What a rare muscle car this is! Available here on eBay and being the benefit of some restoration efforts but still having a lot of originality, you could own something very different from the Mustangs, Camaros, Chevelles and Mopars that are increasingly common. It’s located in Elizabethton, Tennessee and is available for a buy it now of $24,500 with bidding starting $2,000 below that.
With 428 cubic inches of Cobra Jet power, this is the view most other drivers would have of this Cyclone (isn’t that a cool car name?) if they challenged it to a stoplight drag. 1969 was the only year that Mercury offered the Cyclone CJ, and there weren’t many made. The seller has included a picture of the Marti Report for the car to detail its rarity.
Can you imagine taking this beautiful car to your market? Believe it or not, the paint job, while not original, dates from 1984! Wow! It’s been garage kept since at least that time. Sorry, but I’d have to drive it more than that! It’s currently showing about 50,000 miles on the odometer, which given the condition of the original interior sounds relatively correct.
Closeups of areas of the interior show a few splits and some wear, but certainly nothing excessive. I’d drive it as-is, for sure. Admittedly I’d rather have a manual, but with this much torque I won’t complain about the automatic. Funny, the steering wheel looks like a Chevy wheel to me, but it is the original one. This car has the optional bucket seats and remote mirror. I think that is a repaired split in the center of the dash, which is a shame. Believe it or not, those two small gauges to the right of the ignition key are original as well!
The engine compartment looks really nice and has obviously seen some work. It does look done to mostly original specifications, though, and looks very impressive. I like the ram air system. How do you feel about this different muscle car? I’m liking the difference–a lot!
That would look REAL good in my driveway.
It would look even better with me driving it. Haha. I love these cars. I’m not a ford guy but I would sure buy this. What a beautiful rare car.
Alawys though these were really cool. Never saw even one in the Seattle area when they were new. Even like the color. Too bad its not a 4 speed. Be easy enough to convert I guess
Without a doubt one of my all time favorite muscle cars, and even at the time I was never really a Ferd guy but these CJ long backs always made me turn my head.
I’d even live with the color combo…or maybe I’d paint the hood scoop the same as the body color…either way, this is a treat to see!
The Cyclone and its twin the Ford Torino Talladega were only offered with the automatic. Ford needed to have something to fight the Dodge power in the NASCAR Winston cup series. I own one of the 750 Talladegas built in 1969. Unfortunately they haven’t been bringing the big dollars of the winged Dodges!!
The Cyclone Spoiler was the Mercury version of the Talladega. The car this post is about is not a Spoiler, it is a regular Cyclone. A 4 speed was an option for a regular Cyclone.
It is a sharp car, but I like the earlier generation, much, much better.
Merc man I’m with you still looking for one 66 or 67 Comet.I have a 67 Maquis 410 4spd w/ac 1 of 15 made.
had a low mileage 410 out of a 66 parklane gobs of torque, stuck it in a 73 F250 would smoke the tire, {one legger} for as long as I wanted. Git all tingly inside, thinkin about it with the 4 spd.
Wasn’t the Cyclone version of the Talledaga called a-
Cale Yarborough Special.
Also,I’ve seen Torinos with factory 4speeds in them.
I used to see a 1970 Mercury Cyclone GT 429 Super Cobra Jet or Cobra Jet 429 in the early 90s that was left to disintegrate in the 3rd floor of an underground garage that the management had blocked off all ventilation and thus made it highly corrosive especially in the winter as the floor was soaked with a mix of road salt and water.
I am incorrect I don’t this it was a super or cobra jet now that I see it may have been a std GT or marauder etc.
As the owner of the first Mercury to use the Cyclone name (1964 Comet) and having once owned a 69 Cyclone CJ ( non ram air) I can tell you the two gauges mentioned in the article are not factory installed. In 1970 the Cyclone Spoiler had extra gauges mounted in the dash in front of the passenger but angled to the driver.
