Pinto

I had a few minutes to contemplate my car/life choices the other day. Technically, I was waiting a few moments to try to start the engine on a 94 Buick Roadmaster, which had coughed, belched, and stalled on me. It had happened the previous day on a hot start, and a few minutes of turning the key again, it eventually fired up and settled in a nice idle and got me home. I’m not sure what was wrong with engine, but it gave me time to think if my choice of beaters was from the right decade. The wife is always saying I need newer more reliable modern cars, but I’m thinking that 94 might be too electronified and I need something more carburmafied. Because here is the truth — my oldest carburetor fed cars might have a few issues (well…always something) but you can nurse it home and fix it. An electronically chip controlled key-ignition system won’t work at all if something goes wrong, but an old school mechanical setup…meh…you’ll notice the degradation before total failure. Modern cars have too many single points of failure because of digital electronics– if too much moisture accumulates in the 94 LT1 optispark chamber…well…no spark, no run. On the other hand, you can run a conventional points system at about 2% of its optimal design specification (gap or dwell or whatever) and it’ll run like garbage, but it’ll still run enough to get you home. So maybe, just maybe, a Ford Pinto with a carb fed 302 V8 is an upgrade in reliability from a 94 LTI? Asking price on this next one is optimistic, but the concept is good. Find this 1979 Ford Pinto offered for $15,000 buy-it-now or make-offer in Katy, TX via eBay.

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