Donald Chandler was faced with a daily commute from Athens to Lawrenceville and rising gas prices in 1973. So he traded in his 1970 Ford LTD and bought a Ford Pinto Runabout for $3,466.59.
Fifty-one years later, Chandler, who lives in Winterville, still owns the avocado and white Pinto, which has only 107,000 miles on it.
“You just don’t see many of them around,” he said. “If you drive it, most everybody gives you that look.”
The Pinto won “Best Antique” at the Winterville Marigold Festival Parade last month. “Car enthusiast” Jack Eberhart drove the car in the parade with his daughter.
Eberhart’s father helps keep the car running. He reached out to Chandler with a hope to remind people of how many memories the car holds.
“It just reminds you of being with your grandparents and your parents,” he said.
Chandler didn’t expect people to be as “interested” and “amused” in the car as they were. He never really thought about showing the car at a parade.
Eberhart said he believes not many people know what makes driving cars like a Pinto truly special. He said the younger generation “will never know what it’s like to hold those memories.”
“The memories are worth more than any money in the world,” Eberhart said.
Chandler has kept the car in working condition with a refurbishment and keeps it in a garage. He also has six original car manuals.
“It’s not a show car by any means, but it’s one of a kind,” Chandler said.
The Pinto was on the market for about a decade and discontinued in 1980. Chandler said not many people know what a Pinto is or how to repair one.
“They say, ‘What is a Pinto? Who makes a Pinto,’ ” he said. “I find that to be a little amusing that they never even heard of a Pinto or who makes a Pinto.”
Chandler plans on keeping the car unless given a “tremendous” amount of money for it.
“Nobody else has one,” he said.