This is a rare car and deserves to be cherished by a new owner. In 1969 Mercury did offer the cyclone with either the Dan Gurney, or Cale Yarborough package, I believe they were only available with the 351 Windsdor engine and a C4 trans.
MercuryMan, I’ll defer to your expertise, but I found a car in a Hemmings article represented as original that had the same gauges (and it wasn’t the same car). I guess it’s just a good (convenient) place to put auxiliary gauges! Thanks for setting me straight!
Jamie,
If you look close you will see the gauges are Sun brand, FoMoCo did not use aftermarket gauges, although the factory tachometers were made by Faria.
You are correct about the placement, they look good there.
I wasn’t a ford man until I owned a 69 torino fr with a 390 s code. Now I own a 66 galaxie with a 428 and absolulely love it. Really undervalued muscle cars.
Yup!
to wuzjeepnowsaab,….really? Paint the hood scoop? Live with the color combo? Sorry, it just bothers me when people don’t understand what rare, stock, original or original restored means. I will stop now before I violate the rules of personal attack. enjoy your saab.
Wow…Tom…ad says this already isn’t original paint. Go ahead and personal attack the poo out of me. I have big shoulders and thick skin ;) Enjoy your…whatever you love to love
My point is this is a very rare car and although repainted, it was repainted the correct color and color code combination which was 1 of only 33 out of a very overall low production number on top of that. They cant all remain original and unrestored so I believe that, relative to RARE cars and cars that have survived molestation and/or cars that were born unique and rare but perhaps abused, there is a responsibility (for everyone) to keep them correct and/or restore their correctness. this car has ultra rare wheels so it would be like saying, “man those are some ugly rims, throw them out and put some aftermarket 22″s on it !”
If you don’t want a correct car buy a base model car that is desperate to be saved and restored, make it what you want, resto-mod it, clone it, and enjoy it and more importantly you wont be destroying the rarity of it because it was not rare to begin with as a base model. If a base model is original enough it deserves to be honored and left alone.
True that but do think it would look better black than white to match the blacked out grille. Also a lot of midsize/large cars came with 14″ tires, can’t tell if these are 14’s or 15’s but in my opinion need to be 15’s. My 66 Newport had 14s and now I have 15s to fill out the wheelwells.
Very cool car!
You’re correct the Merc counter to the Talladega was the Cale Yarborough Special. They came standard with 351W-4V. The ’69 Cyclone CJ was to Mercury what the ’69 Fairlane Cobra was from Ford. Standard with 428CJ.
And as for the automatic – the C-6 for the 428 Cobra Jet was very special. They had a large servo marked by the letter R. The clutches were very heavy duty. The tailshaft was cast iron unlike regular c-6’s that had aluminum tailshafts. When these trannys shifted to 2nd with the pedal to the metal the rubber layed was amazing. You had to have both hands on the wheel because they would burn rubber and fishtail hard. A now rare transmission.
Amazing Mercs!
I think you are referring to the tail shaft housing and not the tail shaft.
Yes. Definitley meant Housing.
Thanks.
Did better on the tracks than the Sport Roof Torinos, more aerodynamic.and in fact did have some wins against the mighty winged mopars Daytona Superbird. But with speeds approaching 200 mph. on bias ply tires, Nascar had to shut em down.
I have this car as a 69 Torino and the driving experience is fabulous. I love the CJ Ram-Air with the automatic.
Jamie, you say the steering wheel looks Chevy to you, but to Ford guys this is a Rim-Blow wheel, I think. Hard to find in usable condition. This car is amazing. Should bring big dollars. That C6 can handle anything. Love it.
I love these cars. I tried buying one back in late 1991 and got burned on the deal by the owner. He was a guy I worked with and then he was gone. Foolishly trusted a “friend” and coworker for down payment of $300. Bummer he bounced though. Would’ve been a fun car to bomb around in back then. Ended up with a 67 Fairlane with a 428 instead. Found it couple miles from my house at the time.