Ford Pinto - Wikipedia. Ford Pinto. Ford Pinto. Overview. Manufacturer. Ford. Production. September 1. 97. 0. The first subcompact developed by Ford in North America, the Pinto was marketed in two- door coupe (1. In 1. 97. 7, the Pinto was subject to the largest recall up to that time. Check engine light, diagnostics, auto repair, question, timing belt, diagram, technician, obd, codes, diagnostic, car help, car repair, car advice. The Alfa Romeo Montreal Website. This is an independent website, maintained by Bruce Taylor, Geneva, Switzerland, and last updated 3 April 2017. As NHTSA found that the fuel system was defective, modification of 1. A subsequent study concluded that the fire risks of the Ford Pinto were no greater than its contemporaries. As the popularity of smaller Japanese imports from Toyota and Datsun increased throughout the 1. Ford North America responded by introducing the Ford Cortina from its European arm Ford of Europe as a captive import. ![]() ![]() American automakers would soon introduce their own subcompacts. The Pinto was in compliance with Japanese regulations concerning vehicle length and engine displacement, but exceeded width dimensions by 6. The AMC Gremlin was the first to arrive on the market six months before the Pinto, and the Chevrolet Vega was introduced the day before the Pinto. Both the Pinto and the Vega were completely new, with the Pinto utilizing power trains already in use across Europe in the European market spec European Ford Escort, while Chevrolet introduced an innovative aluminum engine for the Vega in its base trim. The Gremlin, AMC's competitor in the segment stood out as it was designed around large six and eight- cylinder engines, and was created by a shortened chassis derived from the compact- class AMC Hornet's underpinnings. Ford chairman Henry Ford II himself had a 1. ISUPAGE; Isuzu Automotive Performance Tuning Page. The oldest known and most comprehensive source of information on performance tuning, hotrodding, modifying, and.Runabout (hatchback) model as one of his personal cars. The Pinto product development, from conception through delivery, was completed in 2. Pinto project was the shortest production planning schedule in automotive history up to that time. Some development processes usually conducted sequentially were conducted in parallel. Machine tooling overlapped with product development, which froze the basic design. Decisions which threatened the schedule were discouraged. Suspension was by unequal- length control arms with front coil springs; the live rear axle was suspended on leaf springs. The rack and pinion steering had optional power assist, as did the brakes. ![]() Pintos produced in a single model year with 5. A hatchback became available on February 2. Chicago Auto Show. The hatchback model matched the sedan in all other dimensions and offered 3. Along with front disc brakes, the 2. L engine was standard equipment. A Pinto Squire wagon featured faux wood side paneling similar to the full- size Country Squire. ![]() ![]() EHow Auto gets you on the fast track with repair, maintenance, and shopping advice. Whether you're jump starting a battery or insuring a new car, we can help. Hearst Magazines and Hearst Digital Media are divisions of Hearst Communications, Inc. Manage your page to keep your users updated View some of our premium pages: google.com. Upgrade to a Premium Page. ![]() Unlike the majority of 1. Pinto would not necessitate major changes to the bodywork. While the underpowered Kent engine was dropped, the optional OHC engine was expanded to 2. L. In various forms, this engine would go on to power a variety of Ford vehicles for 2. Mercury begins selling the Bobcat as a Canada- only model. With 5. 44,2. 09 units sold, 1. Pinto. Sales of the Mercury Bobcat are expanded to Lincoln- Mercury dealers in the United States; it is sold as a hatchback and wagon. ![]() ![]() For the 1. 97. 7 model year, Pinto wagons received a new option package. Dubbed the Pinto Cruising Wagon, it was the sedan delivery version of the Pinto styled to resemble a small conversion van, complete with round side panel . Nearly two feet shorter than the Pinto, the German- designed Fiesta was the first front- wheel drive car sold by Ford in the USA. Mercury Bobcat (1. The Bobcat was marketed as a hatchback and as a station wagon, under the Villager nameplate, and both featured a modified grille. The hatchback featured modified tail lights. In total, 2. 24,0. Bobcats were produced from 1. Taking on square headlights, the Pinto shed its styling borrowed from the Maverick. Wearing larger taillights, the Pinto now wore a square, sloping grille. Pinto's production run. ![]() For 1. 