Misspent Youth

I really enjoy seeing the old pictures and hearing the stories of cars other guys built “back in the day”. Seeing the pictures like Ryan’s and Charlie’s Camaros almost always gets me thinking about some of the cars I built back then.


Here are a couple of my favorites. My 74 Pinto (302/C4/9”) and 73 Vega Pickup (327 Tri Power/4 speed/8”). Yeah both were cop magnets

Pinto Vega L by M Patterson, on Flickr


I built the Pinto in 79 when I got back from Germany and the Vega around 1980. The picture is from around 1984 when I was stationed in Ft Ord California. As long as they were titled and registered out of state I didn’t have to meet any of the California emission laws (which they wouldn’t have passed).


pinto ext 1 by M Patterson, on Flickr

The 74 hatchback Pinto was actually the second one I built. I built the first one in 76 …….a 71 Coupe with a 351W. Unfortunately that one died due to the Midwest rust but I was able to salvage the C4 and 9” for this one. The 351 was a sacrifice to the speed gods.

Anybody else have some old pictures of their old cars?



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