Pintos, vegas, monzas, nd such

Nothing screams 80s hot rod like these little cars that we all stuffed big motors in. How about some pics of these to remind us why the 80s were all rock and roll!

 

Not terribly relevant but this photo intrigued me back then.

 

Thats a wild pic.

 

Heres a few pintos to get the party started.

 

Still out back. 1980, only square headlight year.
Pics from way back. It's not quite as pretty (?) now.

 

Put 79-85 RX-7's in this group!

Pinto ~2000-2300lbs, 94" WB
Vega ~2200-2300lbs, 97" WB
Chevette ~1850-2000lbs, 95.3" WB
FB RX-7 ~2300-2500lbs, 95.3 WB

I made a living out of V8 swapping Mazda RX-7s, much better cars and easier to find than the Vega/Pinto/Chevettes. Huge transmission tunnels, even a T56 will fit in the stock RX-7 tunnel. No need to beef up the ch***is for V8 power, but stock rearends are small with 3.90-4.10 ratios

Grant

 

Back then I do not think to many took pics Film not cheap or never thought it would end ,,
One local about 83 Funny car
Blown BB VW bug & few chevy luv
Blown BB , street race guys low 6s 1/8 then

a few might be off topic

 

"Knew'' a girl who had a V8 Spyder.

Personally, I'd love to clone a Motion 454 Vega.

The Cosworth Vega in a junkyard nearby isn't even tempting.

 

Oldsmobile's version resurrected the Starfire name.
My ex destroyed one in an accident before it was paid for.

 

When I was 12 had a Vega with V8 with nitrous, had a Cosworth around 16 ,
18 a Monza 2+2 with 406 , then my mom drove for few years , then sold to friend
It was wrapped literary U shape around a tree in just few mounts , between the 2 doors 27 inches
Had to use torches to cut only thing good out was engine .
When these car where cheap @ one time living in county between dad & I like 13 cars & driving , Chevelle Camaro's Nova's, Buick boat , Like small car lot .
Cars you just picked up , not for flipping , Divers .
Thought normal , then in mid to late 90's
To expensive to have all & maintain .
From 10 years old to present , I can not count how many cars / vehicle I have had , Lived on same place for 45 years

 

This is the stuff I grew up with. We all hated these things, but suffered with them because of gas mileage. A guy in my home town built a pretty nice pro street Vega in the early 80’s, tunnel ram SBC.
That car was the baddest ride around at the time. In 1990, I had the chance to buy it very reasonably without the engine. I spent a pile of money building a blown 454 for it. It was a monster and a thrill to own, but I never did like the look of Vegas. It’s long gone now, but the engine lives on in my brother’s ‘65 Chevelle.

 

My wife's 72 she bought new (wish we still had it)

 

Wow, thats a nice pinto. I drove a moza spider in high school. It had a 400 small block. That was a fun car.

 

Her Pinto was a great driver and she wasn't afraid to put her foot in it. I was running 30 pounds of boost at one time. (that didn't last long). This was in the early 70's

 

Autocrossed Monzas for 10 years. Really nimble cars. Given I went trough numerous motors the 305 was most suited for the cl*** I ran in. I ran a lot of suspension mods from a SoCal company called DOBI. They sold a lot of stuff for Vegas and Monzas

 

My old Vega. 468 chevy, 350, 12 bolt, low maintenance, and a lot of fun.

 

It really is a Pinto! Well, the roof and quarter panels were… been collecting stuff for years now with the intention of recreating it. The hardest part to get? Yup, a Pinto shell

 

always wanted to build a Pinto like Nicholson, but for the street. That was one mean looking car, also like his Maverick

 

I bought a Cosworth Vega new when they first came out, I bought all the BS that was thrown at me, Hand ***embled engin with the guys name who built it, all cars numbered, on 1500 being made etc, so I bought it as a investment, but it in storage for 10 years and only drove it 500 miles in all that time, I always wanted to do that buy something new and save it. What a bust, when I did go to sell it I think I made $1000.00

 

One thing that was a problem with the V8 Vegas was the unibody. Prone to twisting under torque. A lot of windshields popped out because of this. Guys stated to put home made subframe connectors on which solved the problem. I had a subframe connectors as well as a 4 point roll bar in both my Monza.

 

I built a rear subframe for a guy that was drag racing. He was running as big block Chevy in the 10s back in the mid 90s.
Had another friend that put a Pinto wagon on a Bronco 4x4 ch***is. He jumped through all the hoops to make it 100% legal. It was kind of cool, but kind of ugly as well. He drove it for several years until he wore it out.

The closest I ever came was to put a Dodge D 50 body on a 78 Jeep J10 4x4 ch***is with an AMC 360 4bbl. That was a fun off road beater.

 

A friend of mine back in the day had a 1971 or 72 pinto with the turbo motor of a wrecked mustang cobra (1980 maybe never saw the car).
Not the fastest car but lots of fun, of course we called it the "pintang".

 

I had a Vega wagon I put Sbc with a tunnel ram in and a turbo 400..

Broke the rearend and in the early 80's narrow rearends were not easy to do like today and pre internet even a proper radiator was a challenge and big expense for a HS kid. I pulled the engine and gave the car away.

Had a nice Monza a few years later with a very mild 350 on the stock Saginaw.
I drove it a lot but was gentle in it . Was a decent car wish I still had it.
Would have been really good with a stronger rearend and a 5 speed like a T5
5 lug wheels and today's aluminum radiators. .


The better vehicle to get then and engine swap was the Datsun Z cars.
My 240 Z with a 410 SBC with Brodix 10 heads through a Muncie with a 280 Z diff that had a locker from Japan was a great well handling car and was very fast .

Not sure what pictures I have.
That got destroyed in a roll over north of Bodega Bay on HWY 1 in the middle of the night when a front tire went down going into a turn fast .

These days a nice z is expensive to find.

A Cozworth vega is a hard sell even nice for what they are.
Neighbor had three at one time and he had a really hard tome getting $9000 for the really nice one woth low milage all original. He almost put a LS in it.
There to rare to modify and not feel like your ruining a collectable and not that desirable to have as a driver and expensive and hard to get parts for if they break.

 

LOVE IT!!

 

My sbc 4spd powered '85 RX-7...


Grant

 

I thought this was a good buy

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DSFXQQatX/

 

My younger brothers both have these little cars. The middle brother has a Monza 2+2 V8 car he's had since '01. The youngest brother has two Pinto Wagons, one is a Cruising Wagon with a 90's Mustang 2.3 EFI, and he's putting a 2.3 Ecoboost/6R80 in the other wagon.

 

Here is a cool one from the web.