As most of you know, I have an extensive brochure collection. A while back I had to laugh at this picture from the 1976 Ford full-line brochure. “Hey man, cool Pinto! Wanna hang out with us?” Yeah, sure! Those wacky Dearborn ad guys were so funny…
Brochure Outtake: My Di-Noc Pinto Is A Babe Magnet!
– Posted on July 24, 2014
Tom, you have embarrassed me here. I was collecting literature in this era and this seems to have somehow eluded my radar for all these years. Don’t believe I have ever seen one in person, and don’t even recall seeing one in print.
A worthy companion to the 1968 Mercury and Chrysler di-noc hardtops and convertibles. What is it about the wood-trimmed car that it never really goes completely away.
But a Ford Sportsman, this ain’t.
They’re actually laughing.
Maybe the implication is, guys with woody Pintos get two babes, even if they don’t fit along with the surfboard & beachball. Real surfers, I imagine, would put it on the roof, or get a van so they have room for a threesome (or whatever the copyrighters are leaving unstated). Sex sells.
The people who complained about the “Establishment” back then are now The Establishment.
That’s right they are laughing. And they don’t look at the car’s rear either.
Love the names of the paint colors on the Maverick. “anti-establish mint ” Classic!
How did people back then make do without four shades of silver and gray to choose from?
I call the silver, gold leaf metallic, and grays “casket colors” I hate new car colors!!
Newer car colours are completely bland I have a silver grey Nissan in my yard that is BLUE on the registration documents its changed owners 11 times since it was sold new NOBODY has noticed and got it changed.
Yeah that one, look blue to you?
Nah, that’s just what is selling best. Ford in particular has some interesting colors today. Amber Gold, Triple Yellow, Competition Orange, and Grabber Blue just to name a few.
Interiors, that’s another story.
As several auto writers have noted in various mags, interiors today look like they were designed by Rubbermaid and fabricated by Playskool.
Same thing here. It’s just so depressing. I’m looking out my office window right now. 14 cars in sight, ALL of them black or in various shades of silver. What’s wrong with us? How did it get that way? Even the Soviet Union had more variety in car colors (OK, once you had survived the 15-year waiting list to get your comrade mover). How I’d love to see a di noc Pinto or a green Maverick go by.
Freudian Gilt and Thanks Vermillion are even more awesome.
I think it’s entirely possible they’re admiring his woodie.
Badump, bump. Don’t forget to tip your bartender.
Nicely done.
It can’t be said that automakers were shy about seeing if the margins on di-noc could be spread through their lines. I’ve never seen this wooden horse before.
The late ’60s Chrysler and Mercury di-noc convertibles are interesting, but I’d have never bought one, and it obviously didn’t catch on. Chrysler did manage to sort of pull it off on the ’80 K convertible, but the cars became almost a topical humor joke and Seinfeld did at least one show on it – a woody LeBaron convertible that supposedly had been previously owned by Jon Voight.
Conventional car based wagons were obviously the primary success area, but it did reasonably well on eary Mopar minis and some SUVs. Hard to imagine the old Grand Wagoneer without it. I recall the new Grand Cherokee in the early ’90s was marketed for a year or so as the New Grand Wagoneer with fake wood, and it failed miserably. The fake woody era was then dying fast.
I actually liked the few PT Cruisers with di-noc. It seemed to fit the car’s personality.
It’s more likely that they’re deciding to save themselves for a guy with a REAL woody.
Considering the shape he’s in, I’m sure it’s a mighty-fine woody.
Don’t knock “babe magnets” like the Pinto and the Maverick. My blue Ford Mavericks landed me a really cool girlfriend. Now she wants a dark blue Maverick just like my former police car Maverick! Nice find, that Pinto!!
I knew the woodgrain trim was available on the Bobcat but never realized it was also offered on the Pinto. Kind of gets the imagination going about applying it to other Malaise-era non-wagon cars…
And I never realized you could get dinoc on a non-wagon Pinto/Bobcat.
With a photo like this makes you wonder where Bodhi and Johnny Utah are. In all seriousness I read in a history book that no one in California bought Domestic vehicles except the Suede Denim Secret Police from about 1972 to about 1984.
My elderly California relatives were standing in the showroom next to this car buying Granadas and LTD IIs.
Inspiration strikes!
“Two cars for every guy…
I had a ’76 Pinto, Ford called it a Woodie
Reliability sucked, kept me stranded in the hoodie
I took it to the dealer for the tank recall
Now it won’t explode in a fire ball
Now I’m going back to Volkswagen for some driving fun
Dasher, Scirocco, Rabbits are for every one
I’m headin’ into VW cause their cars still run
Bugs, Types and Busses really were awesome
Two cars for every guyyyy”
Apologies to Jan & Dean…and Brian Wilson composer/lyricist
My, I haven’t even had my coffee yet 🙂
Brilliant! And if you need another verse:
Goin to Ford City where they’re 2 for 1
Yeah we’re goin to Ford City where they usually run
I said we’re goin to Ford City, we’ll make it or bust
We gotta get to Ford City, before they all rust
Two cars for every guyyyyy!
I cannot seem to remember that ever happening with pseudowoody pintos. I think the commenter who said they were waiting for a guy with a real one was right on target. I liked the pinto hatchback would take this one in spite of not because of the wood.
How can that Pinto not be a babe magnet? Just look at those sweet mag rims there!
Can’t say I ever saw a Pinto with that swank wood-grain option, but I think I saw a few Mercury Bobcats with it.
All the crazy car colors of the past make people today deathly afraid of getting something ‘different’. They don’t want co-workers, friends, family, club members making fun of them. Have to ‘blend in’.
I tend to tease people BECAUSE they blend in!
They couldn’t have made the upper edge of the rear quarter di-noc more arbitrary if they tried.
When I was in LA in ’86, I was amazed to see so many early Pintos still running. Back in Chicago, they were long gone, rusted away. Only saw some 78-80 versions kicking.
I am in the funeral biz, and with all of the industry consolidation, even funeral livery is tending to be all black…no more Kriegshauser light blue with navy top, Schrader blue, Hoffmeister jewel tones, Alexander & Sons burgundy, Ted Foster burgundy. With the exception of Kutis Funeral Homes in St Louis with their gold over gold, and Thompson Hall & Jordan in Cincinnati with their gold over black, all of the cool colors are going away.