Pintos at Carlisle

Pintos convoy to Carlisle My sister sent me this, knowing my affectioin for the little lump. I still miss mine.

Whoa, those are cute! Always liked the Pinto and the Capri.

Nice!

A bunch of them came through Minneapolis today, I saw it on the news.

I miss mine. Of all the cars I have sold I regret that one the most. Rust free, 2.3L and a 4 speed. Slow, handled like a truck, but it was a really fun car. I sold it for $400. I still check occasionally Craigslist for them, but everyone thinks they're gold around here. That, or the only thing holding the rust together is the paint.

First brand new car I ever drove, Flogged wagon and 2 door to within an inch of my life when I was invincible and they were'nt flammable. " Hey sis, can I borrow the car?"

Ooooooooh... this one is nice:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CLEANEST-PINTO-HAVE-EVER-SEEN-ONLY-44K-NO-RESERVE-/280686831871?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item415a3d28ff

The pre big bumper Pinto's were good handling cars. With a 2.0L & a 4 speed trans they handled as well stock as anything else in their class and you could get a good bit more power from that engine. They barely weighed a ton with out the heavy bumpers..

The 4 speed gearboxes attached to the 2.0L bolts nicely up to a DOHC 2.0L Zetec.

My Dad had a 4-speed wagon back in the day. I drove it once or twice. It drove a whole lot bigger than it looked, and I don't mean that in a good way. Goes to show that people can have an affection (affliction?) for just about anything.

There was a guy at my old office building who had a early Pinto with the Kent engine, all souped up with Weber carbs, a cam and headers. That was a neat little car.

They have their own class at Summit Point GTPinto

I once owned a '76 very similar to the stocker in JoshM's post. I foolishly bought a 2.3 with automatic thinking that I would swap the 4 for a small block Ford and the auto would make that an easier job. Never happened.

Before the Pinto, I owned a '72 Vega and a '74 Audi Fox. The Audi felt like it was made of aluminum, compared to the cast iron that it felt like the Pinto was made of. The Vega fell between these 2 (like it was made of steel?). Of these 3, the Pinto was the best assembled, and the LEAST fun to drive, mostly because of the automatic. It's not a car I would go out of my way to replace, but if a nice one came along, I'd be somewhat tempted...but only if it had a manual transmission.

kpm wrote: They have their own class at Summit Point GTPinto

I seen 'em, they look like fun

I'm watching the local news and they just showed "the Pinto Stampede", i.e. a convoy of Pintos headed from Denver to Carlisle. That blue one that Joey posted was in the que.

I'd love to have a Pinto with a warmed over Ztec in it. Or a Chevette w/a Cosworth Vega.

jimbbski wrote: The pre big bumper Pinto's were good handling cars. With a 2.0L & a 4 speed trans they handled as well stock as anything else in their class and you could get a good bit more power from that engine. They barely weighed a ton with out the heavy bumpers..

I had two 2.0 4 speed cars, a '71 and a '74. I bought them because they were cheap but like you say they were pretty fun to drive, particularly the '71. I put headers, electronic ignition and a Weber DGV on that one and drove the dogsnot out of it.

Just b4 I turned 16 and got my license I saw a Pinto for sale that I wanted. Dad said no. Not sure why he wouldn't want me to have a small call with a V8 stuffed in it and set up for the drag strip.

I've had 2 in the past. A 72 w/1.6 and a 74 w/2.0, both 4-speeds. The 72 was a sedan with the small back window and a trunk deck and the 74 was a hatchback. I thought both cars handled pretty well but didn't have anything to really compare it too other than the 63 Rambler I had before the 72 or a 65 Chevelle w/6-cyl & powerglide. The 74 I bought for $250 and put $250 parts into it and drove it a year and sold it for $800.