1970 Ford Torino for sale $459,900

To put the car into context you have to travel back to the infamous NASCAR Aero Wars that took place during the 1969 and 1970 Grand National seasons. With GM on hiatus from racing the competition between Ford and Chrysler grew to unprecedented levels. With the understanding that winning races equated to sales both camps turned exotic experimentations in speed and aerodynamics. While Dodge fired the first shot with its Charger 500 Holman andamp; Moody responded on Fords behalf with the Torino Talladega – a car that claimed the 1969 Daytona 500. By the next time the series visited Atlanta Motor Speedway Mercury had rolled out its own version of the Talladega which they called the Cyclone Spoiler II. The new Ford designs certainly intensified the rivalry but it was the introduction of the Boss 429 that really forced the Mopar camp to step up. Their response? A mid-season knockout known as the Dodge Charger Daytona.

Despite an impressive Mopar showing David Pearson managed to lock up a second consecutive Grand National Championship keeping Ford on top for the time being. Meanwhile back in Dearborn Larry Shinoda and company were busy designing an all-new aero warrior for the 1970 season. This one followed Mopars sloped-nose vision but applied it to the new longer wider and sleeker Fairlane which in turn became the King Cobra. Powered by a 700hp variant of the Boss 429 the car showed promise during testing and by all accounts was poised to be a serious threat on the track. Unfortunately the King Cobras demise was already on the horizon. The cars main supporter former Ford president Bunkie Knudsen was fired and replaced by Lee Iacocca who wasted no time in slashing Fords racing budget by 75 percent. Whatever remaining chance of survival the King Cobra had was reduced to zero by new NASCAR regulation designed to minimize the aero cars and even the overall playing field.

If it werent for NASCAR car owner Bud Moore theres a good chance that neither this car nor its sibling would be around for us to admire today. The cars design studio clays were destroyed fiberglass mock-ups of the nose were tucked away at Holman andamp; Moodys shop and the two running street prototypes (its rumored that there are actually three cars) were relegated to use as Dearborn gofer cars. Moore spotted the King Cobras in 1971 while picking up several Mustangs for the upcoming SCCA season and being a long-time Ford racer used his influence to strike a deal on both cars. According to the original receipt the pair set him back a mere $1200!. One car was parked at his shop and the other had a damaged nose. And as the story goes he replaced it with regular Torino sheet metal and eventually sold it to a police officer. As far as we know the car became a daily driver. After a bit of online research we did manage to locate the Yellow Torino at Floyd Garretts Muscle Car Museum located in Sevierville TN. The car seems to be in good health and hopefully many visitors of the museum will enjoy its NASCAR roots and heritage as much as we do.

They say that legends dont die and in the case of the blue King Cobra that