Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

eBay Find of the Day: 1970 Ford Torino King Cobra prototype

Gallery:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/1970-...photo-5863258/

Over the last decade or so, competition in NASCAR has led to some pretty funky looking racecars. And when the sport was still up and coming, the tight competition actually led to some interesting production cars. The Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird are perhaps the most well-known cars of the sport's "aero wars" era but the Ford Torino King Cobra might have been the most memorable of all, if not for some different homologation rules established in 1970. The Torino King Cobra never made it to production and never competed in NASCAR, but three examples exist including this one now for sale on eBay.

Designed as a successor for the aero-tuned Torino Talladega, the Torino King Cobra has a sleeker front end with hidden headlights and a sloped nose. As the story goes, NASCAR made a rule change in 1970 requiring 3,000 of the vehicles to be produced, which was substantially more than the 500 units required by the previous rule. One of the three prototypes ever built – and the only one built with the Boss 429 engine – is now for sale on eBay with a starting bid of $500,000. With a little more than three days left on the auction there are still no bids, but in the grand scheme of things this seems like a relatively fair price for a rare piece of automobile and racing history.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/08/e...bra-prototype/

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

I'm smitten

mmarshall

Great find, Hoovey. It shared the sleek front styling of the Charger Daytona/Plymouth Superbird (and actually one-upped them by having a legal front bumper, as the state of Maryland wouldn't allow Daytonas or Superbirds to be sold in that state because of that front bumper-lack), but lacks the latter's high trunk-mounted wing.

I grew up during the Great Age of Muscle-Cars in the 1960s, and still think that, overall, with a couple of exceptions, the best ones were done for 1970 (the year I graduated from high school), with 1969 a close second. After 1970, engines started to get detuned, build quality declined (especially with the GM cars...with Chrysler products, build-quality had been declining since 1967), cost-cutting got more noticeable, and a number of the potent former models were simply dropped or emasculated. I thought that the switch from the 1969/70 Camaros/Firebirds to the all-new 70 1/2 models (for 1971) was especially disappointing. The 1971 Mustang was also a letdown after the 69-70 models.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

I believe 1970 was the pinnacle year for muscle cars. My favorite being the 1970 Firebirds, best handling musclecar.

mmarshall

Absolutely. And 1969 was a close second.

Arguably. The torsion/leaf suspension used on Chrysler products of that era (especially the Barracuda/Challenger and Duster/Demon) also had a reputation for good handling, especially with the smaller engines...though the big Hemis and 440s on the Barracuda/Challenger sometimes weighed down the front ends too much. Corvettes, with their stiff underpinnings, also had a reputation for better-than-average handling....again, better with the smaller blocks.

Which 1970 Firebird model were you refering to? The initial 1970 model, like with the Camaro, was essentially a redo of the 1969, but then was replaced by the new 1970 1/2 model midway through the year. I wasn't as impressed with the 70 1/2 model as the previous 69/70.....it was lighter (and maybe handled better), but there was also, IMO, a noticeable cheapening in its body/interior and overall build-quality.