Again within the Seventies, when the Pinto was the most affordable American-built automotive Ford bought right here (the much more reasonably priced Fiesta was inbuilt Europe), it appeared like a good suggestion to create a Pinto trim bundle that shaved a couple of extra bucks off the sticker worth. That was the Pinto Pony, launched for the 1977 mannequin yr, and the horse-themed identify made lots of sense on a automotive itself named for an equine coat sample. When the Escort changed the Pinto beginning with the 1981 mannequin yr, the most affordable variations did not get a intelligent identify at first. Beginning in 1986, although, Ford revived the outdated Pony identify for the Escort (regardless of the shortage of any horsiness in that automotive’s picture). Here is a kind of least-expensive Escorts, present in a Colorado self-service yard.
The Escort Pony for 1988 listed at a mere $6,586 (that is about $16,865 in 2022 {dollars}), which was 363 bucks cheaper than the Escort GL hatchback that yr. You may get a extra reasonably priced new Ford that yr, however your solely selection for that was the microscopic, Mazda-built Festiva at $5,490 (sorry, pickup followers, the very least expensive ’88 Ranger was $6,793).
Whereas Ford bragged that the Pinto Pony got here with carpeting as customary tools, the Escort Pony had a reasonably first rate listing of facilities. The bottom Escort Pony transmission was an old-timey four-on-the-floor handbook, however the unique purchaser of this one spent an additional 76 bucks ($195 now) for a five-speed handbook. If you happen to wished an computerized, the value tag was a sobering $490 ($1,255 at this time).
What you did not get as customary tools on the ’88 Pony was a passenger-side outdoors mirror.
You will need to determine that anybody too low cost to pay a couple of dollars for that mirror positive wasn’t going to pony up an extra $688 ($1,760 in 2022 bucks) for air-con, and you would be appropriate about that. How’s this rig for easy heater/vent controls?
The ’88 Pony received this 1.9-liter four-cylinder for motivation, rated at 90 horsepower. The recent-rod Escort GT received a hopped-up model with 115 horses, however you could not get that engine factory-installed within the light-weight Pony.
This automotive received some truck-stop seat covers to snazz it up a bit with a Playing Zombie Jester theme.
Leechpit has been retaining Colorado Springs lame for years.
Ford caught with the unique quasi-European-derived Escort (it wasn’t similar to the European Escort, however its genes made it shut sufficient to be thought of a cousin) by the 1990 mannequin yr, after which the Escort went onto a Mazda platform and have become sibling to the Mazda 323 and Protegé.
If you happen to wished a 1988 Escort with A/C, computerized, AM/FM stereo, and so forth, you needed to pay a lot extra (although there have been cash-back offers).
It seems that Ford did not hassle with a lot tv promoting for the Pony. In 1988, the most affordable new automotive Individuals may purchase was the wretched Yugo GV ($4,199, or about $10,750 now), adopted by the Hyundai Excel and its badge-engineered Mitsubishi Summary twin ($5,295 or $13,560 at this time), the aforementioned Ford Fiesta, the Chevrolet Dash ($5,495/$14,070), the Subaru Justy ($5,556/$14,225), the Toyota Tercel EZ ($5,948/$15,230), the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon ($5,995/$15,350), and the Mazda 323 ($5,999/$15,360). By these requirements, the Escort Pony gave you a reasonably good serving to of automotive for the cash … although I believe I would have chosen the spartan-but-reliable Tercel EZ from that listing if I went again in time with orders to get the very best super-cheap 1988 new automotive.
