Have you ever encountered something online that’s false but refuses to die? The Chevrolet Nova is a perfect example. Many folks think it wasn’t sold in Latin American countries because “no va” means “it doesn’t go,” but that’s not quite the truth of the matter. The same can be said for Ford’s Torino Cobra.
The tale starts in the 1968 model year, when Plymouth created a low-buck performance Belvedere and called it the Road Runner. While the market was demanding such a car (performance cars tended to be based on higher trim levels, pricing out a segment of the population – mainly youths – who aspired to buy a new performance car), it was the marketing (courtesy of Warner Brothers) that made the Road Runner pure gold. Over 44,500 were built in its first outing, making it the second-most popular mid-size Plymouth model for 1968. Plymouth had a rousing success in its hands.
Other companies could smell that success, so they got to work on their own competitors to the Road Runner. As one of Plymouth’s main rivals, Ford was ready and able out of the gate when the 1969 model year started.
Called the Cobra, this Fairlane-based performance car was available as a two-door hardtop or SportsRoof, the latter being Ford’s name for a fastback. Special equipment included a standard 428 Cobra Jet, four-speed manual transmission, exposed hood lock pins, competition suspension, wheel lip moldings, six-inch wheel rims, wide-oval white-sidewall belted tires, and color-keyed carpeting. Though rated at 335 horsepower—the same as the Road Runner’s 383—the Cobra Jet actually produced about 80 more horses, giving the Cobra a nice trump card.
So why do online references that mention a 1969 Torino Cobra keep on popping up? You can see in brochures that Ford didn’t call it a Torino Cobra.
The model wasn’t even based on the Torino, yet the misnomer persists. The Torino already had a sporty model with the Torino GT. Though the standard engine was a lowly 302, it could be optioned with the 428 Cobra Jet. As equipped, what set it apart from the Cobra was more deluxe interior appointments and trim, plus the availability of a convertible.
But—uh oh!—what have we here? An ad (from the February 1969 edition of Sports Illustrated) that calls the race car a Torino Cobra, though references beyond the headline refer to the car as a Cobra. Hold that thought as we move to 1970, the model year in which Ford’s mid-size lineup was completely redesigned.
Note that the model was now called Torino Cobra. Its feature content was now based on the Fairlane 500 (as the Fairlane had been discontinued) and included a 429-4V, close-ratio four-speed with a Hurst shifter, carpeting, F70-14 wide-tread tires with white lettering, seven-inch-wide rims with hub caps, black-painted grille and hood, twist-type hood latches, competition suspension, dual-note horns, wheel lip and bright drip moldings, and Cobra decals.
The Torino Cobra was produced through 1971, so it could be surmised that this is the reason the original ’69 version often gets called a Torino. Yet how does one account for the ad touting the 1969 racing exploits?
I have a theory: The Torino first appeared in 1968 at the top of Ford’s mid-size series, complemented by the Torino GT, which had replaced the Fairlane GT. Ford was keen on promoting the model, which included the race cars that participated in NASCAR. Note that these cars were fastbacks, yet Ford did not produce a Torino fastback. Torino GT? Sure, but Ford never called the race cars anything other than “Torino.” This continued into 1969, the year that Ford would introduce the Torino Talladega aero warrior. However, a quick glace at the VIN will show that all Torino Talladegas were not Torinos—they were Cobras. Considering Ford was promoting the Torino name (and slowly phasing out Fairlanes, which would happen in ‘71) and hyping its “image” car (Cobra), could that explain the Torino Cobra reference in this NASCAR-inspired ad?
Can’t say for sure. What I can say with certainty, however, is that the street car known as the 1969 Cobra was not a Torino.
