Another Pinto Burn Victim
 

(WCCO)

In May, a car rear-ended 18-year-old Jeffrey Hinkemeyer outside his home in St. Joseph Township near St. Cloud and suffered burns over 90 percent of his body.


It's a long road ahead for a teenager who narrowly survived a fiery crash. One month ago, a car rear-ended 18-year-old Jeffrey Hinkemeyer outside his home in St. Joseph Township near St. Cloud.

In May, a car rear-ended 18-year-old Jeffrey Hinkemeyer outside his home in St. Joseph Township near St. Cloud and suffered burns over 90 percent of his body.

It's a long road ahead for a teenager who narrowly survived a fiery crash. One month ago, a car rear-ended 18-year-old Jeffrey Hinkemeyer outside his home in St. Joseph Township near St. Cloud.

His roommates soon found him upside-down and on fire in his Pinto.

For the first time since that accident Jeffery's parents are speaking out.

"He had his whole future in front of him -- that's on hold," said Jeffrey's father, Paul Hinkemeyer.

A year after Jeffrey graduated from high school with honors, he lies in a hospital bed critically burned and fighting for his life.

"One split second your life is turned completely upside down," said his dad.

A month ago Jeffrey headed home in his prized 1979 Pinto.

"He was supposed to meet up with his roommates and as he was going down the road they were coming up the road. So they turned around and so they got to see the whole thing happen right in front of them," said Paul.

They watched in horror as Jeffery's car was rear ended, rolled into the ditch and burst into flames.

"They were the ones to help put him out," said Jeffrey's mother, Patty Hinkemeyer.

Then the Hinkemeyers got a phone call.

"Jeffrey came on the phone," said Paul. "He said, 'Dad, I'm burned, it hurts, come get me.'"

Jeffrey was airlifted to the Hennepin County Medical Center Burn Unit.

"This is always a race car driver's nightmare is to be on fire," said Paul.

Jeffrey bought his Pinto because it was his dad's first race car.

"Jeffrey knew about the problem," said Patty.

Online he learned a design problem with Pintos in the early '70s caused it to catch fire when rear ended that fatal flaw was corrected before the model Jeffrey had was made.

Now his parents pray as their son, with burns over 90 percent of his body, struggles to recover.

"At this point he's getting better and his prognosis is reasonable for survival," said Hennepin County Medical Center Chief Plastic Surgeon George Peltier.

"It's all the love and support he's got from his friends," said Patty. "He's hanging in there. He is a fighter."

Wasn't that problem caused by using the trunk floor as the top of the gas tank?

Gas tank is too close to the bumper. Friends don't let friends drive Pintos.

Yeah, but I thought they had 'fixed that' issue by 1979. The bumper brackets were right up against the gas tank and would puncture it very easily. They supposedly moved the tank a couple inches towards the front and put a rubber pad between it and the bumper. a .50 fix that Ford figured would be more expensive than fighting the wrongful death lawsuits.

I feel really sorry for this kid, he bought the car of his dreams and it turned into a nightmare. I would never buy a Pinto...This is from the guy who's first car was a Corvair!

I hope he recovers soon and that he has a good life from now on...

HAHA. I had a Corvair AND a Pinto. Between the two, among other risky decisions, I'm glad to still be alive.

Upside down, on fire, with flammable fluids leaking is never a good thing.

I'm just surprised that a Pinto lasted until 2009....what was it in a barn since it was new or something?

Early Corvairs had problems but they were fixed by 63 or 64 and the rear wheels no longer had a tendency to fold under the car. I owned a a 65 and 66 Corvair and really liked them. Very nice handling car. Most obnoxious feature was the oil dripping from the pushrod tubes into the heater boxes.

I don't think I have ever seen a Pinto up here, they all rusted away decades ago.

i know of a wagon and 2 of the 2 door models within 10 miles of here that are still on the road.although most of the wagon is the road,it's rused almost up to the side windows on the sides.

In a free market, it could be considered the cost of doing business.

Why should the government or lawyers tell them how to build a car? Enact tort reform, and those evil lawyers won't be able to tell them how to make them. Power to the corporations!

I'm sorry but that sentence just seems an imposibility. A prized Pinto? How is that even concievable.

- Peter.

I used to have a 1972 Pinto back in the day. Fortunately, nobody ever ran into the back of me.

I bought a Pinto new in 73 and I paid $3000. 1/3 of the cost of the car was for options. Actually the car was fun to drive and very comfortable. It had a German built engine and tranny that ran very well for that time. I had a boss that bought a Vega around the same time and THAT was a piece of trash.

Some years ago, back in the mid-80's, I made a u-turn late at night in town from the curb. Turning left I had almost completed the turn, when a Pinto clips my left rear fender with his left front quarter panel. The whole piece fell right off the car. My car, which was a Buick Century Wagon, only needed the chrome bumper re-aligned. This was back when the Pinto fire issue was news.
I remember thinking what a hunk of junk! Flimsy. Cop gave me a ticket (which I beat in court) for making an illegal u-turn. (Sure, I was guilty of something, but not an illegal u-turn;)). No fine. No points. And most importantly, no injuries to anyone, although the girl who was driving the Pinto was plenty upset.

And Phil is correct, the Vega was a POS. Around here, they were rust buckets in 2 or 3 years.:rolleyes: