Automotive Blogger

Before last month I knew very little about the Ford Pinto. I knew it was from the 70’s, rear drive, not attractive, and had a serious problem with bursting into flames when it caught fire. So why my sudden interest in a vehicle that has been universally condemned by society as one of the ultimate lemons? As it turns out my team for the 24 hours of LeMons is campaigning not one but three Pintos (sub-$500 dollar Pintos I should add) under the team name Squadra Pinto. It only made sense that if I was going to race and work on one of these cast aside Fords I better do a little homework to see what I was getting into.

When the pinto burst onto the scene in 1971 (similar to how it burst into flames) it was one of the first American built vehicles to enter the sub-compact category here in the US. Ford built the Pinto to compete with some of the smaller import cars like the VW Beetle and Toyota Corolla. The fact that those three cars would all be considered competitors is definitely a sign of the times. Eventually Chevy and AMC jumped into the ring with the Vega and Gremlin respectively, and while the Pinto often lost in the magazine shootouts it proved to be the most popular of these American models from a sales stand point.

Cruising Wagon!

The Pinto had a classic layout with a front longitudinally mounted four cylinder engine driving a live rear axle. The front suspension was double wishbones with coil springs while the rear was the tried and true (aka old and unsophisticated) leaf springs under the solid axle. With unibody construction, rack and pinion steering with optional power assist, optional power brakes and an available four speed stick, the Pinto was a pretty good starting point. In fact, on paper the car is pretty damn similar to my MGB (solid axle rear, independent front, 4 banger etc..) Add in the different body styles–two-door coupé with a conventional trunk, three-door hatchback called the Runabout, two-door station wagon, the Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon complete with rear round bubble window (Mad Max) and a top of the line Pinto Squire with fake wood paneling–and you have a car with some real selling points, well mediocre selling points… for the 1970s.

Unfortunately, as the story goes, Ford rushed the Pinto into production quite quickly. When they did their crash testing they found that the Pinto had a problem with gas tank related ruptures when it took a hit from the back. Tooling was already in place when the defect was discovered, so Ford officials decided to push ahead with production. In a great example of “what not to do” Ford did a cost benefit analysis on dealing with the faulty Pinto and decided to keep it in production until 1977 before making any major safety changes to the cars problem area. They figured it would be cheaper to settle claims than to recall the cars. As a result over 500 Pinto related burn deaths (some estimate it closer to 900) have been recorded. Eventually Ford was forced to recall all affected vehicles and ended up losing millions of dollars and tarnishing their name over a car that could have made them a tidy profit (they sold several million Pintos). It should also be mentioned that in 1991 Gary Schwartz refuted the number of Pinto burn victims claiming the actual number was more like 27. It should also be noted that Ford came very close to installing a bladder inside the gas tank which would have prevented most of the ruptures, but hindsight is 20/20.

Pinto Crash Test

So after hearing all of this you might ask why I would want to race one of these things. Well the car makes a good race car platform. It is relatively light weight, has sturdy construction, is rear wheel drive and has reliable and simple components. We plan on defusing the bomb by moving the gas tank location, and with a few other safety and go fast modifications we should have 3 good little Pinto race cars. Winning might not be in our destiny (although I sure as hell am going to try) but if we can finish, ok maybe finish in the top ten, I will be thrilled.

Vive Pinto!

-Bill Mertz

Ford, Pinto, explosion, mother Jones, law suits, recall, Chevy, AMC, Gremlin, Vega, race, race car, 24 hours of LeMons, 1970s