The Ford Torino name gets tossed around a lot when someone dreams up a modern revival, but the original earned its stripes the hard way. In 1970, wearing a Cobra badge and packing a 429 Super Cobra Jet under the hood, it beat the field to take home Motor Trend’s Car of the Year – while quietly running mid-13-second quarter miles that surprised drag strip regulars. NASCAR success, a snake on the fender, and an engine option most buyers never even ordered: that’s the real story behind the badge. Any 2017 revival had a lot to live up to.
Every few years, chatter about a modern-day Ford Torino revival bubbles back up, usually paired with some version of “it’ll finally take down the Mustang.” What most people chasing that rumor don’t realize is that the original Torino already had its moment – and it wasn’t quiet about it. Wearing a flat-black hood, a Cobra badge, and a 429 stuffed between the fenders, the real Torino beat out a field of contenders to walk away with one of the biggest honors in the industry. It did it while running quarter-mile times that caught drag strip regulars off guard. So before anyone gets too worked up about a 2017 Torino dethroning the Mustang, it’s worth asking what the original nameplate actually pulled off – because the bar it set is higher than most people remember.
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The Year the Torino Beat Everybody
Ford built the Torino as its NASCAR weapon starting in 1968, and it did the job – the nameplate helped carry Ford to back-to-back manufacturer’s championships in ’68 and ’69 before “Torino” even became the primary name on the intermediate line in 1970. That’s the year it stopped being a dressed-up Fairlane trim and became its own car, and it wasted no time making a statement: Motor Trend handed the 1970 Torino its Car of the Year award, edging out plenty of showroom rivals people assumed had the edge. For a mid-size Ford wearing a Cobra badge to walk away with that trophy tells you everything about how seriously Ford took this build.
The 429 Nobody Talks About Enough
The real firepower came from what Ford tucked under the hood for 1970: a trio of 429 big-blocks, topping out with the 375-horsepower Super Cobra Jet available through the Drag Pack option. Order that box and you got a four-bolt main block, forged pistons, solid lifters, an engine oil cooler, and a 780 CFM Holley feeding it all – the kind of buyer-ordered hardware that turned a Cobra into something drag strips had to take seriously. Motor Trend ran a four-speed SCJ with 3.91 gears to a 13.99 at 101 mph in the quarter, and testers at Super Stock and Drag Illustrated reportedly ran the same combination into the mid-13s. Not bad for a car most people only remember as “the other Ford.”
Why the Name Disappeared
The Torino didn’t get killed off because Ford stopped believing in it – the early ’70s did the deciding for them. The 1973 oil embargo gutted demand for big-block intermediates almost overnight, and by the time tightening emissions rules and new safety mandates caught up with the platform, the writing was on the wall. Ford pulled the plug on the Torino name after 1976, folding the chassis into the LTD II and Thunderbird instead of fighting a market that had already moved on. It’s part of why the surviving 1968-71 GT convertibles, the ’69 Talladega, the ’70 King Cobra, and those numbers-matching Cobras command real respect at shows today – there weren’t many good years to build a collection from.
How the Fairlane Name Gave Way to the Torino
Ford originally sold the Torino as a top trim level on the Fairlane before retiring the Fairlane name entirely and making Torino the primary badge on its intermediate lineup starting in 1970. That transition reflected how much weight the Torino name had already picked up in just two model years, enough that Ford’s marketing team decided it deserved top billing over a nameplate that had been on Ford showroom floors since the 1950s.
Ford’s Total Performance Push Explains the NASCAR Obsession
Ford’s broader Total Performance campaign of the 1960s wasn’t limited to NASCAR ovals, the same philosophy drove the company’s assault on Le Mans with the GT40 and its factory-backed Trans-Am road racing effort. Winning manufacturer’s championships with the Torino fit squarely into that strategy, giving Ford a stock-bodied intermediate that could carry the same racing credibility the company was simultaneously chasing on road courses and endurance circuits around the world.
