I enjoyed this video so much. When I was 6 years old, my mom and dad (he passed when I was 10) had a Ford Pinto, it was a medium green metallic, I think the interior was either brown or possibly tan, i cant remember. It was our very 1st family car back in 19 71. I always think of my father when this style of Mustang comes up. Enjoyed the video. I miss my dad. 😊👍
That is the best Pinto I have ever seen. I remember them when they came out and my brother got a Bobcat (mercury version of the Pinto). That 73 though looked the best, love what he did to the car.
They race the 2300 pinto engines in pro 4 modifieds at some circle tracks. And they scream going around the track. Now they are also using the Zetec ford engines.
Awesome car! I love the whole setup on this one. I used to drag race Pintos when I was young back in Puerto Rico and brings me back many memories of how much fun I had beating a lot of other cars with the same 4 cyl 2.0 engine 👍👍👍🚙
I had a 72 pinto with a 351 Cleveland. It had a Ford 9” rear with a Detroit Locker and 4.56 gears. It was posted in Dec of 1989 Car Craft magazine in the “readers rides”. It makes my day seeing my car in a magazine!
It looks a lot like my last autocross Pinto. Although stuck with natural aspiration, ported the head, ran dual Weber DCOE 40’s, header, 10:1 compression and balanced rotating components. The full roll age, radically altered suspension geometry made it a lot of fun on the street.
Few people know that Pinto/Bobcat wagons had a V6 engine option. I had one and turned it into a Pinto Ranchero with a 351 HO (5.8) engine with a B&M blower/supercharger., The car was featured in a Car Kraft magazine article. I later sold the car because rear traction was a big problem.
I had a 74 back in the 80s. It started out green with a vinyl top. That was removed, the trim and badging was deleted, window trim was powder coated black, an electric antenna was added to the back and the original hole closed. Door handles removed and the doors popped open with a key cylinder. Everything was painted white, euro style, windows tinted dark, and it had 16s on it which were big then. I had an axle out of a Mustang II in the back (bigger, but with 4 lugs), custom leafs, and big sway bars from a So Cal manufacturer who specialized in Pinto/Capri stuff. I put a draw-through, carbureted, no intercooler turbo system from a Capri in it and if felt pretty fast. Later, I got an entire drivetrain from a Mustang SVO (2.3 turbocharged, intercooled, fuel injected, about 200ish hp IIRC) from a crashed SVO. I though that car was it, and it was pretty fast for that time. I wish I still had that car. People often asked me what it was. I've often though about building a modern version. I like the Pinto platform in that it will accommodate big tires, has a wide stance, and shares some components with the Mustang II. The engine bay is big enough for a small block V8, it has A arm suspension, and it generally has good lines. I would love to build a new version powered by an Ecoboost 4 or 6, manual, a much more refined suspension, and some body mods to clean it up and simplify its look. I think it would be a low cost, high output car that could be a lot of fun. Maybe I'll do it...
How sweet to see a Pinto getting some love from Dennis! I remember cruising the streets of Bay City TX in a Pinto Stallion wagon with my best friend. In the days of malaise cars, it was about as cool as it got on a budget, and it would be so much fun to give that lil' wagon this treatment.
Pinto Pangra was available in 1973 or 1974 thru one of the local Ford dealers in northern NY. They actually had 2 on the lot. They were very quick and the fully dressed one was pricey.
Pintos are underrated. Of course they need upgrading like this one, but really, they’re even great looking, to me. Second on this list is the Maverick.
Dennis Gage is a National Treasure. I loved watching My Classic Car back in the day after High School and love seeing these pop up on my RU-vid subscriptions. Keep up the great work and explain someday how you stay the same age regardless of how many years pass.
Thanks for the kind words! We just began production for the 28th season of the show, and it’s weird, but I still do look pretty much the same. I figure one of these days I’m just going to age 50 years all at once. 😬
@MyClassicCarTV well I always used watch the show and always looked forward to watch the show, then became too busy working all the time, but now I'm back and watching as much as I can and hopefully next time you come back to panama city or a car show in the area I hope to meet you there.
Great car. Having lived in Britain all of my life, and being a massive ford lover that whole time, I just want to say what a huge impact the pinto made over here for anything ford. We never got the actual pinto car over here, just the engine. The pinto was the go to engine for the middle size ford car range in the seventies, eighties and beyond. Escort, cortina, capri, sierra (way better than the mercur xr4ti) lower spec granada's (the European version) and even the transit van. They all got a pinto in either 1.6 or 2.0. Then the ultimate evolution of the pinto, the all conquering cosworth development. With a 16 valve head plus turbo the sierra cosworth was so fast in british touring car racing and winning constantly that the governing body changed the rules just so they could ban it due to the complaints from rival manufacturers. Also there's a race engine performance company here in the the UK that squeeze 2.5 and even 2.8 litres out of them but they are race/rally only use. Lastly its a pity that the owner of the pinto car didn't put a cosworth head on his car as well as the turbo, that would be even more special, even so an outstanding result.
Very cool!! I was expecting the 2.3 turbo from a fox platform Thunderbird or Mustang SVO but its cool to see the 2.0 boosted with a blow through carb! Bet you get some chilly boost temps with the intercooler and the carb.
This is a really nice one...my older sisters first car was a Pinto with the automatic and my Mother had the standard shift in hers..they had both at the same time..I used to sneak my Mothers out all the time..fun cars.
Love it, my dad and I rebuilt my granddad's 74 station wagon for me to use for college in '84. Got inspired one day to find a positive displacement blower at a flea market, took out the air pump, shimmed the f out of it to make it fit. No where as detailed as this guys, but it could kinda run.
