Pinto Stampede!

The Elusive Monona Pinto is elusive no more! The owner of this beautiful piece of wonderfulness and Monona resident, David Kawa, graciously tracked me down and took me for a spin a couple of weeks ago. He even let me drive, which further illustrates his good nature as I have been in two fender benders in the past two weeks. David bought his '78 Pinto Cruising Wagon new and has since restored it to it's original glory. Probably almost as fun as driving this car is appreciating the double-takes, thumbs-ups and out-of-the-window-cell-phone-photography that it inspires on the roadway.

David and several of his fellow Pinto enthusiasts joined the Monona Memorial Day Parade, an event that apparently made me the world's most uncool mother as I was shouting out "the Pintos are coming, the Pintos are coming!" Imagine my surprise when Dave brought over half of his fleet after the parade! One was a friend who had driven down from Canada in quite possibly the world's most perfect all-original baby blue Pinto. Not even a Matchbox car has a cleaner engine. Also over for a visit was the Cookie Man in his '78 Pinto, complete with Cookie Monster strapped into the passenger side. I felt like I was sitting in the middle of a Sesame Street episode when I was behind the wheel. And just in case you are wondering why I am hanging out in all these Pintos topless, I was wearing a strapless sundress. I love Pintos, but not quite that much!

David and his Pinto buddies left yesterday morning for the Pinto Stampede in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where they will join up with thousands of brother and sister Pinto lovers.

 

From http://www.pintostampede.com/:

The Pinto Stampede and the Pinto Car Club of America have joined forces to coral Ford Pinto owners across America and celebrate the 40th anniversary of our beloved little pony, the Ford Pinto. The stampede starts in Denver, Colorado on Sunday May 29th, 2011 and will wrap-up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on Thursday June 2nd, 2011. At our final stop Carlisle Events will be hosting the Carlisle Ford Nationals June 3rd, 4th & 5th, 2011 and helping to Celebrate the birth of the Pinto with a special 40th anniversary display.

Check out this awesome live stream of one owner's journey to the Stampede.