As was the style in its day, immediately’s Good Value or No Cube Torino provides bench seats entrance and rear for full six-passenger seating. Let’s see whether or not or not this traditional Ford is priced to place it on the again bench.
Folks don’t normally fist-bump vehicles, however based mostly on the feedback, yesterday’s 2003 Infiniti M45 actually deserved one. A scorching V8 engine, respectable presentation, and modest $6,400 asking worth all performed within the M45’s favor. In consequence, it earned a stellar 86 p.c Good Value win.
Like yesterday’s Infiniti, immediately’s 1968 Ford Torino is a V8-powered mid-sized four-door saloon. Not like the well-equipped M45, nevertheless, this Ford is considerably parsimoniously outfitted—roll-up home windows, handbook transmission, and an instrument panel with extra fool lights than dials. It additionally has a smaller engine than what was listed in Ford’s promotional literature of the time, making for an fascinating story.
Ford had redesigned the Torino and its platform-mate, the Fairlane, for the 1968 mannequin 12 months. Manufacturing bought underway within the late summer season of 1967 however was halted by a 68-day UAW strike occurring over September and October of that 12 months. Ford had designated the 200 CID six because the Torino’s base engine and the 302 CID V8 as its entry-level V8. Nonetheless, when manufacturing resumed within the fall of 1967, Ford was confronted with the necessity to lower prices throughout its complete lineup, and having an surprising abundance of 289 CID V8s stacking up on the firm’s Windsor, Canada foundry, it determined to fit these into the Torino as a substitute of the bigger 302.
The decal on the air cleaner underneath this automobile’s hood exhibits it to be a kind of switcheroo 289s, with the two-barrel engine making 200 (gross) horsepower on this guise. Maybe virtually as fascinating is that this automobile’s transmission which is a three-pedal handbook with “three-on-the-tree” column shifting.
Every little thing else in regards to the automobile’s mechanicals is fairly mundane, with a brief and long-arm coil-sprung entrance suspension, leaf spring dwell axle rear, and drum brakes throughout. There may be an aftermarket A/C system plumbed in, however the advert doesn’t say whether or not or not that even works, and the engine shot doesn’t enable us to see if there’s a belt on the compressor.
Yet another fascinating issue on this Ford’s favor is its styling. This was the primary 12 months of Ford’s tackle the “Coke Bottle” type that turned well-liked within the late Nineteen Sixties, and it’s wildly profitable on the Torino.
The earlier mannequin’s slab sides and stacked headlamp nostril gave strategy to a recessed grille and delicate curves that kick up simply forward of the rear wheel arches, giving it the strains of the long-lasting soda pop bottle laid on its facet. Together with that could be a semi-formal roofline on the 4 doorways that provides to an general long-nose/short-trunk aesthetic.
This one, in arrest-me pink with a black-painted roof emulating a vinyl high, seems to be in nice situation and seemingly in want of nothing. The vendor claims minimal rust, and none is apparent within the footage. Metal wheels with fake wire covers intensify the type, as do the white-wall tires.
The cabin is fairly Plain Jane, though it does have that A/C unit hanging down beneath the sprint. There’s additionally an add-on gauge of some kind above that. Transferring greater, there’s an AM radio, dash-mounted ignition, after which 4 giant gauge pods. Laughably, these are principally empty. Ford supplied the choice of a tach and clock within the Torino, however this automobile is provided with neither. As an alternative, there’s one pod with the speedo, one other with the gas gauge and temperature warning lamp, a 3rd with lights for oil strain and charging, and the fourth a clean dial apparently serving as a relentless reminder of the unique purchaser’s cheapness.
Other than cracks within the steering wheel and a few lumpiness within the molded plastic of the “security sprint,” the inside appears to be in virtually as good of form as the outside. Based on the advert and backed up by the sprint image, the automobile has 102,056 miles underneath its belt. Truly, the odometer reads 2156 because it solely has 5 foremost barrels, and we’ll simply must imagine the vendor that it has solely rolled over as soon as. We are able to additionally take them at their phrase that the automobile comes with a clear title and a passing grade from the state security inspectors. The asking worth is $10,950.
How a lot may you spend on a automobile like this? It’s a traditional that appears to be turn-key and comes with a few fascinating options and a few historic significance. Might that be value $10,950 to some Ford fan? Or is {that a} stretch for a automobile that, at its coronary heart, is pretty mundane?
You resolve!
Harrisonburg, Virginia, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
H/T to RevUnlimiter for the hookup!
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