Muscle Car Classics (MCC)

HYSTORY IN THE MAKING: Although the heyday of the muscle car movement spanned from 1965 to 1971, Detroit produced legendary muscle machines prior to 1965, such as the 406 and 427 Galaxies, 409 Belairs, 426 Max Wedge Polaras, etc..... To ''Muscle Car Classics'', those are as much part of the muscle car movement as any other factory street warrior of the late 60's. Fast forward to 1972, some car makers were able to slide pass the newly imposed governmental "1970 Clean Air Act" law to kill the controversial super car movement, and managed to punch out more muscle for a few more years. MCC loves'm all! If you have a late 50's to early 70's FACTORY LOOKING or PERIOD CORRECTLY modified muscle car or special interest American car you're proud of, you are more than welcome to post pictures and say something about your pride and joy......PLEASE, NO restomod cars, NO modernized cars, NO Foose cars and NO ''pimped'' cars.

"Muscle Car Classics" page is dedicated to the legacy of our automotive past. It's about sharing our passion for an American heritage gone by, with special dedication to the magical era of the ''classic American Supercars''. It is not about bringing other car makers down! After all, if it wasn't for different car makers, the legendary "super car movement" probably wouldn't have happened; there would have been no reason for rivalry. So please be respectful! If tasteless comments are made, they will be removed and I reserve the right to block you off the ''Muscle Car Classic'' FB page.

Thanks, Long live the classics!

Rob CJ

This is my story:

Me and my car: My dad is a Big Mustang enthusiast, even though he did own a few awesome GM cars, such as a 1959 Chevy Impala, 64 Pontiac Acadian, 1969 Chevelle convertible and a 1972 Buick Skylark. By the time I was old enough to realize what cool cars were, my Dad had already owned these great cars. But by 1978, he told me how he always dreamt of owning a 65-66 Mustang. In the early 80’s he finally bought his ’66 Stang and then in 1986, he bought a brand new Mustang GT. So I was brought up thinking Mustangs were the way to go. That Summer I bought my first car, it was a ‘70 Mach 1 Mustang, powered by a 351 4v with automatic transmission, My dad and me spent 6 months, 5 nights a week restoring it. Final product was finished in Calypso Coral orange with factory Mach 1 hood and deck lid stripes, it featured the shaker hood option, Magnum 500 wheels, front and rear spoilers. It was a great looking car. But unfortunately, I ended up selling the car to go back to school and earn my degree in Architectural design. When I would graduate, I promised myself to find my dream muscle car, which at the time was a 1969 Mach 1 with the 428 Cobra Jet power plant and 4 speed transmission. But by the time I was ready to buy another muscle car, the prices of these big block Mustangs sky rocketed to unaffordable status for the common bread winner, so I started looking around for another “Blue Oval” muscle car I could afford. I’ve always had a soft spot for the ‘65 Ford Galaxies, but I couldn't find one with my specific requirements. I then looked at the other Galaxies, Fairlanes, Cougars, Mustangs, Cyclones, and Comets…but nothing really caught my attention, until I saw this ’70 Torino GT pass before my eyes. I still remember the first time I saw it. It was the summer of 1992, when our club The Eastern Ontario Mustang Club, was having its yearly car meet. It was love at first sight! Its sculptured nose and aggressive though elegant long-sleek lines really caught my eye! I knew then what my next muscle car was going to be.

Back in 1970, the new Torino won the Motor Trend car of the year award. That year, Ford produced 56,819 Torino GT sportsroof. According to Marti’s autoworks, only 241 came equipped with the Drag pack option. At Ford, The Drag pack was the top performance package you could get. For the Torinos this included a 4 bolt main 429 Super Cobra Jet block, forged aluminum 11.3 compression pistons, 780 Holley carburetor, “in your face” oil cooler, solid lifters, 3/8 fuel line, 4 speed Top Loader or optional tight shifting C6 automatic transmission and your choice of two rear axles, the 3.91 Track lok or 4.30 Detroit locker, both were 31 spline, 9” nodular steel “bullet proof” rearends. This Torino also features optional “hide-away” head lights, Magnum 500 rims (still the original ones), rear window louvers, “J” code shaker hood scoop,

