The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America, sold from the 1971 to the 1980 model years. The smallest American Ford vehicle since 1907, the Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America.
The Pinto was marketed in three body styles through its production: a two-door fastback sedan with a trunk, a three-door hatchback, and a two-door station wagon. Mercury offered rebadged versions of the Pinto as the Mercury Bobcat from 1975 to 1980 (1974–1980 in Canada). From 1974 to 1978, the Ford Mustang II shared a common platform with the Pinto and Bobcat, though with a different unibody and powertrain assortment. For the 1981 model year, the Pinto was replaced by the Ford Escort, as Ford transitioned its product line towards front-wheel drive. Over 3 million Pintos were produced over its 10-year production run, with the Ford Pinto and Mercury Bobcat produced at Edison Assembly (Edison, New Jersey), St. Thomas Assembly (Southwold, Ontario), and San Jose Assembly (Milpitas, California).
Since the 1970s, the safety reputation of the Pinto has been surrounded by controversy. Its fuel-tank design attracted both media and government scrutiny after several deadly fires related to the tanks rupturing during rear-end collisions. A subsequent analysis of the overall safety of the Pinto suggested it was comparable to other 1970s subcompact cars. The safety issues surrounding the Pinto and the subsequent response by Ford have been cited widely as a business ethics as well as tort reform case study.
American automakers had first countered imports such as the Volkswagen Beetle with compact cars including the Ford Falcon, Chevrolet Corvair and Plymouth Valiant, although these cars featured six-cylinder engines and comprised a larger vehicle class. As the popularity of smaller Japanese imports from Toyota and Datsun increased throughout the 1960s, Ford North America responded by introducing the Cortina from Ford of Europe as a captive import. American automakers would soon introduce their own subcompacts. These were led by the AMC Gremlin, which arrived six months before the Pinto, and the Chevrolet Vega, introduced the day before the Pinto.
Named for the pony, the Pinto was introduced on September 11, 1970. The Pinto was a completely new platform, but utilized a powertrain from the European-specification Escort. Ford Chairman Henry Ford II himself purchased a 1971 Runabout (hatchback) to use as one of his personal cars.
Initial planning for the Pinto began in the summer of 1967, was recommended by Ford's Product Planning Committee in December 1968, and was approved by Ford's Board of Directors in January 1969. Ford President Lee Iacocca wanted a 1971 model that weighed under 2,000 pounds and that would be priced at less than $2,000. The Pinto product development, from conception through delivery, was completed in 25 months, when the automotive industry average was 43 months; the Pinto project was the shortest production planning schedule in automotive history up to that time. Some development processes usually conducted sequentially were conducted in parallel. Machine tooling overlapped with product development, which froze the basic design. Decisions which threatened the schedule were discouraged. The attitude of Ford management was to develop the Pinto as quickly as possible. Iacocca ordered a rush project to build the car, and the Pinto became known internally as "Lee's car". The Pinto's bodywork was styled by Robert Eidschun.
Offered with an inline-4 engine and bucket seats the Pinto's mechanical design was conventional, with unibody construction, a longitudinally mounted engine in front driving the rear wheels through either a manual or automatic transmission and live axle rear end. Suspension was by unequal-length control arms with front coil springs; the live rear axle was suspended on leaf springs. The rack and pinion steering had optional power assist, as did the brakes.
On September 11, 1970, Ford introduced the Pinto under the tagline The Little Carefree Car.
After structural design on alternate body styles encountered obstacles, Ford offered the Pinto solely as a two-door sedan, with entry level models priced at $1,850, undercutting GM's Chevrolet Vega and directly targeting imported models – which included such new competitors as the Mazda 1200 in 1971, the Subaru DL in 1972, and the Honda Civic in 1973.
By January 1971, the Pinto had sold over 100,000 units and 352,402 for the entire 1971 production run. 1974 saw the most Pintos produced in a single model year, with 544,209 units.
