Ford 1970 Torino 429 Cobra-Jet

I briefly owned an orange 1970 429CJ Torino Cobra, shown at right, back in 1970. But after less than a month I traded it for the 429 SCJ Torino hardtop shown below.

That’s right, not a Cobra, not a GT, not even a fastback - a plain-Jane, black two-door hardtop Torino. It was a Ram Air 4-speed with a Detroit locker, oil cooler and all the other SCJ stuff. It had a 3.00:1 rear gear along the the locker - go figure? And it turns out it was also balanced and blueprinted from the factory and pulled happily to 6500-RPM every time I asked it to. (After I disconnected the Factory 6000 RPM rev limiter.)

It consistently ran through the quarter mile at 100 to 102 MPH and 13.95 to 14.1 on the stock 70 series 14" Poly-glass tires for the 6 years and 62,000 miles I had it.

It was a brass hat car. They were sometimes called executive cars and built by the factory for the Ford brass or for other special purposes and subsequently auctioned off. Near as I can tell it was a “special order” made to loan out to magazines for testing. A car with my description was mentioned in passing in a couple of Torino reviews in period magazines. I got it from our family Ford dealer, John North Ford, in Emporia, Kansas, who saw it at the factory auction in Detroit and knew I’d want it.

According to Ford Production Facts printed in 1988...

The 429 was available in all models of Torino, Fairlane and Falcon 1970-1971. The Cobra was available in all models except the Falcon 1970-1971. The SCJ was available in all except the station wagon 1970-1971.

In 1970-71 (2305) Fairlane and Torino sports-roofs (aka fastbacks) and formal-roofs (aka hardtops) were built with the non-GT option and the 429 CJ, of these 97 were 4 doors and 11 were station wagons.

In 1970-71 (811) Torino sports-roof, formal-roofs and 4 doors were equipped with the 429 SCJ according to the book all were 4 speed cars. [So for both '70 and '71 model years combined, there were 811 other non-GT, non-Cobra Torinos built. You've got to figure most were fastbacks though, not hardtops. That makes my old Torino pretty rare indeed.]

and for an interesting tidbit (4)429 SCJ 4-speed ram air Station wagons were commissioned for Berkley Ford in Calif. [OK. A 1970-71 ram air 429 SCJ station wagon has officially become my dream car. Could I have that in all black please?]

I will never sell another car as long as I live...
I will never sell another car as long as I live...
I will never sell another car as long as I live...
I will never sell another car as long as I live.
I will never sell another car as long as I live...

1970		Torino
429 Super Cobra Jet