The Pinto has always had a bad rap. Sure, the early models had more in common with a Molotov Cocktail than a car, but by the time I owned my trusty 1979 Pinto ESS it was a novelty. Of course, it was by then a very old school design. A rare edition with a V6, it really was Unsafe At Any Speed on black ice.
It had some curious character traits. The most amusing of which was the tendency of the steering wheel to go off center when you hit a bump. After parking for five minutes it would mysteriously fix itself.
The funniest anecdote about The Beast was the time - now, understand, this car had lost an inch of door to rust - when we pulled over for the sheriff and he made an obvious check for alcohol. His excuse? "I thought the car might be stolen." Fortunately, by the time he finished, the steering wheel was back to normal.