http://www.history.com/this...nto-crash-in-indiana

On this day in 1978, three teenage girls die after their 1973 Ford Pinto is rammed from behind by a van and bursts into flames on an Indiana highway. The fatal crash was one of a series of Pinto accidents that caused a national scandal during the 1970s.

The Pinto gas tank position was similiar to the gas tank position in the 1960s Mustang where the tank was dropped into a "hole" in the trunk where it was also suseptable to punture upon a rear end collision. In that position it was easy to add the gas tank while the cars rolled down the assembly line.

My first car was a '79 Pinto, and I LOVED it. It was 20 years old when I got it and I was the second owner. Immaculately kept and maintained, it was unbreakable. I drove the ever-living dog pee out of it for 3 years until I hit a patch of black ice and rolled it down a hill...

This thread is broken.

quote Originally posted by 1988holleyformula: This thread is broken.

It seems to be working now... Hmm...

[This message has been edited by Rallaster (edited 08-10-2012).]

quote Originally posted by Rallaster: My first car was a '79 Pinto, and I LOVED it. It was 20 years old when I got it and I was the second owner. Immaculately kept and maintained, it was unbreakable. I drove the ever-living dog pee out of it for 3 years until I hit a patch of black ice and rolled it down a hill...

I don't remeber which year but my first car back in 84 was a Pinto.
I forget which I had to add more of daily....oil or antifreeze

[This message has been edited by Gokart (edited 08-10-2012).]

Ford was aware of this problem early on, but decided it would be cheaper to pay the lawsuits than to fix the problem. The cost of the part was either $4.00 or $15.00 a car plus the cost of recalling the car. I read a story in a car mag about a young fellow who was badly burned in a Pinto accident who lost all of his facial features, fingers and toes and private parts. He won a lot of money, but in a press conference after the trail asked what good it would do him because he would never have the things in life that most of us value.

I was asked to leave a Ford dealership at some point after this became public because a salesman was trying to sell a girlfriend a Pinto and I asked him about the fires. Now I own a Fiero.

I bought a Pinto from my friend for $50. My sister-in-law drove it for several years.

quote Originally posted by Old Lar: The Pinto gas tank position was similiar to the gas tank position in the 1960s Mustang where the tank was dropped into a "hole" in the trunk where it was also suseptable to punture upon a rear end collision. In that position it was easy to add the gas tank while the cars rolled down the assembly line.

The position wasn't really the problem. The Pinto engineers had designed in a fuel cell. The bean counters felt it was far too expensive so a 'regular' tank went in, and to hell with safety. At least that is the history i have always been told.