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I've had the good fortune to own two Cyclone Spoilers, both a '70 and a '71.
As you read about the first one please keep in mind that I was only 20
years old, and I owned it during the "missing years" of working too much
overtime, drinking too much take home pay, and having too little respect
for authority.
1979
When I was 17 I bought a '56 Chevy hardtop from the owner of an
out-of-business speed shop. She had a professionally built 400 small block
that would hardly idle, big block station wagon springs in front, a Borg
Warner T-10, and 4.11:1 rear. I finished the body and interior, added
traction bars, and gave her a badly needed tune up and carb rebuild. On a
cold day you could lift the front end with street G-60's; and I only saw
tail lights twice ...once to a built 427 in a '57 Chevy coupe, and again to
a '70 Spoiler four speed with a pro-built 429 Police Interceptor. The
Cyclone was originally an orange car that had been painted silver with
black stripes, black interior, steel wheels with trim rings and dish
hubcaps. In the race with the Cyclone he seemed to jump a few feet away
with each gear change, and I blamed the loss on too much beer before the
run....but I was mighty impressed. The Cyclone suffered some valve train
distress, either blew a rocker arm off or flattened a lifter, and was
knocking pretty bad when we pulled over...
By the summer of 1980 I had enough close calls and replaced the built 400
with a stock 305, much to the relief of my parents, insurance company, and
local magistrate: but that's another story.
1982
A kid at work mentioned his dad had traded for a real fast car, but he
couldn't drive it because his brother got three tickets with it the first
week they owned it. Funny thing, this guy drove a clean '65 Mustang 289
AND a nice '70 Mach 1 (ooh,ooh,ooh he wanted to sell it to me for $1600!),
but supposedly this other car was too wild. Yeah, right, I think, until I
find out it is a 429 Cyclone. Seems his dad was an insurance man and a
client had moved to SD from California, brought this car with him, and
traded for a Jeep when the snow started falling.
First time I saw the car it was sitting in gravel lot across from their
house. One flat front tire, another bald front tire, dark blue metallic
paint oxidized, dead battery, covered with 9 month's of sitting outside
dust and grime.
Found out he would be willing to sell it for $3000. Better test drive it
to make sure. So one afternoon in May we aired up the tire, jumped the
battery, and off we went. His house was only about 5 blocks from the main
cruising street and the highway out of town. We pulled up the second
stoplight, and a late 60's/early 70's 442 Cutlass with some guys from the
nearby air base pulled up beside us. The guy in the Cutlass powerbraked
and got his tires smoking. Dave (name changed to protect the convicted)
says, "Should I race him?" even though we both knew the answer. Light
turned green. We roared ahead, Dave let off to get some traction, and
nailed it again. He was into the throttle for the third time about half a
block from the light, the Cutlass was wasted, when I looked to the across
the parking lot on our left and.....
COP!COP!COP! I shouted, way too late. Dave let off, and we coasted up the
road until the cop hit his lights behind us. Dave pulled over into a
grocery store parking lot, and the guy in the Cutlass took off like a bat
out of hell up a side street in the opposite direction.
Well, Dave was cuffed and stuffed. My first time driving the rumblin'
Cyclone was to the county jail where I posted Dave's bail but not until
after he had been fingerprinted and put in an orange prison
jumpsuit. Hell, I knew I wanted the car from the first time I saw it.
Dave was ticketed for drag racing, reckless driving, and speeding. When he
got to court (and I got my bail money back) the charges were read as
Exhibiton Driving (only 2 points and a $25 fine). But I guess the cop made
his point.
I was never caught in the Cyclone....
