page_title: Ford Pinto
section_title: 1979–1980
hierarchical_section_title: Ford Pinto / Production history / 1979–1980
caption_attribution_description: Noticed this stock yellow Ford Pinto in the airport parking lot in Las Vegas. Vehicle exterior was in excellent condition.
context_page_description: The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America, sold from the 1971 to the 1980 model years. The smallest American Ford vehicle since 1907, the Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America.
  The Pinto was marketed in three body styles through its production: a two-door fastback sedan with a trunk, a three-door hatchback, and a two-door station wagon. Mercury offered rebadged versions of the Pinto as the Mercury Bobcat from 1975 to 1980. Over 3 million Pintos were produced over its 10-year production run, outproducing the combined totals of its domestic rivals, the Chevy Vega and the AMC Gremlin. The Pinto and Mercury Bobcat were produced at Edison Assembly in Edison, New Jersey, St. Thomas Assembly in Southwold, Ontario, and San Jose Assembly in Milpitas, California.
  Since the 1970s, the safety reputation of the Pinto has generated controversy. Its fuel-tank design attracted both media and government scrutiny after several deadly fires related to the tanks rupturing occurred in rear-end collisions.
context_section_description: For the 1979 model year, the Pinto saw its last significant styling update.  Shedding its original Maverick-like styling, the Pinto took on the look of the modern Fairmont with rectangular headlamps, inboard vertical parking lamps and a taller slanted back grille. Except for the wagons, the tail-lamps were revised. The interior was updated with a new rectangular instrument cluster and modified dash-pad for vehicles without the  optional sports instrumentation. The variety of sports appearance packages was revised, some with new graphics.
  1980 marked the end of the Pinto's production run to make way for its replacement the front wheel drive Ford Escort. For 1980, the V6 engine was discontinued, leaving the 2.3L as the sole engine.
caption: 1979–1980 Ford Pinto sedan
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