Virginia National Guard >News»> Ford’s ’69 midsizers had been ‘sixty eight repeats save for new fastback and notchback Torino hardtops known as Cobra (after Carroll Shelby’s muscular Ford-powered sports activities cars). Arriving simply beneath $2000 and backed by an aggressive but gentle-hearted ad marketing campaign, this import-fighter scored an impressive 579,000 mannequin-12 months sales, contributing enormously to Ford’s manufacturing ­victory over Chevy. While the SS added pleasure, Chevy II for 1966 remained far behind its 1962-1963 sales ranges, though up well from 1965. Production totaled 163,300 models, together with 21,000 Super Sports, but this still wasn’t sufficient to beat out the Falcon’s 182,669 sales. The little-modified ’85s bought some 26,400 early into the calendar yr, when Ford suspended production. Ford was copying the no-trouble price policy of GM’s Saturn subsidiary, but it surely was nonetheless a timely counter to Chevy’s Cavalier, which was doing the identical factor — not to mention Japanese small cars that were rapidly moving up the scale resulting from a strengthened yen. Even a comparatively mild 390 XL might scale 0-60 mph in 9.Three seconds; a 427 diminished that to just over 7 seconds. An even larger bore for ’63 produced a 427-cid powerhouse with 410/425 horsepower. Performance was simply what the big Fords had, with available small-block and large-block V-8s providing from 195 up to a rousing 425 horsepower.

These have been available with the lively «Challenger» small-block V-eight from the midsize Fairlane — initially a 260 with 164 horsepower, then a 289 with about 200 horsepower for ’65. The Cobra fastback coupe remained probably the most-thrilling of this bunch, though its commonplace engine was downgraded to a 285-bhp version of the ubiquitous 351 small-block first seen for 1969. High-power and big-inch engines started disappearing at Ford and all through Detroit in 1972. By 1980, only a mildly tuned 351 remained as an option for full-size Fords. The Torino Cobra returned as Ford’s «funds muscle automobile» with commonplace 360/375-bhp 429 V-8. But most everyone admitted that of all the ’69 «supercars» — Plymouth GTX, Dodge Charger R/T, Pontiac GTO, Chevelle 396, and Buick GS 400 — the Torino Cobra was the tightest, greatest-built, and quietest. Torino Cobras could be potent racing machines. Equally dismal was the tarted-up Torino bowing at mid-1974 to answer Chevy’s popular Monte Carlo.

Sharing a coupe bodyshell and working gear with that yr’s new fat-cat Mercury Cougar, this Grand Torino Elite leaned heavily on » truck repair hudson wi Thunderbird tradition» with most each private-luxurious cliche of the period: overstuffed velour interior, a sq. «formal» grille, stand-up hood ornament, and a vinyl-coated rear half-roof with twin «opera» windows. The final, but most-substantial, restyle on the big 1960 body occurred for ’64, bringing closely sculptured decrease-physique sheet-steel, a complex grille, and slantback rooflines for all closed models. More popular was the Luxury Decor Option (LDO), a 1973 bundle out there for both physique style through the end of the road. It was a blistering performer and its new hardtop physique with concave backlight was distinctive, but hot-car demand was fast-waning all over the place, and only 7675 had been constructed for the model year. The Skyliner was gone, but there was a new fixed-roof Starliner hardtop coupe with sleek semifastback profile. Falcon continued on this form through early 1970. In 1967, its last 12 months earlier than emissions controls, the 289 packed 225 horsepower in «Stage 2» tune with 4-barrel carburetor, and made for some very quick Falcons, the sportiest of which was the ­pillared Futura Sport Coupe.

Standard XLs came with a 120-bhp 200-cid six, however most had been ordered with ­optional 289 V-8s. The 289 was detuned to 195 horsepower for ’68, when the aforementioned 302 arrived as a brand new option. Three-door wagons arrived for 1972, together with a woody-look Squire (some referred to as it «Country Squirt»). Fairmont wagons transferred to this line for ’82. Maverick’s true successor bowed for 1978 with a name borrowed from Ford’s Australian subsidiary: Fairmont. V-8s were down to a 200-bhp 292, 225-bhp 332, and 300-bhp 352. Also carried over from ’58 was Cruise-O-Matic, Ford’s smooth new three-pace automatic transmission that proved a sales plus against Chevrolet’s Powerglide, if not Plymouth’s responsive three-speed TorqueFlite. Ford’s largest automobiles of the 1960s were variously supplied as Custom/Custom 500, Fairlane/Fairlane 500 (pre-’62), Galaxie/ Galaxie 500, and station wagon. The «500» stood for the 500-mile NASCAR races the division was winning (Ford won each 500 in ’63). Ford can be primary again for 1970 and ’71 at barely over two-million cars to Chevy’s 1.5/1.Eight million. Sadly, Ford stonewalled in plenty of lawsuits all of the technique to federal court, which severely tarnished its public image, even if Pinto gross sales did not appear to endure a lot. Ford had built practically 139,000 of the ’68s; it constructed more than twice that number for ’69.