There are obviously people in the world with far more self-discipline than I possess because there is no way that I could own a car like this 1969 Fairlane Cobra and leave it sitting virtually idle for 50-years. During the decades that have elapsed since it rolled off the production line, this beast of a car has managed to accumulate a genuine 1,100 miles under its original Polyglas tires. Now it is set to head off to a new home, so if it ticks all of the boxes for you, you will find it located in Juneau, Wisconsin, and listed for sale here on eBay.
Finished in Candy Apple Red, the Cobra really does present in as-new condition. This is hardly surprising, given the vehicle’s low mileage. I’m not sure whether the car was originally bought with a specific purpose in mind, or if the original owner saw it more as a long-term investment. What we do know is that the seller purchased the Cobra from the original owner back in 2013, and it has been stored in a heated garage since then. It has had such limited use that the wheel trim rings have never actually been fitted, and they remain in the trunk, which is where they were the day the car was delivered. There is not a sign of a chip or scratch anywhere on the Cobra, and there are no indications that there are any rust issues with the car. The hood scoop is a reasonable indicator that this is no ordinary Ford.
The major frustration with this Cobra is the quality of the photos that the owner provides for what is, let’s face it, a pretty hefty automotive investment. What lurks in the engine bay is the original 428ci Super Cobra Jet V8. This beast is fitted with Ram Air and produces an official, but somewhat conservative, 335hp. Those in the know state that this estimate is very low and that true engine output is somewhere around the 400hp mark. Shifting duties fall to a close-ratio 4-speed Top-Loader manual transmission, and due to the fact that the original owner also ticked the box beside the Drag Pack, the rear end is a 3.91 limited-slip. In addition, the Cobra comes equipped with power steering, and power front disc brakes. It isn’t clear whether the Cobra has been fired into life in recent times, but its originality extends to the point where every one of the inspection stickers is still present, while the original (and dead) Autolite battery is still sitting in the battery tray. The performance was all that you would expect from such a combination, and while the official figures quoted a 0-60mph time of 6 seconds and ¼ mile ET of 14.6 seconds, both figures, in the same spirit as the power output figure, were somewhat conservative. Motoring publications of this period found that a 0-60 time into the 5-second bracket was easy to achieve, while the ¼ mile ET could be dropped into the 13-second region on a consistent basis.
The interior of the Cobra is just as spotless as you would expect from a car with this sort of mileage on the clock. It is so well preserved that the plastic protection is still in place on the seat belts, and the plastic carpet protector is still present on the left side floor. Even the original quick user guide card remains attached to the air conditioning. In addition to the A/C, the Cobra comes with black upholstery, a console, a gauge set with a tachometer, and an optional AM radio. Also supplied with the Ford is the original Order Sheet, the Owner’s Packet with the Manual, Warranty Card, original loan document, original paper floor-mats, and even the original and mint Cobra jacket that was supplied with the car.
There is no doubt that this 1969 Fairlane Cobra is a car with the “wow” factor in abundance, and as I said in the beginning, I really can’t imagine having enough self-control to not drive it. I hate to use this term, but cars like this are amazing time capsules. However, you can’t help but feel that the ultimate destination of this one will be a museum. It is not a cheap car, and every mile accumulated is going to negatively impact that car’s value. If this is the case then I will find that to be a crying shame. This is a car that was made to be driven hard, and thoroughbreds should never be locked away.
The car itself and the mileage are almost beyond comprehension,I have only two questions,who and why?
I would’ve put more miles than this on the car in the first week of ownership. Wow what a nice fairlane.
With the recent ’66 Charger that was featured, I couldn’t help see the similarities in the two body designs (and Marlin too I guess). But, like girls and so many other things, it’s the little details that make one look better than another, and I think Dodge got it right with the ’66 Charger.
66-67 charger was so gangster. I loved every minute with mine.
These 1968 & 1969 Ford fastbacks had an aerodynamic advantage over their contemporaries. They were slick enough earn the Nascar grand national championship in 68 & 69. The 66 & 67 fastback Charger bombed in Nascar. Poor aerodynamics led to too much lift and instability at high speed.
A beautiful old Ford.
Looks quite a lot similar to a Mustang, especially from the rear.
Looks like a ’68 Torino to me.
No points for leaving the original dead battery where it can split, leak acid, and ruin expensive things! It’s understood that they are disposable, so please recycle it and leave the battery tray empty.