98. 0, the V6 engine was discontinued, leaving the 2. L as the sole engine. For the first five years of production, only four- cylinder inline engines were offered. Ford changed the power ratings almost every year. This engine would be updated and modified several times, allowing it to remain in production into 1. Among other Ford vehicles, a turbocharged version of this engine would later power the performance based Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, Mustang SVO, and the European- built Merkur XR4. Ti. The 2,0. 00 cc engine used a two barrel carburetor where just one bore was bigger than that used on the Maverick. With the low weight (not much above 2,0. SOHC engine it rated a 1. With the advent of emission control requirements, Ford moved from the European sourced to domestically sourced engines, using new or modified designs. New safety legislation impacted bumpers and other parts adding to the weight of the car, reducing performance. Revised SAE standards in 1. Pinto's 1. 6 l (9. W) . The larger 2. Chevrolet Vega was an innovative, brand new design using an aluminum alloy block and iron head, but needed more development work as initially released. Super Stock Magazine found the fit and finish to be . The car tended to erupt in flame in rear- end collisions. The events surrounding the controversy have been described both as a . Ford was accused of knowing the car had an unsafe tank placement then forgoing design changes based on an internal cost benefit analysis. Two landmark legal cases, Grimshaw vs Ford and State of Indiana vs Ford resulted from fatal accidents involving Pintos. These works also reviewed misunderstandings related to the actual number of fire related deaths related to the fuel system design, . The first federal standard for automotive fuel system safety, passed in 1. Section 3. 01 in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, initially only considered front impacts. In January 1. 96. Pinto's development cycle, the NHTSA proposed expanding the standard to cover rear- end collisions. The proposed standard was based on a 2. Ford publicly announced it supported the standard. In August 1. 97. 0, the month the Pinto went into production, the NHTSA changed the proposal to a more stringent 2. The fixed- barrier standard was seen by the auto industry as a significant increase in test severity. At the same time the NHTSA announced a long- term goal of setting a 3. Design changes were made, but post launch tests showed similar results. Though Ford engineers were not pleased with the car. This placement was not a viable option for the hatchback and station wagon body styles. Cost- benefit analysis was one tool used in the evaluation of safety design decisions accepted by the industry and the NHTSA. The values assigned to serious burn injuries and loss of life were based on values calculated by NHTSA in 1. The design changes were estimated to save 1. In August 1. 97. 7, having been provided with a copy of the memo Grimshaw v. Time magazine said the memo was one of the automotive industry's . The general misunderstanding of the document as presented by Mother Jones gave it an operational significance it never had. These included that Ford knew the Pinto was a . Schwartz in a Rutgers Law Review article said the NHTSA investigation of the Pinto was in response to consumer complaints and noted the Mother Jones article included a clip out . Weights were placed in the nose of the car to help it slide under the Pinto and maximize gas tank contact. The vehicle headlights were turned on to provide a possible ignition source. The fuel tank was completely filled with gasoline rather than partially filled with non- flammable Stoddard fluid as was the normal test procedure. In a later interview the NHTSA engineer was asked why the NHTSA forced a Pinto recall for failing a 3. Initially, the NHTSA did not feel there was sufficient evidence to demand a recall due to incidents of fire. The NHTSA investigation found that 2. The NHTSA did not indicate if these impacts would have been survivable absent fire or if the impacts were more severe than even a state of the art (for 1. The administration was pressured by safety advocates (Center for Auto Safety) as well as the public respose. It was also being forced into action due to the ways in which both the courts and executive branch were limiting the ability of the NHTSA to address systematic auto safety issues. Ford Motor Company and State of Indiana vs Ford Motor Company. Ford Motor Co., decided in February 1. Pinto