gnawbone Loc: Southern Indiana

I was a student (Rad Tech) at Elkhart General Hospital, Elkhart, IN in the late 70s when they brought in 2 high schools girls that were in a Pinto that got rear ended and burst into flames. I was taking a patient back to ER and walked past one of the cubicles that had one of the girls in it - she was sitting upright on the stretcher, with the most terrified look on her face - she was unbelievably severely burned (she looked like a plastic doll that melted). She died shortly after. I will never erase that from my head.

Those Pintos were rolling bombs - we'll never know what Ford knew or when they knew it but the times were different then - not as sophisticate with engineering, knowledge, technology, etc. - I guess. You don't see/hear as much about that kind of stuff these days - at least I haven't.

jaycoffman Loc: San Diego

gnawbone - small world - I went to Elkhart Institute of Technology just before you were there. Got my certification in X-Ray technology but was going to be drafted so joined in '66 right after I graduated. Anyway, also saw a couple of aftermaths of the great Pinto debacle. It was hard to buy a Ford for a number of years after that. But I did have fun in Elkhart.

Do note that the fix for the Pinto engineering issue was more of those "@%^## government regulations everyone loves to hate." The truth is that the big companies just won't make changes to help the environment or future or people unless someone bigger makes them.

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

Bought a first-year Pinto in 1971 and drove it for 9 years. Great little car. Went through loose sand like a tank. Never had a concern about gas tank fires. (Maybe the initial ones were better, or just didn't get rear-ended.)

gnawbone Loc: Southern Indiana

Did you know Henry Koneczne (sic?) ?

He was in his mid-60s when I was there - He ran the school when I was there - was EGH for decades. He had something like 16 kids and his wife was killed in a car accident when the youngest was 1 or 2 - raised them all himself after that. He was one of a kind!