As was the fashion in its day, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Torino offers bench seats front and rear for full six-passenger seating. Let’s see whether or not this classic Ford is priced to put it on the back bench.
People don’t usually fist-bump cars, but based on the comments, yesterday’s 2003 Infiniti M45 certainly deserved one. A hot V8 engine, decent presentation, and modest $6,400 asking price all played in the M45’s favor. As a result, it earned a stellar 86 percent Nice Price win.
Like yesterday’s Infiniti, today’s 1968 Ford Torino is a V8-powered mid-sized four-door saloon. Unlike the well-equipped M45, however, this Ford is somewhat parsimoniously equipped—roll-up windows, manual transmission, and an instrument panel with more idiot lights than dials. It also has a smaller engine than what was listed in Ford’s promotional literature of the time, making for an interesting story.
Ford had redesigned the Torino and its platform-mate, the Fairlane, for the 1968 model year. Production got underway in the late summer of 1967 but was halted by a 68-day UAW strike occurring over September and October of that year. Ford had designated the 200 CID six as the Torino’s base engine and the 302 CID V8 as its entry-level V8. However, when production resumed in the fall of 1967, Ford was faced with the need to cut costs across its entire lineup, and having an unexpected abundance of 289 CID V8s stacking up at the company’s Windsor, Canada foundry, it decided to slot those into the Torino instead of the larger 302.
The decal on the air cleaner under this car’s hood shows it to be one of those switcheroo 289s, with the two-barrel engine making 200 (gross) horsepower in this guise. Perhaps almost as interesting is this car’s transmission which is a three-pedal manual with “three-on-the-tree” column shifting.
Everything else about the car’s mechanicals is pretty mundane, with a short and long-arm coil-sprung front suspension, leaf spring live axle rear, and drum brakes all around. There is an aftermarket A/C system plumbed in, but the ad doesn’t say whether or not that even works, and the engine shot doesn’t allow us to see if there’s a belt on the compressor.
One more interesting factor in this Ford’s favor is its styling. This was the first year of Ford’s take on the “Coke Bottle” style that became popular in the late 1960s, and it’s wildly successful on the Torino.
The previous model’s slab sides and stacked headlamp nose gave way to a recessed grille and subtle curves that kick up just ahead of the rear wheel arches, giving it the lines of the iconic soda pop bottle laid on its side. Along with that is a semi-formal roofline on the four doors that adds to an overall long-nose/short-trunk aesthetic.
This one, in arrest-me red with a black-painted roof emulating a vinyl top, appears to be in great condition and seemingly in need of nothing. The seller claims minimal rust, and none is obvious in the pictures. Steel wheels with faux wire covers accentuate the style, as do the white-wall tires.
The cabin is pretty Plain Jane, although it does have that A/C unit hanging down below the dash. There’s also an add-on gauge of some sort above that. Moving higher, there’s an AM radio, dash-mounted ignition, and then four large gauge pods. Laughably, those are mostly empty. Ford offered the option of a tach and clock in the Torino, but this car is equipped with neither. Instead, there’s one pod with the speedo, another with the fuel gauge and temperature warning lamp, a third with lights for oil pressure and charging, and the fourth a blank dial apparently serving as a constant reminder of the original buyer’s cheapness.
Aside from cracks in the steering wheel and some lumpiness in the molded plastic of the “safety dash,” the interior seems to be in almost as nice of shape as the exterior. According to the ad and backed up by the dash picture, the car has 102,056 miles under its belt. Actually, the odometer reads 2156 as it only has five main barrels, and we’ll just have to believe the seller that it has only rolled over once. We can also take them at their word that the car comes with a clean title and a passing grade from the state safety inspectors. The asking price is $10,950.
How much might you spend on a car like this? It is a classic that seems to be turn-key and comes with a couple of interesting features and some historical significance. Could that be worth $10,950 to some Ford fan? Or is that a stretch for a car that, at its heart, is fairly mundane?
You decide!
Harrisonburg, Virginia, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to RevUnlimiter for the hookup!
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