1977 Ford Pinto by AMT

[Spottedlaurel]

Sterling work there Gareth. Some very careful drilling on the hatch for the hinge!

[doorsovdoon]

14 hours ago, slusher said:

Your doing an awesome job with what you have. You also made some fantastic improvements but I had no idea compared with the other pinto kits I built this one was so bad..

Cheers mate. Yeah, when I was looking up AMT Pinto builds and Pinto promos the original versions look so much cleaner.

[doorsovdoon]

5 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Sterling work there Gareth. Some very careful drilling on the hatch for the hinge!

Thanks mate. I was very conscious of how little material was there to drill I was breaking a sweat! Lol

[doorsovdoon]

Well, this is neither one of the colours I had in mind when I started, Lol. It's not easy being green, but it sure looks good.

[1972coronet]

31 minutes ago, doorsovdoon said:

Well, this is neither one of the colours I had in mind when I started, Lol. It's not easy being green, but it sure looks good

That's the colour that many of them were , esp. the earlier models . That vinyl top is righteous , too ! 

"Gas Line Green" ( "Petrol Pea" ? ) for 1979-1980 history ( haha ) .

[doorsovdoon]

22 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

That's the colour that many of them were , esp. the earlier models . That vinyl top is righteous , too ! 

"Gas Line Green" ( "Petrol Pea" ? ) for 1979-1980 history ( haha ) .

Thanks mate. The colour is called Rover Applejack. More or less Avocado green, a very 70's colour. One thing I'll give credit to Ford for regarding the Pinto, they came in loads of fun colours, and dare I say, didn't look a bad car to be honest.

[Tom Geiger]

3 hours ago, doorsovdoon said:

dare I say, didn't look a bad car to be honest.

It actually wasn’t a bad little car. My brother in law had a Pinto wagon. I am the family car guy so he asked me to sell it for him.  I drove it around a whole summer with For Sale signs on it and it was a fun little car to drive. It had a 4 speed.  I was actually sorry to see it go when someone bought it!

Youre doing a great job!

Edited November 16, 2021 by Tom Geiger

[slusher]

I had a 76, yellow with black interior hatch back. My first car. I really enjoyed it…

[David G.]

You've done some beautiful mods and updates on this kit Gareth!

Everything looks top notch as always but your work on the engine finds a special place in my heart. Back when I was in high school, a classmate of mine build a '74 Pinto with a 4cyl. and four-speed manual transmission. In a similar fashion to what you've done with yours he put, as I recall, four Suzuki side-draft carburetors... essentially one carburetor per cylinder. That car had zero rev time and was wicked fast! 

Of course it looked nowhere near as good as yours as it spent the rest of its days in primer spots and body filler. A fond memory nonetheless. Thanks for that.

David G.

[doorsovdoon]

Thanks guys. Yeah, many people have good memories of these cars it seems that questions how bad the motor press actually made them out to be. Same go's for the Morris Marina here in the UK, they had their issues yes, but no more than any other car of the time. They actually ranked very high in safety tests, even beating some higher end cars.

[espo]

While I'm not a fan of green colored cars or vinyl roofs, this seems to really look good together and a great representation of that era. Great looking engine.  

[doorsovdoon]

Got the hatch hinged and fitted. My first go at hinging a panel on a model kit! I got the tolerances of the hinge and clamp so close that it holds itself up with just the right amount of friction! The Ford lettering and Pinto badge was done with foil under paint and then polished back until the foil showed through, it's my best attempt with this method. There is a very smug Welshman on the forum today so look out! ?

[doorsovdoon]

1 minute ago, espo said:

While I'm not a fan of green colored cars or vinyl roofs, this seems to really look good together and a great representation of that era. Great looking engine.  

Yes, it's definitely a colour combo of it's time, haha.

[1972coronet]

You positively nailed that hatch ! The weather stripping looks perfect ! 

Cymro hyderus, yn wir!

[espo]

Great looking finishes and fit on the hatch.  

[Lunajammer]

This is fun. Color choice was a pleasant surprise.

[cobraman]

Your doing a great job on this little kit.

[doorsovdoon]

1 hour ago, 1972coronet said:

You positively nailed that hatch ! The weather stripping looks perfect ! 

Cymro hyderus, yn wir!

Diolch yn fawr iawn. I had to look that up, I don't speak a word of Welsh! xD

[doorsovdoon]

1 hour ago, espo said:

Great looking finishes and fit on the hatch.  

 

49 minutes ago, Lunajammer said:

This is fun. Color choice was a pleasant surprise.

 

22 minutes ago, cobraman said:

Your doing a great job on this little kit.

 

Thanks guys. It's turned in to a fun little project.

[ewetwo]

It's looking great. I might have to go delete my Pinto post out of shame. LOL

[doorsovdoon]

Carrying on with the fixes. I had to make a small filler piece between the interior tub and the hatch slam panel. I don't think AMT were expecting many builders to hinge the hatch and cut the glass, so they just left a big gap there cos you can't see it if the hatch is glued shut. I also made a front anti roll bar. I find putting this much work into a build I cant help but add more detail! Lol

[doorsovdoon]

6 minutes ago, ewetwo said:

It's looking great. I might have to go delete my Pinto post out of shame. LOL

?

[1972coronet]

2 hours ago, doorsovdoon said:

Diolch yn fawr iawn. I had to look that up, I don't speak a word of Welsh!

Neither do I ( haha ) . I do remember your telling me that you don't speak Cymræg , but I couldn't resist . That language intrigues me much ; it's part of my lineage ( Welsh , Scots , and Irish ) . 

[doorsovdoon]

Chassis finished up. Doing some foiling now. I didn't realise how much chrome is on this car!

[doorsovdoon]

yay, paint reaction!?