Even in its final year Ford kept trying to dress this one up: the 1979-1980 Pinto ESS (European Sports Sedan) package layered on blacked-out trim and sport badging right up until the car was replaced by the Escort.
Lead trim: Pinto 2.3 LL23 OHC I4 (88 hp; 1980) · up to 102 hp
Ford PintoPINTO-3 · 1979–1980
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Ford Pinto yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactEven in its final year Ford kept trying to dress this one up: the 1979-1980 Pinto ESS (European Sports Sedan) package layered on blacked-out trim and sport badging right up until the car was replaced by the Escort.
For the 1979 model year the Pinto gained rectangular headlamps, inboard vertical parking lamps, a taller slanted-back grille, revised tail lamps (except the wagons) and a new rectangular instrument cluster with a modified dash pad; the Bobcat took the same restyle with a large vertical-bar grille. The variety of sports appearance packages was revised, the Pinto ESS (European Sports Sedan) trim package arriving on 2-door sedan and 3-door Runabout with black roof drip mouldings, rocker panels, glass surrounds and door frames, dual sport mirrors, charcoal grille and headlamp surrounds and the Sports Package (front stabilizer bar, sport steering wheel, full instrumentation, optional axle ratio on 2.3 L manual cars) standard; a wagon version of the Pony arrived. The V6 was discontinued for 1980, leaving the 2.3 L as the sole engine, and the Pinto's production ended in July 1980, replaced by the front-wheel-drive Ford Escort (the Bobcat by the Mercury Lynx). The 2.3 L made 88 hp in 1979 and 1980 (118 lb·ft in 1979, 119 lb·ft in 1980), the 2.8 V6 102 hp and 138 lb·ft in 1979.
Collectors Spotted in the Ford Pinto Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Ford Pinto yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
3 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinto 2.3 LL23 OHC I4 (88 hp; 1979) | 1979–1979 | 2.3 L Inline-4 | 88 hp | 118 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Pinto 2.3 LL23 OHC I4 (88 hp; 1980) | 1980–1980 | 2.3 L Inline-4 | 88 hp | 119 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Pinto 2.8 Cologne V6 (102 hp; 1979) | 1979–1979 | 2.8 L V6 | 102 hp | 138 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
Owning one
An estimate, for the Pinto 2.3 LL23 OHC I4 (88 hp; 1979) trim: fuel on its EPA figure and a dated national price, upkeep on a per-mile average for the kind of car it is.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
Even in its final year Ford kept trying to dress this one up: the 1979-1980 Pinto ESS (European Sports Sedan) package layered on blacked-out trim and sport badging right up until the car was replaced by the Escort.
Ford threw a V6 at the Pinto in 1975 purely to out-gun the AMC Gremlin on paper — it was actually weaker than the Gremlin's standard six, but it was something the rival Chevy Vega simply couldn't offer at all.
The Pinto marked Ford's return to four-cylinder engines in North America — a 37-year gap stretching back to the Model A's engine being dropped in 1934.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
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