69 Cobra (Torino) Factory Appearance?

[jayb]

My pal Steve the bodywork expert has been looking for a winter project this year, so I've struck a deal with him to do the bodywork on my 69 Cobra.  He just took it to his shop on Monday, and it will probably be ready for paint in the spring.  So now I'm looking at the exterior appearance of the car, and whatever options there may have been for that.  The car was originally Ford's Candy Apple Red, and it will be repainted in that color.  However, the car also has black on the center of the hood, the hood scoop is black, and the taillight panel is black.  After carefully scraping some paint, it appears that the taillight panel was originally red.  But I can't find any evidence of prior red paint on the hood, where it was painted black.  Also, the underside of the scoop appears to have been red, but the top was painted black, and again there is no evidence of red paint under the black on the scoop.  Pictures of the car as I received it are on the second page of this thread:

http://fepower.net/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=2795.0


Looking online I see lots of different black and body color combinations, and also some that have no black at all.  I also see a lot of cars with the tape stripe on them; I like that stripe, and am inclined to put it on this car.  But if they never came with that then I'm not sure I'd want to do it.  So, my questions are as follows:

- Was the tape stripe an option for the Cobras?

- Did the factory ever put black paint on any portion of the cars?  If so, where?  I see black on the hood, hood scoop, taillight panel, and also the grille of some of the cars pictured online...

- I also see a lot of the cars with the "Cobra Jet" script on the hood scoop, in addition to the 428.  Was that ever done by the factory, or are those instances owner-installed?


Bear in mind that my car is an early car, built right at the end of 1968.  It is a factory 428SCJ car, with the 4 speed and 3.91 Traction Lok, but it was built before Ford started calling them Drag Pack cars.  Any info on this is appreciated.  Here are a couple of pictures of my car, as I received it five years ago:

[FESCJ]

Jay, Bob Perkins has or just sold an original Cobra like yours with less than 1000 original miles. Do a quick search and you'll see the car the way it was originally painted. There should be no black on tail light panel, hood and scoop should be factory car color. The scoop emblems were factory installed. Q code cars should not have a scoop and 428 emblems at front of front fenders. My first car was a black jade Cobra fastback and everything was painted car color, no black accents or black outs.

There would be some slight variation on options and some would depend on which plant built the car. There were 4 plants building Fairlanes in 69. I am far from an expert, but I do know these cars pretty well. Again, variations on options etc occurred all the time with Ford.

The Perkins car is a very good representation of how your car would have looked from the factory. The only black ever put on a hood of a 69 Fairlane was the Talladega.

Brian N

[FESCJ]

A little more info. No tape stripe on car.  If I'm correct, Drag Pack became an actual named option late in March 69. Before that, it existed by ordering 3.91/4.30 gears on a Cobra, Mustang, etc. I don't believe any were built until the oil pan problem was solved late Nov/Dec of 68. Many show an order date of Sept and Oct, but were put behind until parts became available.

Ford realized they were losing money on this package, thus it becoming an option at $155 dollars. Previous to that, you simply paid for the higher ratio axle, and traction lock.....about $70 bucks for both.

I hope I'm helping? Sweet car!

Brian

[Joe-JDC]

Are you sure that is a Torino Cobra?  Usually the Torino cars had a different grill.  I disagree with the Q code not having a scoop, but they did not have the opening for ram air.  My Fairlane Cobra was an early car also, and it had chrome snake emblems on the front fenders behind the wheel opening, and a chrome 428 cobra emblem on the right side of the tail-light panel, hood pin lanyards, and 428 chrome emblem with chrome Cobra Jet script on the hood scoop.  No black paint anywhere but on the grill lateral trim pieces.  The early cars dual exhausts were curved down under the rear valence without chrome tips.  Most Cobras had chrome dog dish hub caps before the Torinos were called Cobras, and the Torino Cobras became loaded with every option available instead of being lightweight performance oriented.  As mentioned, unless you have a Marti report on your vehicle, just about any option you want can be added and no one will be the wiser.  Joe-JDC

[Dumpling]

I didn't think there was such a thing as a "Torino Cobra", fastback or otherwise.

It was a (Fairlane) Cobra, with emblems.
Did it come with staggered shock mounts? Hood pins?

https://youtu.be/jjYwLRPJIhQ

[FESCJ]

In 69 the Cobra was a Fairlane. Body style codes listed under Fairlane section. This changed in 70/71. Yep, staggered shocks just like Mustang on 4speed only. The grille you have is correct, but Cobra grille's had center section painted low gloss black. It's also interesting to note that the very first few Cobra's used a Cobra decal similar to the 70 style. I was told that the emblems that replaced the stickers were not quite ready when production began.

I have the complete 1969 Ford ordering guide. If anyone would have any specific questions about options etc for any car/truck line in 69 I can help.

Just hope I am helping a bit.

Brian

[Joe-JDC]

We've had this argument several times in the past.  The first Cobras were Fairlanes, and sometime during the year, they became Torino Cobras.  It is an established fact.  Yes, the '70-'71s were all Torino Cobras. The Fairlane in 1970 was again relegated to cheap, affordable transportation, same as Falcon with the exception of the few that got R code 429s, and 4V Clevelands and ram air.  Joe-JDC

[jayb]

Thanks for all the responses.  Sounds like it is a Fairlane Cobra, rather than a Torino Cobra, or maybe more correctly it is just a Cobra, because of course it did get it's own body code.  It does have the rear staggered shocks and hood pins.  A copy of the Marti Report and the build sheet, with the serial numbers blacked out by me, are below.  According to the Marti report "Drag Pack" became a thing after February 20 1969.  I always liked the "Super Cobra" on the build sheet.

It's a bummer about the tape stripe, but I'm going to put a stroked 427 in this thing anyway, so it's not going to be a stock restoration.  Original engine is long gone (prior to 1975, when the previous owner purchased the car), the shaker assembly was sold off the car in the 1990s, etc.  I think I might go with the tape stripe anyway.  I'll say it was dealer installed...

[FESCJ]

Spirited discussion, but no argument going on here!

Happy holidays to everyone!

Brian

[jayb]

I didn't think there was such a thing as a "Torino Cobra", fastback or otherwise.

It was a (Fairlane) Cobra, with emblems.
Did it come with staggered shock mounts? Hood pins?

https://youtu.be/jjYwLRPJIhQ

Thanks for that video, it does show the grille being blacked out, and also the Cobra Jet script on the hood scoop, next to the 428.  It says it's a 1968 TV ad, so I'm thinking it would apply to my car.  I like the blacked out grille, I'll probably do that to mine...

I wonder when they stopped with the sticker and started with the emblem on the front fenders?

[wayne]

I like these cars and Joe is dead on the way they were i have looked at every one i could find and have had two of them.I have never seen the sticker on the fender just the chrome snake.

[Dumpling]

... It's also interesting to note that the very first few Cobra's used a Cobra decal similar to the 70 style. I was told that the emblems that replaced the stickers were not quite ready when production began.

Brian

[e philpott]

Big Torino fan here too ! I used to cringe when people would sacrifice the drivetrain from a Fairlane/Torino to restore a Mustang , not that I don't like Mustangs it's just I put Torino's on the same pedestal as a Mustang , not below them

[427Fastback]

I have a NOS set of the front fender decals..1970 Part number..Looks to me that it wouldnt be hard to relocate the word Cobra to the earlier position..Pretty sure I also have NOS Cobra emblems as well.....I drove a "Q" code auto many years ago...Nice car.

[machyoung]

Here's mine, 58k mile original.