Hooniverse Wagon Wednesday – An Avocado 1974 Ford Pinto Wagon
Here at Hooniverse we have a long standing tradition of showcasing forgotten, and sometimes regrettable wagons on Wednesday, and here’s one now. This is a pristine, Avocado Green 1974 Ford Pinto Wagon that is well equipped. The only thing missing is the Vinyl Wood overlay with good reason… It’s not a Squire.
Ford Motor Company introduced the Pinto in three different versions at different intervals, unlike what Chevy did with the Vega. The Pinto was introduced to the American public on September 11, 1970, but only in its 2-door sedan configuration. The Chevy Vega Hatchback caught Ford by surprise, and the Pinto Runabout was introduced at the Chicago Auto Show on February 21, 1971, and went officially on sale five days later. The wagon was introduced over a year later, and went on to become a best seller.
According to the dealer listing:
A true time capsual , original paint, interior and unmolested engine compartment wearing the original decals, we were told this car has not been driven in rain , was owned by a librarian in Kentucky, original bill of sale , owners card , recipts since new and one owner , one of the finest Pinto Station wagons in the country. There are no electrical problems with this vehicle. Vehicle is defect free. There is not a door ding present on this vehicle. The vehicle engine runs very, very smooth. Well maintained exterior is extra clean. This vehicle was kept in the garage. This vehicle was owned by a non-smoker. The interior is in extra clean condition. All available records show the odometer reading on this vehicle to be accurate. There is no trouble shifting this transmission. There are no records of any prior collision damage. Become only the second owner of this vehicle. New tires were just put on this vehicle.
Mileage for this green on green Pinto is a little over 51,000 miles, and the dealers is asking $10,990. It has most of the options available at that time including A/C, and an AM FM Stereo. This is a very cute and very reasonable wagon, but I want to know what you think. Is a 1974 Pinto Wagon even remotely desirable? See the Dealer Listing here, and discuss.
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I love it. I don't snarkily love it, or ironically love it, or love it with a conflicted soul. I out-and-out love it. If I had the spare ka-ching, I would spend 11K on it in a heartbeat.
My first garage experience was helping a neighbor rebuild a wrecked '76 Pinto and my girlfriend junior year of high school drove a Pinto Wagon, but those facts have absolutely nothing to do with it.
Two things, before anybody makes any rear-end explody jokes.
1) The Pinto Wagon was specifically excluded from the fuel tank recall.
2) The myth of exploding Pintos is just that, a myth. The Toyota Corolla had more rear-end collision fires (per car) in 1975-76 than the Pinto.
The whole story: The Myth of the Ford Pinto Case (PDF)
Wait… you mean I could drive it around without the constant fear of impending fiery death?
Well that's no fun… Forget it; I'm no longer interested.
I always bring up this when some one brings up the explody rear end pinto's.
Never knew about the Corollas.
Ask them when they bring it up to tell you how many Pintos suffered a rear-end impact that resulted in a ruptured fuel tank. Not even a fuel-tank related FIRE, just a ruptured fuel tank, period. The answer (through 1990, according to NHTSA)? — 38.
Thirty-eight cars, out of over two million made. Sure, many of those 2 million were wagons, and about 2/3rds of them did at some point get the retrofit polypropylene safety shield for the fuel tank, but still, that's a very small number.
Thank you. I love it, too. That is hands down my favorite vehicle color.
I had a car painter friend who a beautiful flame job on his Pinto Runabout, with the flames coming off the rear. It was awesome.
It's got an aftermarket radio, plus someone cut holes in the side panels for speakers, but I'd still take it. I'm not sure it's worth $10,990, though. And "Premium Wheels"? Not exactly.
Typical period modifications that look as though they were professionally done. Doesn't drop the value much at all for me.
Actually, you could've had it for about a 1/3 of the price last year. I bid on this car at a local estate auction. I went to $3200 and it went for $3300. Don't know how it got to Florida but it came from Kentucky and belonged to a junkman who had an odd collection of low mileage cars.
No kidding. Those are the stock 13×5.5 steelies with the "premium" tin wheel covers! Had one
One thing I've never liked about fords is that automatic shift lever housing/lever. Seems like they used that style for about thirty years, too.
