1970 Ford Torino King Cobra
$459,900. RK Motors, Charlotte, USA
looking for something that stands out from the crowd? If so, this remarkable Ford Torino ‘King Cobra’ should do the trick – all 17ft 6in of it. It’s one of two aerodynamic prototypes penned by legendary designer Larry Shinoda to contest the so-called ‘aero wars’ then being played out between Ford and Chrysler on the NASCAR circuits.
Before the Torino King Cobra ever slithered onto the track, however, Lee Iacocca took over from Bunkie Knudsen as president of Ford and promptly slashed the racing budget, rendering the two prototypes redundant and condemning them to an ignominious life as runabouts around the vast Dearborn plant.
In 1971, however, NASCAR team owner and race-car builder Bud Moore spotted the pair while visiting the facility to collect a fleet of Mustangs for use in forthcoming Sports Car Club of America events. Recognising their significance, he agreed to buy them both for a mere $1200. One, originally painted yellow, was sold by Moore to a police officer and is now on show at a muscle car museum in Tennessee. The car on offer at RK Motors was found some years later in a South Carolina field. In decidedly poor condition, it was resurrected by Ford fanatics Steve Danielle and Dennis Roy. They researched its history and painstakingly restored it to near-original condition, discovering its vibrant vermillion paintwork beneath a coat of non-factory blue along the way.
Now looking as good as new, this stillborn racer represents a significant piece of Ford competition history, albeit one that isn’t, perhaps, quite as ‘trick’ as it looks. It might be fitted with a highperformance, 429ci hemi-head engine, but the car is virtually stock Torino under the skin and has been rebuilt to be a usable and comfortable roadgoing muscle car, complete with front and rear bench seats, black carpets, wood-grained door panel inserts and a radio.
However, to remind the new owner of the King Cobra’s competition roots, the inside of the boot lid is signed by Ford racing historian and Bud Moore biographer John Craft, as well as by two former NASCAR drivers.
One question remains. Would anyone dare to take it on at the traffic lights?