was an Audi Fox…talk about night and day difference.
This car is a survivor and it’s in decent shape, but it’s not a hugely desirable car…at least in my opinion.
I wonder if that carpet is NOS, but for a different model year. I’ve seen both earlier and later Pintos with darker, deeper green interiors than the creamed pea soup color seen here.
Just don’t get rear ended!
It actually does look like astro turf lmao..poor things begging for a 289 or 302..just look at how sad it is it really needs a v8…and I wouldn’t even paint it
People, for the love of heaven please give those repeated a billion times comments about rear ending Pintos a rest. Everybody over the age of 25 has heard them so damn many times. Same with the stupid nickname Exploder for Explorer. At least make some attempt at being original. It’s like being tied to a chair with your eyelids taped open and being forced to watch a one hour tv show again and again for days on end.
Ordered and bought a brand new one in 1976,2.3 4speed runabout with factory sunroof and stereo,and A/C,it stickered almost 5K, drove it 3 years it was a nice car,didn’t have enough power to get out of its own way and barely broke 20MPG! Traded it for a new 78 Zephyr Z-7 w/5.0,huge improvement for the time but loved the Pinto!
I bought my 71 Pinto Wagon (4-speed) in 76 with 40K on it for 900 dollars to haul band equipment (large bass amp, etc.). Drove it for four years, also doubled as a late night impromptu mobile recreational vehicle and a general use bar car. Other than replacing the shift lever, it never let me down. Best 900 bucks I ever spent.
Sold for $4,149.
Wow. I wish when I sold my 78 Mercury Bobcat rebuilt 2.3l that I would have got that price for it; however, I cleared most of the money back for the rebuild with Ranger head. I found this once about the Mercury Bobcat production #s:
Stats for Bobcat Production:
1975 2 door hatch price: $3189 production#: 20,651 Wagon $3481 13,583
1976 Sedan $3338 28,905 Wagon $3643 18,731
1977 Sedan $3438/3739 18,405 Wagon $3771/4072 13,047
1978 Sedan $3537/3810 23,428 Wagon $3878/4150 8,840
1979 Sedan $3797/4070 35,667 Wagon $4212/4485 9,119
1980 Sedan $4384 28,103 Wagon $4690 5,547
155,159 total Runabouts 68,867 total Station Wagons
Golly, researching Bobcat production numbers and reveling in what they are selling for in 2020. We truly have gone off the rails in regards to vintage collectible automobiles. And I’m a Pinto fan! Nostalgia is a strong drug, the only way to explain how prices are going for Pinto, Bobcat, Vega, Astre and the like. “This is your brain on nostalgia….”
A couple of weeks ago I went over to the next state from me. While I was there, I looked at a 77 Mercury Bobcat Villiger with panel sides. It appeared that panel sides were added over the windows, or did the dealer do this when the vehicle was purchased at the dealership? The panels appeared to be fiberglass or plastic. I would have thought that it would have been metal from the factory? This one was yellow with woodgrain on the sides of the body, a 2.3 liter with automatic trani. The guy and his Father were asking 6k when I was there then they lowered it to 5k and 4.7k after I had left. It’s not on craigs anymore so maybe they sold it. It also had non-functional chrome side mufflers just for show and a Hahuga horn! Not too shabby looking, but too much for it I thought. Rust didn’t appear to be any issues on it.
They never made a Pinto with a V6 stickshift. Auto only. The cool thing about the V6 Pinto is that like the Mustang ll , they had dual exhaust. But the Stang had a single muffler with dual outlets where the Pinto was a single outlet.
That’s cool. I owned a 76 Pinto V6 with this same interior color, steering wheel, and white exterior. I never got to look at the underside good. But it did have two exhaust tips next to each other on the rear passenger side. I had wondered if it were dual exhaust. It also had a nice but quaint throaty rumble to it. To bad it had some issue’s of wanting to die at times. I didn’t want to deal with it so I sold it due to other projects that I had already funded.
The Pinto got a bad rap IMHO. I worked on a few, and they were easy to work on, and not a bad economy car. Certainly better than the Vega. My B-I-L had a wagon with the 4 speed and it was a very reliable family car, and easy to drive.