Hemmings Muscle Machines

VENOMOUS

FORD’S DRAG PACK OPTION MAY HAVE BEEN the best $155 you could spend, possibly in all of Detroit, for 1970.

Granted, the new-for-1970 Torino Cobra was a pretty hot package to start with. For your $3,270, you got some strong equipment, with style to match. For performance, the 360-horse Thunder Jet four-barrel V-8 (N-code) was standard, part of Ford’s new 385-series engine family — featuring two-bolt main-bearing caps, heads stuffed full of canted 2.09/1.65-inch valves, a 600-cfm Autolite four-barrel atop a cast-iron intake, with hydraulic lifters and 10.5:1 compression. A standard Hurst-shifted Toploader four-speed stick backed it up; also included was the Competition Suspension that utilized 7-inch wheels wrapped with fat bias-belted tires. (In truth, all four-speed Torinos were given the Competition Suspension, which included staggered rear shocks to help quell axle tramp.) As far as style, the blacked-out hood and grille, hood pins, bright moldings, and Cobra identification (a cartoon snake on wheels, doing a smoky burnout) did the talking on a dramatic all-new body.

Dual exhaust was standard-issue on all 429-equipped Torinos—as

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