My first car was a 77 pinto had a bumper sticker that said "don't laugh it's paid for" 😂 it was a hatchback, one fine day I was cruising, going down a long but not so steep road, when I felt a little rush of air go through the car. Wondered for only a moment about what caused it, had windows down just a little so thought maybe a light gust of wind. Well got home about 20 miles from where it happened. Got out went to walk around back of my car to notice the hatch window was missing 😕. Didn't know what to think right then. Brainstormed some and my dad suggested I go back to the place I felt the blast of air and sure enough there it sat on the side of the road and still in one piece. The seal was even still intact. I had to go up about 5 miles before I could turn around to get on the right side. I might not believe this had it not happened to me and I saw with my own eyes, but I promise this is true, after I got on the right side of road and had my glass in my sight, a big truck about three vehicles up from me, ran it over and it actually stuck, kinda molded to the big wheel for a minute then fell off and I as well as the cars in front of me ran it over too. I was shocked, went from happy to wtf in literally a cpl seconds. I did not want to go back home empty handed and tell my dad the truth bc that was such a bullshit thing to go down and sounded like bullshit to even me😂😂😂. But he did believe me, and wasn't upset with me either. This is what I will always remember about my pinto if I forget everything else.
We lived in the UK in the early 80's and had two 73 Pintos. One was white with blue stripes in the Starsky and Hutch style. It had the motor from a Mustang II and the rear end was jacked up with wide tires. British people loved it. We took it to Santa Pod Raceway where we watched a female racer in a Pinto tear up the quarter mile. It was that day we saw the legendary "Vanishing Point" jet powered car. Good times.
My wife’s very first car was a brand new ‘71 Pinto…. Grabber Blue…2,000 CC Auto….. bought it for 2,548.00. We owned it twelve years…put 112,000 on it….. looked brand new when we sold it for 1,200 bucks! People talk bad about Pintos, but I tell them how great ours was…. wish I still had it. Ran great… drove great… what a delight it was.
I built one to race in IMSA's Executive Motorhome Challenge, 73-75, First it had the 2.0 then built a 2.3 liter. I raced at Sebring & Daytona; Best finish was 9th at Sebring one of these years. I also ran SCCA club races in B sedan, won a National at Gainsville. I sold the car to a guy in San Antoino TX, who had been racing a Merc. Capri, and they ran club races several years.
I had a Sand rail with the 2000 pinto engine with a turbo set up from a 2.3 Turbo coupe Thunderbird. The guy that built it knew what he was doing. The thing was crazy fast but difficult to drive because the front wheels were off the ground as soon as you got in it a bit. I weighted the front down as much as I could without ruining the suspension travel but it wasn't enough so it wasn't really any good. Once in 3rd gear it would be more manageable but it was still no good down low. Going straight it was awesome. But only if you had nothing on either side of you or in front of you. Because the front wouldn't sit down untill the middle of 3rd gear if you were in it
Back in the early 70's there was a Ford dealership off of Huntington Dr in Arcadia, CA that did a conversion of Pintos that they called the Pangra. It had a front end like a Plymouth Superbird with crank up headlights. It was also turbocharged.
My uncle had a Pinto in the 70's with the first turbo i ever saw. I was pretty young and only remember the woosh sound and it backfired smoked and shook. I was maybe 9. I do assume it was workable and fast. And probably a bucking hand grenade.
My Dad has a similar Turbo set up on his Pinto here in SoCal. See you at the All Ford show this Sunday in Irwindale, CA. I can't wait to build my 71' half hatch :)
@MyClassicCarTv its nice to see someone elseout there still ride's a "LittlePony" ! if this happened to have peaked an interest In the old pintos ! i have one that i think you would truly be thrilled to see and have a drive in !
Back in the late 70's early 80's ! Buddy ingersol drag raced a pinto in the nhra? Saw him 3 years in seattle when seattle had the fall nationals! He was running in the low 9's high 8's! He beat a friend of mine who ran a 1969 z-28 camaro. We went over to mr ingersol pits and he showed us everything he had done, talked to us for and others for about and hour? Super nice guy and great inovstor! Later he had a pro stock v 6 buick which beat bob glidden in ihra
Ak Miller made turbo kits sold by Spearco in the day. Huntington Ford, California sold the Pinto Pangra with body work and that same turbo kit. Made good power 175+ but had bad lag and no intercooler. Nice car and nice job.
Back in 1972 my dad had a Pinto runabout that the guys from Car Craft Magazine installed a turbo kit on..it put out about 175 hp and would run the 1/4 mi in 14.0 @ 94 mph...!!!!!!!
Pinto's were underrated! (Like the Corvair.).The Steel Contractor I worked fo had two of them, (1973 & 1974) and I drove them hard, (I was a messenger working my way through college). Not that great to look at but good reliable transporation! My main ride was a 1957 Porsche and my SUV was a 1971 VW Camper). Good times!
When I was young and ( in and just out of high school ) there was a lot of fixed up Pintos/Bobcats in my area. They were cheap and a lot of aftermarket parts for those 2.0s. I seen some that was pretty quick for 4 bangers for that time.
That is my dream Pinto!! Great Job!! My dream Pinto has a Esslinger SVO MOTOR. A ECOBOOST would be my second option. Tough to get the ECOBOOST electronics to meld.
My 1st car was a 74 pinto. 400dollars. Had a small hoodscoop on it. With a chain sterring wheel and a hurst sifter. Manual choke and was a bitch to start in the winter. Lol. This brongs back memories.
I sure miss that company called Pinto Beans They had all the stuff he bought overseas Right here in the states The 2300cc OHC ford was an awesome and cheap way to power a sandrail back in the day
I have 2 pintos one with a 302 the other has a thunderbird turbo coupe drive train which is a 2.3 fuel injection turbo 5 speed by far the quickest cars I have ever owned
