Remember the Ford Pinto?

[Photon440]

My parents had a Pinto for a few years. Looked like the picture below. I remember my dad bought it for $500 and then sold it several years later for $400. It had the 2000cc 4 cylinder engine, and it ran pretty good. It was a fun little runabout car (never tested the crash worthiness of it though!).

I don't recall them being available with a 2.3L. Maybe that was the later years?

The 2.0 was enlarged to 2.3 (optional) in 1974, and in 1975 the V6 (2.8) was offered as well.

 

[NoCar2023]

Randy has been running that car for twenty years, at least!

Is He running a 2.3l turbo motor?
If it is -- I seen it run at Fontana.
Smoking all the Mustangs and Camaros!
The car I saw was yellow, running low 10s. About fifteen years ago.

 

[33 IMP]

The reason you don't see very many pinto's around, is the the four bangers lived so long the bodies wore out. There were a lot more pinto's that went 200k than vega's that went 100k. That, and a v8 swap was harder in a pinto than a Vega.
The Vega's that are around now probably got an engine transplant within five years.
My vega's original engine didn't last 40k. It was a lot better car with a 327/350turbo/8 3/4 in it.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

The reason you don't see very many pinto's around, is the the four bangers lived so long the bodies wore out. That, and a v8 swap was harder in a pinto than a Vega.
The Vega's that are around now probably got an engine transplant within five years.
My vega's original engine didn't last 40k. It was a lot better car with a 327/350turbo/8 3/4 in it.

Original Vega engines should have been made by Mellings.... Mellings has supplied oil pumps for practically every engine Detroit built.... Oil pump, oil pumper.. Same thing right?

 

[33 IMP]

Is He running a 2.3l turbo motor?
If it is -- I seen it run at Fontana.
Smoking all the Mustangs and Camaros!
The car I saw was yellow, running low 10s. About fifteen years ago.

Big block chevy.
There is also an ex-prostock pinto that I have seen running at Irwindale, with a big block Ford in it.
The original prostock pintos ran 351 clevelands.
I know the guy running the 2.3 turbo pinto. He also has a Morris minor that ran a 302 Windsor, and the 2.3 turbo, and an evil little 240z sleeper, with a 351 stroker Windsor in it.

 

[WileE]

Vega looked good but the engine was a steaming pile of crap... And theres a reason for the old saying "On a quiet night you can hear a Vega rust"....

Ford's 2.3 was no power house but millions of them ran for upwards of 200K miles..... That engine went on to power allot of different vehicles.... When the Vega died it's engine died with it.... For a damn good reason...

Was merely responding to "way better looking than Gremlin or Pacer", only for it's style. Not function. I never did & wouldn't own either the Vega or Pinto crap. Both of those pile of garbage wound up in our garage.

 

[65Bel]

If we can talk about the Gremlin, Pacer and Vega in this thread, then we should certainly not forget the Yugo (Italy) or the Lada (Russia). Did anyone ever own or know someone who owned one of these? The joke used to be that if either of these cars was in for repairs and the owner wanted it covered under warranty, they were told "You didn't pay a lada money so yugo f**k yourself"

 

[1 Wild R/T]

If we can talk about the Gremlin, Pacer and Vega in this thread, then we should certainly not forget the Yugo (Italy) or the Lada (Russia). Did anyone ever own or know someone who owned one of these? The joke used to be that if either of these cars was in for repairs and the owner wanted it covered under warranty, they were told "You didn't pay a lada money so yugo **** yourself"

Yugo was from Yugoslavia....

 

[dadsbee]

My Limy flying instructor had a Lada, 1989.

 

[eldubb440]

 

[1 Wild R/T]

View attachment 1210319

Proof there are really stupid people in the world.... (Not that we needed any more than what is apparent every day)

 

[eldubb440]

Yugo was from Yugoslavia....

get in a Yugo.... and you don't go

 

[1 Wild R/T]

get in a Yugo.... and you don't go

Yugo should be called the Nogo...
Two people lucky enough to get a Yugo running should call it the Wego...
Why does a Yugo have a rear window defroster? To keep the hands of the people who are pushing warm...
What do you call a Girl that owns a Yugo? You Go Girl!!

 

[65Bel]

Yugo was from Yugoslavia....

Designed in Italy as a shortened variant of the Fiat 128, Manufactured by Zastava in Serbia, Assembled in Yugoslavia

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Designed in Italy as a shortened variant of the Fiat 128, Manufactured by Zastava in Serbia, Assembled in Yugoslavia

A Fiat with third world metallurgy....

 

[Photon440]

Designed in Italy as a shortened variant of the Fiat 128, Manufactured by Zastava in Serbia, Assembled in Yugoslavia

At the time, Serbia was still part of Yugoslavia.

 

[65Bel]

At the time, Serbia was still part of Yugoslavia.

And, correct me if I'm wrong, Italy was still Italy