Even by BangShift standards, a Doublemint-green Ford Pinto station wagon is pushing things just a little bit. We can give the Pinto all the crap in the world about exploding gas tanks and lawsuits and recalls and all that, but the Pinto actually did pretty well for Ford. Between 1971 and 1980, the Pinto was the small car in Ford’s lineup, and overall seemed to fare much better in the long run and historically over it’s GM rival, the H-body Vega and siblings. Yes, there was an issue with the fuel tanks on the early cars. Yes, there was a lawsuit, and yes, there is video evidence proving that if you let a 1971 Impala rear-end a 1972 Pinto at a fast-enough speed, that fire is probably going to be an issue without a modification between the rear axle and the fuel tank. But overall, the fix was more or less a mudflap between the two items. 
Strangely enough, Pintos have actually become kind of cool in their own right. Blame that on retro vision or people appreciating their simplicity in the face of techno-laden modern cars, but compare this surprisingly clean 1978 Ford Pinto wagon against any relatively cheap crossover and we know which we’d take every single time. Nothing about the Pinto should be a shock here: Ford’s 2.3L four-cylinder is a well-known unit that takes well to turbocharging and a four-speed manual trans means that driving it won’t suck. The paint is fresh, and there’s only fifty-some thousand miles on the odometer. It’s dead stock now and under Rough Start guidelines, is probably going to stay that way for a bit…the sale price is a just under the $5,000 budget. But in it’s current form it’ll get very decent MPG, will took around nicely and if you use it as a two-seat wagon, will be very useful.
Just save up for that turbocharger. Trust us, you’ll like it.
Craigslist Link: 1978 Ford Pinto station wagon
Seller says \”yes, we know, everybody has a pinto story. Your uncle (sister, cousin, neighbor, high school friend, collage roommate) had a pinto, And it was a great little car.\” My towns only claim to fame is that the court case for the pinto happened there.
I Love Chevys, there were several lawsuits and I believe Ford came out on top of most. Do you live in Winemac, Indiana? That’s were the biggest & last of the court cases (Started in Elkhart) was held, settled in Ford’s favor and I believe it might have been a criminal case since a prosecutor filed the lawsuit. Basic facts on that one was the Pinto driver had gotten gas, forgot to replace the gas cap, stopped on the side of the road to put it on and was rear ended by a Chevy van whose driver obviously wasn’t paying attention to his driving. I remember that case and due to friendships between the driver’s family and one of my family I had inside information about the missing gas cap before it came out in court. The prosecutor was livid and despite a death bed statement by the driver to the medical staffer who testified, the prosecutor claimed he could find 50 witnesses who saw the gas cap on the car before the crash. My opinion is the prosecutor had aspirations for higher political office and what better way that to sue Ford and hold them criminally accountable?
I like it. People now days are into this stuff so whatever. Hey it’s a stick.