UPDATE – This 1970 Mercury Cyclone GT is listed for sale again after it was featured in February of 2022 here on Barn Finds and had no takers. The same seller has it posted here on craigslist in Golden, Colorado and the price has dropped $3,000, down to $15,555. Will it sell this time? Here is the listing, and thanks to Zappenduster for the tip!
FROM 02/28/2022 – Gentlemen: start your engines! I should say, gentlewomen, too, but you know what I mean. For the well-heeled muscle car aficionado, it was hard to beat a car like this 1970 Mercury Cyclone GT, they were both fast and fancy all wrapped in one stylish package. The seller has this one posted here on craigslist in Golden, Colorado and they’re asking $18,555. Thanks to Gunter K. for sending in this tip!
You can see the right-front fender needs some deep tissue massage to straighten it out but otherwise, I don’t see any glaring issues on the exterior of this stylish two-door hardtop muscle GT bruiser and cruiser. Mercury made the Cyclone for the 1964 through 1971 model years and it came back as a trim package for the Mercury Montego in 1972 and that was it.
The grille and whole front-end treatment is the best part of these cars I think, at least design-wise. The engines were, of course, the real best part. In 1970, Mercury offered the Cyclone, the Cyclone Spoiler, and the Cyclone GT. The Cyclone GT, such as with this car, came standard with the 351 cubic-inch V8 and 250 horsepower. The seller has a surprise under the hood with a “429 TJ” in place of the original 351.
The interior looks good for a fifty-two-year-old car that has seen some track time as seen in this photo provided by the seller. The seats look good front and back other than the driver’s seat bottom but that’s an easy fix. One thing that is a major change is that along with the original 351 V8, this car came from the factory with a 4-speed manual and it’s been changed to a Ford C6 automatic transmission. The gauges mounted into the right side of the dash are great, other than the adjacent crack shown in this photo.
The engine looks super clean and according to the seller, it’s a 429 V8 TJ with CJ valve covers, exhaust manifolds, and a dual-point distributor. It runs great and other than some work that’s needed on the rusty driver’s floor pan and needing a new exhaust, this looks like a fun one. Hagerty is at $18,500 for a #4 fair condition 429 GT but that’s a factory-original car, I don’t know what a swapped engine would do to the value. What would you say this car is worth with a 429 V8 in place of the original 351 V8?
I’ve never cared for that ‘military gun site’ grille.
Funny, I think the gunsight is one of the good points.
I agree, it also looked good on the 1970 Thunderbird!
Looks like I’m outnumbered 9 to 1!
Love the nose, can you get more odd While your going 429, go 460 and put the 4 speed back in. I cant wait till i find one in my barnfind.Need to get a raygun that sees thru garage doors
X-ray setup might be better. You don’t want to kill the little old lady you are trying to buy the car from.
I’d restore it to it’s original condition and with the original drivetrain. Seems like a better combo and definitely rare
Put the 351 and the 4 speed back please.
I agree with Sam. And why would anyone convert this to and automatic!
You’ve got to find them first. Cores for 351C 4V’s and top loaders aren’t inexpensive, then you need to rebuild them. The correct 4spd shifter handle alone will set you back between $250 and $300, plus another $500-$600 minimum for the rest of the factory Hurst shifter, then whatever it costs to rebuild. By the time you found all the correct parts and have them restored/rebuilt you’d be lucky to have it done for a sum less than 5 figures. A potential buyer would be better off to leave the current drivetrain in place, this is coming from a 4spd fan.
Steve R
These look so homely and awkward next to the ‘70-71 Torino…especially the Sportsroof with hideaway headlamps and the honeycomb taillights.
Those dashes have the best gauge panel to ever come out of Detroit/Dearborn. Non-functional rim blow steering, original spinners on the Magnum 500 wheels, unbroken grill, functional ram air hood scoop, Cobra Jet valve covers and exhaust manifolds (try to find a set!), what a great car! I’ll overlook the original green paint, Thunderbird 429, C-6 My only problem, if I bought the car, I’d try to bring back 5-6 more cars from this guy’s fleet. Ranchero, Lightning(?), numerous Fox bodies, Torino, more Comets, Fairlanes! Need a bigger bank balance, and a car transporter!
I agree that the dash is pretty cool, but not the most visible location for gauges. Looks good, but not so useful. I would counter that the 67-68 Cougar XR-7 dash is the best Mercury dash ever!
never heard of a 429 TJ with CJ valve covers I don’t think they know what they have along with some serious body damage
It had to look sharp, maybe more upscale next to the Ford Torino, think Cougar/Mustang here, and have its own appearance in order to sell. Ford blood and bones, with a bit of class… mine had those gauges and I thought it was the coolest I’d ever seen, but I dont think Mercury sold too many high performance versions. Ive seen the numbers some time ago and was a bit taken how few 429 powered Cyclones were actually built, or even the 428 cj powered ones from the late sixties. They are rare….but had little interest from car collectors or even gear heads for that matter. How many factory big block Cyclones have you guys ever seen?
I noticed the dash guages at one of our car shows and it prompted me to design and have fabricated a similar dash setup for my 1967 Fairlane XL500 convertible.
Is this hood set up to deliver outside air to that air cleaner?! Maybe not.
Seems like a bit of a Frankenstein car. Some nice features but priced a little on the high side.
It’s a project, and other than most mechanicals, trim parts, etc. are as rare as hen’s teeth for these. We do like the dash set up, but overall it’s too much work for us at this stage of life.
Fun fact: that nose cone is mounted on fold-up hinges.
Isn’t the front end very similar to a 1970 Thunderbird?
To make Ford purists mad I’d like to paint it like David Pearson’s #21 Wood Brothers Mercury. After dropping the obligatory 429 4 speed into it of course.
What’s a TJ 429 ?
Thunder Jet 429 – i googled – 1st time i ever heard the term
JoeNYWF64 Thanks for the info !
The Thunder Jet is the passenger car version of the 429. I bought a 1970 Torino Cobra that had one, the car was a pig. There is a big difference between it and the CJ or SCJ, both in terms of components used in the engine and performance.
Steve R
I own a 1969 Mercury Cyclone 428 Cobra Jet with a C6 Transmission & 3:50 Detroit Locker Rear end 60,000 miles all original.
Would like a shell to drop this in…
I have a soft spot for Mercury Cyclones. And this one does have about the same front grill as the early 70s Beaked Bird, Thunderbirds. Its a shame the original manual trans is MIA, and hopefully the replacement 429 has been rebuilt and installed correctly. Ah, but then there’s the exhaust work they mentioned that needed done. It’s not a terrible asking price, hopefully that right front fender can be beat back into shape. Glad it’s on the wrong side of the country.
After the engine swap you changed it into a clone and along with the other things that needs to be done to the car you could only come down 3k?