THE CAR:
She had apparently been a class champion of some sort at the Orange County
Drag Strip in the mid to late 70's. Originally a grabber blue Spoiler, 429
Super Cobra Jet, automatic, now with about 52,000 miles. Ram air was gone
but hood scoop was functional, had a lumpy cam and headers, original oil
cooler. Power steering pump gone but p.s. gears retained in the box. High
stall torque converter, staggered shocks, probably a 4.10 rear end. Cool
traction bars. Five slot mags like everyone had. Original black carpet
was trashed in back from a battery being set on it and an upholestry buddy
of mine put in some nice dark blue but didn't retain the front floor
mats. The body and chassis was in beautiful rust free and dry California
condition. Most of the chrome was removed, except the drip rail and window
mouldings. Both Spoilers were gone and no factory stripes were applied
when it was painted dark blue metallic. Grill above the headlights was
cracked, hood had been drilled for two sets of pins and lanyards/locks. It
was missing the honeycomb between the taillights but I found one laying in
the dirt at a junkyard.
I had a blast in this car. It could use over an eight of a tank of fuel
going up the hill out of town, but pull 115 mph easy all the way up. I ran
at a local dragstrip and did 13.8 seconds at 105 on street tires in the
summer. With just a little forward momentum you could nail the throttle,
the brake, and give the wheel a tug to begin an endless series of tire
smokin' cookies.
The races, the dates, the rod runs and shows, the early mornings sneaking
home with the engine turned off for the last block, the time my 65 year old
mother (Yes, I was a unexpected mistake/surprise) drove it and smoked 'em
off just for the fun of it.
What a blast!
It got stolen out of my parent's garage, along with most of my tools, when
I had it for sale to pay for college. Recovered about 5 days later with
considerable damage and obvious misuse. The cops missed an obvious
thumbprint right in the middle of the rearview mirror. I had to pay CASH
to get it out of evidence. I was sick. Sold it to a young rancher whose
Dad wrote the check. Man, it sounded good when he pulled away. I've owned
over 70 cars and this was the only one I really missed.
PROLOGUE
I moved to California and had three kids and another 50 cars. I never saw
a Cyclone Spoiler in LA, Bakersfield, or at the Pamona swap meets. I moved
back to my hometown in 1995 and watched the classifieds every day.
The rancher sold the Cyclone to the younger brother of the guy who stole
it, about 12 years later. He restored it and enjoyed it, realized how much
gas it used, and it was sold again and trailered to either Minnesota or
South Carolina. When I found this out, my dreams to own it again were
obviously destroyed.
Finally got an original one owner '71 Spoiler. More on that later.
I previously shared how much I enjoyed my radical '70 Cyclone but, after it
was stolen and recovered, sold it to pay for another year of school. I
moved back from California in the early 90's, and began watching classified
ads in earnest, hoping to buy back the exact or, at least, a similar
car. The one '70 Spoiler I knew of in town had become a family heirloom of
sorts, and it was obvious that it would never leave the family. It had
been repainted in the early 80's with kind of weird graphics (far out, man)
and a couple of munched gears...still desirable but never going to be for sale.
So I missed out on a Cyclone in Hastings, NE. It was advertised in Deals
on Wheels for $6,000. Original white car painted black, 429, bench seat,
automatic on the column. I had just sold a Triumph chopper and a Buick
Grand National, and was for once in my life ready to slap down cash...but I
was about one weekend late being able to get there.
In October/November 2001 a guy in Washington had what appeared to be a
super nice silver Cyclone GT, radically built 351, on E-bay. He listed it
several times and finally had it down to $4,000 Buy It Now pricing. I was
extremely distraught that I couldn't act on it. Should've used a credit
card to pay for it and figured out how to drive it home across the
mountains in December, but it was not to be, because:
A guy I bought a hot rod from in Devils Lake, ND knew I was looking for a
'70/'71 Spoiler. He sent me a photo of one that was coming available, said
for $15K. The price was too high....and who wants to go to ND in December
anyway?
About 6 weeks later I searched auto trader online, and up popped a 1971
Cyclone. Same picture I had seen before but with a significantly lower
price. I called the guy in Fargo (I know, North Dakota in the winter),
committed to buy it on the phone, and got to work on figuring out how to
bring it home.
