Curbside Classic Clue

Geez, there's a lot of Pinto nostalgia here! You can satisfy any Pinto cravings for less than $1000 on eBay

Years ago a newspaper in northern California interviewed the fleet manager of a very large banking firm with branches nation-wide. The bank's fleet held several thousand cars total. The fleet manager had held the position for years. The reporter asked of all the various vehicles that had passed through the fleet if any had stood out in terms of cost-effectiveness, reliability and just plain over-all goodness without regard to speed, comfort, etc; cost-effectiveness was the main parameter. The answer? I was shocked... The Pinto, the later models after the bugs had been worked out. The fleet manager declared that the Pinto was easily the best car that was ever in the fleet he had managed for so long. The news story wasn't that long after the Pinto's demise. Of course, no vehicles produced after the story's dateline were in consideration and only vehicles that made it into the bank's fleet were under consideration. The news story did mention several other vehicle types that were or had been in the fleet that included vans and pick-ups and passenger vehicles large and small. Thought the fleet manager's reply interesting enough to have remembered it all these years. That along with having rented a Pinto in 1975 and throwing the auto tranny into reverse at 25 mph, just to see what would happen. Screeech!!!!!!!! Plop, thud. Re-start unit, feel vibration but Pinto moved forward. Return to rental place and gripe about them renting a crappy car. Got an apology, my money back and hopped aboard the local transit bus that had brought me there from the nearby Navy base.

Looks like a Pinto "tail" to me...