Bob Patlian’s 1971 Ford Pinto Resto-mod
Sometimes a car just stops you in your tracks. Am I right? I am at the Historic Main Street Car Show in Garden Grove on Friday Night, for this special event with the Wienermobile coming into town. Well, after all the commotion of a 30′ Hot Dog cruisin in your neighborhood, I took a stroll along Main Street and this Pinto catches my eye. These cars get a bad wrap, but when they first came out it was pretty exciting for Ford to have a small car that a newly licensed bearing baby boomer crowd can afford. And then they started tricking them out. Heck, even Ford came out with a custom porthole Pinto wagon to match their custom van.
But this one was a bit different. It was super clean as you can tell, the stance was just right, the Shelby Mustang tail lights are super cool too, but it was under the hood that was really special.
Bob rescued this American shell of an answer to the Japanese imports at a junkyard up in Northern California. A full restoration with modern touches, yet keep it 70’s simple was in order. That included the super straight engine bay that featured a crown of relatively stock ’67 Fairlane 289 with a C4 automatic transmission and 2:79 Trac Lok.
A real beauty. Thanks Bob for bringing it out.
