I wonder how many of you have seen one of these before? From this angle it’s a little difficult to discern the origins of this 1973 Pangra, listed for sale here on eBay after being parked in the Nevada sun for over 20 years. Bidding is starting at $1,000 and there is a reserve. You’ll have to figure out transportation from Las Vegas, Nevada if you are the high bidder!

I’ll bet you recognize it now! This picture from an original Pangra ad made no effort to hide the Ford Pinto origins of the car. That’s right, a Pinto! The Pangra was conceived by Jack Stratton, sales manager at Huntington Ford in Arcadia, California. You could buy a Pangra at four levels; the first was a purely cosmetic kit to fit or have fitted to your Pinto while the second level added Recaro seats, additional gauges and wider wheels and tires.

The third level added shorter front coil springs, front and rear anti-roll bars and four Koni shock absorbers. This car appears to be a top-of-the line model as it also includes a turbo conversion of the 2.0 liter factory four cylinder and air conditioning.

Apart from a single station wagon, dealership-modified Pangras were all based on the two-door model, presumably for additional rigidity over the hatchback version.

You can see the shredded original Recaros here along with the additional gauges and even the Pangera name plate on the dash. Unfortunately the digital LED tachometer appears to be missing (the rectangular hole in the top of the added gauge cluster.

The Ak Miller developed turbo kit was good for either 175 or 185 horsepower depending on which source you believe. If you are interested in the whole Pangra story there are some neat articles with more details here from Hemmings Muscle Machines, here from hoonable.com and here from howstuffworks.com.

This is what you could have when you are done! The above car was listed on eBay in 2014 for $6500, and research indicates that only 40 to 50 Pangras were produced over the two year run from 1973 to 1974. What do you think this ultimate Pinto (is that an oxymoron?) worth? Would you save it?