Almost every day I drive by an old white car that a local small mechanic's shop pulls out and parks in the daytime and then pulls it back in to park inside over night. I first noticed it because the fastback looked a lot like a '68 Mustangs fast back rear end. Each time I drove by I would look to see what else I could discern about the car. So it turns out to be a white Ford Torino 2 door fastback. From the pictures I've studied on the internet it appears to be a '68/'69. At first I thought it must be based upon a Mustang, but through internet discovered it was a Fairlane basically. It is a car with beautiful lines in the ody and looks very appealing, but it is in serious need of paint and maybe body work and I've never looked inside. Our company uses this mechanic to work on our trash truck and dump truck and older vehicles. I've often wanted to stop by and inquire about the car. It has always caught my eye and I might want to take a shot at it. I'm going to inquire sometime next week, but I was wondering what Paul or any of the other Blue Oval serious car guys, and all of you who know anything about these cars think about the subject. I don't know the engine yet or anything else. I think its been there about 3 years that I've noticed it and there has never been any evidence that its actually been worked on. I have also never seen it out on the local roads. Is this a desirable car? Is it worth anything? Can it be a muscle car? What should I ask about it?

 

Lots of those were built with the 302 and C4 automatic. I think that is the likeliest combo you will find on that car.

 

The Torino can be anything you want it to be. You can do anything to it that you can do to a classic Mustang. The platforms and runing gear are related. Those old bodystyles are becoming much harder to find and since we no longer see them as ordinary everyday they are more interesting. It's definietely worth something.

One of my neighbors has a washed out aqua blue 68 Mercury Cyclone with the same fastback bodystyle as the Torino and it's quite interesting. I love any Ford fastback from the late 60's to early 70's....

 

I have no idea about specific Torino knowledge, or worth, but hot **** they are cool

 

i think theyre pretty cool

 

Any news or updates Gary?

 

The only thing I know about them is that my husband swears that when we finally build a garage that he's going to find a Cobra Jet Torino to put in it. He had one as a teenager but totalled it and he's always wanted another one.

 

I saw it Friday, but had to be somewhere, when I came back they were shut down for the day. I'm gonna stop and talk to the owner anyway about welding on my BMR relocation brackets. I figure I'll ask about it then.

 

Excellent

 

I have a '68 and '69 Torino GT fastback here at my shop....the '69 is a donor for parts to fix a friends car that he is shipping to me and the '68 is one I picked up but have never done anything with so I will probably sell it.....The Mercury Cyclone was built on the same platform but with some different trim and sheetmetal.....This is my '69 Cyclone Spoiler II Dan Gurney Special.....

The Torino and Cyclones are very cool cars...suspension is identical to the Mustang.

 

I love those two special editions Cyclone, Dan Gurney and Cale Yarborough.

My personal favorite is still '69 Torino Talladega.

 

Not a fast back, but still a Torino (1970) all original .

 

Nice cars Doug and Paul.

 

Fords midsize was available with every V-8 available up to the 428 SCJ with capscrew rods. The base car was actually a Fairlane, with the Torino name reserved for the upscale models. The fastback was actually called the Sportsroof and was designed to compete in Nascar. The tunneled front grille caused a lot of drag, so after the intro of the Charger Daytona, ford extended and dropped the nose to create the Torino Talledega.

Suspension wise, the Torino chassis is a stretched Musatng platform, with many of the same limitations. The longer wheelbase improves the ride and the cars are actually quite nimble. 4 speed cars came with staggered shocks and Super Cobra Jet cars came with Nodular nine inch rear ends with 3:91 gears.

The Top dog Torino was the Cobra. It was a budget musclecar to compete with the Road Runner. Fastbacks were more common, but a two door hardtop was also available. 428 Cobra Jet power was standard. Buckets and a console were optional. My brother in law has a notchback Cobra, which he's owned for almost thirty years. It is a 428 CJ, with Ram Air, dog dish hubcaps on painted steel wheels and a bench seat. No AC, PS or PB. Pretty much a factory drag car.

 

i dig the torino's

nice looking car.

 

I can see that it does not have any kind of ram air hood of any kind. It appears all stock. Still waiting for time to check it out. We downsized last month at work and I am busy all the time with hardly any free time. I just can't get in my car and go down the block like I used to be able to.

 

Here is a 1968 Mercury Cyclone in my neighborhood. I love this old car... It's in fairly decent shape. It just needs some TLC to get it back into perfect shape...

 

LOVE THEM! Wish I could find one reasonable

edit: Woud a Fairlanes fastbak be the same?

 

Fairlane, Torino and Cyclone fastbacks were all the same body. Torino was the uplevel model of the Fairlane series and the Cyclone was the Mercury equivalent with changes in trim to differentiate it from a Ford.

It would have been cool if the Cyclone was revived as a Mercury variation of the Mustang with a four headlamp grille and that triangular quarter window... But there are people that want a Cougar as well...

I loved the old days where there was variety.... Now its one Ford fits all...

Funny we have sort of seen that quarter window shape on the 1983-88 Cougar...

 

Something I never wondered about until now...

Did the Mustang share fastback decklids with the Torino and Cyclone? Every shape and cutline looks identical...