Category Archives: 1976 Ford Pinto

1976 Pinto – A small Mystery solved

One of the questions that I have had is where did the 1976 Pinto that Gapp & Roush used from early 1976 to mid-1977 come from?

The 1977 car was a Don Hardy car, the 4-door Maverick and Mustang II were Hardy cars.

The 1973 Pinto was built as the first Wolverine Pinto chassis and the 2nd delivered and the 1972 Pinto and Maverick were a mix of Wolverine and Gapp & Roush engineering.

The 1976 car was built by Wolverine and modified by Gapp & Roush.

From the 1976 Gapp & Roush press kit:

Gapp & Roush 1976 Ford Pinto

“The current Pinto differs from its previous versions in that considerably more advance planning and engineering went into the initial chassis construction so as to produce the lightest possible basic body, an obvious advantage for this year’s all-out match race wars, as well as giving Gapp additional weight distribution flexibility at national events.

The basic tube frame chassis is the product of Wolverine Chassis in Romulus, MI, but the final construction and detailing of the car was completed in the Gapp & Roush shop, with many of their own components installed on the machine, reflecting their own individual approach to the racing game.”

Wayne Gapp working on the 1976 Gapp & Roush Pinto

Here’s a pretty cool shot of Wayne Gapp working on the 1976 Ford Pinto. This image was posted by Doug Schmitt who is the current owner of the vehicle. 

This car is pretty interesting because it was built in-house by Gapp & Roush. The chassis is essentially a clone of the 1973 Ford Pinto which was built by Wolverine. 

It is my understanding that there were many small modifications made to the chassis design over the years they owned the 1973 Pinto and those changes were incorporated into this vehicle. 

WayneGapp 1976Pinto