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1970 Ford Torino King Cobra

Offered by Mecum | Indianapolis, Indiana | May 18, 2013

The Ford Torino Talladega was Ford’s 1969 NASCAR ringer car. It had a highly sloped fastback and a 428 Cobra Jet engine. For 1970, Chrysler seriously upped the game with the Plymouth Superbird, which would dominate NASCAR.

So Ford designer Larry Shinoda designed this aerodynamic coupe based on the Torino. Everything from the firewall back is standard Torino, but that sleek, downforce-creating front end was all new. The grille was relocated to below the bumper and the hood was blacked out. And there were headlight covers planned for the NASCAR teams (this car has them).

NASCAR upped their homologation requirements for 1970, mandating that 3,000 copies of a car must be built in order to compete. This led Ford to abandon the project after only three prototypes had been built. It was never raced. Each car had a different engine: one had the Boss 429, one a 429 SCJ and the other a 429 CJ. So this car has either an engine rated at 370 or 375 horsepower (the lot description is currently blank for this car). It is one of only three and should bring a pretty penny, even though Torino’s are not (for whatever reason) highly collectible. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Failed to sell.

Update: Sold, Mecum Kissimmee 2019, $192,500.

Mecum Auctions’ Kansas City Auction (which ended on March 31) did not have any huge sales that broke any records. In fact, there were numerous sub-$10,000 cars that would have been a lot of fun to buy. As far as highlights go, we’ll start with the Divco Milk Truck we featured, which sold for almost exactly what I predicted at $52,000.

The top sale was a brand new 2012 Mercedes-Benz S600 sedan which sold for $133,000. Not exactly super-exciting.

The next three top-sellers were 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Convertibles. One sold for $77,500 (a 427/300). One sold for $120,000 (a 427/435). Our favorite, the 427/435 pictured below, brought an even $100,000.

Other highlights include a 1969 Plymouth GTX with the 375 horsepower 440 engine that sold for $52,000.

.As far as cheapies go, this 1955 Chevrolet Ambulance that included period medical response equipment from the 1970s sold for only $3,100.

And finally, two rare Mustangs: a 1984 SVO (top) and and 1978 King Cobra (bottom):

The SVO was from the first year of production and only about 4,508 were made between 1984 and 1986. It sold for $3,800. The King Cobra was one of only 4,313 built and has some very Trans Am-like hood decals. It sold for $7,100.

For complete results, check out Mecum’s website.