It's estimated that over 230,000 units of the 1970 Ford Torino saw the light of day, so this isn't exactly the unicorn equivalent of a classic muscle car. But the Cobra comes close to it, with over 7,500 examples, especially since it is unknown how many of them have withstood the test of time.
Packing the highest displacement engine available for the second generation Ford Torino, the Cobra used a 429 ci. The 7.0-liter V8 was offered with three outputs. The most humble variant had 360 hp, and the Cobra Jet added ten more horses. The top flavor was rated at 375 horsepower, and it seems that the pictured car featured the mid-spec option.
Why featured and not features? Because the vendor claims the original engine was swapped for a 460 ci V8. This was probably sourced from the third-gen Torino and is backed up by an automatic transmission here. The second-gen series was available with manual and automatic transmissions, and it had three other V8s and a straight six – needless to point out, the latter isn't the one to go for, right?
Fortunately, the one pictured in the gallery is. As we already told you, it is a Cobra with a larger displacement engine under the hood, whose output is unknown. It has a dark blue metallic paint finish, features some shiny accents, rides on a set of classic wheels shod in BFGoodrich-made rubber with white branding, and has a black vinyl interior that looks very good for a vehicle that rolled off the line over five decades ago.
Photo: Garage Kept Motors
The ad does not reveal many things about it, but the images accompanying it tell us that it underwent restoration at one point, hence the good looks mentioned above. We can see that it has ventilated brake discs for quicker stopping and no modern amenities on the inside. This probably makes it a bit more attractive to potential buyers than the copies that received aftermarket stereo systems, though it loses points to the non-original engine and gearbox.
According to the listing on Garage Kept Motors, this 1970 Ford Torino has had the same owner for the last 25 years. This further explains the shiny appearance. The classic muscle car has around 47,000 miles (~75,600 km) under its belt, which were likely put there after the alleged restoration that we know nothing of.
This is the part where we tell you how much it costs. Are you ready? $59,900, which is way more than a base brand-new Ford Mustang GT – aka the V8-powered one. In fact, you could almost land a Dark Horse for that kind of money, which starts at $59,270 before destination and dealer fees. So, what would it be then? A new Mustang Dark Horse or this Cobra that's not a Cobra?
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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