 |
For 1972 Ford rebuilt the Torino from the frame up, moved it onto a full perimeter chassis, softened the ride, and killed off the Cobra that had defined the car’s performance image. The result was heavier and slower, yet it became the most famous Torino of all, thanks to Hollywood and a decade of television. Read on to find out what changed under the skin, what was left of the muscle, and why this last generation still matters.
Ford retired both the Fairlane and Falcon nameplates for 1971, folding everything into a fourteen-model Torino lineup that ranged from a plain two-door sedan to the four-speed, 285-hp Torino Cobra. EPA-mandated compression cuts quietly trimmed horsepower across nearly every engine that year, even as Ford kept offering genuine performance touches like the Ram Air shaker hood and Hurst-shifted four-speeds. Read on to find out what a magazine-tuned Cobra 429 could still do at the drag strip in 1971.