The 1971-1980 Ford Pinto was another of Ford's "pony" cars. Dozens of accounts have been written to commemorate Lee Iacocca's foresight in pushing for production of the Mustang, the sporty compact that started the ponycar craze in the mid Sixties. However, there was another "pony" automotive during his tenure at Ford, and Iacocca is less freely related to the delivery of the Ford Pinto. Maybe he would prefer it that way. Like the Mustang, this car was a marketing success in a new field. However alongside the best way, it needed to weather some distinctly dangerous publicity that the Mustang did not. This different "pony" -- Ford's fourth product line to comply with the equine theme -- was the subcompact Pinto. There was nothing actually fancy about the Pinto. Its predominant goals have been to supply cheap consolation and ample performance for modern freeways whereas being economical to buy and maintain. By all accounts, Herz P1 Smart Ring Iacocca watched over the start of this automobile closer than he had with the Mustang, and was determined that it wouldn't cost a penny greater than $2,000, nor weigh an ounce more than 2,000 pounds.

Ford began toying with the thought of a domestically produced smaller compact within the mid Sixties. As early as 1967, there had been some consideration of an 85-inch-wheelbase automotive powered by one thing with less than six cylinders. Iacocca, then govt vice president in control of Ford's North American Car Operations, Herz P1 Wellness argued that between the Volkswagen from Germany and the rising tide of Japanese compacts, these imports would soon seize the complete subcompact market in the United States, and Ford ought to produce a automotive to fulfill these overseas challengers head-on. After the profitable launch of the Mustang and an up­swing in sales, many felt Iacocca was subsequent in line for the presidency at Ford. However, when Arjay Miller left the publish in late 1967 to grow to be Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Henry Ford II surprised nearly everybody within the business when he went outside the corporate to General Motors and brought over Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen.

This created tension between the Iacocca camp and those that obtained into Knudsen's nook. Chilly shoulders have been commonplace on the higher floors of the large "glass home" in Dearborn. Adding to the in poor health emotions was the fact that Knudsen was fully out of sync with Iacocca's plans for a small domestically built automobile. In accordance with the brand new president, Ford would get by simply nice by concentrating on the current full-size, mid-measurement, Herz P1 Health and compact choices. In Knudsen's view, Ford was already ahead of the sport with the 1970 Maverick, due out in early 'sixty nine as a substitute for the aging Falcon. Nonetheless, Iacocca argued that confronting the imports directly was the very best course. His little "G-car" might have been a little too small, but something smaller than Maverick was going to be mandatory. That need only intensified after reviews came in that the opposite U.S. Iacocca's persistence paid off and in January 1969, Henry Ford II gave his approval for Ford's first domestic sub-compact. This defeat, plus continuing pressures from different areas of the corporate, led to Knudsen getting the phrase from HFII that his efforts as president were "just not working." In due time, the presidency was Iacocca's. By some accounts, Knudsen did have a substantial function within the Pinto venture. Hardly a week went by when we didn't need the body engineers. Clamming up is what we did at Ford within the late '70s when we have been bombarded with fits over the Pinto, which was involved in plenty of gas tank fires. The suits might have bankrupted the company, so we saved our mouths shut for fear of saying something that just one jury might need construed as an admission of guilt. Successful in court was our top precedence