Original battery could also mean no one has tried to crank it in many years- so this beautiful car could literally have a locked motor.
I’m sure they could boost it with cables or jumper pack
That’s what mystery oil and a socket wrench are for. I get your point though. To me, this car will not break 6 figures anytime soon. The fairlane was the less desirable variant of the torino and even top shelf torino dont go over $80k. 1969 is not even the most desirable year. I think the seller took the book value and doubled it. Just the same, wonderfull car.
I had a 69 GT, unfortunately it was a (IIRC) 302 automatic. Only real complaint I had about this most every other fastback I’ve owned or driven is parallel parking
Mine was not in this good of shape, though I wished it has been.
This one is way out of my price range, so it’s not even worth considering.
I havnt checked my lotto ticket yet, but this car might be mine!!
Where ya gonna find one like this? Amazing. You would think that it would be in running condition, but then you get into things like rubber parts, ignition, fuel system etc. Where do you draw the line? U guys think its worth 165 large? Interesting. Good luck to the new owner, I’d bet that this will wind up in a private collection. At least that way others could enjoy looking at it.
Cheers
GPC
GPC, maybe 100K, and even then it would be a die hard Ford collector. I wonder how sitting has affected it… I do love it, but sad to think it won’t be driven.
There are way more SuperBirds out there than Torinos, that’s for sure. Yet so few Fords have survived. All of the cars from that time were tinworm fodder.
Why is this car not headed to Scottsdale
It might, some of those, especially the largest ones are no reserve. Why not shoot for the moon on a car that is a true unicorn based on rarity and condition. I think he’s fishing, but I who really knows what a collector would be willing to pay. Like someone once said, you can always come down, you can’t go up. Besides, Scottsdale is two months away, this ad might be designed to let the world know it exists, not to make an immediate sale.
Steve R
Love it/hate it feeling on this one. Outstanding high performance Ford, rarely seen which is a nice breather from all the Chevelles and GTO’s, almost unbelievable condition for a car built in the Nixon era. Which makes me wonder,
Why? Curios how those original 1100 miles were accumulated. Non driver status on this one, urrgghh!
1/4 mile at a time. My bud s dad was in on a 67 or 66 biscayne. Radio and heater delete 427. not certain so I don’t want to get chewed by the gear heads out there but it has less than 5000 miles on it but they were from the quarter mile and back. All of them.
It really doesn’t get much better than this!! It’s a brand new car with a brand new car price!! Total restoration not needed!! A true survivor car that someone might be using as part of there retirement!! I only wish I had the foresight to have put cars like this away!! There are two problems first I would have driven it!! Second I didn’t have a place good enough to store it from then till now!! This car will get snapped up by a collector and at best be a trailer queen!! At worst be put in a collection and never be seen by people like us here!!
Would love to see this car roaring down the race track at Goodwood Revival, competing with Aston Martins, Ferraris – you name it.
Cars are made to be used!
At this point it’s a garage queen. I would be so afraid of the other ppl I could not enjoy driving it.
Beautiful, expensive, and pretty much useless.
…like my first wife….
The items belonging to Bob Perkins /Perkins Restorations just can’t be compared to any other collection/business that I‘ve ever heard of or seen. 100% legit, and the best of the best. Bob is also a great promoter of the Mustang Hobby. His cars often have crazy interesting stories, but you can always be sure that the advertised price will bring you just about the best that you can buy.
Had to go look at the listing after your comments. Yep – it’s one of Bob Perkins’ cars. Best of the best!
Yup – I live about 50 miles from there. He knows what he is doing, despite what the keyboard “experts” assume. http://perkinsrestoration.com/
Nits to pick. With this top dollar automobile, why cell phone pictures with no close ups of essential components? I would expect top notch photography from different angles and maybe a walkaround video. Also, if it was originally ordered for the drags why would it have air conditioning?
Just a minor point, but I believe there was no way to order a SCJ by itself. What you did back then was order a CJ with drag pack line item (2 rear end options) which got you the SCJ engine included. Best bargain on the planet back then on these and Mustangs.
What a great car, but how could you not drive it? That’s what it was built for.
That’s the same steerin wheel that was in grandma’s ’70 boxy falcon.
Has no place in this car.
That “shin knocker” a/c must be dealer installed.
On the falcon factory a/c was integrated into the dash.
Wonder if the a/c compressor is seized & if not, does it blow cold! R12 still in there?
