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
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