This 1969 Mercury Cyclone is a pretty special car. Not only is it 1-of-80 to wear this distinctive paint and trim combination, but the engine bay houses the original 428ci V8 that was a hallmark of the CJ, or Cobra Jet. It is an original survivor that needs cosmetic restoration, but it could be driven and enjoyed as it currently stands by some lucky buyer. The Mercury is located in Pelham, Alabama, and has been listed for sale here on eBay. Bidding sits at $11,800, but it’s no surprise that the reserve hasn’t been met.
The Cyclone CJ certainly looks distinctive with its Code 63H special paint scheme. The combination of the predominantly White body and the Red upper section is anything but subtle. Add the red body-side stripes, and this is a car that just screams to be noticed. The paint and stripes are looking tired, and a repaint should return it to its menacing best. Rust is not an issue, with only one small hole in the trunk lid needing repair. There is some surface corrosion around and under the vehicle, but there is no penetrating rust to be found. Any high-end restoration work is going to mean that the exterior chrome and trim will require attention. It is all present, but it won’t cut the mustard if the next owner is seeking perfection. The owner acknowledges that the wheels aren’t original and that replacements will need to be sourced. Beyond those issues, the glass looks good, and the twin racing mirrors are still intact.
The Dark Red interior of the Cyclone is serviceable, but it will need some work if it is to be returned to its best. The console is damaged, and the dash pad is cracked. Both of these items will require replacement, as will the rear parcel tray. The buyer will need to add carpet, a steering wheel, kick panels, armrests, and sundry other items to their shopping list. They will also need to check the dash carefully. The original radio has made way for an aftermarket radio/cassette player. I’m not sure whether the dash has been cut to fit this, but I suspect that it has. That means that some metal massaging will be in order before a new radio can be slotted in.
Lifting the hood reveals what makes this Cyclone so special. What we find is the 428 Cobra Jet V8, and this one features the Ram Air option. Officially, the Ram Air did not add any extra power to this monster. However, I believe that claim about as much as I believe that pigs might fly. In addition to this beautiful V8, the CJ comes equipped with a 3-speed C6 automatic transmission, power steering, and power front disc brakes. Mercury claimed a conservative output of 335hp for this engine, with or without Ram Air. Whatever the truth of the matter on outputs, Mercury’s performance claims were also slightly on the conservative side. They quoted a ¼ mile ET of 14.8 seconds for an automatic Cobra Jet. The reality was markedly different because contemporary tests by motoring journalists easily achieved sub-14-second time for the same car. Of course, those sorts of figures were also enough to cause insurance companies to develop a bad case of twitching. Therefore, understating performance figures was a common practice at this point in time. The good news here is that this Cobra Jet is both complete and original. It is also said to run and drive, and it seems that it could be driven and enjoyed immediately.
With a new generation of Cyclone waiting in the wings, the 1969 model year marked the sole year that the Cyclone 428 CJ was offered to the public. This limited time frame meant that a mere 2,175 Cyclone CJs rolled off the production line. These are a car with some serious performance potential, and good examples can fetch impressive prices. Prices of $50,000 or more are quite common, although this figure can climb well over $60,000 for the right car. Given how straightforward the restoration of this car appears to be, that’s why I’m not surprised that the reserve hasn’t been met. I suspect that there might be a fair way to go yet.
Restore the interior, swap the wheels for a set of styled steel wheels, leave the exterior as-is and do burnouts for days
Wasn’t there a Dan Gurney special with similar graphics? Is this one of those? Is it similar? Does it matter?
Nice Mercury, and not a rust bucket. Make it drivable, and, as Mitchell said…,burnouts…!
Yes there was a Dan Gurney special in 69, I owned one in 1970.
It was bad ass.
Yes, the Dan Gurney was the same only blue/white and sold west of the Mississippi River.
Nice Mercury, btw Uncle Tony and Richard Fleener have a great informational video about the aero-cars talladegas’s and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler and Spoiler ll.Although this isn’t a Spoiler.I think you’ll find the video interesting. https://youtu.be/-id4gXm-XLQ
Quoted performance numbers are what they are, depends on the driver,, plus how much fiddling, removing this and that.