With the lousy antifreeze/motor oil(to a lesser extent) avail back then, were they changed every 3 yrs/3-6 months?
I know a 70 Z28 owner who has a 7,000 mile never touched version. He has the orig battery. He only installs it when showing the car. True, that 50 year old Motocrsft could explode and ruin this beauty. Not a big Ford fan, but this certainly is a great find. Trust me, this will be at Scottsdale someday.
Why not just buy a new repro delco battery & stop playin musical batteries? lol Or can the judges tell the difference – maybe scratch up/”age” the new one?
Then again they aint cheap & a 6! times cheaper $49 walmart battery today has more CCA than the delco did in ’70. lol
Plus its sealed & won’t damage a battery tray.
Can not figure why GM abandoned the side terminal battery.
If that battery hasn’t exploded by now, it’s not going to.
Johnny Longshot I had a girl friend like that once. 428 SCJs were known for lower end issues. A guy I knew back then got 4 engines replaced on warranty before he totaled it. Still a crazy desirable car, GLWTS.
Owner must of scared the crap out of himself and parked it LOL
and the a/c is the dealer installed type, NOT the OEM, factory style
Yes indeed al8apex. The AC is dealer installed. AC was not available from the factory with the Drag-Pack option. A beautiful Fairlane Cobra.
I looked at the paperwork and it does not have any information on the ac. Makes me wonder
If I were able to own this car I would DRIVE IT. Maybe sparingly to shows etc. but I would be proud to show this beautiful FORD to the world. You can keep all of your Tri Fives thank you very much.
The original driver was a high school kid in Iowa that promptly lost his license.
Parents parked the car. Decided to sell in 2013. They contacted me as I was listed on local Mustang & Ford Club website and I provided Mr Perkins phone number to them. Simple as that.
I have seen this car in person as well as the rest of the vehicles in this private collection. This is one of MANY ridiculously low mileage Ford products that this collector deals in. Rest assured whoever is the next caretaker of this vehicle is getting a real deal low miler. Don’t worry that the pbotos aren’t that great, his due diligence is without question a milestone FOMOCO gem.
Put the trim rings back on it… but it does make it look a bit more sinister without them. $165k is fishing I think, but where will you find another?
This car is owned by one of the world’s greatest collector of Ford Mustangs. This is a beautiful car and utterly amazing. The craziest thing is the owner has even rarer and lower mileage cars in his collection
I bet he don’t have a low mileage pinto, maverick, or vega. Very very very few bought THOSE to collect & baby – more likely 1 of those not used due to serious illness or being drafted – but still they would eventually be used – by someone else, at least.
Original dead battery…geesh!
It only takes a few minutes to unhook the speedo. I promise you it has a few more miles on it. And it’s a COBRA, period. Not a Fairlane Cobra!
Really? I worked at a Ford dealership in ‘69. We ordered a Cobra formal roof, R code, drag-pack, 3.91’s, automatic. The Cobra option had a body code of Fairlane. In ‘70 the Cobra was coded as Torino. The Fairlane body code was gone.
It may be coded as a Fairlane for ordering or building purposes, but is referred to as simply “Cobra”.
Boatman: Yes. It is totally correct to refer to this particular model as a COBRA. But it’s not completely wrong for the ‘69 Cobra to be referred to as a Fairlane Cobra as this beautiful car is listed. Thanks for the clarification.
WOW! This is the car I have always wanted! Does anyone have $164,990 bucks I can borrow?
Love it!
I think the Ford vs Ferrari movie is going to give anything Cobra a boost in the next few months. Probably even more so than Carroll Shelby’s death.
I bought a new one in the summer of 69. Mine was was blue and I/we ordered it with bucket seats as my wife was a taller girl and adjusted the seats differently than I did. Mine was also the notchback version but it did have the traction lock and I did order the 4.30 ratio. The traction lock was useless in the winter as I never put snow tires on it. 3090.00 out the door with no trade. Small dealer in southern Mn. Oh and one more thing I ordered it without the hood scoop ram air system.
Wow an amazing car but – owner does want to sell it, right? Lists it on eBay where a huge audience can see it, with an astronomical price and the amazing claim that it only has 1100 miles since new. So why give us no information on the history of the car? The value of a car like this is all in its history and the seller provides none. Strange marketing plan in my opinion…
Do many readers make it this far down in the comments. Two comments. At least dress the poor thing properly to sit around and watch it, put on the trim rings. This is like having an amazing youthful athletic body and all you do is sit around playing checkers.