Now for some reason I don't own a car trailer, I pay the outrageous rental
fees instead. (At least I don't have to store, license, and insure
one.) Years ago you just went to U-Haul with an adequate tow vehicle and
they hooked you up and sent you away. Now they seem interested in what
you're going to put on the darn trailer...something about weight, size,
ground clearance, overhang....for liability purposes I suppose. It is fun
to tell them things like, "It's a 1929 Model A roadster with no top, but it
has a a Model T frame and a 1958 Cadillac V-8 Engine and fins welded on the
body and only 4 inches ground clearance and the body is actually a Star but
it says Model A on the title, but I'm pulling a Pro Street El Camino going
the other way." Anyway, according to them a Torino won't fit, and
they
couldn't even find a Cyclone. So I went back the next day and told them I
was picking up a Mercury Comet. Sure, sign here, give us $250.
You know, sometimes those U-Haul guys are smarter than we give 'em credit
for. I got the trailer home, and measured between the fenders. It
was
about 2" narrower than the published width of the Cyclone. Houston,
we may
have a problem. I gallantly removed a trailer fender (to make sure I
could), bolted it back on, and headed for North Dakota (Yup, in
January). I left about 4 in the morning, knowing I had 700 slow miles to
go to pick it up, and another 150 slower after it was loaded before I could
sleep. Some of the largest herds of deer on the road I've ever seen, a
semi in front of me took out about 7 at once. Munched his fiberglass
pretty badly, but cleared the road nicely for me...About dawn a guy pulled
up beside me, honked, and pointed towards the back of my truck. This is
always a bad sign when you are towing. I discovered yet another reason to
carry a come along in the truck, it works quite nicely to hold in a trailer
ramp that has a defective latch. Unfortunately, I didn't discover this
until after I reached down to lift the ramp, thinking "that may be hot
seeing as how it's all ground down like that" and received 2nd degree burns
on my thumb and forefinger. Good thing it was freakin' January. As I
ran
screaming into the ditch there was plenty of snow to ease the pain.
So I arrived in Fargo with my too small trailer and a right hand numb from
holding snowballs for 8 hours. I'm thinking this whole car hobby thing is
getting ridiculous. Maybe I should try stamp collecting.
But there she was, ready to be loaded. I caught a glimpse from half a
block off. Bright grabber orange paint, and the black taillight
panel. The holy grail of the muscle car world. A 1971 Mercury
Cyclone
Spoiler 429 Cobra Jet factory four speed with ram air. Holy crap. It
gives me a thrill just to type that. I'm thinking this model has GOT TO BE
the lowest production regular order muscle car out there. Only 353
cars! Unless you're talking about special factory packages that were built
just to make them legal for racing, what else is so low?
So the original owner explained to me how they bought it on Christmas Eve
in 1971, a model year leftover that no one wanted due to insurance
costs. They lived on a ranch in Montana, and it was his wife's car.
Drove
it on gravel roads thus the rock chips and one broken grille lamp, the wear
on the front right seat cushion was from a child seat. Kids all grown up
now, far as he knew none of them had ever driven it. (I wonder if they
would say the same thing??)
He had the original window sticker, the registrations, the warranty
card. Couldn't find the ram air top, it must have blown away when they
lost the shed in a wind storm....bummer. (This can happen on the great
plains.) But I got all the original trim rings and caps, 3 wheels, and a
set of studded snow tires "just in case." I guess just in case I
want to
light 'em up and dig a hole through the pavement.
Well, we went outside and he fired that bad puppy up. Nothing like the
sound of a lumpy big block blowing through old steel-pack mufflers when the
air temperature is about 10 degrees. Man oh man.
Turns out the Cyclone body is tapered a lot. The car is plenty wide, but
it will fit...spoilers and all. If you measured the width above the rear
wheel wells or from the outer edge of the sport mirrors you would assume
there was no way. When you go to rent your trailer, just remember to
let
them know you're picking up that "Mercury Comet" and you should be
fine.