The Ford Pinto went on sale on September 11, 1970 in one bodystyle, a fastback sedan with an enclosed trunk. A hatchback became available on February 20, 1971, debuting at the Chicago Auto Show. In 1971, the Pinto brochure came with a paper cutout Pinto that one could fold to make a 3D model. Marketed as the Runabout, the hatchback went on sale five days later, priced at $2,062. The hatch itself featured exposed chrome hinges for the liftgate and five decorative chrome strips, pneumatic struts to assist in opening the hatch, a rear window approximately as large as the sedan's, and a fold down seat – a feature which became simultaneously an option on the sedan. The hatchback model matched the sedan in all other dimensions and offered 38.1 cubic feet (1.08 m3) of cargo space with its seat folded. By 1972, Ford redesigned the hatch itself, with the glass portion of the hatch enlarged to almost the entire size of the hatch itself, ultimately to be supplemented for 1977–1980 with an optional rear hatch that was entirely glass.
On October 30, 1970, less than two months after introduction, 26,000 Pintos were recalled to address a possible problem with the accelerator sticking on once engaged at more than halfway. On March 29, 1971, Ford recalled 220,000 Pintos, all Pintos manufactured prior to March 19, 1971, to address a possible problem with fuel vapors in the engine air filter igniting by a backfire through the carburetor.
On February 24, 1972, the Pinto station wagon debuted with an overall length of 172.7 in (4,390 mm) and 60.5 cubic feet (1.71 m3) of cargo volume. The first 2-door Ford station wagon since the 1965 Falcon, the Pinto wagon was equipped with flip-open rear quarter windows. Along with front disc brakes, the 2.0L engine was standard equipment. A Pinto Squire wagon featured faux wood side paneling similar to the full-size Country Squire.
Also in February 1972, the Sprint Decor Group was made available for the Pinto for one model year only. The Sprint Decor Group included white exterior paint with blue accent paint and red pinstriping, a blacked out grille, color-keyed wheels with bright trim rings and hubcaps, white sidewall tires and color-keyed dual sport mirrors. The interior included red, white and blue cloth and vinyl bucket seats, full carpeting and a deluxe steering wheel. The Sprint Decor Group was offered simultaneously on the Maverick and Mustang.
For the 1973 model year, the Pinto received more appearance options. There was a new Sport Accent Group offered in white exterior paint with a choice of two-tone orange or avacado accent paint, matching vinyl roof and a deluxe interior with woodtone trim. There was also a new Luxury Decor Group with bright exterior dress up mouldings, black bumper rub strips and deluxe interior with woodtone trim. New on the option list was slotted forged aluminum wheels.
In 1974, to meet federal regulations, 5 mph bumpers were added to both the front and rear. Unlike the majority of 1970s cars, the addition of larger bumpers to the Pinto would not necessitate major changes to the bodywork. While the underpowered Kent engine was dropped, the optional OHC engine was expanded to 2.3L. In various forms, this engine would go on to power a variety of Ford vehicles for 23 years. In 1974, Mercury began selling a rebadged version of the Pinto called Bobcat as a Canada-only model. 544,209 units sold, 1974 would be the most popular model year for the Pinto. Steel-belted tires, an anti-theft alarm system, and metallic glow paint were optional.
In 1975, in a move to better compete with the AMC Gremlin, Ford introduced the 2.8L V6; while far less powerful than the Gremlin, the V6 gave the Pinto a feature unavailable in the Chevrolet Vega. Sales of the Mercury Bobcat were expanded to Lincoln-Mercury dealers in the United States; it was sold as a hatchback and wagon.
As a minor styling update for 1976, the Pinto received the eggcrate grille and chrome headlamp bezels recycled from the Canada-only 1974 Mercury Bobcat. For one model year only, two new option packages were offered. One was the sporty new Stallion appearance package with black out trim and black two-tone accent paint offered in red, yellow, silver and white body colors. This option package was shared with the Mustang II and Maverick. The other new option package was the Runabout Squire which featured woodgrain vinyl bodysides like the Squire wagon. The interior received the optional Luxury Decor Group which featured new low back vinyl or plaid cloth bucket seats with matching door trim.
For the 1977 model year, the Pinto received its first significant styling updates with slanted back urethane headlamp buckets, parking lamps and grille. The taillamps were revised except for the wagons. Runabouts offered an optional all glass rear hatch for the first time. Pinto wagons were given a new option package. Dubbed the Pinto Cruising Wagon, it was the sedan delivery version of the Pinto styled to resemble a small conversion van, complete with round side panel "bubble windows" and a choice of optional vinyl graphics.
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