Pinto Cruising Wagon - Interior and chassis done!

[Faust]

Even if it’s a loser car, with a loser engine (which it is), I still like to try and make the interior and chassis of a car kit look as good as possible. Of course, when you’re talking about the make-work-project that is the MPC 1979 Pinto “Pony Express” reissue, that’s not exactly an easy chore.

Thankfully, the chassis and interior on this kit are fairly simple, and require  less reworking than the body and engine!

Check out my progress at the link below. This little beast is edging further towards completion!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/2018/09/12/pinto-update-3-inside-underside-tnt/

Edited September 13, 2018 by Faust

[Mike999]

Great work on a not-so-great kit (and car).  I had a '77 Pinto Cruising Wagon in that bright screaming yellow color.  But no stripes or other graphics.  IIRC, it was the only Cruising Wagon at the Ford dealer without those.  It had a black interior, 4-cyl. engine with 4-speed trans. 

As usual I'll be unhelpful and point out a couple of things it's probably too late to fix or just not worth the trouble: 

1. The interior of the "CP panels" in my car were covered in black carpet. Or at least a short-nap cloth material that looked a lot like carpet.  Looking around the internet I've seen cars with that stuff in them.  A photo of a '79 C.W. showed the panel covered in semi-gloss material that looked more like vinyl. 

2.  These Pintos had catalytic converters in the exhaust system. IIRC, "cats" were required on almost all American cars after 1975. That thing I distinctly remember. It failed and filled the car with the aroma of burning rotten eggs, a pretty common problem with early catalytic converters.  Fortunately the car was still under warranty so Ford replaced it free.

[Faust]

That's really weird, Mike, that yours was a Crusing Wagon but without the graphics. I've never seen one in the flesh like that, but you could get it! An amazingly rare car! Awesome!!! As for the carpet on the panels, I've noticed that in the brochure I've seen, the '80s have it as carpet (although the shot in the brochure showed red on a red interior) and I've seen a pic of one with red vinyl on the panels, likely a 79. Since I was using the old inset panels for the job, and they were smooth, I just "vinylized" them and left it at that. 

It is an interesting change, though. to be honest, the carpet looks weird, but more appropriate. To be honest, I'm surprised you could get black carpet on a non-black interior's panels. I wonder, could they have come from a Rallye package, maybe? I know that consistency was not a hallmark of '70s car ordering. 

You are so right about the cat. The problem is, I can't find any good pictures of the cat, so shape and size were completely beyond me. I decided just to leave well enough alone. Same thing with the underhood lack of detail. There are no bottles, no master cylinder, nothing. I was getting to the point where I didn't want to drag out the build any more, so some things I just left as they came in the kit. The lack of cat was one of them!

Good eyes, though, and I appreciate the detailed inspection of my work! 

It's not only '70s Cats that do that. My dad has a 2002 Mazda Protege 5. Great car, but since it was about a year old, you get a bit of rotten egg smell in it if it doesn't run long enough.