One Fast Pony! 1971 Ford Pinto Pro Street
You can tell right away that this high-powered pony means business–just look at that pro-stock style hood scoop! Unusually for a car this aggressive, the seller claims that this is a turn-key bracket or street car that needs nothing, with a clear title in their name. We have Barn Finds reader Gunter K. to thank for bringing it to our attention!
I suspect this is the view most competitors will get if the eventual buyer races the little Ford. I can’t tell if the rears are slicks, but even if they aren’t, that’s a lot of rubber to put onto the ground. The ad states that both the front and rear tires are new. I suspect it would be easy to go through rear tires quickly!
Another thing that stands out about this car is the attention to fit and finish. You can tell from the reflections in this picture that the body is straight and the paint is glossy. Even the chrome and emblems look good!
Although the interior has been largely gutted, what’s replaced it is not only sanitary but well-assembled. Even the replacement lightweight door panels have louvers (as a side note, why do you need vented doors–any readers that know the answer, please comment). The aftermarket turn signal switch attached to the steering column lends credence to the owner stating the car is streetable.
Here’s the kicker (yes, I did that): The engine in this Pinto is a 355 cubic inch Chevrolet V-8. That’s right; this Ford is running a Chevy! The ad lists several promising tidbits, including that, despite a 12.5:1 compression setup, the engine runs on pump gas. There’s a Competition Cams camshaft, “large valve” heads, an Edelbrock intake, a Holley 750 CFM carburetor, and more.
If you want to make this Ford-Chevy Pinto yours, check out the craigslist ad here, and let us know you’ve bought the car! It’s located in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and the seller is looking for $19,500 for the car–which I’m sure is less than it cost to build!
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Comments
I can not believe someone would take a 1971 Pinto to make a race car, and put a @#$%& cheebie engine in it. Go buy a vega or a cheevette or a corvare or any other cheap cheebie to put your brand X engine in it. I know, the junk yards are full of cheap brand X engines, and they just bolt right in a FORD body. This engine does not look very inexpensive to me. So to answer your question, NO, I will not be buying this car. And the louvers in the door panels are to let out the smoke and fumes and oil from the cockpit when that engine explodes!!!
Does that mean you don’t like this car?
Cool build but I agree with Woofer. This needs a proper fire breathing Ford V8 under the hood
” This needs a proper fire breathing Ford”, well, bud, you best get on it!
Can you say ‘Coyote’? I knew you could! :)
It’s a lot easier , and cheaperto get that kind of power out of a Chevy!!!!!
Oh please, don’t blow a gasket!
You obviously haven’t been to a dragstrip in years, hard not to see a Pinto on the track!! I’ve seen lots of them. This thing would be a blast to own.
It’s Corvair!!!!!
Has anyone ever seen even a GM non chevy v8 put in any chevy, let alone a ford, mopar, or amc v8 in a chevy? I haven’t.
Yes kye Kelly has a ford powered gm car, can’t remember body style. Lot of gm cars running hemi.
This was likely a race car that was either bought engineless or had the good engine removed and replaced it with a “street” engine. Even for a 10 second bracket car you wouldn’t see an HEI rubber fuel line with a plastic filter (those would be an automatic fail in tech) and a 2,500rpm converter. If this was being sold as a turn key bracket car that is currently being raced this might bring low-teens on a good day where I live.
The pricing dynamic is different between race cars and street cars, that’s what the seller is trying to capitalize on. If someone was considering it as a street car, I wouldn’t touch it unless it had registration and plates for its current configuration. Once the money changes hands registration becomes the new owners problem, that’s a lot of money for something that potentially can’t be used for its intended purpose.
This car has been listed for 26 days so far, good deals don’t last that long in a large metropolitan area such as Kansas City.
Steve R
” is it available”
Wow! Now the front end blows up!
🤣🤣🤣
???????????
No good reason to have put a chevy botter in her
Love it, look how many people it has already made whine.
All that speed equipment mentioned and not one mention of the ET it is capable of. I don’t see paying that much for ANY Pinto. Not a single one of them was a collectible.
If it hasn’t run down the track with this engine past ET’s won’t matter. It’s better that he doesn’t throw out a number he made up, which is what he would be doing and is incredibly common.
One year there was some guy with a tube chassis Beretta run a full season in the Summit Series Street class, this class was for cars that were foot braked and ran 12.0 or slower, he had a worn out 350 and was sand bagging. The guy was trying to cherry pick a class he thought would be easy picking since most of the cars were driven to the track and raced with street tires. A light car like this Pinto, if the suspension is close, will still be pretty fast even with a mild engine. The thing is, fast doesn’t make it a good race car, it makes for good for a grudge night bomber, but those cars typically go home early in a real race, where the loser of the round is done for the night.
