Contents of the material
Story
The company’s management was prompted to create this car by the fuel crisis, which immediately affected Muscle Cars and similar cars equipped with powerful and voracious power units. In addition, in those years, the United States began to be filled with a flow of subcompact models from Europe and Japan. Such cars were quite comfortable and very economical, which turned out to be extremely relevant.
Ford management decided to start developing such cars, which was facilitated by the presence of European branches of the corporation, which had extensive experience in this regard. First, the bet was placed on the Ford Cortina model, popular in the Old World, which was actively sold out in the UK. But it did not achieve commercial success in the USA, after which it was decided to create a car from scratch, taking into account the characteristics of the American automobile market and the achievements of the European division.
As a result, the Ford Pinto came out of the workshops, the presentation of which took place on September 11, 1970. And its price of $1,850 was the lowest in the Ford model line, approaching the price of Japanese and European competitors.
Gearbox and chassis
The car was equipped with either a manual transmission or an automatic transmission. The boxes were made as light as possible. This fact was explained by the requirement of the then executive director, whose post was held by Lee Iacocca. According to his instructions, the weight of the car should not exceed 1,000 kg, and the cost should not be $2,000. This limited the engineers in many ways.
The design of the chassis was quite progressive. The car had rear-wheel drive, as well as a dependent rear suspension with leaf springs and a continuous beam. The front axle was independent and equipped with coil springs. In addition, all wheels were equipped with disc brakes, the steering was rack-and-pinion from the very beginning, and since 1977, the Ford Pinto acquired power steering.
Features and exterior
The main difference from European models was the purpose of the car. Cars in Europe were created as family cars, and the Ford Pinto was originally designed as a youth car. And it was a smaller version of the same “Muscle Cars”, having features similar to them in appearance.
The appearance of the Ford Pinto was quite simple, but not without style and aggression. Round headlights, later replaced with rectangular ones, were located on the sides of a long radiator grille. The car had a long hood and the same fenders, with voluminous wheel arches, and a chrome-plated front bumper was equipped with branded “fangs”.
1975 Ford Pinto Wagon & Pinto Squire Wagon
In the profile of the Ford Pinto, long doors were noticeable with shiny moldings around the perimeter of the windows, as well as chrome trim on the doors themselves, extending onto the fenders. The rear of the hatchback featured a huge rear window that took up most of the door, with the same shiny surround. The rear bumper sparkled with chrome, as did the trim of the lights.
Compared to imported analogues, the landing was too low. The style was somewhat similar to the larger Ford Maverick a solution to the radiator grille and rear optics, but with a more rapid silhouette.
Sales of the Ford Pinto began with the advertising slogan “Carefree little car”, the first Pintos were presented as two-door sedans, as there were difficulties in designing alternative body styles.
The first Pintos were produced in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada; Edison, New Jersey; and Richmond, California. And production of the hatchback body began on February 20, 1971, after its debut at the Chicago Auto Show.
The hatchback featured exposed chrome tailgate hinges, pneumatic cylinders to make opening the tailgate easier, a rear window roughly the same size as the sedan’s, five longitudinal decorative chrome stripes on the roof, and reclining seats – a feature that was also optional on the sedan.
The hatchback was the same as the sedan in all other dimensions; its trunk volume was 1.08 m³. By 1972, the glass area of the tailgate increased to match the size of the tailgate itself, eventually becoming an all-glass tailgate.
On February 24, 1972, the Pinto station wagon was introduced with a total length of 4390 mm and a trunk volume of 1.71 m³. The station wagon had optional pivoting rear side windows and a 2.0-liter engine as standard.
Ford Pinto Wagon Cruising Pkg. (41E) 1980
The Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon was produced from 1977–1980. and was similar in style to a minivan or camper van; it had round side rear windows (portholes) in English. “bubble windows”. The Pinto Squire van featured faux wood side panels similar to Ford Country Squire. Ford offered removable roof racks.
1980 Ford Pinto Squire Wagon, body 73B
The layout of the car was traditional, with a monocoque body structure, a longitudinally mounted engine was located in front and drove the rear wheels through a manual or automatic transmission and rear axle. The suspension of the front axle of the car was of variable length with swing axle shafts and coil springs, and the rear axle was dependent, suspended on leaf springs. Rack-and-pinion steering, as well as the brakes, had a power-assisted option.
Engines
A total of 4 power units were available – 1.6, 2.0, 2.3 and 2.8 liters. But they were never sold at the same time – a maximum of 2. In addition, changes were made to their design every year, which adjusted the power. And back in 1972, the principle of calculating power was changed – from this year it was carried out taking into account all the attached motor equipment, which sharply reduced the performance. Moreover, similar changes were made in the future, which led to constant fluctuations in characteristics. Although it is worth considering that the real output from Ford Pinto engines has remained almost unchanged.
1971
- Kent OHV I4 1.6 liters – 75 l. With. and 130 Nm;
- EAO SOHC I4 2.0 liters – 100 l. With.;
Photo: Ford Pinto station wagon
1972
- Kent OHV I4 1.6 liters – 54 l. With.;
- EAO SOHC I4 2.0 liters – 86 l. With.
1973
- EAO SOHC I4 2.0 liters – 86 l. With.
1974
- EAO SOHC I4 2.0 liters – 86 l. With.;
- OHC 2.3 liters – 90 l. With.
1975
- OHC 2.3 liters – 83 l. With.;
- Cologne V6 2.8 liters – 97 l. With.
Photo: Ford Pinto engine
1976
- OHC 2.3 liters – 92 l. With.;
- Cologne V6 2.8 liters – 103 l. With.
1977
- OHC 2.3 liters – 89 l. With.;
- Cologne V6 2.8 liters – 93 l. With.
1978
- OHC 2.3 liters – 88 l. With.;
- Cologne V6 2.8 liters – 90 l. With.
1979
- OHC 2.3 liters – 88 l. With.;
- Cologne V6 2.8 liters – 102 liters. With.
1980
- OHC 2.3 liters – 88 l. With.
Initially, the dynamic performance was simply excellent – acceleration to hundreds with a 2-liter engine took only 10.8 seconds. This was also facilitated by the low weight of the car. Moreover, at first both engines were European – the 1.6-liter unit was supplied from the UK, while the 2-liter one was supplied from Germany.
But pretty soon they were replaced with American engines, which was due to federal environmental standards. This, along with the need to install new bumpers, led to a noticeable deterioration in the dynamic characteristics of the Ford Pinto.