Ford Pinto Airplane - Are You Kidding?

slacktide said:
Looks rather a lot like the Alfa GTV I had briefly.
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Alfetta GT, late 70's? Had a real nice one of those. Morphed into the Alfa GTV-6 which I think is what you are referring to. Had three of those (note my nick).
 
VWGhiaBob said:
Cool looking Vega, Pilawt! I also had a '72, and here she is. At 20K miles she needed engine rebuild, new tires, new clutch, new brakes, etc. Basically, she wore out in her first year. But she was a looker! :D
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Never owned a Vega myself but my Dad bought a brand-new Vega GT that I drove. Real nice car with 4-speed.
 
docmirror said:
I get the prize for weirdest car on this web board. Google 'Matra Bagheera'. Yes, it really is French.
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Definitely. Closest I can come is, let's see; VW single-cab transporter pickup, Simca Bertone coupe (pretty car never imported to US), Austin Healey 3000 with a very early Fiberglass body (way before dune buggies and Fiberfab - I think it was a La Dawri like the one below). Of course, the Honda AN600. How about an old Toyota pickup with a Chevy V-8 shoehorned in? Those are about the weirdest I've owned.

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the guy with the dune buggy that turns into a powered parachute is the only one with a practical approach to this idea. Durable enough to drive and light enough to fly.
 
VWGhiaBob said:
And regarding being over gross, remember the Cessna had props on the back and front. So the Pinto had only one engine instead of two.
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The 337 has pretty good single engine performance compared to conventional twins and there have been a few conversions to make it into a single engine aircraft. Some of them rather bizarre.

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X3 Skier said:
My vote for the ugliest mass production car is the Citroen 2CV. Reasonable cheap transport but usually drawing comments like "What IS that?"

Cheers
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Those were pretty ugly tin cans. But can they really compete with the Reliant Robin (correctly positioned on its side) or the Trabant?
 
MAKG1 said:
Those were pretty ugly tin cans. But can they really compete with the Reliant Robin (correctly positioned on its side) or the Trabant?
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The Robin actually looked pretty good as a pseudo space shuttle on BBC Top Gear. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074gf0

OTOH, the Trabant while being the epitome of the "hammer to fit, paint to match" style of assembly, at least looked like a car.

The 2CV seemed to be the love child of a toaster and a Bugeye Sprite.

Cheers
 
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EAA Ford Tri-motor coming to a city near you. Boston area June 20th sponsored by EAA106.
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As to the weirdest Pinto I ever saw, somewhere in the mid 70's, my buddy had an AMC Javelin he put a large block AMC engine and a 4 speed in. One night, some little Pinto with his front end nearly scraping the pavement pulled up next to us. When the light changed, he was off like a rocket.
Later we found the guy had put a large block v8 in it.
Oh... when gas was cheap and cars really had power and torque.
 
If we're going Soviets, the Zaporozhets was the one to have. Like a Russian Corvair. Put wings on one of those, and the wings would survive, but the car would collapse in a pile of goo.
 
Near me?

South Dakota is the nearest point. That's 1500 miles from here. All the flights are around the Great Lakes, northern plains, and northern east coast.
 
MAKG1 said:
Near me?

South Dakota is the nearest point. That's 1500 miles from here. All the flights are around the Great Lakes, northern plains, and northern east coast.
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it makes sense that the operations would reference the center of the known universe (OSH). The more relevant question is, why do you live so far away ?
 
The Cosworth Vega is a nice car. If I could find one with a body worth saving I would buy it. But this comes from a guy who pro streeted a Chevy LUV , stuck 18.5 wide tires under the bed and added a over 700 hp under the hood and fitted a trans brake, yes I know I am not right in the head.
 
Luvrv8 said:
The Cosworth Vega is a nice car. If I could find one with a body worth saving I would buy it. But this comes from a guy who pro streeted a Chevy LUV , stuck 18.5 wide tires under the bed and added a over 700 hp under the hood and fitted a trans brake, yes I know I am not right in the head.
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Cosworth Vega is a nice car. Reminds me of a Lotus Cortina. Friend had one of those.
 
VWGhiaBob said:
Cool looking Vega, Pilawt! I also had a '72, and here she is. At 20K miles she needed engine rebuild, new tires, new clutch, new brakes, etc. Basically, she wore out in her first year. But she was a looker! :D
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I might have had the only Vega that didn't require a new engine or gasket even though it had around 78,000 miles on it when I sold it.