Why Intermediate Muscle Cars Played a Different Game Than Pony Cars
The Torino competed in a different segment than the Mustang entirely, going up against mid-size rivals like the Chevrolet Chevelle and Plymouth GTX rather than compact pony cars. Intermediate muscle cars traded some of the pony car’s nimbleness for a bigger engine bay and more interior room, which is exactly what let Ford stuff a 429 big-block under the Torino’s hood in a configuration the smaller Mustang chassis of that era couldn’t easily match.
The Talladega Chased Aerodynamics Over Raw Power
Ford built the Torino Talladega in limited numbers for 1969 specifically to homologate an aerodynamic package for NASCAR competition, stretching the nose and smoothing the front end to cut through the air at superspeedway speeds. It represented a completely different engineering priority than the drag-strip-focused Super Cobra Jet cars that followed a year later, proving Ford was willing to build a Torino around aerodynamics alone when circumstances called for it.
Why the Revival Question Keeps Coming Back
Rumors of a modern Torino returning to challenge the Mustang resurface periodically online, usually built more on nostalgia than any real product plan from Ford. Part of the appeal is exactly the story this car represents: a nameplate that genuinely beat expectations once, wearing a Cobra badge and a Motor Trend trophy to prove it, which makes it an easy target for wishful thinking every time enthusiasts want a new challenger for the Mustang’s throne.
How Motor Trend’s Car of the Year Award Actually Works
Motor Trend has handed out its Car of the Year award annually since the late 1940s, evaluating new and significantly redesigned vehicles against criteria like engineering, design, and value rather than simply crowning the fastest car on the list. Winning it in 1970 meant the Torino beat out an entire year’s worth of new product from every competing automaker, not just other muscle cars, which is exactly why Ford treated the win as validation of the car’s complete redesign rather than just its available big-block engines.
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Ummmmm, WANT!!
For being uglier!
Nicolas Ortet elle est pas belle celle la?!!
Oui sympa. On dirai une mustang croisée avec une Bentley
Looks like a Mustang tried to
f##k a Fiat!
Better looking to my eyes than a Mustang Camaro or Challenger.
Front end needs more work….
Build it and we will come buy it !
Build it Italy like the Pantera !!!!!!!!
Mopar guy but I always thought the Grand Torino kicked ass in looks and throw in a 429 cobra jet didn’t hurt at all. This version looks sharp.
Pumarejo Almando
Nice I like it kid…..
I love it
looks like a sport muscle Bentley Coupe…
That is a several years old concept car that’s not being built.
Très belle voiture, j’aimerais voir l’intérieur
Looks nice like to see it in person
This gets reposted every two weeks, it’s not getting made
This post is several years old…. never going to happen!
I love the looks of this car always been a ford man but this car is pure art
nice, but it reminds me of a camaro
I don’t think it will happen. Why would Ford create more competition for itself. It would end up being heavier than the mustang and the mustang has almost all the creature comforts Ford offers. They could add more HP, bit it would not make up for the weight.
Will it have a bench seat ???? bahahahaha
Looks like a Buick.
Will one of them be affordable?
I mean mustang or Torino?
Chevy’s Chevelle may return!
Looks like a modern xb falcon coupe
This is repackaged bs/fake news,,this about three or four years old,,this isn’t going into production.
This is not real! Why does this keep getting reposted? It’s been on the Internet for a couple years now.
I don’t think so. Looks like a Camaro.
So what makes that not a mustang?
Kelly Gower McCurdy
According to new info October 2016 it is being built starting price $53,000
Saaaawwweeettt
Seen this post for the past two years and have yet to see this in production.
its a cobra I didn’t think the Torino had a cobra emblem on it
Manuel oia :o
Vou ganhar um do meu brother Gui Sousa. 🤜🏼
Sim, comprei 2 desse ai
I SURE WANNU TRY YEAH BUDDY
I don’t like Ford but I would buy that Torino over that Mustang
Hell yea about time
Forest Coffman
Looks sharp!
Damn looks slick, how much does that beast weigh????
BETTER LOOKING THAN THAT PONTIAC GTO THAT WAS SHOWN ON FACEBOOK THE OTHER DAY. IT LOOKED LIKE CRAP
I want one ….yes
They don’t make this
Very ugly!
Hot Wheels
Hector Munive
Fronts ugly
Looks a LOT LIKE a CHEVY!
I like that fastback look
Dang it looks like a Bentley