19-Year-Old Saved Money for Three Years To Buy a New 1969 Mercury Cyclone GT He Still Owns

Chuck Knudson was a teenager when his father took him to a Ford Motor Company dealership and bought a car. That was in 1966; in the showroom sat a Mercury Comet Cyclone that drew the young man’s attention so fully that he told his father he wanted one. A composed parent, Knudson Sr., informed the hot-headed, car-struck Chuck about the unequivocal terms of the purchase: ‘When you’ll have enough money, you can have it.’

That sentence could have broken the wings of many enthusiasts, but Chuck is made of something words alone can’t break. He saved money for three years, and in the fall of 1968, he ordered a brand-new Cyclone GT 390. The one shining in the video below, shot last November by Lou Costabile at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois. Knudson Jr. drove his Mercury through college - he was a sophomore when the model was announced on Saturday, September 27, 1968.

Sixty-four days later, on November 30, Chuck Knudson was handed the keys to his car, and for the next 2,744 days (seven years, six months, and six days), the Mercury was his primary car. On June 5, 1976 (coincidentally, another Saturday), he parked the car in the family garage, and that was it. The odometer reading on that fateful date was 32,282 miles (51,942 kilometers).

Fast-forward another 17,315 days, and the Mercury comes out of a complete restoration. Not a moment too soon, as the first trip it makes after 47 years, 4 months, and 27 days of collecting barn dust and nostalgia is at the prestigious car show.

5,882 Cyclones were assembled for the model year, with an additional 3,261 units offered a bit extra over the regular model. In short, Ford Motor Company summarized the bonus with two letters and three digits: CJ 428. That stood for Cobra Jet 428 cubic inches, the absolute top performer in the Mercury intermediate field (the 429 Boss engine launched that same year wasn’t available for the Cyclone).

Chuck Knudson optioned his Cyclone with a four-speed manual transmission, a 390 big-inch V8 (6.4 liters) that offered similar performance figures to the mighty 7.0-liter Cobra Jet. 320 hp and 427 lb-ft (324 PS, 579 Nm) was hot on the heels of the 335-hp, 440 lb-ft (340 PS, 597 Nm) of the big-block.

Strange as it may seem for some, the owner of this Mercury Cyclone GT 390 from 1969 knew exactly what he had in hand and decided to keep it in his possession without enjoying it for nearly five decades. As a side note, Mr. Knudson was a piston addict in his own right at the time the Dark Blue Metallic fastback was retired.

He was drag racing a 1969 Mustang Mach 1 (also armed with a 428 V8) in the mid-seventies, and he bought a 1969 Cobra SportsRoof in 1976 solely for its engine. He paid $500 to the owner and then realized the car matched the numbers. So now he also owns another piece of Blue Oval history, the one-year-only ‘Cobra by Ford’ muscle car. Unlike the Cyclone, that heavy puncher was restored between 2011 and 2013 after a 33-year-long decommissioning.

The Mercury shown in the video also has the optional GT Appearance Group ordered, a Traction-Lok Differential, power steering, power disc brakes up front, a sports console, an AM radio with dual rear speakers, a tach, tinted glass, and head restraints. All in all, the options upped the cost of the car by almost 1,000 bucks to $3,720.

The car has been professionally restored, but all the sheet metal is original, with the drivetrain and all the important parts. The odometer now reads 32,283.6 miles (51.944 km), probably adding the difference while it was moved around at MCACN.

The 390 cubic-inch V8 was the top-of-the-line option for the regular Mercury Cyclone – the standard powerplant was the 302 cubic-inch small-block V8 (the 4.9-liter) with a two-barrel carburetor. All other eight-cylinder engines in the Ford lineup were offered at extra cost (the Cyclone didn’t come with a straight six motor).

The 390 V8 was a $158 add-on, and Chuck Knudsen made the correct choice when he ticked the ‘4-speed manual transmission’ box on the extras list. The go-fast gearbox shaved another $194 off his wallet – it was the most expensive option available, short of the 428 Cobra Jet motor. However, the biggest V8 was only offered on the Cyclone CJ variant, which started at $3,207, and offered the four-speed as standard equipment.