Sweet compass.
Has there ever been an explanation why everyone in the '70s decided to buy cars gloriously ugly color combos? This is an amazingly terrible shade of green, I love it.
I agree. Brown was amazingly popular too.
<img src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m353/Jason456_photos/1976ChryslerCordobaSportCoupe.jpg" width="400"/>
I blame tweed. I'm not sure why, but it just feels right.
I'm perpetually depressed by the color options on cars now. White, black, silver, beige, pale blue, and red. Grey, darker blue, or burgundy if you're really out there. America really used to be a more colorful place.
<img src="http://www.carmanuals.com/manuals/manual-image-large/1974-fairlane-falcon-ford-mustang-color-chart-74pinto_120188361225.jpg" width="500">
This is yet another reason new cars are nearly completely uninteresting to me. The color choices are terrible. The mix of color on the roads around here is awful.
Admittedly, my DD is a screaming shade of PM Yellow, but that's a personal problem that cannot have any bearing on the above opinion.
I guess I'm not a brown man, think if you want to get the most attractive colors you've gotta go to the '50s.
<img src="http://www.yolocolorhouse.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/1956-ford-pg01.jpg">
Stare at this picture of a brown Ferrari for a while. You will eventually find your brown car ambivalence rebivalanced.
<img src="http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/images/12/2012/01/47bf91630f88911d5d6a73bc718ed83b.jpg" width="500" />
To be fair, the same can be said of appliances — white, black, stainless steel are your choices now.
As a kid, all appliances were available in avocado and harvest gold.
<img src="http://www.appliance.net/wp-content/uploads/harvestgold.jpg" width="500">
Strangely, laundry equipment comes in all sorts of colors. I've seen washers and dryers in bright red, blue, purple, all sorts of fun shades. I want a red one.
[youtube FkkXHjQSyEI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkkXHjQSyEI youtube]
Perhaps the only car to have an FAA-issued certificate of air unworthiness.
Worlds…highest…overpass…………
Yea- it's so wrong that it's great.
It would match my Lime Mustang too…
I treid too mkae drikng gme out of the listing by tkeing shot evry time sed "this vehicle". Too durnk to contine…
DRINK!
THIS VEHICLE!
Gah dmmt guysh thish ishnt fnnnnyy !
faaak… *drink* My lif ish ful of mvment nd paiin.
I can't remember the last Pinto wagon I saw, but it was that color, and it was clean, too. The color is called "Bright Green Gold" (code 4B). When I went to paintref.com to look it up, I found a picture of this exact car used as an example. Holy crap!
http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?…
Maybe that's what it used to be called, but starting January 1st 1980, and forever after, that has been known as "Seventies Green".
That's not a bumper, this is a bumper.
So, it is Green Wagon Wednesday now? Awesome.
This for $11k, or the green Mercury for $4k? To me, that's a no-brainer. I'll take the Colony Park, please!
This is the first time I've seen a car that has a proper rear deck like a boat!!!
<img src="http://www.latestautoreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Ford-Pinto-Rear-View.jpg">
Blech. The wagon is more desirable than other Pinto models but that's not saying much. This is one reason why I'm glad the '70s are over.
Thumbs up, not because I agree, but because you are so reliable.
After being introduced in 72 as a resonably light and nimble sedan to compete with the imports, the Pinto was ruined by the double whammy of ever tightening safety and emissions laws. Side collision beams in the doors and the chrome plated railroad ties combined to take whatever fun was to be had out ot the car. An increase in the optional engine displacement from 2.0 to 2.3 in 74 was no help at all, as that poor engine was forced to recycle what seemed like most of its exhaust gas, along with the usual lean and retard nonsense that was forced upon it in the pre catalyst days. All hail the mighty converter!
I'd dearly love a Pinto Wagon (or a Mustang II hatchback) with a BDA Cossie/Hewland 5-speed combo, lowered over Minilites and fitted with smaller bumpers. Sort of a Euro-style Pinto RS shooting brake.
Might be the nicest, greenest, best preserved Pinto Wagon left in existence. Let's move along now, shall we?