Steve R
It would be nice to have pictures of the rear end set up!! As for GM engine a Ford 348 stroker can make up to 500hp! Then use a race up C4 trans. That would be the correct set up for this Pinto. What a shame!!! Like I always said . Ford stays with Ford and GM stays within themselves! 🐻🇺🇸
??????C4 would be in pieces in no time!!
I hav e friend that runs a wheel standing mustang 2 with a 351 and a C4 he does real good with it. I don’t remember what times he has ran but it is quite fast.
Listen to Steve R, knows his onions. 1st, since this is a drag racing post, one of my favorite drivers, John Force, was injured in a spectacular crash last weekend. He’s 75, and I’m sure he’s tired of bouncing off walls. He’s been talking of retiring, and this may do it. Best wishes to him, without question, the most prolific voices in drag racing.
2nd, while the “original engine” debate goes on, in drag racing, nothing is sacred. Heck, hemis have been powering Fords for years. My beef is when an original classic car is powered by another brand motor, is unacceptable. In drag racing, however, whatever gets you over the stripe first, is all that matters. The late, and unbelievably great Bob Glidden, campaigned a Pinto like this. His sported a Ford motor, but pro stock stayed pretty much to its roots, and still does today. I think a sharp LEO would go through 2 or 3 ticket books with this one. Be a heck of a ride until then.
I think most guys here watched the race in Virginia as I did. At 75, he might want to think about retiring now and let Prock drive his car now
Prock drives Robert Hites car, this year.
Big C, you are right, Prock also won that event and is the points leader. I wouldn’t be surprised if John Force doesn’t return as a driver after this, he’s had a long and incredibly successful career, but at some point in time a persons body doesn’t respond to the kind of hit hit he took without lasting damage, hopefully he recovers quickly.
Steve R
Looks to be practical and economical:-)
Since the beginning of people hot rodding cars, there has always been engine swaps. I don’t understand all the purist comments
They’re not purists. They’re nuts.
And they drive boring cars!!!
You really had me until the last photo.
Fast forward a few years: “I can’t believe that they put Lucid battery in a Rivian! What were they thinking?”
The Lucid’s burn down your garage a little slower?
I think this car is way cool looking with those fat meats in the back. I like it alot. I am very surprised that someone didnt say is that an LS motor?? LOL. I love BF and i Love everything i see on here. Wish i had $$ to spend to buy something cool like this. Thank Yall BF staff. Yall are great at what Yall do!!!
Definitely has not been down a nhra sanctioned track in the current condition. I would have to question the 12.5 compression running on pump gas, have a camaro with a big block that had 12.5 compression and to run pump gas I had to put .095 solid copper head gaskets on to drop the compression.
Other than the fuel line, which indicates someone that doesn’t race was working in the car, there nothing obvious that might keep it off the track. Depending on the driver they might let him run and tell them to fix it before they come back. The rules don’t get really strict until a car goes quicker than 10.0 or faster than 135, tech doesn’t know or even ask (often they don’t know or will lie). If it goes quicker than certain ET’s or MPH it’s race operations (the people in the tower) that flag it for a closer look to see if it meets specific equipment requirements.
Steve R
Anything faster than 150mph is required to have a chute on the back
Pro Death. This thing would swap ends faster than you could react. No time slips, 12.5 compression on pump gas . Where do you buy your gas, at the airport?!
A bad joke.
Sorry .094 head gaskets
I betcha someone has the race motor out of this car. That scoop would accommodate a Blower I would say. We need some underside pix!
There used to be an orange pinto similarly configured that frequently stress tested my niehborhood !
It’s a lot easier , and cheaper to get that kind of power out of a Chevy!!!!!
The ad says they don’t know if it has slicks ? They are Hoosier drag radials u can see the groves and front of driver’s do gap sucks .
Too bad Ford designers did not put a side stripe on the Pinto like this car has. AMC had a stripe on their Gremlin.
Gremlin and Vega styled better than Pinto. And I say this even though 1971 Pinto was my first car back in 1970. Never could get used to the brown color of my Pinto even though Ford featured that color on Pinto billboards. My father bought the car while was I was still asleep one Sunday morning while I was dreaming of a red Pinto.
The 1977 Pinto Accent Stripe Group was a one year only deal that looked similar & IMO much better than the Starsky Torino stripes – espec on red & blue cars.
The worse looking stripe kit was on the LTD II.
Looking at the side striping for the second time, looks like a hockey stick.