At least the Pinto was easy to work on.
Plenty of room under the hood for mods.
BTW, the carb was probably the most “sophisticated” part on the car.
A Weber design built by Holley.
Within reason it could “adjust” itself on the fly - all mechanically.
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Yeah I remember the one I had in the early 90’s, A 1971 with the copper penny paint job.
It was one of the first cars I ever had to work on the engine, easiest thing to replace a thermostat and would also be the one car besides the 72 super beetle I would love to tinker with again.
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My folks got one after the Arab Oil Embargo.
'71 2 L sohc 4 spd sedan
Learned to drive a standard on that - and the car survived…
Did a front drum to front disc swap.
Put a variable cam sprocket on and learned a lot about cam timing.
Was looking at ways to do vct before it became a thing.
Learned a lot from that car - also expanded my list of expletives…
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yeah fun times 
my most memorable part was getting about 15 people to fit in one along with groceries for the month. It was cramp and good thing we only had to drive about 5 miles but still wild that we could do it.
kind of sad we had to leave it in Las Vegas.
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Wow. Personal participation record for car stuff (butts/manufacturer described “seat”) was 8 in a Datsun 210. We went about 10 miles or so, partly down I-35 in Denton. That was the day the driver discovered the left-hand entrance "South"bound from Dallas Drive. Ah… Good times.
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Fort Worth to Albuquerque with 5 of us in a ‘67 Olds 442 (the coolest year for the 442 IMO, with the possible exception of the ‘64). Bucket seats in front meant 3 of us shared the seat-not-a-seat in the back.
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There was quite a few of us in my first car, Honda CRX. It’s only a 2 seater hatchback. Luckily I was the driver and didn’t have to get or stay in the back.
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Adjusting the rocker arms for valve clearance was the worst I’ve ever encountered. You get the gap, but when tightening the jam nut it moved - but never the same amount twice. Also first car I worked on that had both English and Metric (should be thankful wasn’t built in UK or they’ve have thrown in Whitworth) fasteners.
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First car 1959 Ford 2 door sedan with stairght-six 225. Could actually get into engine compartment with engine. Vacuum wipers - when accelerating, they stopped, when decelerating went fast. Manual choke, washer fluid was plastic bag with manual foot operated pump.
All metal dash - never cracked or faded.
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You never forget your 1st love.
I had to put the top up, to keep the girls out. At 16, I wasn’t a good enough mechanic to keep her as my only car. It’s sadder now, I bought her for $4k, now they are going for up to $100k.
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Wow, VERY cool; those have gotten super rare. Helped work on one years ago, had wiring/electrical gremlins 
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By 61, you’ll have learned nobody is. That’s why they’re always part of a collection…
LOL
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Luuucuuss…Prince of Darkness…
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Just keep a bottle of Lucas Replacement Smoke on hand…
http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm
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Question: since Lucas is the “Prince of Darkness” (and by Nature, composed of pure evil) is this replacement smoke a Universal elixir for all things electronic? Can it be used to reanimate CPUs and Mosfets as well?
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No. True Lucas Replacement Smoke has Royal Imprimatur showing it’s pedigree. It is properly only used to recharge ignition systems tainted by it as original installed equipment at point of manufacture. It should NEVER be used on any Italian based Magneti Marelli or German based Bosch systems.
Some things just don’t mix. It’s amazing that R-12 is banned in the US but LRS is still importable.
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The things you learn here. Wish I would have known about this a long time ago. I have smoked a lot of electrical system in my day.
The vehicle I loved to work on was my 72 F-250 with a 460. You could climb into the engine compartment close the hood and still work on it.
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I’m guessing that means you never put the top up, amiright? I had a chance drive one. It was my brother-in-law’s sister’s boyfriend’s car. She had borrowed it, doubt if he had planned on it being passed around, but should have expected it. It was a blast.
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My first was ‘55 Chevy two-door hardtop pulled out of a wrecking yard.
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Drive a car long enough and you up w/ names and acronyms for it.
PINTO
Please
Ignore
Negligible
Torque
Output
One’s driving skills adapt and you learn that “preservation of momentum” really is your friend.
Had a '72 Pinto station wagon - nicknamed “The Turtle”.
And people wonder where my driving habits came from…
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