The History of the Ford Pinto – One of the Worst Cars Ever Made

The Ford Pinto was Ford’s initial domestic subcompact vehicle. It was promoted in 1970 with competitors currently being the AMC Gremlin, Chevrolet Vega and imports from Volkswagen, Datsun and Toyota. It was a incredibly well-known motor vehicle with 100,000 models delivered by January 1971. A version produced less than the Lincoln Mercury name was identified as the Bobcat.

The Pinto applied powertrains tested in Europe but the Vega had an ground breaking aluminum motor that induced problems. Robert Eidschun’s design of the exterior of the Pinto was chosen which was uncommon due to the fact most cars consist of style components from lots of designers. The Ford Pinto offered an inline 4 engine and bucket seats. And entry stage Pinto was $1,850 which built it the most affordable Ford given that 1958.

Seating in the Pinto was very low to the ground in comparison to the imports. Human body models were the two door coupe, a hatchback referred to as the Runabout and a two doorway station wagon. A major of the line Pinto Squire had fake wooden sides. Highway & Keep track of journal did not the suspension and normal drum brakes but beloved the 1.6 L Kent motor. The Pinto was accessible with a choice of two engines and Ford adjusted the electrical power rankings practically just about every year. The Ford Pinto Pangra is a modified sporting Pinto produced by Huntington Ford in California and only 55 ended up sold in 1973.

The Ford Pinto is most perfectly known for it’s design dilemma that permitted the fuel tank to be quickly damaged in a rear end collision. Lethal fires and explosions ended up common occurrences in rear end collisions. The Pinto had no true bumper or reinforcing structure involving the rear panel and gas tank. In some collisions the gas tank would be thrust forward into the differential which experienced protruding bolts that could puncture the tank. Also the doors could jam during an incident due to weak reinforcement. This led to the Pinto’s nickname as a barbeque that seats 4.

The Ford Pinto memo is the price tag reward evaluation that Mom Jones journal attained that they claimed Ford utilised to examine the value of an $11 repair service to the financial worth of a human life. This characterization of Ford’s selection as a disregard for human lifetime led to lawsuits however Ford was acquitted of criminal costs. The NHTSA dominated in 1974 that the Pinto had no recallable issue but in 1978 Ford initiated a recall offering a seller installable basic safety package that set protective plastic product over the sharp objects thus taking away the risk of a gasoline tank puncture.

The Ford Pinto has the doubtful honor of currently being on Time magazine’s checklist of the fifty worst vehicles of all time.