According to my research, My Torino was ordered by Donway Ford located in Scarborough Ontario Canada in October 1969. After the man (that placed the original order) backed out of the deal, the car was left for sale on the lot for 9 months! After all, not everyone wanted a Drag Pack car with a bench seat and column mounted automatic! Actually, the sales people at Donway had a bet going on who could sell that damn car! One day, a 50 year old Japanese man walked into the dealer looking for a car. ''Hi sir!.... This is your lucky day, man do I have a great deal for you'' said one of the salesman! New to America and under the sales persons charm, the Japanese man, not knowing much about cars, decided to buy this brand new Ford Torino GT not realizing what the car really was. After all the paper work was done, he drove it home.
A few weeks later, he called up the dealer complaining about the poor gas mileage he was getting out of the big 429 Super Cobra Jet. The salesman tried to explain to him that he bought a very special performance car and it was not built with gas economy in mind. The little man, who could barely see over the dash board, didn’t know what the salesman was talking about and even though he was upset, decided to keep the car. When the winter months came along, he called up the salesman again, complaining about the poor handling qualities the car had! “I’m always slipping and sliding all over the place, I can’t even go up my drive way without loosing the rearend. I want my money back!” he said. But by then, it was too late, the salesperson told the poor man that he was stuck with the car and that he must try to make the best of it. So the Japanese man basically used the car for small errands and started to take the bus to work.
Another funny anecdote about the first owner; every second or third month, the car had to be serviced for not running well. Being of a somewhat conservative driver, the 429 SCJ never was driven at its full potential and for what it was built for. During his 10 years of owning the car, I don't think the 780 Holley carburetor secondary’s were open once when driven by the owner! Anyway, when the Japanese man would bring the car in for service, the Ford mechanical technicians would love it! They knew that the only thing the car really needed was a good ass-whoop’n to get her running good again. The mechanics would actually flip coins to see who would have the honor of doing so for about 15 minutes! After a good beating, the 429 Super Cobra Jet was running great again, and then they would drive it back to the dealer's garage. When the owner would show up to pick up his car, the techs would let him know that the car only needed a few adjustments..... Knowing that the car would be back with-in 3 months with the same issues!

In the very early 80’s, The Japanise person was transferred to the Ottawa region and brought the car with him (God knows why he kept it for so long, he didn’t even like the car in the first place). Around 1982, the Torino was sold to a young lad. The new owner street raced it for a few summers, building a reputation by leaving his mark on the streets of Ottawa and earning his share of late night bragging rights. One night, he lost control coming out of an intersection and did a 180 degree, ending up facing on-coming traffic. He then realized that perhaps he should consider trading the big SCJ GT for something with less power but with more handling qualities. So in 1984, sold it. The third owner had it completely restored by Riverside restoration, a well know restoration facility specializing in Ford products, and painted Wimbledon white instead of its original Medium blue metallic color. He enjoyed the car for the next 12 years before storing it for another 8 years.

Twelve years after seeing the car for the first time, In 2004, Steve finally accepted to sell me the car with the odometer reading 58,800 original miles. Everything had been kept original right down to the air pollution pump and exhaust manifolds. Back in 2008, I had the car repainted in its original color and I installed a set of factory Laser stripes, witch really make the car stand out! Today, this 69,000 mile ''legendary street warrior'' is mostly used on sunny days, Saturday night cruises, car shows and the occasional “Green light Grand prix” of course! I actually had a chance to run her at the track a few times, my best E.T. is 13.1 @ 107 mph.... Very impressive, considering she ways-in at over 4,200 pounds and had traction issues!! It took me a long time to finally buy my dream muscle car (though, I would have preferred a Toploader 4 speed transmission). You can bet, I’m enjoying every moment driving my pride and joy!