Dont see these Mercs hardly ever, that alone makes it super cool.
I love it.
If they had ordered a manual transmission one could say it had all the toys.
Its a beautiful beast…
Put some steel wherls if a same year vehicle and try to not throw a rod on the original block dragging and speeding like you stole it….
Katrina Fleener bought my first 69 Daytona back on June 4, 1989. We see each other at the meets.
This is a Spoiler. Not a Spoiler II.
This would be referred to as the Cale Yarborough car.
The Blue and white is Dan Gurney.
The Spoiler II’s had a 351. No options to choose from.
Like Talladega’s, no options. Came in 3 colors. All bench seat, column shift autos
I thought it might be a Cale Yarborough car too, but wouldn’t that have had a spoiler on the back deck lid? and other identifying decals?
This is not a Spoiler. It is a ‘code 16’ Cyclone CJ. It has the paint scheme of what turned into the Cale Yarborough Special later in the model year.
The Cyclone CJ was the Mercury equivalent to the Ford Cobra, right? Guess the rarity and that paint could throw some people off.
I briefly owned a 68 Mercury Cyclone GT in 1975. I love this body style but I didn’t care for the Mercury front end as much as the Torino. (sigh) I would love to own this car… along with far too many others… if only I had been born rich…
This one was produced the day after mine. The cast rocker arm covers didn’t come onto the scene until February 14,1969 so those were probably added later. It’s also missing some air cleaner tinware but those pieces are reproduced now. Looks to be a very solid starting point to me, currently bid at about the going price of the engine in fresh condition.
Is this originally a 4sp car? It has an R in the VIN door tag, not a U.
9H16R520064
Just wondering
Brian,
If you look at the Marti report on the e-Bay ad, you’ll see the C-6 trans is original. The R code designates the 428 Ram Air? Only mod I see beside the radio and steering wheel is the Mercury Marauder Kelsey Hayes Magstar wheels. What a jewel this was when new!
Speaking of wheels, what are those, and where did they come from? J.C. Whitney? Not that there is anything wrong with J.C Whitney.
370zpp:
J.C. Whitney? Not hardly! If you bother to look at the response above yours, you’ll discover the answer to your question. Shelby used these, too, but with chromed instead of painted rims. The ’69-’70 Marauders X-100s used stainless steel trim rings.
https://www.diyford.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CT507_FULLBOOK_ShelbyMustangGuide_Page_128_Image_0006.jpg
“Gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the line”…
Cool car. I do like outliers for certain. The front end is very reminiscent of the olds 98 to me.
428 Cobra Jet is underrated at 335 hp. I know from having owned one. Someone faily recently dyno tested an original 428CJ and found it to be in the neighborhood of 400 hp. Not positive of the source but i may have been Nick Panaritis at Nick’s Garage.
I like this Merc and would fix the things that need fixing and detail it while keeping it as original as possible.
Sweet!! To bad it’s not a 4 speed!!
Those KH Magstar wheels were specifically for the 1969 and 1970 Mercury Marauders. They differed from the street or Shelby versions in that they required a stainless trim ring and the rectangular slot openings weren’t as large. Note this Cyclone has the chrome style Magstar in the trunk.
I’ve owned this Cyclone’s twin, a Ford Cobra 42CJ, since I was 17 and I also own a loaded red 1969 Marauder X100 with a 429.
The twin is the Torino not “Cobra”
A friend of my dad’s had one of these back in the day. He was a Michigan State trooper and on the weekends you could find him at the nearest drag strip.
I had thought the 1969 CJ was one of the only 500 (The minimum that NASCAR required) made that had a blunt grill similar to the 1969 Ford Talledega.
Actually, Ford bought the Cobra name from Shelby in 1968; the last year AC Cobra production was 1967. Ford chose to apply the name to the mid-size 1969 Fairlane to fight the successful Road Runner. Both the Torino and Cobra were models in the Fairlane family in 69. That changed in 1970. The mid-size Torino and Cyclone were twins. But the Cobra and Cyclone CJ were indeed twins; both models came standard with the 428CJ only! Talledega and Cyclone Spoiler II twins dominated Nascar (Ford was Nascar Grand National champion in 68 &69).