Debating on buying my soon to be 16 year old a car a friend of mine has. He Loves a lot of the Mavricks he has seen on this board but I dont have the time/money to get one fixed like he likes before he gets sixteen so what I'm looking at is a 1970 Ford Torino GT Fastback with a 351 Cleveland and a C-6 Automatic with factory air. Its been a while but do I remember something about the Cleveland having problems staying tuned up or something. (Thinking back to my teenage years long long ago) Is there anything about this car/engine/trans combo I need to know about before making the buy. I am a shadetree mechanic so I know nothing about High Performance Stuff. Just looking for comments positive or negative. He wants $1500 for it, Body ok need painting. Did not know if parts would be hard to come by or if it would fall into the Maverick line of hunting down stuff. Thanks for any input.
For the engine question, there are no problems special to the Cleveland family of engines used for a street car. As for the car, it is a collector car of more value than a Maverick and there can be some difficulty getting body parts. These cars have more support in the parts industry than the Maverick even though there production numbers were much lower for only one year compared to the Maverick spanning 1970 to 77 with alot of their parts being the same. Cleveland engine parts, C6 trans parts, front suspension and rear is no problem for parts.
Agreed that the 351C is no more troublesum than any other vintage combo; in fact it may be a cut above many. A Fastback Torin w/ a 351C for a soon to be 16 yr old? I'd give that some thought. Mabey a Maverick would be a better option. Depends on the Kid, I guess. JNord
First for 1500.00 that's one investment I would make in a heart beat! You could always do what I did and go to your favorite paint store and buy your primer and paint (got mine for free from the valspar rep) and then ask the local Vo-tech teacher if he could have the kids do the work. I have 212.00 invested in some of the best body work and paint job one could ask for. The 351C didn't ever have a problem staying in tune what they did have and still do is a oiling problem. The 335 series engines could produce some very serious horse power and are somewhat under rated. Here is a link to a 351 info page. Cleveland fixs All kinds of Q&A there. Sweet find, and since you are a shade tree mech you shouldn't run into to many things you couldn't fix. I hope this helps, good luck! Terry Gates AKA Bossmav P.S. I agree 100 and 10 % with jnord this would be a little more then my 16 year old's would be getting and they are all girls, but it would make a sweet ride for dad.
Sounds like one great deal however you said you dont have the time or money to fix a car up. Fixing up this Torino will cost you just as much and probably more in both time and money.
Hold on to your pants...these are the current NADA value figures for the car you described. Low value - $8550 Average value - $18300 High value - $28400 Low value is for a car needing only minor reconditioning cosmetically and/or mechanically. The average value is fo a "20-footer", meaning that from 20 feet away, the car looks nearly perfect. The high value is for an absolutely perfect, completely original or restored to factory specs with only NOS factory parts, specimen, inside and out, with low mileage. There are more parts available for the '70-'71 series than for the '72 and others, especially the '72. The Cleveland engine may be the only fly in the ointment as parts are harder to find for them than the Windsors, though the Cleveland raises the value of the car. If his car is even fairly decent, SNATCH IT!! Even if you only put a few dollars into it and then resell it, you can easily make a nice profit.
Here is a couple pics of a 70 torino I built in the early 80s. It is a notchback but I added the fastback trunklid and quater extensions, the extensions are narrower so I had to biuld them out with kitty hair and sculpt them to fit. Also added GT taillight package. Molded door handles and antenna. Painted it porsche guards red, with purple separating a metallic blue. This should show him a possibility.
Torino Buy it, sell the 351C and C-6 and install a 460, C-6. fits in there like a glove. Only reason I call see to keep the Cleveland is to keep it stock. Torinos are heavy cars, 3650#s + 460 even stock will get you down the road nicely. More parts for a 460 then Cleveland and cheaper and easy to make HP from.
Torino Thanks for all the replys, I talked with my friend that has it and he says the weight/engine combo is not slow by any means but its really no worse than most of the other cars. So far my son has proven to be very responsable and is not the type to get goated into something dumb. I have been a Paramedic and Police Officer all his life and have made a point of being blunt about what cars/guns/drugs etc will do to ruin your and others life. I'll trust him till he proves he cant be trusted and pray for the best. The one Maverick I have is a 6cyl 3 on the column straight shift with no a/c or anything (not exactly a teenagers dream car) and the other one has been a parts car that I may find a 302/trans combo to fix up. It is definately more work and money than I have time for whereas the Torino just needs some minor fixin up and has a/c etc. Thanks again for your comments and Wardf he really liked your Torino. If he treats it right he will have something to keep and be proud of along with the Mavericks he will inherat one day...
Mine had a 351c 2v with a c-6 and it ran pretty good. I cut those front coils by one coil to get it dropped and it still rode very good. I wish I still had the car, but then again I wish I still had a few others I let go. So many cars so little garage space...... I think your son would enjoy that car if he likes older fords.
I have a suggestion. If the Torino needs a little work, why not just buy the torino and find something else cheap in the meantime (or let him drive the maverick). Let him drive the cheap car for a year or two, while the both of you work on getting the torino in tip-top condition. While he's driving the cheap car, he will gain valuable driving experience. Why do i think this is a good idea? Well, for one you just can't take most old cars right out on the road and drive them. What if a brake line popped? If you had been driving for one week and a brake line popped on you, would you know what to do? Old cars with worn suspension are notorious for over/understeer as well...not exactly an easy car to drive until you know what you're doing. And as for putting a teenager behind the wheel of a fast car, i'm sorry to say i think you're crazy. No matter how much you can trust him, and how many lectures you've given, you can't beat peer pressure...and his friends aren't going to be pressuring him to drive like a grandma in his fast car. I know i can't change your mind, but there are definitely some things to be considered here! I say buy the torino and make a spot in the garage for it, then find him something to drive around until he gets more driving experience and maturity. By the time he's a good enough driver to get behind the wheel of the torino, it will be road-worthy and in top running condition. Then you can sell the cheap car for what it's worth and get the torino painted or whatever...
