Where is Ralph Nadar when u need him (of course the young'uns don't know who Ralph Nadar was.

 

Anyone that owned the original gonna have a hard time getting rid of that bad taste in their mouth. As I remember that opened with market buzz to, right up until they started exploding. Very sharp looker, me thinks that they shoulda came up with a new name or resurrected a name of an old performer, hell Zephyr, Fury, even Torino would've been better. Oh well, take one of their worst performers and resurrect it to look better than a GT40, put a Turbo'd 2.0L EcoTech and make it affordable; I'll bite...

 

Ralph 'Nader' ..... now bring me a Corvair.

 

If it gets hit in the rear does it blow up?

 

I owned unsafe at any speed in high school. 1963 Corvair Monza Spyder Convertible. Turbo Charger only added like 10 more HP. Fun little driver, but a cold b---h in the winter. VW solved that issue with a gas heater I don't remember Chevy ever going that route.

 

A gasoline heater was offered as an option for the entire Corvair production run.

 

I couldn't remember if they offered one or not. Unfortunately, mine which I purchased from the original owner did not have one and this was in Upstate NY. Wish it did, may have persuaded me away from selling it the next fall.

 

I owned one of these back in the late 1970's. Does that count? 😄

 

Where I grew up there were lots of snow and sanded and salted roads were the norm. People were having rust issues within a year. We used to affectionately say that it was Fords answer to the biodegradable car.

 

I learned to drive in my father's Pinto...boy did that car suck!

As to this new one, I think Pinto is a terrible name, with a terrible reputation that would need to be overcome.
If they wanted another "horse" name to go with Mustang there are other/better choices.
Why not "Stallion"?

 

They would identify it with Sylvester....and the new generation cannot remember a Ford Pinto. They cannot even see a whitewall tire when on a car. Their minds still see the tire as black. It is true.

 

All cars rusted in the 70s. Remember the chrome strips around the fenders....the beginning of the end.

 

My first new car was a 1977 Honda Accord, it was rusting out when traded in 1980 for a new Oldsmobile Cutlass. The 70’s were scary times for rust.

 

Those were only the Pinto station wagons, I think - they had less protection between rear bumper and fuel tank for some reason! I had a regular, 4 spd manual, 2000cc Pinto with factory HD suspension and Pirelli radials... I actually loved it. A friend of mine had a wagon and when the recalls came out about the fuel tank issue, we bought some yellow and black striped safety tape and covered his hatch back with it as a joke. Everyone loved it, because they were all over the news at the time!!!

I owned one of these back in the late 1970's. Does that count? 😄

View attachment 126441

Mike, that's one of those wagons that had the fuel tank issues. You must have seen some "Recall Notices" - as I said below, a friend of mine had one, just plain paint, we bought yellow/black striped safety tape and covered his hatch back with it as a joke - "Back Off - Fire Danger"

 

Those were only the Pinto station wagons, I think - they had less protection between rear bumper and fuel tank for some reason! I had a regular, 4 spd manual, 2000cc Pinto with factory HD suspension and Pirelli radials... I actually loved it. A friend of mine had a wagon and when the recalls came out about the fuel tank issue, we bought some yellow and black striped safety tape and covered his hatch back with it as a joke. Everyone loved it, because they were all over the news at the time!!!


Mike, that's one of those wagons that had the fuel tank issues. You must have seen some "Recall Notices" - as I said below, a friend of mine had one, just plain paint, we bought yellow/black striped safety tape and covered his hatch back with it as a joke - "Back Off - Fire Danger"

I grew up in snow country and we used to call them Ford's answer to the biodegradable car. Not that they were the only cars with that issue. We would pick them up real cheap, throw a SB V-8 in them and beat them into the ground. Picked up a wrecked '64 Chevy II Nova drag car in a trade with a built 327 in it and decided to build us a keeper. Traded a '65 Mustang (6 cylinder/3sp) and a V-8 Pinto for a pristine Vega. Upgraded the suspension and put the 327 in it. It was sweet looking, fast as hell and a torque monster. Could pull the front wheels about 6" off the ground. Alas, it was my first Vega build back in the days when they didn't have kits nor many knowledgeable unibody motorheads us stupid kids could lean on for pitfalls and I didn't have the smarts to buy and install frame extenders. Over a relatively short period of time the torque twist to the unibody made it so you couldn't open the doors. I Bo and Luke Duke's it for awhile until an Oak tree ended its life when I drove it way too fast on a horrible road on rainy night, but thats
another story, lol.
BTW: Look at my other old post on my "investigation" into the Pinto reboot. I think its an AI hoodwink at least in the present configuration shown all over Utube which is actually a Ford GT40 reboot that Ford was supposedly working. The new GT40 was optimistically supposed to release in 2025 but its been shelved again. Not that I could afford one either way 😂...

 

Hell, if you had a 70's Italian car (Fiat etc) you could hear (and watch) it rust away in your driveway.

 

Yeah, I bought a 2-year old Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint back in the UK, early 80's. The wheel well edges started to bubble & rust through immediately after I got it. But I loved that car.

Like this (not mine):

 

Interesting that you mention the Vega. First made in 1970, long before the Americans were interested in making a sports car like our Kappas, there was one variant in 1975/76 that used the DOHC four cylinder, a first for GM (they got it from Cosworth). A 2.0 DOHC engine - sound familiar?

They had what they needed to make a sports car, but stuck it into a small sedan instead. It would have been interesting if they had done either a mid engine (like the Fiero) or front engine (like the Kappa) using that engine - it might have started a tradition that would have given the Miata a real run for the money when Mazda got around to it in 1989.

 

I hear ya. We took the 4 link and rearend out of Nova, as well as the upgraded aftermarket front suspension parts (mainly the upgraded A arms and 5 lug hubs) and put it on the Vega along with engine and Tranny. Surprisingly, it handled really well compared to cars of era. It was tight and predictable and didn't float. I had another OEM one years later and with the aluminum block weight difference between the 2.3L four bangers and the various V-8 converts the handling was better yet. What could've been?

 

Ford actually did try it with the Ford EXP and Mercury LN7 in the early 80s. Although they were more of a 2 seat compact car than a roadster or sports car but it was a start. As I remember it they had a 1.6L that was way under powered and anemic.

 

Hell, our Pinto caught fire while we were driving. The problem was the wind speed was suppressing flames from the hood; flames were dropping out underneath but were out by the time we were far enough up the road for Dad to see 'em out the rearview mirror whatever small pieces fell were out so we didn't know a thing. My dad had a cold & couldn't smell anything because he was stuffed up; I thought I smelled something but couldn't figure out what it was. People were driving like absolute nuts around us until some couple pulled up along side at about 40 & she yelled out the window, "Excuse me sir but your car's on fire!"
Dad immediately pulled over & before we were out the hood went up because there was no more wind knocking it down. Woulda been terrifying if we pulled up to a red light if we didn't know about it!
After FD came & put it out the PD gave us a ride up the road to my uncle's place. We couldn't get out of the back of the car until the cop opened the doors for us...& this was before child locks were a thing.