I do, Mark.
1) Once you install the trim rings, the wheels are scratched.
2) It’s an interesting tidbit that they were never installed since new.
In late 1968, I was still a mormon boy, and was called to serve a mission (I enjoyed it) in São Paulo, Brasil. We had 3 months of training at BYU in Provo UT.
The instructors were guys who had already been on their mission and one of my teachers had just been home about 6 months, so he was sort of like us, a kid!!
We’d been there about a month and he told the class that he’d be gone for a week–flying home to get the new car his dad had ordered and drive back (from Portland OR, IIRC). He said it was a new Ford Torino which being a car geek, it sounded pretty cool. He showed up at the end of the week driving a black Ford Fairlane Cobra and I was enthralled, and managed to get a ride in it a couple of times going to a different place on campus. I don’t remember what engine it had but man, it was fast. Turns out, his dad was a Ford dealer and had ordered it for him about 90 days before and it was one of the first 1969 models. No idea what happened to him or the car.
Anyone else find a chuckle at the fact that the 2nd owner lists it as a 1 owner car? I get it, the first owner put the miles on it, but still.
Yes, this is beautiful, but a car that has sat for 50 years cannot be driven unless you rebuild everything. That being said, rebuilt you would have a perfect new car. But is it worth 165Large? I guess we shall find out.
Nice…..and looks like it’s a pre-sale perhaps using the movie to pump it up.
Just bothered by the trunk area like the seal/paint chips and that jack instructions sheet…..one or more things but it is a nice car.
Orig. dead battery, …not, who ever stored car was most likely smart enough to empty or soda the cells to stop all gasing of acid fumes , or there would be damage from same. Seen stored cars severely damaged because they were stored wrong,…All of today’s batteries leak at one post or both,go pop your hood and take a look!
I can think of cars I’d rather buy with the $165k I don’t have.
I’d buy real estate instead of this car. Just too pricey. Someone with way more disposable income than me and less dependents will buy this but to me, while definitely a cream puff, is just not worth it.
Another wonderfull Find.
I am with Ken Tilly.
If I could afford this, I would drive it once a week. Just to show it.
I think with a new battery and fluids it would fire up just like new.
I would buy this car and have a room in my house set up just for it. Mirrors on the floor and climate control. Is it a shame not to drive it? No, not when the car is as perfect as this absolute artefact. I would take great pride in knowing that I own this beauty. I’d sit in it though. :)
Some might say ‘I’d buy it and drive the wheels off it!’
Sure, be Justin Bieber.
From comments, seems most are unfamiliar with the 1969 Cobra. Yes it is part of Fairlane/Torino line but was advertised just as Cobra. The ’70-’71 models were bumped up to Torino Cobra status. It’s purpose? Go head to head with Plymouth Road Runner.
Because the 428(non ram air) was std, as was the toploader 4 speed, 31 spline axles etc Cobras were most expensive models in the intermediate lineup. The 428 could be ordered on any Fairlane/Torino(other than sta wgn), but no other engine could be had in a Cobra. Ram-Air was only engine option. Since most of the trim is shared with Fairlane It’s become common to refer to these as Fairlane Cobra. But again Ford never advertised these as anything but Cobra.
So why did someone buy this car and not drive it? I’ve heard a rumor the orig owner could not insure it(common for muscle cars back when especially if you had points on D/L).
It’s had several factory options added by dealer and/or orig owner. A/C being biggie, as was NOT available for order on the Drag Pack models. Wheels are another, by build sheed this car was optioned with full hubcaps and are listed on the dealer invoice(shown on ebay). Another is bucket seats that is on dealer invoice but by build sheet trim code, car was delivered to dealer with bench seat. Other additions as well.
Yes I know about these, I have owned several over years & still have the 1969 Cobra I bought in 1973 that is almost a twin to this car. Biggest difference mine has std CJ engine & 3.50 gear vs SCJ & 3.91 cogs.
You’re absolutely right about the Cobra name. And that’s where the problems begin, when talking cars with other people. Say check out that cobra and everyone starts looking around for a Shelby two seat death trap. Lot of them people I’m thinking of were way older than me.
Say GTO , SS 396, or Road Runner and most gear heads know instantly what the car is. Lot of blank stares and puzzled looks when ever I brought up any type of Fairlane or Torino.
I put that on Ford, better name for this high powered machine may have been a better idea.