Have you ever owned a Ford Pinto?

[Taverner]

I did - it was a deathmobile.

In addition to it being a Pinto (they explode, for those not in the know) it also had bad brakes that only worked when you pumped them. And I think it was missing 3rd.

Oh, and it also had some issue where it would just die all of a sudden.

Like when I was on the 280/101 overpass in San Jose. I was going over the cloverleaf, and suddenly, it died. Gravity was able to get me to a gas station, where it never started again.

Oh did I mention it also had no seatbelts?

[Sequoia]

1. I had a green one.

Could of sworn I had seatbelts. Boy, I sure took care of that little car, waxing, vaccum, the works. Then I traded it in for a little pick up which got stolen when I moved to Los Angeles.

[Taverner]

2. Yours probably did

Mine had them - they just were destroyed.

[VOX]

3. No, but my wife did. On the Pinto's final day, it got her home, then caught fire in the driveway...

As it burned, its horn started beeping out a sort of vehicular death-rattle. Her dad put out the fire, but that was it for the Pinto.

This was before I met her -- had I known her at the time, I wouldn't have let her drive the damned thing.

Oh, and her car before the Pinto was a Corvair! :scared:

[Taverner]

6. Ooooh Corvair

Although the Pinto was a far more dangerous car...

[itsmesgd]

4. my dad owned three

two of them caught on fire

[Courtesy Flush]

13. Damn. Slow learner. n/t

[uppityperson]

14. ewwwww, I thought only Tempos burnt up. Poor guy.

[uppityperson]

5. better a pinto that exploded than a tempo that just kept trying to burn up.

[Courtesy Flush]

7. Nope, but I owned a Maverick on 1977

Okay, you're young! How the hell did you find a Pinto that was running? I thought they had all died out thirty years ago!

[Taverner]

8. This was 89 (around the time my sig pic was taken)

[Courtesy Flush]

11. Ah. I thought that was a current pic

My Maverick was four years old when I bought it. The brakes were shot and the body was rusted out.

Nowadays a four-year-old vehicle is considered new. I'm currently driving a 13-year-old Toyota. It's in great shape and runs fine. Might last me another ten years.

But back then, nothing was made to last.

[LeftyMom]

9. If it was a wagon, I think my folks bought it from you.

Their other car was an AMC Javelin that would stall at random moments for no discernable reason and fail to start for somewhere between five minutes and two hours, depending on how hot it was and how much of a hurry you were in.

[Taverner]

10. Not a wagon...

Thankfully...every time I hear Pinto Station Wagon I think of the Blues Brothers and the Illinois Nazis....

[LeftyMom]

15. I always think "How the fuck did I survive my childhood?"

Some time after that, my Dad had a Ford Grenada. If had every feature you could want, except for heat, air, a non-8 track stereo, or reverse gear.

As could be expected for a car named after a war, one day it spontaneously combusted while my Dad was at Carl's Jr.

Dad shrugged his shoulders and walked home.

[Taverner]

21. How did I survive it?

I look back and think "Wow, could have gotten the Darwin award that time"

Car surfing on I-5....gets me dizzy just thinking about it...

[graywarrior]

12. Yep.

I spent more time pushing it through an intersection. Piece of crap.

[seemunkee]

16. My wife had one when we got married

As bad as that car was it handled really well in the snow.

[SeattleGirl]

17. I did, back in the late 70's. Never had a problem with it, but I got

rid of it after my mom returned from a trip, and begged me to sell it. She had passed by a Pinto that had exploded, killing three teenaged girls. Scared the crap out of her, so I sold it.

[sarge43]

18. Yes. That POS scared the stuff out of me. n/t

[NewWaveChick1981]

19. No, but a good friend of mine in high school did.

She hated the damn thing. It was a 1974 Pinto Wagon. She had it until 1979, when it finally bit the dust.

[Bjornsdotter]

20. My friend did

...we went everywhere in that thing. Surprised we survived.

Cheers

[xmas74]

22. I tan/rust colored Pinto

w/ a sunroof. It also had a sunfloor on the passenger side-the floor had started to fall away and, toward the end, you could see bits of the road.

It was a deathmobile but I loved it.

[The Traveler]

23. I never did, but my best buddy in high school did.

It burned quietly in his driveway while he napped after school one day. It was the racket of the approaching fire engines that roused him from his slumber ...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

24. No, but

my first boyfriend in 1972 had a bright red one. He said it was probably the second one that came off the line in Windsor, Ontario, right across from Detroit.

Among lawyers, Pintos are referred to as "Molotovs" due to their habit of igniting. Chevy had cars with bad gas tanks in the 1960s, that ruptured when rear-ended. Did you hear about those? No.

You heard about Pintos because Ford's lawyers REFUSED to settle any of their lawsuits, resulting in tons of bad publicity for Pintos and Found On the Road Dead generally.

[BarenakedLady]

25. My Dad did

It was white. I think it was a company car.

[Hangingon]

26. We had a Pinto and a Tempo

Boring cars but both ran as well as I would have expected an American designed and made car to run. The Cortina was a lot better car and more fun. Of the three, I wish I still had the Cortina.

[smtpgirl]

27. Yep my Otnip 1971

baby blue and a piece of crap

[Union Label]

28. I had two

And no they don't explode on impact, they were some of the best cars I ever owned the damn things went forever.

[Twillig]

29. I had a Mustang II---Same POS basically

and that damn thing died 100 yards from my apartment. Glad it made it that far as I had come 75
miles before that.

It was split-pea soup green.

I think the timing belt kicked. The junk yard guy didn't charge to haul it
away as garbage.

W00T

[Arazi]

30. Worse. I owned a Pacer. A blue woody Pacer.

Just kill me now.

[sweetheart]

31. 2 of them

A yellow 72 pinto station wagon and a blue 76 coup... crap, i've not purchased a ford since.

[ironflange]

32. Mrs. Ironflange had one

We had it for the first few years of our marriage. It was a '76, light blue, and contrary to most opinions here, we loved it. We had no problems with it, rode and handled nicely, and it had the V6 in it so it was seriously overpowered. Fast and nimble. I guess you all had Friday cars.

[Richard Steele]

33. Yup-a 1979. I loved that rattling little POS!

It had comfy bucket seats from some Mustang,
and an engine my dad had rebuilt with a 3/4
race cam...just enought extra horsepower to
go up hills without slowing traffic.

[DainBramaged]

34. Mine was a shit-load of fun, all modified and stuff 4 speed

Header and "turbo" muffler, 2 bbl. carb off a Capri with adapter, shocks, wide little 60 series 14" tires on some mag wheels that fit. That puke brown color. Went like stink and got 25 mpg in 74-75. I think I sold it for 300 bucks and bought a truck.