Cary Simmerman, 50, drove from Kalamazoo in the blue 1977 Pinto his mother bought in 1977 with 477 miles on it; it now has about 434,000 miles. He estimated that he’s invested only $2,000 in the car in the 30 years since she gave it to him — and that includes oil changes.
The first will be the aluminum-body F-150, arriving late this year. The 2015 Super Duty is a midcycle face-lift. Ford has not said when the next-generation Super Duty will arrive — or whether it will have an aluminum body.
An estimated 50 Pinto owners from as far away as California and Pennsylvania showed off their prized cars amid hundreds of Ford’s more popular and elegant models at the annual Ford employee car show today. The lovers of the often-mocked cars and station wagons were participating in the fourth annual Pinto Stampede, a three-day celebration of the vehicles, held for the first time in the state where the auto industry was born.
“We have a tough skin and we mostly see it as ignorance. It’s people making comments who don’t know a lot about the car. They know the myth of what it was. The car was not as dangerous as they portrayed it to be. It was a good story to sell, so it sold. Most cars of the day had a design with the gas tank (at) the rear.”
The Ford F-350, equipped with the same engine as the F-450, has a maximum towing rating of 26,700 pounds, 3,300 less than the Ram’s. To get the added towing capacity out of the F-450, Ford upped its rear axle ratio to 4.3 from 3.73, added commercial grade 19.5-inch wheels and tires and beefed up its suspension with new leaf springs, front and rear stabilizer bars and shocks along with larger brakes.
“They’re cute. They’re unique. They’re sexy. They’re a breed all their own, They’re an attention-getter. I get stopped by people, because they have a Pinto story,” said Jim Smutek, who was showing off his orange 1976 Pinto coupe, which he bought recently for $8,700.