I have ridden in a few Pintos starting in the early 1980’s. The first one was my sister’s then boyfriend’s 1972 runabout with a manual transmission. It was a good first car for him. Not long afterward, my dad got the Pinto bug and found a 1974 Pinto Wagon with no engine. The plan was to put a 1962 Ford Galaxy 260 V8 engine into it, but he couldn’t obtain a title. He then found a 1972 Pinto wagon 2.0l automatic with a wrecked front end. The now parts car had everything needed to restore the wreck to family car status. My two older sisters had moved out, so the much larger 1975 Grand Torino wagon was sold off for some extra money and replaced by the fuel sipping Pinto. Mom didn’t really care to drive my youngest sister and I around in a brown and wood panel Pinto wagon with a blue front end, but she did it for well over a year until Dad found his next car, a 1971 Buick boat tail Riviera. Nearly 20 years later in around 2000, Dad got the Pinto bug once again and found a 1978 Pinto wagon, orange with a primer front end. After test driving it, Mom asked “you aren’t going to buy that ugly thing, are you?” $200 later, Dad and I were rolling down the road in the old Pinto. After Dad replaced the timing belt and I installed the new cat converter, it ran even better! Then, about a year later, he found a $500, much better looking 1979 Bobcat. We put new ball joints and suspension bushings on it and bombed it around until the next one popped up, a 1980 Pinto Wagon with 80K original miles! All of these were the later 2.3L engines with manual transmissions. It was the nicest of all of them. My guide dog, Joel didn’t like getting into these old Pintos, and he would slide around in the back no matter what kind of mats we tried. Then, we found a much more suitable vehicle, a 1987 Voyager van. Joel had the back seat all to himself, but he wasn’t truly comfortable until I took the leap and purchased our first Diesel Mercedes, a 1978 300D. He would lie on the back seat with his head facing the passenger rear door, and he would rest his chin on the door armrest and go to sleep with his nose poking forward between the door panel and the grab handle. I wish he would have made his automotive tastes known much sooner!!!
Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 12, 2024, at 10:57 AM, Curt Raymond via Mercedes > <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > A friend of a friend had a Pinto back in the day. The story goes that it was > the most gutless, slowest piece of trash he had ever driven. > > So the day comes to replace it, the dealer won't take the Pinto on trade so > he decides to junk it. On the ride to the junkyard he decides, since its > being junked anyway, to just peg it to redline the whole way. > After a few minutes there is some kind of a poof, bang or maybe explosion, > stories differ but suddenly the car runs waaaaaay better. A few minutes later > a big cloud of black shoots out the exhaust pipe and the car runs even > better, better than it has the whole time the guy has owned it. All the power > a Pinto could possibly have. > > Literally blew the carbon out... > > IIRC instead of junking it he sells it to one of his buddies, I don't > remember exactly. > > -Curt > > > On Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 09:06:19 PM EST, Buggered Benzmail via > Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > > > > Blows out the carbon as my dad used to say > > --FT > Sent from iFōn > >> On Jan 11, 2024, at 5:25 PM, dan penoff.com via Mercedes >> <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: >> >> Not sure I'm keen about it being redlined for an hour, driving to >> Cottonwood. That can’t be good for it. >> >> -D >> >>>> On Jan 11, 2024, at 5:19 PM, Floyd Thursby via Mercedes >>>> <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: >>> $600, throw in a new conductor plate and off you go >>> --FT >>>> On 1/11/24 5:08 PM, dan penoff.com via Mercedes wrote: >>>> Right down the road from the AZ manse! And from the look of the driver’s >>>> seat, I think I know what local Mexican restaurant they frequent, too!! >>>> <https://flagstaff.craigslist.org/cto/d/flagstaff-2002-mercedes-benz-clk430/7706582771.html> >>>> [00P0P_7XrXRsp2m2R_0CI0t2_600x450.jpg] >>>> 2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK430 for sale by owner - Flagstaff, AZ - >>>> craigslist<https://flagstaff.craigslist.org/cto/d/flagstaff-2002-mercedes-benz-clk430/7706582771.html> >>>> flagstaff.craigslist.org<https://flagstaff.craigslist.org/cto/d/flagstaff-2002-mercedes-benz-clk430/7706582771.html> >>>> -D >>>> _______________________________________ >>>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>>> To search list archiveshttp://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >>>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > >>> -- >>> --FT >>> _______________________________________ >>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
