How many Ford Pinto wagons were made?
Approximately 350,000 Ford Pinto wagons were produced during the Pinto’s 1971–1980 run. Public, year-by-year production tallies broken out by body style are not consistently published by Ford, so historians rely on archival data and reference materials to estimate the figure.
Context: the Pinto lineup and its wagon variant
The Ford Pinto, produced from 1971 to 1980, came in multiple body styles, including two-door and four-door sedans and a wagon variant. The wagon offered extra cargo space and appeal for families seeking a compact car with practical utility during the 1970s economic and fuel-conscious era.
Why production figures by body style are tricky
Ford did not routinely publish a detailed public breakdown of production by body style for the Pinto. Automotive historians often compile estimates from archived company reports, dealer data, and contemporary yearbooks, which can yield slightly different totals for the wagon depending on the source and region.
Estimated production by body style
Below is a synthesis of common historical estimates. The figures are approximate because precise, official counts by body style are not publicly standardized across sources.
- 2-door sedan: approximately several hundred thousand units
- 4-door sedan: approximately one to two million units
- Pinto wagon: approximately 350,000 units (est.)
As with any historical production breakdown, the wagon figure is an estimate and can vary by source and region. The wagon represented a meaningful portion of the Pinto lineup but did not dominate overall production.
What historians and reference sources say
Automotive histories, yearbooks, and collector references frequently acknowledge that body-style production data for the Pinto were not published in a single, authoritative public tally. The wagon’s count is therefore best understood as an informed approximation used by historians rather than an official Ford-exportable figure.
Summary
While Ford did not release a definitive, publicly accessible production tally by body style for the Pinto, most historians place the wagon production at roughly 350,000 units in the 1971–1980 window. This estimate sits within a broader Pinto production landscape that totals several million vehicles across all body styles. For researchers requiring precise counts, archival Ford documents, dealer records, and contemporary automotive yearbooks are the most reliable, though they may still yield variations.
If you’d like, I can outline a method to trace more precise numbers using archived sources or suggest specific reference works that discuss the Pinto’s production by body style.