Of course, the weak-@ss timing belt broke before 60,000 miles...kind of right on schedule.
 
I remember that too. I wonder it is would have had the same gas tank issue. As far as the Vega, I had the 75' model and no problems with the steel lined cylinders. I liked the car better than the Pinto.
 
JHW said:
the guy with the dune buggy that turns into a powered parachute is the only one with a practical approach to this idea. Durable enough to drive and light enough to fly.
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And horrible fuel mileage in the air. 190 hp Subaru and it flies at 40 MPH. If that Subaru gets the same fuel burn as a similar Lycoming, it's going to get around 5 or 6 MPG.

Dan
 
'72 vega was how I got around in college. I have to struggle to think of anything kind to say about it -- it did provide many opportunities for learning do -it-yourself repairs.
 
Hello POA group.
I own the Mizar II that you see in the commercial.
The Mizar II is a non flying Pinto that you see the young couple getting into before they leave for the airport. I. E. golf clubs=hatchback
If you look closely the flying Pinto is a trunk model but clearly the Pinto driven to the airport is a hatchback
The Mizar II currently lives in Staunton Illinois and the Mizar II is scheduled to take a trip back to Galpin Ford this year.
Thought you guys and gals might like to hear about these details.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post.
Happy flying from The World Famous Pintony!!!!:rolleyes:
 
Thanks for the historical update. Did they think of acid dipping the body of the Pinto to get it lighter? The crash was tragic. In retrospect, they should have run a piece of tubing below the car and connected the two strut attach points to that so you could have a continuous load path.

The TransAm racers of that era were all doing acid dipping the cars to get around the weight regs...some of them were 250 pounds too light and would dent with the slightest push on them. Some were putting lead shot in the fuel can so when the final fuel pit stop was made, the cars would be legal weight at the end! Not to mention throwing in shot bags through the window at the stop.

We had a 73 Vega that made it to 90K with only a bit of engine work. Lucky for us. For the time, it was pretty nice. I remember I got it up to 100 mph coming downhill off the Cascades in Oregon. Of course, Datsun was on the horizon and ready to get a foothold in the market. The Pinto and the Vega opened the door for that.
 
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Dan Thomas said:
Then there was the Amphicar: a floating automobile.

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The 7/70 (giving it's top speed in the water and land). Still a cute idea. We had one show up at our Antique/Classic boat show in Charlotte (well Mooresville actually) a few years back. Pretty cool even if not overly practical.

I didn't give the Terrafugia much hope it would fly when I first saw the mockup (they brought a plywood one to Oshkosh well over a decade ago). I was proved wrong. Of course, Moller continues to suck money from anybody he can (and managed to suck press away from the few guys with a practical shot at flying cars).

I'm wanting for Moller to wreck one. I administer the Samuel P. Langley award for spectacularly failing to achieve flight, and I'd be glad to present him with one if he can so distinguish himself.
 
flyingron said:
I'm wanting for Moller to wreck one. I administer the Samuel P. Langley award for spectacularly failing to achieve flight, and I'd be glad to present him with one if he can so distinguish himself.
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Bad mojo Ron, very bad. Never wish anyone to crash. :nono:
 
Fearing the site police for being off topic, seeing the discussion, I can't help but post MY '72 Vega...which needed a new engine at 20K miles (and is long gone in a rust heap)...and the VW Ghia (which I still own) that makes up my name on this boarrd.



 
alfadog said:
Cosworth Vega is a nice car. Reminds me of a Lotus Cortina. Friend had one of those.
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A guy I worked with briefly back in the 70s had one. It was a nice car. The only other Vega I recall being worth anything belonged to the son of a friend. Had a 327 Chevy V-8 under the hood. Sure glad I wasn't paying for his rear tires. I don't think he knew how to get rolling without lighting them up. :D

Now, the Ford Pinto had to be a well built car. My father-in-law had one and it ran well. If you knew how he maintained (not!) cars you would understand how I came to the belief that they were well designed. It drove well in town, too.
 
Well Gherry...he's right. My '73 Pinto runs like new to this day!
 
I learned to drive on a '71 Capri, which was basically the same generation Pinto with a different exterior body style and a few outsourced internal parts. It shared the same engine, drive train and suspension components with the Pinto. While I won't say it was mechanically perfect, it was pretty good compared with other domestic cars of the time, and a blast to drive. Well, then there was the Lucas electrical system. THAT was the weak point.
 
