Tech & Biz

Ford Pinto Anniversary: September 11

by Jordan Yerman | September 10, 2009 at 01:44 pm

617 views | 2 Recommendations | 3 comments

The Ford Pinto turns 39 on September 11. Introduced on September 11, 1970, the Ford Pinto was made to be cheap and small. Mission: accomplished on both fronts, as the tiny car retailed for around $1850.

However, the Ford Pinto was also unsafe by design. Besides having a fuel tank prone to ignition upon impact from a rear-end collision, the Pinto also had no rear bumper. Ford knew about this problem but did not spend the money on a redesign, instead hoping the numbers of real-world collisions and lawsuits. would result in a lower overall cost than a recall and redesign. This became the inspiration for a plot element in Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club, i.e. "the formula", and, in real life, this is how Ford applied the formula:
Cost of fixing the Pinto's fatal flaw: $121 million
Estimated cost of damage/death payouts: $50 million
Course of action: don't recall the Pinto.

Ford actually lied about even crash-testing the Pinto, claiming that, instead of finding a failure rate around 100%, that it didn't crash-test the Pinto to begin with. Though Grimshaw vs Ford Motor Co. found against Ford, it also limited the damages for which Ford was liable.

Now, thirty-nine years after it hit America's roads, the Ford Pinto is still around, mainly as a collector's item, much like the AMC Gremlin. My parents had a red Pinto when I was a small child. I can only describe it as fugly, and I remember that it smelled of fuel when it got hot, which, in Arizona, was pretty much all the time. Not everyone agrees with me, and the Ford Pinto enjoys its own fan club.

So give it up for the Ford Pinto: #22 on Time Magazine's list of top 50 worst cars of all time.

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splattergraphics

at 18:28 on September 10th, 2009

I remember when the Pinto came out. In fact, I recently found that I still have one of the cardboard models Ford put out at the introduction, stored unassembled in my old desk at my mother's house.

I never owned one of the actual cars, although I did build several 1:25 scale models in the 1970s. MPC made both hatchback and wagon kits through 1979 and AMT made them at least through 1976.

I didn't think much of the Pinto during its production run, but running across earlier models at shows and cruise nights, I have to admit that for what it is it's not a bad-looking car. The basic body design has fairly nice lines. Unfortunately, the enormous bumpers mandated starting in 1974 just don't suit the rest of the car. Just compare the dark-green 1972 model pictured with the orange 1977-78 model. The new-for-'77 grille and headlight buckets help to alleviate the stuck-on look of the big bumper a little, but I still think the '72 looks better.

Michael Bruchas aka funsky1 (not verified)

at 19:01 on September 10th, 2009

Don't forget the Pinto's feline sibling - the Mercury Bobcat - which usually sold for a few hundred dollars more than the Pinto. That Mercury brand "cache"...I liked the looks of the Pinto wagon but it was a bad design, too. My 1969 Opel Kadett wagon had more room - though the Pinto US-made exhaust systems lasted longer than Opel's. Ford did some things right.I still see some Maverick's around - that was the slightly bigger sibling to the Pintoin it's last years of production. Ford kept the Falcon alive in South America with it's near 1960 design for almost 20 years and it was regarded as a good small car there...How did they get the Pinto so wrong???

Hugh Askew

at 06:08 on October 10th, 2009

ooooog.

My sister had a Pinto while attending college. I worked on it for her, so that she didn't have to pay for a mechanic. I figure she saved a good 2 years worth of tuition....it broke....often.