cases. The car was struck from behind by a vehicle initially traveling at 5. The passenger, Richard Grimshaw, was seriously burned. The jury award was said to be the largest ever in US product liability and personal injury cases. According to the Los Angeles Times in 2. The driver had stopped in the road to retrieve the car. While stopped the Pinto was struck by a Chevrolet van. A grand jury indicted Ford on three counts of reckless homicide. Ford was a landmark in product liability law as the first time a corporation faced criminal charges for a defective product, and the first time a corporation was charged with murder. Neal with a staff of 8. Elkhart Countystate's attorney had a budget of about $2. He noted that fires, and rear- end fires in particular, are very small portion of overall auto fatalities. At the time only 1% of automobile crashes would result in fire and only 4% of fatal accidents involved fire, and only 1. Pintos represented 1. During that time the car represented 1. It was significantly better than the Datsun 1. Toyota Corolla and VW Beetle. This was considered respectable for a subcompact car. Only when considering the narrow subset of rear- impact, fire fatalities is the car somewhat worse than the average for subcompact cars. While acknowledging this is an important legal point, Schwartz rejects the portrayal of the car as a firetrap. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved March 6, 2. The Pinto doesn't seem so bad. The design devolved into hexagonal headlight housings, a grille that's only a few inches tall yet wide enough to become the car's focal point, and a rear end that apparently melted from the roof. Retrieved December 3, 2. Ford and Canada: 1. Years Together (Montr. Harvard Business Review. Your Entire Car Owning History Please. When it was later revealed that Pintos exploded upon rear impact, my immediate thought was “And. Slow, gnarly to shift, horrible handling, non- functional HVAC, etc. My father, A Ford man at the time, bought the car for the same reason everyone else did: they were cheap. Ford Pinto Station Wagon. When “mine” died from heat exhaustion, Dad simply did the hand me down thing again. VW Golf, and all I got was this lousy T- shirt. A lifelong insanity was revealed as I shod the Pinto with Pirelli P3s in an attempt to get it to handle. Oh, and put a Nagamichi cassette player in the glove box. Peter Frampton lives! Mercedes 2. 30. E. The 2. 30 was another hand me down, this time from Mom. Anything was better than the Pinto. Killed the car when I was showing- off the Merc’s cornering prowess to friends- understeered straight into a curb, snapped the front axle like a toothpick. Mazda RX- 4. Velour seats, gauges inside plastic housing that looked like. A real sleeper in terms of thrust, although the cool factor was slightly limited by the fact that one my high school friends also had one. A bit of a gas pig, burned through three clutches. OK, I started messing with the transmission, sway bars, lightweight wheels, etc. B spin like a sewing machine. Some epic late night runs. Mazda GLC. And then I bought this 1. POS. God knows what I was thinking, something about fuel economy, practicality, college. I didn’t upgrade anything. It eventually died in a head on collision on the access road next to Storrow Drive. Mazda RX- 7. Great looks (white helped hide those hideous bumper strips), sharp handling, discs and LOADS of upgrades. Put one of those weird louver deals over the back window, . The A/C couldn’t cope, and dropped power by 3. Push the A/C button in the middle of the fan knob (turning OFF the A/C) and struth! Not. Loads of motorcycles. Did see the point of having massive power on tap. Mercedes 3. 00. CE. Solid as a tank, creamy six- cylinder power and plenty quick. Although its looks were superbly, sublimely British, this was as close to a American muscle car as God ever let a foreigner get: superb engine note (5. Buick job) and unbelievably, ridiculously, unconscionably, tire smokingly quick. Hideous long distance cruiser: noisy, leaked, drafts, crap radio, the world’s heaviest clutch pedal, etc. And it didn’t like to start. A boulevardier’s boulevardier. Quiet, smooth, reliable. Speed limiter detached, Autobahns dispatched. With the right tires (here we go again), I was able to keep up with the new Aston through the twisties. Not much point to that really, but hey, we were both headed in the same direction. Jeep Cherokee 4. 