Pilawt said:
Here was my '72, with two-speed Powerglide transmission. I actually enjoyed driving it -- except for the part about the blown head gasket at 35,000 miles ... :dunno:

vega_01.jpg
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Looks just like mine except mine was white and had a 4 speed. I really, really liked my Vega. However it did have some rust that I repaired and the original motor started to give me signs that the cylinder walls were on the way out at about 65,000 miles.

Had they done traditional steel lined cylinders and proper corrosion protection, there would be a whole lot more of them on the road now. I actually get excited when I see one on the road now and that's almost never.

Had a Pinto too. It's a whole other colorful story, but nothing but good things to say about it!
 
Sac Arrow said:
I learned to drive on a '71 Capri, which was basically the same generation Pinto with a different exterior body style and a few outsourced internal parts. It shared the same engine, drive train and suspension components with the Pinto. While I won't say it was mechanically perfect, it was pretty good compared with other domestic cars of the time, and a blast to drive. Well, then there was the Lucas electrical system. THAT was the weak point.
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Actually, if your Capri looked like this one-

71-Capri-mk-1.jpg


then it was a 100% import from Europe. They were all made by Ford of Germany and rebadged as Mercurys in America. It had absolutely zero to do with the Pinto except being produced by the same parent company.

A friend of mine had a '74 Capri II similar to this in high school. As you might expect, it was far superior to the Pinto in the handling and performance department. In the day to day dependability department... not so much.
 
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Ectually, some of the American imported Capris got the Pinto I-4 engine of 2L. The first iteration had the English Cortina or Kent engine and later on they put the Pinto engine in it. I had one with the Pinto engine.
 
Nice Giha Bob!

Had the 74 Crapi in the 80s. V6 quite peppy. Always had rack bushing problems.
 
A friend of mine in high school had a vega that he wedged a 454 into. It was fun to drive but wasn't very fast due to tire spin. He figured he'd fix that little problem with a street/strip tire. He finally did get it to hook up, so much so that after about a week of racing and beating almost everyone, he twisted the the car so badly the doors wouldn't open :D
 
Dav8or said:
Actually, if your Capri looked like this one-

71-Capri-mk-1.jpg


then it was a 100% import from Europe. They were all made by Ford of Germany and rebadged as Mercurys in America. It had absolutely zero to do with the Pinto except being produced by the same parent company.

A friend of mine had a '74 Capri II similar to this in high school. As you might expect, it was far superior to the Pinto in the handling and performance department. In the day to day dependability department... not so much.
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The 2.8L 4speed Capri was a haulin ass little car, and they were cheap. I went through a bunch of them back in the day. Mill the heads and intake for match porting, some tuned headers and a bit of tuning work and they sold really well by taking them to the race track on Wednesday nights with a For Sale sign. They would beat a 240 or 260z, and if I put a 490cfm Holley on it, it would beat a 280z as well.
 
47PILOT said:
A friend of mine in high school had a vega that he wedged a 454 into. It was fun to drive but wasn't very fast due to tire spin. He figured he'd fix that little problem with a street/strip tire. He finally did get it to hook up, so much so that after about a week of racing and beating almost everyone, he twisted the the car so badly the doors wouldn't open :D
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If you were gonna go V-8 Vega, Don Hardy was the man to go to. He sold good chassis kits that we regularly stuck up to 900hp in. Probably most of the Vega chassis drag racing were his. You can also still find some good old Modified Eliminator Opel GTs around set up for Small and Big Block Chevies.
 
Holy schmolley it's been a long time....

I did emission controls work for Ford on the Pinto (and later on the Mustang II and Ranger with the same engine - and something else on the Fox platform), I can't remember the model number of the little staged two barrel carb (Holley- Webber IIRC) but I'm pretty sure I still have a really good assortment of carburetor jets / bleeds / well tubes stashed away somewhere.
 
Our first car after we got married was a little '77 Mustang II, which was really nothing more than a Pinto dressed in slightly more Mustang like sheet metal. It was a pretty nice little car, though it proved to not be impact resistant.
 
Yes...quite a few of us collect Pinto's. I'm on my second one. Check it out: www.fordpinto.com . We have a large and growing club that has fun events!
 
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