Rusty But Trusty

Raise your hands, those of you who’ve seen the spare lines of an early 1970s economy car like a Pinto or Vega and thought, “you know, those aren’t so bad looking, and it wouldn’t take much to make it into a better car to drive.” What, nobody? You’re in a safe environment here, like a support network, you can tell us your secrets. Okay, so there are a few – the guy who raced a Pinto in LeMons, someone else who threw a junkyard turbo on a fuel injected Yugo. Well, if you are prone to dreaming instead, you might as well find one that’s already done – check out this 1977 Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon turbo for sale for $3000 in Portland, OR.

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Beyond suicide doors, retro kitsch is another good reason to look at and buy old cars. Who doesn’t at least crack a small smile at the Pierre Cardin AMC Javelin, the Frank Sinatra Imperial coupe, or the Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon? With the kustom van craze in full swing, the marketing types at Ford thought, why not make this easy on people? How many people want to go to the trouble of applying wicked stripe schemes, airbrushing murals, and fitting heart, diamond, and bubble windows to the back? All that work is so messy, even if it is in the name of getting in good with the ladies. So they came out with the Ford Cruising Van, and for the fuel-conscious ladies’ man, the Pinto Cruising Wagon. Being a throwaway car, there are few survivors, but if you can’t resist the call of the van, check out this 1977 Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon, for sale for $2750 in San Jose, CA.

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