0. The right hand drive Jeep was a rattly thing with awful brakes and dodgy handling. The ONE TIME it snowed, the car was in for service. I got nothing. Volvo 8. T5. What else did I need to know? Someone might have mentioned that it was a torque steer monster, and the turbo came on all Saab- like. But it was a bit of a hoot with lots of luxury and it never let me down. TVR Chimaera. Scared the SHIT out of myself on many occasions. Also didn’t start more often than not. I mean, than did. Ferrari F3. 55. B. I used the Ferrari as my daily driver. The smell, the sound, the handling. But my GOD did it cost me money; the F3. B spent at least half its time with me without me– in the shop. Ran up the miles, spun it twice and had to get rid of it before the catastrophic bills became cataclysmic. Ferrari F5. 50. M – I loved the way it looked and LOVED the in- gear acceleration. And they were on sale. But the car was damned. First, the entire transmission had to be replaced. Then, everything else. When I, uh, danced with an Subaru Impreza Turbo on a series of long sweepers, I realized the Ferrari’s high speed stability was dubious. I decided to get out of the car before I killed myself. BMW 5. 40i Estate. Easily the most luxurious car I’ve ever driven. Thoroughly. Porsche Carrera 4. I remember saying on the test drive, “Why the Hell did I ever buy a Ferrari?” I drove the snot out of that car and never, ever had a “moment.” I could do epic, ungodly things with the C4. Turns out the bastards sold me a crashed car, though. Jaguar XK1. 20. 0 – Decided to have one built from the ground up by Guy Broad, using a 4. Gorgeous car that needed a lot of work (uh, Guy, the seat’s just come loose). Just starting the fettling process when I drove her on a snowy afternoon. Took out an entire English village. Divorce prevented me from pursuing perfection. The one that got away. Phenomenal car: smooth, quiet, powerful, graceful, comfortable, understated, elegant, burbalicious. A luxury car around town, a supercar in the twisties, a . The M5’s Achilles heel: recirculating ball steering; almost had a . Other than that, perfect. Just perfect. Audi S4 Avant. A painful time in my life. My internet career started very badly indeed when I revealed (on pistonheads. I didn’t know the difference between an S4 and a RS4. The S4 had the best seats I’ve ever sat upon. It was comfortable, luxurious and semi- sporting. Well, sporting enough to lose my license, anyway. BMW M3 (E3. 6) – Moved back to the states and celebrated with this masterpiece. Custom ordered in Estoril blue. Another perfect car, save the fact that the back seats were too cave- like for the kids. This became a REAL issue when Sam fell pregnant. Porsche Cayenne S. The throttle lag drove me NUTS. Sad to say, the Cayenne was nothing special- except when it snowed or we went off- road. Holy shit, what an unstoppable machine. I think we left the pavement twice.? Excellent car, but the thrill was gone. Water- cooled engine’s OK with me. Handling just as foolproof as before, only more so. But it just didn’t feel special. On those occasions when all four girls are in attendance, or carrying big box items, or bikes, or dogs, or girls, stuff AND dogs, it can’t be beat. Poorly- built: creaks and rattles, things break. But the V6 is perfectly adequate, the tranny shifts like a dream and the drop- down TV is a godsend. Long live the art of conversation.) Only real beef: bought it before MP3 compatibility. That sucks. Porsche Boxster S. Well, it’s too damn noisy for long distance travel. Considering a Bentley Arnage T, a Maserati Gran. Turismo S (when the new one arrives and then depreciates) or a F3. B A B Y L O N F L O R A LWelcome to Babylon Floral Design, Denver's most unique flower boutique, specializing in cutting edge floral design and unique gift items. We strive to provide the most exquisite arrangements and service for individuals and events by transforming thoughts and feelings into floral art, using color, texture, form and style to communicate. Please feel free to browse our gallery and blog to get a sense of what we do and then visit our order page for our unique approach to ordering flowers. We hand select our flowers daily and carry a large assortment of fresh orchids and tropicals along with seasonal picks. For special requests, call the day before and we'll order what you want. We are happy to offer city- wide delivery and an association with a consortium of fine florists, offering outstanding floral design for nationwide and international delivery. If you want to make a purchase and your billing address and/or credit card is outside the United States, please call the shop to order. We provide secure online ordering 2. Sundays or most major holidays.
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