Remember the Ford Torino? It was sort of a sibling to the Ford LTD, but it was the cooler one. It smoked behind the Safeway and had a more badass haircut and would tell you stories that included the word “fingerblast” multiple times. It was also long. Like, really, long. So long that when I see pictures of them now it kind of messes with my mind, like that picture just up there. Look at that dazzling yellow banana, parked there at one of the many balloon depots that formed the backbone of America’s long-distance public transportation system in the 1970s. The red, white, and blue balloon is the Northwest Bobber, the express hot-air balloon that would do runs from New York to Washington DC every couple days, depending on wind. These were more relaxed times, you see. Anyway, back to the Torino.
Is this picture stretched? Those wheels look pretty round, though, not oval. And those people don’t look strangely wide. I think this is just how long these beasts were. Look how much of that length is hood and trunk, and how comparatively little is cabin. This is a two door car, after all! Incredibly, the wheelbase for the two-door Torino was three inches longer than the wagon: 117 inches to 114 inches. The wagons were three inches longer overall – 209 inches compared to 206.2 inches – but it’s still incredible that the two door versions were that close in length to the station wagons:
Also, look how subtle the difference is between the “sportroof” and the hardtop. I mean, they’re both cool, pillar-less hardtop designs, but that is pretty subtle.
It’s funny to use the word “subtle” in reference to anything about this car at all, to be honest. Using the word “fingerblast” felt more natural.
Great day for going down memory lane. Had a Green Dart, and a Green Torino.
Wish you could still get Green cars
I liked Torinos. They were Mustangs for people that wanted a larger Mustang. At first I thought the photo was doctored but I think it’s just the camera angle.
Ah!
For all those of us that remember the 70’s. American “sports” cars were essentially derived by the visual effects of NASCAR. If it looked good on the track then it’ll sell on the street. Aero was merely a “point out your thumb on outstretched arm at the car with your tongue angled out of mouth” sort of thing. Other hand held a Pabst Blue Ribbon.
My Dad was a Ford dealer and, as such, was also the car dealer for his sisters in Wichita, KS. My Aunt and Uncle bought a ’73 Gran Torino Brougham (in metallic tan with brown Landau roof iirc). My Uncle drove that car until the day he stopped driving in the mid-90s. I remember seeing it somewhere around that time and was shocked at how long that thing was in comparison to modern cars of the era. Think I measured it at 17′ and change in length…
I twice helped paint a Torino wagon and can confirm, that’s a lot of wagon to paint.
It’s not *that* weird that the two door is similar length to the wagon, that’s kind of how a two door sedan works. For example, my Accord wagon is exactly the same wheelbase and length as an accord two door.
I guess what’s really notable here is that they have effectively a two door sedan styled and marketed as a sporty coupe.
Back in the early 80s my sister’s boyfriend had a hopped up Torino that I could hear from 4 blocks away. He felt he could get lots of performance without the cost of hot rodding a mustang.
it is one of my biggest life regrets that I never fingerblasted anyone in a Torino GT, a Torino Cobra, or any other model of Torino.
Ask me about Cutlass Supremes! Please, please ask?
Gosh, not a stretched photo at all. I think the Torino was mimicking the upcoming ’71 Mustang that had not only a long hood, but also a long deck!
A buddy had a Torino. Took him 7 points to make a 3 point turn. Also, raise your hand if you had white pants. Raise both your hands if you had a significant other and you both wore white pants when you went out on a date.
Shoot yes. The white pants were dressy enough for a fancy dinner at Shoney’s after the Bonnie & Clyde/Bullitt double feature.
I owned a ’70 GT; red with the “laser stripe,” bucket seats, and hidden headlights. That picture is not stretched.
That’s a lot of personal luxury. *whistles*
One of my favorite parts of watching several “Behind the Wheel” segments is how despite the automakers chopping a foot of length and 500 lbs off of the models for ’79, the trunk space and leg room increased compared to the previous model.
So basically it seemed like these giant coupes like the Torino were like that because they could be. It looked good. You’d drive your giant car with horribly inefficient use of interior space and a horribly inefficient motor and life was good.
Detroit’s response to the original Mustang’s runaway success was to apply “long hood/short deck” styling to everything including full-size family sedans.
By the early ’70s the effect on space utilization was noticeable – Popular Mechanics’ owner surveys were full of gripes about tighter back seats and smaller trunks than owners’ previous cars along with acres of wasted underhood space that had to be leaned across to work on the engine. It wasn’t until the generation of cars developed from a clean sheet starting after the 1973-4 oil crisis came to market starting with the ’77 big GMs that sanity returned.
I had a 71 Torino 500 hardtop in that green on the display models. Hauled 6 people regularly, even hauled a full 351 engine, c4 transmission in the trunk with 3 guys in the car. Definitely not a stretched photo
I’ll take the Torino Cobra please, but it has to be in ketchup red.
Ah, the days when manufacturers would/could crank out several variations of the same car. Not just 2-door, 4-door, sedan, hardtop and wagon variations, but the rear halves of the base Torino/Brougham are different than the GT/Cobra, and the Cobra has a different tail than the GT. That’s a lot of tooling.
And don’t forget, there was also the Ranchero based off this body style
Ackshually….
This generation Fairlane was the Falcon’s cooler sibling, and the Torino was a cooler-still trim level of the Fairlane. They rode related unibodies and had a common station wagon body between them.
In 1966 – first year of the design cycle – the Ranchero wore a Falcon front clip, from 1967 on it was dressed as a Torino. Falcon sedans had a 111″ wheelbase, wagons and Rancheros were on the compromise 114″ span and all other Fairlane/Torino models- both the hardtop coupes, 4 door hardtop and post sedan, convertible – had the 117″ wb.
Note that there are *two* 2-door hardtop body styles, the “Sportsroof” having a lower roof than the others.
Falcons and Fairlane/Torinos had different dashboards, the former not having a steering-column lock leading to a bizarre “70 1/2 Falcon” that was just a decontented Fairlane with the only 2-door post sedan offered on the 117″ wb in the whole run. This despite the fact that the Maverick, which was the Falcon’s true successor, had been on the market as a coupe for a year at that point and the half-year model gap was for a 4-door sedan (the Maverick sedan joined the line for ’71).
You think that’s long? You should see its Mercury cousin, the Cyclone GT, which is identical except for the addition of a big nose! I had a friend who had one and that thing was big as a Zepplin!
https://us-browse.startpage.com/av/anon-image?piurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbarnfinds.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F09%2F1970-Mercury-Cyclone-GT-Boss-429-630×390.jpg&sp=1684240423T780eaeff541e8306c88766732cc485d90b5f4b99e605c78562e94fe71b64cf3d
EDIT: Sorry for the link; I forgot we can’t do pictures yet… but hey! At least we have an edit function.
Ah yes, the Cyclone … https://www.theautopian.com/everyone-forgets-about-mercury-so-were-solving-that-with-mercury-monday/
Coke-bottle styled 4-doors look great! 2nd-gen Corvair 4-door hardtop is one of my favorite car designs ever.