Car Nut Supreme: Man Waits 57 Years for His Dream Car, a 1966 Mercury Cyclone GT Survivor

The root of Randy Honkala’s lifelong piston addiction started in 1966 with a comic book. Like most 8-year-old boys back then, car comics were one of Randy's preferred pastimes. One day, while at the local shop, Randy spotted a 1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone that sparked an everlasting fire in his heart. He vowed, right there and then, that one day, he would have a car like that.

Fifty-seven years and 300 cars later, here he is, freshly retired and enjoying his childhood dream – a 1966 Mercury Cyclone GT survivor. (If this story were told rather than written, this would be the perfect moment to drop the mic). Randy’s gearheadness spanned over 200 Ford Motor Company automobiles and 100 other brands, including (but not limited to) 'a boatload of 1969-70 Cobra Jet Mustangs, 1969 Boss Nine early S model, a super low-mile original 40k-mile 1969 Cougar Eliminator 428 CJ-R that was so loaded with options the window sticker and Eminger reports were two pages.’ 

The list of gems continues with a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird with 42,000 miles, a 1-of-21 1971 Torino station wagon with a 429 Cobra Jet, two first-generation 1969 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS, a 1968 Camaro RS, or a 1967 Firebird convertible. Hold on, there’s more: Three 1967 Mercury Comet 427s: a 1967 Mercury Capri (one of only six built with an R-code 425-hp dual-quad 427 cubic-inch V8 / 7.0 liters). A 1967 Mercury Caliente 427-8v and a 1967 Cyclone 427-8v completed the Comet, to which a pair of 1967 Fairlane 427 cars.

So, Randy is quite a car nut and a Blue Oval loyalist. And yet, out of all the super-cars he’s owned, he prefers the 1966 Mercury Cyclone GT. His 57-year-long quest finally paid off in the summer of 2023 when he closed a four-year deal with the previous car owner. There’s quite a nice story about this episode, too – at least as far as Randy’s concerned.

Its original buyer acquired the brand-new 1966 Mercury Cyclone GT 390 on July 27, 1966. Randy’s official retirement day was July 14, 2023. That was on a Friday; the following Monday, July 17, Randy Honkala wired the money to the seller, who promptly made arrangements to get the precious dream car shipped.

The trailer arrives in front of Randy’s house on July 28, 2023, 57 years and one day after the coveted comic book hero was first sold. The wait was over, but the joy only began. Randy still thinks it’s ‘surreal’ to be driving his childhood dream machine, and I think we can all agree it’s perfectly understandable. The car is almost all original – Randy changed the ignition points and the old washer fluid container, but otherwise, the Cyclone is untouched – except for the after-market, but period correct air-conditioning unit under the dash.

The car was preserved with the utmost care by its previous three owners, and it never sat for extended periods without getting a leg-stretching drive. Its 57,000 miles (91,713 kilometers), seen on the clock in this video shot by Lou Costabile in January in Arizona, were mostly covered before the end of the seventies.

Looking at Randy Honkala's almost unbelievable track record of car ownership, it would be sacrilege even to consider that the 1966 Cyclone GT he has been waiting for 57 years does not rise to the challenge. It’s not an atrociously iconic muscle car like the Superbird, the Boss 429, the Cobra Jets, or the super-rare R-code Mercurys.

But it is his greatest love, one that even his wife didn’t get to drive. However, Lou Costabile – the videographer and overly enthusiastic YouTuber smiling without reserve in the video below – got to put the 390 cubic-inch motor through its paces.

In 1966, the Cyclone got the GT upgrade, which included a special iteration of the 6.4-liter big-block engine. A four-barrel carburetor fed the 335-hp, 427-lb-ft eight-cylinder (339 PS, 579 Nm) with dual exhausts. Randy’s car boasts the Sport Shift Merc-O-Matic transmission.

It was exclusive to the Cyclone GT package, a $215.99 extra on top of the $2,891.33 base price of the ‘Cyclone GT 2-dr hardtop 8 cyl.’ The three-speed gearbox could operate in fully automatic mode, but the driver has the option of meshing through the gears at his liking.

The GT came with a 3.25 rear differential ratio as standard (a 3.0 was optional), and the performance package was so popular that it outsold the regular Cyclone two-to-one. In 1966, Mercury assembled 8,194 Cyclones (6,889 two-door hardtops and 1,305 convertibles) and 13,812 GT hardtops, along with 2,158 ragtops.