Ford Pinto
The Ford Pinto is one of those quirky American cars that was doomed from the start – but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t an oddly cool car. Sure, the Pinto was basically designed to explode in minor rear-end collisions thanks to a terrible fuel tank design, and at one point, the accelerator was said to stick, risking fatal crashes. The car was also offensive to South Americans because its name is Brazilian slang for male genitals. But the Pinto was quite popular: Over 3,000,000 units were produced during its 10-year production.
Visually, the Pinto is that awkward middle child in the Ford family. It’s technically a fastback, but it’s like the nerdy little brother of the football star, the Mustang. It’s a good friend to the AMC Gremlin, sporting much of the same design factors. A measly I4 provided the first Pintos with just 75 horses, later de-tuned to just 54 horses for emissions in 1972 and ’73.
There were some positives that came with the Pinto, though. It was the first mass-produced American car with rack-and-pinion steering, and it’s feather 2,015-pound curb weight made it great on gas at a time when Americans were lining up at the pumps in a panic. It’s ugly, unsafe, and yet it still finds love among eccentric collectors. We think it’s so bad that it’s actually quite good.
