One of the most underrated performance Fords of the muscle car era has to be the 1970-71 Ford Torino Cobra with the 429 Cobra Jet. A contemporary Motor Trend road test pitted a 370-horsepower Cobra Jet Torino against an LS6 Chevelle and a 440 Six-Barrel Road Runner, and while the other two edged out the Cobra in the quarter-mile, the Torino had the fastest acceleration through 75 miles per hour and the highest trap speed at the end of the quarter, indicating that it had the most horsepower. While the heavy Torino may have blunted its raw acceleration a bit, it was clear that the Ford 429 deserved more credit than it’s gotten from history. This 1970 Cobra is definitely a project, but the engine is not stuck, most of the parts are there, and it’s fairly solid. It’s being offered on eBay in Clarksville, Virginia, and with a high bid of $8,925, it has not yet met its reserve.

The heart of any 1970 Cobra was its 429-cubic-inch engine, offered in several states of tune; this is the J-Code 370-horsepower Cobra Jet Ram Air 429, which had a standard “Shaker” hood scoop and a special Rochester Quadrajet carburetor tuned for the Ford’s power delivery. Drag Pack cars got deep axle ratios, solid lifters, and a Holley carb, but as the Motor Trend road test proved, these goodies weren’t necessary for competitive times. This car comes with a Marti Report, which shows a few interesting abnormalities. First, it lists the differential as being a 3.00:1-geared Traction-Lok nine-inch; however, the AMA specifications for 1970 list a 3.50:1 ratio as standard equipment, and a 3:25:1 as the ratio for air-conditioned cars, and no mention is made of a 3.00:1 ratio being available with this engine package (by the way, this is a four-speed car). Of course, special orders were not terribly uncommon 55 years ago. That brings up another interesting point from the report: the paint code is listed as “Special Paint, Ford # unknown.” The seller lists it as Grabber Blue, and it certainly looks like Grabber Blue, but who knows.

Some changes have been made to the interior, as the original seat was a blue vinyl bench, which has clearly been substituted for green buckets and a console. Finding a Torino bench shouldn’t be terribly difficult should one decide to restore the car to factory original. The seller lists that the windshield is cracked, and it appears that some parts of the interior (such as the driver’s door panel) are missing.

On the other hand, it’s a solid car for a unibody Ford; the subframes and torque boxes are fine, and the car comes with AMD quarter panels in their original boxes and a solid trunk lid. There is rust on the bottom of the driver’s door, but this Torino is far from being a rust bucket. The seller says that it’s been stored inside for a long time, but he’s only owned it a year and has decided to move on.

If you don’t count Mustangs, this Torino is one of Ford’s heavy hitters from the muscle car era, and this car is certainly a desirable restoration project, being just one step down from a Super Cobra Jet car. It has a numbers-matching engine and four-speed transmission, and although it isn’t currently a runner, it is at least a mostly complete car to build a Pure Stock Muscle Car drag racer, a show car, or simply a nice driver. Ford people, what’s this one worth, and how high will it go?