The Pangra is an American

kit car A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor ve ...

based on the

Ford Pinto The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from 1971 until 1980 model years. The Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America. The Pinto was marketed ...

and produced from 1972–1973. The Pangra is the brainchild of Jack Stratton, then general sales manager at Huntington Ford in Arcadia, California. Production estimates vary but somewhere in the range of 20–50 complete cars were built, although many partial kits were sold as well, with estimates for those hovering in the hundreds.

History

The Pangra was based on the

, a car which came about prior to the 1970s oil crisis and the subsequent move away from muscle cars. Jack Stratton, the Pangra's creator, wanted to build a fast, compact car that could compete with cars such as the

Porsche 914 The Porsche 914 or VW-Porsche 914 is a mid-engined sports car designed, manufactured and marketed collaboratively by Volkswagen and Porsche from 1969 until 1976. It was only available as a targa-topped two-seat roadster powered by either a ...

and

Datsun 240Z The Nissan S30 (sold in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z and in other markets as the Datsun 240Z, then later as the 260Z and 280Z) is the first generation of Z GT 3-door two-seat coupés, produced by Nissan Motors, Ltd. of Japan from 1969 until ...

. Stratton developed the car with Huntington Ford and the cars were all sold through the dealership. Most Pangras were based on the 2-door sedan and hatchback body styles of the Pinto, although there were a few Pangras based on the 2-door station wagon as well. The Pangra appeared on the cover of the January, 1973 issue of ''

Motor Trend ''MotorTrend'' is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, and designated the first Car of the Year, also in 1949. Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles published ''MotorTrend'' until 1998, when it was sold to ...

'' where it was tested against the Porsche 914.

Variants

The Pangra could either be had as one of 4 different kits or it could be bought as a complete car from Huntington Ford with all of the equipment already installed. Kit 1 included the distinctive fiberglass front end with a revised hood, grill, fenders and hidden headlights operated by a lever in the interior. Kit 2 included all of kit 1 plus a revised interior including the dash, console and Stewart-Warner gauges including a digital tachometer, machined "Mag-Shot" wheels and bigger tires measuring 175HR13s in the front and 185HR13s at the rear. Kit 3 included everything from the first two kits as well as a Spearco "Can Am" kit which featured shortened front coil springs, heavy duty front and rear sway bars, a rear lowering kit and a full set of KONI shock absorbers. Kit 4 is the most remembered of the 4 and featured all 3 previous kits and featured an AK Miller turbocharger kit bolted to the original 2.0 liter SOHC 4 cylinder, as well as other engine upgrades bringing power up to around . In addition to these kits, complete Pangras assembled at Huntington Ford also received

Recaro Recaro Holding, as the parent company of the Recaro Group, owns the Recaro brand and the independently operating companies Recaro Aircraft Seating (aircraft seats) based in Schwäbisch Hall and Recaro eGaming (gaming seats) based in Stuttgart, Germ ...

high-back bucket seats as well as a custom console and dashboard, which could not be ordered as part of any of the kits.

Performance

The Kit 4 Pangras are powered by the carbureted 2.0 liter SOHC 4 cylinder used in the Pinto but have been modified with 7:1 compression, water injection, revised header pipe, crossover intake, an O-ringed head and the aforementioned AK Miller turbocharger kit. The Pangra reportedly did 0–60 mph (97 km/h) in 7.5 seconds and made around at around 10 pounds of boost, giving it 1.42 horsepower per cubic inch.{{Cite web, url=http://www.hoonable.com/pangra/, title=Pangra: The Original Hot Hatch – Hoonable, website=hoonable.com, language=en-US, access-date=2018-02-18 The car also could pull 0.74g on track thanks to its upgraded suspension, with ''

'' saying the car "clings like Saran wrap". The Pangra was an early adopter of turbocharging, lacking an intercooler or any sort of device to control boost. Instead, boost was regulated by welding a washer into the exhaust to limit the amount of air which could come through. Due to this, long term reliability of these engines suffered according to accounts from owners.

References

Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Subcompact cars Sedans Motor vehicles manufactured in the United States Cars introduced in 1972 Kit cars