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Last week’s clue was super hard. But there were several correct answers by some of our most diligent B&B sleuths: Lokki, no_slushbox, allythom, and dadude. Awesome! Time to give your summertime sunburned craniums a break. This week’s clue is a no-brainer.
24 Comments on “Curbside Classic Clue...”
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1979 VW Rabbit
I’m thinkin’ the fat molding is the edge of the wraparound bumper cladding, and the skinny molding is the side rub strip. That means the car is probably a compact or midsize GM, 80s or 90s.
The stumper is that curlicue of chrome at the upper left — I’d guess it’s the end of the handwriting for the nameplate.
Nice mung, too.
Edit: Wow, I’m embarrassed. Shows just how closely Ford aped GM’s details (why?) in those days.
1971 Ford Pinto. You can see the edge of the flowing “o” on the front quarter panel, and the character line covered by the rub strip that was not factory trim.
Plus the clue that I (and others) figured out/provided last week helps.
It has to be a 1971 model, guys, as its part of a series on small cars of that year featured in a C&D comparo. TEXN3 is almost certainly correct.
Pinto, yes I agree
With the rust and mismatched moldings, I figured it had to be the Vega or Pinto. The squiggly chrome confused me though until I realized it was the end of the “o” in “Pinto.” (I guessed this before I looked at the other responses.) So ’71 Pinto it is.
Ford Maverick? Didn’t it have a bull’s-head logo ornament? Or a Ranchero?
I love the trim strips – the asymmetry is really edgy.
[Edit] Never mind – it’s totally a Pinto.
Definitely the Pinto. That’s the horse’s tail at the end of the badge.
Thats what I thought 210…plus I saw one today at the stop light and recognized the script and placement relative to the panel gap.
@TEXN3:
Wow! You actually saw a Pinto in traffic today? The last time I saw a Pinto in real life was in the 1990’s Loooong gone where I live.
Pinto. I’ve owned 3 of them – 1971 (great), 1976 (great), and a 1980 Bobcat (dreadful).
A ’71 1.6 would be nice to have again. For a day.
Sadly, I first identified the pic via the misaligned door.
It wasn’t in bad exterior condition either, it was a pale blue…with matching exhaust smoke on acceleration. Blue vinyl (I think) interior and a bunch of shit in the hatch area.
There’s one Pinto alive and kicking in my neighbourhood too, but I don’t think it counts as a daily driver. It has the early Mustang 5.0 mags with extra beefy tires and a built 302 under the hood. Apart from the wheels, it looks totally stock. Then of course there is the very non-stock exhaust note.
At first I guessed that it was a Maverick ( I knew it was a Ford based on the molding style), but various comments above led me to the correct answer.
It’s the driver’s side view of the front fender of the Pinto, with non-OEM molding on the driver’s door. It looks exactly the same as the side view of my mother’s 1970 Maverick, but with different script.
And it must have been the optioned-up version of the Pinto, because it has the body side molding. I’m fairly certain that the base Pinto didn’t have any molding.
Geez, Detroit made some bad cars in the 70’s!
That’s a horse’s tail. Pinto.
npbheights :
Wow! You actually saw a Pinto in traffic today? The last time I saw a Pinto in real life was in the 1990’s Loooong gone where I live.
There’s a green Pinto that I’ve seen around Somerville MA a couple of times recently, and photographed in April of last year. In B- condition.
What are those little star like things that look sort of like spider mites were growing on the Pinto? Gawd, that thing looks a mess.
Pintos are awesome! I have fond memories of the little hatchback. That and the Chevette always got a bum rap, IMO. With a little care the damn things would go forever.
In western Washington where I live, the dark-colored mung like that is largely composed of Douglas fir pollen, which is light green when it falls, but darkens if left undisturbed. We had a very heavy fall of it here about a month and a half ago; it got into the trunk drains and inside the gas door on the Accord.
Around here, that rather than dust or mud is the most likely indicator of a never-washed car.
I saw a bile green Pinto on Congess St in Bawston a couple of weeks ago. It looked brand new. First one Ive seen in ages. I was so amazed, I let the guy pull out in front of me.
Mung, that’s a new one for me!
But I’ve got the same stuff on my ’98 Frontier. It hasn’t had a proper washing in months. In central VA where I live we had a lot of rain from April through June, and the hardwood tree pollen (oak, hickory, and maple) was particularly heavy. Normally it can be blown or hosed off pretty easily, but the rain this year turned it into mung.
BTW, no Pintos left that I ever see, but there is still one Chevette and one Citation running around.
Geez, there’s a lot of Pinto nostalgia here!
You can satisfy any Pinto cravings for less than $1000 on eBay
Douglas fir pollen
Whackiest thing of all…
I am not allergic to that shit but it gives me wicked migraines.
Years ago a newspaper in northern California interviewed the fleet manager of a very large banking firm with branches nation-wide.
The bank’s fleet held several thousand cars total.
The fleet manager had held the position for years.
The reporter asked of all the various vehicles that had passed through the fleet if any had stood out in terms of cost-effectiveness, reliability and just plain over-all goodness without regard to speed, comfort, etc; cost-effectiveness was the main parameter.
The answer? I was shocked…
The Pinto, the later models after the bugs had been worked out.
The fleet manager declared that the Pinto was easily the best car that was ever in the fleet he had managed for so long.
The news story wasn’t that long after the Pinto’s demise.
Of course, no vehicles produced after the story’s dateline were in consideration and only vehicles that made it into the bank’s fleet were under consideration.
The news story did mention several other vehicle types that were or had been in the fleet that included vans and pick-ups and passenger vehicles large and small.
Thought the fleet manager’s reply interesting enough to have remembered it all these years.
That along with having rented a Pinto in 1975 and throwing the auto tranny into reverse at 25 mph, just to see what would happen.
Screeech!!!!!!!! Plop, thud.
Re-start unit, feel vibration but Pinto moved forward.
Return to rental place and gripe about them renting a crappy car.
Got an apology, my money back and hopped aboard the local transit bus that had brought me there from the nearby Navy base.
Looks like a Pinto “tail” to me…