(Hopefully) this doesn’t happen often, but if you asked me to visualize a 1970-1971 Torino convertible, I would have pictured… a hardtop. I simply can’t remember ever seeing a convertible Torino of this vintage, and it’s not like I’m unfamiliar with these cars; I worked at a Ford dealer in 1970-1971, and was very familiar with the product. But I never saw one. Even the brochure doesn’t show any pictures of one, except for a little line drawing on the last page. I might well have gone on thinking they didn’t exist, but now CC Cohort c5karl has enlightened me, and with a genuine Curbside Classic at that. It’s one of only 3,939 made that year, which could help explain its low profile. Still…
Maybe it’s because I’m not a big fan of these cars, and wasn’t looking with the right frame of mind. No; I actually like finding cars I don’t like. It’s just that they were trying so hard to look “new” despite their all-too-obvious 1968-1969 roots. Or older, actually.
I sort-of liked the ’68-’69 Torinos and thought the fastback actually worked reasonably well, considering its size. Of course, the windshield was a giveaway that they were merely re-skinned 66-’67 Fairlanes.
That very same windshield, which was used from 1966 through 1971, clearly indicates what was going on under the skin–and I’ll bet the top and side windows also would be interchangeable with the ’70-’71 models.
Reasonable enough, from Detroit’s point of view, but not so to the kid who’s easily suckered into believing that each different generation represented really “new” cars. I learned the windshield trick from Mopars of the “Forward Look” era, when the Imperial used the same windshield from 1957 through 1966. Back then, that was an eternity in car years, especially to a kid.
So when the 1970s appeared with their droopy, anteater snouts and bulging hips, I was sucked in… for about 90 seconds or so. OK, I’m being harsh; maybe 15 minutes.
Of course, the really big giveaway was the wagon. It was virtually unchanged from the 1966 Fairlane and Falcon wagons, save for the new and rather silly-looking front end. Interestingly enough, there’s also no picture of the wagon in the 1970 brochure; this one’s from the 1971 catalog, which also contains a picture of the convertible.
Here it is, perhaps in farewell as the very last of its kind, ever. Not that including it in the brochure helped; only 1,613 were sold in 1971–and good luck finding one of them on the street, especially with that laser streak.
Living proof that there was a convertible Torino for 1970. Maybe we should start a new category: Forgotten Classic. Or Spaced-That-One Classic. And just how many other cars’ existence have I forgotten?
Note: a rerun of an older post.
The fact the ’70 Torino brochure only showed a small inset pic of the convertible really showed how far they’d fallen from favor. The fact it didn’t show the wagon at all except in the full-line drawings at the back is down to Ford having published a separate wagon brochure that had 2-page spreads for both the Torino Squire and Fairlane 500, the latter with inset pics (bigger than the Torino ragtop got!) of both base Falcon and Futura wagons in the early version dated 8/69. Presumably a revision was put out with the
70 1/2 Falcon wagon.
https://oldcarbrochures.org/United%20States/Ford/1970_Ford/1970-Ford-Wagons-Brochure/index.html
Now then you mention it, the Montego wasn’t available as a convertible during those model years either. After the full-size Mercury convertible was dropped after the 1970 model year, the Cougar convertible soldiered until 1973.
However, you will never find a convertible Maverick 🙂
There’s at least one more survivor, and a fully restored one at that. It was featured in an issue of Hemmings Classic Car a few years ago…and it has a four speed.
Remember a bright, yellow one in the showroom back in the day. A few years later, on a field trip, one (blue) with top down was in the lane next to school bus I was on.
Lord! It looked so cool. ((in “Oakland” section of “Pgh”.
I always felt the 68-69 Fairlane/Torino was kind of awkward looking. The 70 model was a big improvement to my eyes, though still playing a distant second fiddle in styling to its crosstown rivals at GM and Mopar. Sadly, Ford was exactly in line with their rivals in dropping convertibles in the 70-72 period.
I would welcome one with a Cobra Jet engine and the laser stripes in my driveway, that’s for sure.
Like the “68”! My brother wanted to get one round “73”. Price wouldn’t come down to his range.
Kept the “Maverick” another sixteen months or so.
In the 1970 and 1971 model years the Torino convertible was only available as a Torino GT, which I find a bit weird.
I can understand the convertible not being available in the lower trim lines (the 1970 Fairlane 500, 1970 1/2 Falcon, and 1971 Torino), but I would have expected it to have been offered in the other upper and medium trim lines (the 1970 and ’71 Torino Brougham, 1970 and ’71 Torino Cobra, 1970 Torino and 1971 Torino 500).
The low production numbers tell the tale … you can’t have a plethora of trim levels if it is not supported by the volume. Ford knew that the best trim level to assign to all production was the GT. (This is just a guess, not a known fact to me).
And as a boy, I thought the laser stripe that Ford offered on some of its vehicles was soooooooo cool.
The hiding of the 1970-71 Torino GT convertible in the brochure seems like it might be a good topic for the CC cognoscenti, i.e., how the choice of models to be used is determined. TBH, I would have guessed the manufacturers would try to highlight the models with the highest profit margins. To that end, maybe the convertibles weren’t all that profitable due to things like extra structural bracing. So, the companies simply didn’t care all that much if they sold that well, particularly given the low anticipated sales.
But hiding them in the brochures sure didn’t help.
I actually have a ’71 Torino GT convertible, although it’s currently awaiting restoration.
Mine is a real oddball. 302 2V, 3 speed column shift, no p/s, no p/b. It came with an AM radio, white wall tires, and that’s about it according to my Marti Works report. My car was one of 16.
I might note for the Torino non-cognicenti, that this car likely has a leak in its vacuum powered headlamp door system because at park only leaks and a bypass valve (under normal conditions) will cause the doors to stay open.
Here’s a good pic of that:
Did I forget to attach pic? I’ll attach it again. If mods are removing it, please so state. Thx. ps car is appropriately plated for Paul.
For the image to upload, you have to make sure it’s in JPEG format, and less than 1800 pixels wide by 1000 pixels high. It should upload if it meets those requirements.
I think I may have tried to attach too large a pic … here is a downscaled version.
Note: car appropriately plated for Paul !
I’ll note the pic comes from a site on ebay selling what looks like repro or NOS grille and doors set for 900 USD.
I wish I could remember what I paid for the grille halves and headlamp doors for my 69 Cougar some 40 years ago (I bought direct from dealer even tho the car was 15 years old, parts were generally available).
Also interesting to note these torino bits are in aluminum … IDK if that was the original material as my Cougar parts were cast in pot metal (Zinc).
But by 1971, the new LTD had a plastic grille, I remember clocking that as a boy that they had gone to plastic … so maybe 1970/71 represents a transition from Zinc to plastic via Alu ??
other nice pics this particular car in the ebay ad:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/267291474821