# Pinto Cruisin' Wagon - done at last!



## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

Well, after a lot more work than I thought it would be, the Pinto Crusing Wagon is now done! Just like the real car, this one was lot of headaches interspersed with some chagrins. Thing is, it’s an old MPC, and I was expecting some trouble. Not as much as I got, but I sure didn’t expect a “Clean Getaway”, so to speak!

I’m really very glad to have a stock representation of one of what might be the lamer attempts to add performance through striping. I am now excited to get my hands on the ’77 Cruising Van that Round 2 just put out, so I can have two examples of Ford’s attempts to conjure up tapestripe horsepower! 

Check out this little beast at the link below, and be warned: you’re likely not going to see this kit built often simply because there’s so much wrong with it. However, in the end, it is all worth it, because it’s a Pinto Cruising Wagon, and how much lamer does it get than that?

*https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/cars/round-2mpc-1-25-1979-pinto-cruising-wagon/*


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## aussiemuscle308 (Dec 2, 2014)

hey, it came out fantastic. it wouldn't be an MPC kit if it didn't fight you all the way to the end. 

It's sooooo 70s.


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## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

aussiemuscle308 said:


> hey, it came out fantastic. it wouldn't be an MPC kit if it didn't fight you all the way to the end.
> 
> It's sooooo 70s.


Thanks man! 

You are right...that's how MPC rolls. Always did, and I am, in a way, glad to see that that didn't change with the resurrection. It's a true retro experience, right down to the swearing and grey hairs!

It is very '70s at that. Those were tasteless, hopeless days for motoring...


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## slotto (Feb 9, 2010)

Very cool retro piece! Love it.
Almost like the one Jeff Dunham has


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## Stangfreak (Jun 7, 2007)

*A very, very nice job you did here. Looks like show material!!!*


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## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

Thanks a lot, man!

It did actually get a medal in a show, too, so I was pretty pleased with that! I love it when my Pinto takes the stage and shares show tables with all the muscle cars and dream cars/exotics. It's a little poke saying "Hey, don't forget about the daily drivers!!"


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Congrates on the win! :cheers2:


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## NTRPRZ (Feb 23, 1999)

I'd love to see a stock version of the Pinto wagon. We had one in gold with the "woody" siding. It actually was a nice little car for a young, but growing Air Force family.


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## mr-replica (Sep 25, 2011)

Faust -- Beautiful work! I agree with the positive comments about the Pinto wagon, and how great they were for a young family. When I served in the U.S. Navy, we had one and it never failed us. My wife thought it was silly that I put Keystone Classic wheels on it though, LOL.


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## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

It is a bit odd that in today's age, all we have are "crossovers" and weird little sport-less-than-utes, when a small wagon like the Pinto would be very handy for small families today as well. 

I don't know... I think those wheels would go pretty well on it!


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## mr-replica (Sep 25, 2011)

aussiemuscle308 said:


> hey, it came out fantastic. it wouldn't be an MPC kit if it didn't fight you all the way to the end.
> 
> It's sooooo 70s.




I'm surprised and confused by that comment. My experience with MPC was just the opposite, parts always fit together perfectly and the detailing was far better than anything AMT was making back in '65 when AMT's CEO left and formed MPC, in fact, that is why he left AMT, because quality there was not as good as he wanted it to be. 

Crisp and precise parts were a trademark of MPC from the very beginning, I was quite impressed by that. MPC quickly blew AMT away and became the #1 plastic kit maker, MPC used the example set by Jo-Han for high detail and quality. But Jo-Han never had the gall to steal away brands like Chevrolet, Pontiac and others away from AMT like MPC did.


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## mr-replica (Sep 25, 2011)

Faust said:


> Thanks! Glad you liked it!
> 
> It is a bit odd that in today's age, all we have are "crossovers" and weird little sport-less-than-utes, when a small wagon like the Pinto would be very handy for small families today as well.
> 
> I don't know... I think those wheels would go pretty well on it!



Faust -- People today are spoiled, they would not accept a basic car like a Pinto, Vega or Gremlin today. Nor would they buy a basic pickup truck either, they demand all the luxury goodies whether they can afford them or not. Young people today wouldn't even how to crank a window up in a vehicle, or that you can cool off by simply opening a window instead of turning on the A/C. 

I won't even mention that we kids used to ride in the bed of pickup trucks and bounce all over the place, LOL. Yet, we survived.


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## finaprint (Jan 29, 2006)

X2, it gets pretty lame when all the help they want is how to install a 48" display to watch the road in front of them even less. I actually had some person ask me for a video of how to install a BOLT. Seriously. 

They only worry about the real trouble AFTER it is pretty much broken, never before. 

Uh, MPC is well known in model kits as the ultimate king of major parts fit gaps. They also popped the parts out of the molds way quicker to warp major parts like wings. I loved them nonetheless, they gave you value for your money.


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## mr-replica (Sep 25, 2011)

finaprint said:


> Uh, MPC is well known in model kits as the ultimate king of major parts fit gaps. They also popped the parts out of the molds way quicker to warp major parts like wings. I loved them nonetheless, they gave you value for your money.



In fact, MPC was NOT known for that at all. I built many MPC kits and it was quite the opposite, perhaps you are confused and mean AMT in the late 60's and 70's? When quality was declining at AMT, that was why their CEO left and formed MPC, to produce better kits. Like Jo-Han, MPC was known for high quality plastic kits with parts that did fit together perfectly. 

And, that is why MPC so easily knocked AMT down within only three years of their creation, and MPC became the #1 kit maker. I was there, I've been building kits for 60 years, and with respect, I don't know what you were doing wrong when assembling MPC kits since my brothers, friends and I never had any problems with them.


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## finaprint (Jan 29, 2006)

I do not and will NEVER agree on that, I believe my own eyes and brain before you. I still have probably 100 original MPC kits and not one approaches that. The best one is only so-so. A few are junk and unbuildable even when new for extreme warping of parts. 

MPC not only had misfit gapping parts, they yanked shots way early to warp more and more short shots and black mold release trapped in the plastic as well, every time I ran into those issues it was an MPC kit. I never had to boil wings trying to straighten them on anything other than an MPC kit either. I developed my part edge cleanup Xacto knife skills on mainly MPC kits. I bought MPC because they were cheaper not better. And they had a much wider spread of subject matter. I didn't do many cars and not much AMT at all except for Star Trek stuff. 

You must have never built '60s Monogram, the only line I could snap-fit together to built most of a model without even being engineered as such. Low or no flash. No wing warp at all. I could even study the wings folding without glue. 

Johan comes close, I don't understand how you put it even with MPC at all. Maybe the cars were better than everything else, the Star Wars line of MPC is horrible, among the worst of all kits. 

You are the only person I've ever seen that rates MPC as high, I find it incredible. I know others I modeled with back then thought of them the same way I did and I did not need to do any convincing there like you are here.


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## f1steph (Jan 9, 2003)

Nice built......


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