I
hope that you’ve have your passport updated since that college class
trip to Europe in the mid-90s, you’ll need it to see this one, unless
you live in Canada. This
1974 Ford Pinto Esquire Wagon is in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada and it’s listed
on eBay. The current bid price is $4,100 Canadian, which is around $3,100 US. I would imagine that if there
are
any Ford Pinto collectors, they would covet the 1970-1973 models
because of the smaller, non-federally-mandated 5 mph bumpers like this
car has. But, other than that this one looks great.
This
car looks amazing, although some of you may say that an “amazing Pinto”
is an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp. But, the seller says that it has
only
6,500 original miles
on it! It’s a one-owner car and it has been garaged since new and has
been stored since 1981. It has been started every year but hasn’t been
driven because the last time it’s had current license plates was 35
years ago. There are a lot of photos but only two that show a complete
side, or as in the photo above, the back of the car. But, from the many
detail photos it looks like it’s about
as nice of a Pinto as you will
ever find.
The
first thing you notice is that this car has a Cruise-O-Matic 3-speed
automatic transmission, and the first thing that a lot of you did after
noticing that was to give a collective sigh. My dad had two successive
Pintos as company cars, one of each transmission-configuration, and the
4-speed car was more fun to drive. Big shocker. The interior on this car
looks outstanding! From the carpet to the
headliner to the
rear compartment, it’s almost a true time capsule. I can’t imagine that the
backseat
was ever used, or at least it doesn’t look like it was. And you can see
the perfect, clear floormat back there, do any of you remember those?
The Esquire received the fancy wood (look) panels, and the
door panels look like they were literally just put together in 1974. The spare tire has most likely never seen the sun before
this photo
was taken. They do say that the heater core was leaking so they
disconnected it, and it must have damaged the passenger side sill plate.
The seller says that everything
“except for the battery and exhaust is original.” The
underside
looks good with the original markings, and of course surface rust
probably due to the humid climate in the Niagara Falls area. I guess
they have some sort of big water feature there or something.. In 1974,
Ford introduced the 2.3L, 140 cubic-inch, OHC inline-four and it had
around 90 hp, a fairly respectable amount of power for such a car in
1974. I’m not sure what the white, drippy stuff is on the back of the
engine compartment, maybe a quick attempt to glue the rubber strip back
on? Whatever it is, I hope that it’ll come off.
If any of you are into Ford Pinto wagons, this is the one to nab up. An
Esquire
brings a bit of luxury to the table, relatively-speaking, and it sure
is in great condition. You’ll want to replace as many rubber bits and
pieces as you can find in the engine compartment and underneath, and I’m
sure that the brakes will need to be gone through from sitting, as well
as the usual fuel system repairs. Are any of you fans of Pinto Wagons?
If so, what would you think needs to be done to this car to get it up
and running again?
Source: barnfinds.com