Some muscle cars were born of racing necessity. Some, like the 1970 Ford King Cobra, were stillborn.
Ford enjoyed great success on NASCAR's high-banked oval tracks in the late 1960s. The tapered-nose, fastback 1969 Torino Talladegas and their Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II cousins had the perfect wind-cheating shape for NASCAR superspeedway racing. Their dominance goaded Chrysler to develop and produce the outrageous Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird. Against Chrysler's winged warriors, the Talladega and Cyclone began to lose some of their competitive edge.
 ©2007 Publications International, Ltd. Based on the redesigned Torino, the 1970 Ford King Cobra had a radically tapered nose intended for aerodynamic advantage on high-speed stock-car tracks. Ford was required to build street examples to qualify it for NASCAR racing. See more muscle car pictures. |
Engineers added a wild, wind-cheating nose with a radically sloped hood to the stock 1970 Torino Cobra body. The headlights were tunneled into sugar-scoop cutouts in the front fenders, similar in appearance to the Datsun 240Z sports car. These cutouts were designed to be capped with headlight covers for racing, making for an even slicker profile. The grille opening was located beneath the blade-like front bumper.
 ©2007 Publications International, Ltd. Two or three Ford King Cobra prototypes were built, but none was ever raced and this unusual muscle car never was produced for the public. |
 ©2007 Publications International, Ltd. Prototypes used a Cobra Jet 429 V-8 similar to the engine that powered production 1970 Torino Cobra muscle cars. |
Further, Detroit's unfettered focus on all-out performance was coming to an end. The social climate was changing, and the specter of high insurance rates and impending government regulations loomed large. Signaling the major shift in priorities, new Ford president Lee Iacocca slashed the company's racing budget by 75 percent in mid-1970. Ford dropped its factory support of NASCAR racing entirely for the 1971 season.
 ©2007 Publications International, Ltd. The King Cobra is a reminder of how far Detroit was willing to go for racing wins, and and how quickly the muscle car market changed. |
Wheelbase, inches: 117 Weight, lbs: 3,774 Number built: 2 or 3 prototypes Base price: N/A Standard Engine Type: ohv V-8 Displacement, cid: 429 Fuel system: 1 x 4bbl. Compression ratio: 11.3:1 Horsepower @ rpm: 370 @ 5400 (est.) Torque @ rpm: 450 @ 3400 (est.) Representative Performance 0-60 mph, sec: 6.0 (est) 1/4 mile, sec. @ mph: 14.4 @ 101 (est.) |
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