So I am one happy little camper. Turned 40, had 3 kids, survived cancer,
and bought a car like the one I should have never sold. Life is good with
a big block CJ under the hood. And the best part is the UPS package that
showed up a couple months ago. Yeppers, there was the complete ram air
top. Maybe going to North Dakota in January isn't so
Bob Dunfee
My name is Tim Miletello and I am from Louisiana.
When I was seventeen I bought my first car, a 1970 Mercury Cyclone GT. It was red and had a 351C automatic. I really loved that car. After two years it was in pretty bad shape and I had no money to restore it properly so I decided to get rid of it. I sold it in 1978 for four hundred dollars. My brother had one with a 429CJ and he traded his in a year before and got only three hundred for his. Both of us regretted it.
I vowed to find another one day. Finally after twenty four years with the help of the internet I finally found another. It is a beautiful car with 99,000 original miles. It has a 351C four barrel and an automatic transmission. The car has all documents since new including the window sticker and maintenance records. It even has the original spare in the trunk. The car is original in every detail except for the paint and wheels. It was competition orange when new and had been repainted silver a while back. I will have it repainted its original color but I am having a hard time finding the original wheels. Any help would be appreciated.
Now to make my story even more interesting I must tell you that I found a second Cyclone a few months later. I bought a 1970 Cyclone Spoiler. It has 89,000 original miles and is also a very beautiful well kept vehicle. So after nearly twenty five years of searching for another Cyclone I now have two.
I hope you could help me in finding some wheels for my Cyclone. If you could It would be greatly appreciated.
My email address is junkrabbit@msn.com
I have a 1970 Cyclone GT that I purchased in 1976
for $800 when I was 16yrs old. The car had 86,000 original miles on the
odometer and I became the 2nd owner, I am now 42 yrs old. My father was the
person who brought me and the Cyclone GT together. I remember working all
summer saving lawn mowing money, and working part-time at the Automotive
Department at Kmart. When it was time to go to back to school I had saved up
$849 , and so I gave that money to my father and he started car
searching.
I still remember the very day I saw the car
for the very first time, it was after school and I had finished up my weight
training for the day, so I called dad to come pick me up. I was standing on
the sidewalk watching traffic drive by, and then I saw this two tone
Gold/black car with a hood scoop, mag wheels, and a strange looking front end turn
into the parking lot, and my first thought was, that is a different looking
car, then I recognized the driver was my dad. He came pulling up with a big
smile on his face and asked what I thought of the car, all I could do was
smile back and look her over. It was from that beginning the Cyclone
GT and I started our relationship.
The car is equipped with a 351 4V and I
have added the optional Ram Air System and put Cyclone Headers to make her
breath better. The transmission was rebuilt and I had a B&M shift kit put
in, the rear gear ratio is 3.25:1 and the points have been replaced with a
petronix ignition system. I have retained all the original parts and then
purchased extra parts over the years. The Engine was completely
overhauled in 1980 along with the transmission. The Body was massaged and
repainted in 1981 with its original color scheme. The rest of the interior is
all original. I did replace the AM Radio with a nice AM/FM Cassete player but
I did keep the factory Radio which still works.
The car is all original excluding the
performance enhancements. Over the last 23 yrs the car has logged 36,500 miles
and has been garaged its entire life. My wife loves this car and so do I.
The kids love riding in it, and are always asking me to stand on it, so they
can feel the acceleration and hear the tires bark for traction. When I
find some good photos I will send them so you can put them on your website.
Scott Rong
Des Moines, Iowa
New
I was on the net looking for tune up spec's for my cyclone
spoilers and ran across your site. I have a 1970 Cyclone Spoiler with
the 429 CJ Ram Air. I have had this car for around eighteen years
and the story of how it came to me is kinda neat. I come from a family
of twelve kids so to have another one hanging around the house was not
noticed. A friend of my older brother bought the car off of the show
room floor in Boulder Co in 1970. He was an only child and pretty much
got what he wanted. But I was ten years old at the time and talked him
into giving me a ride in the car, needless to say I loved it and told him if
he ever sold it he needed to let me know first. Well fifteen years later
I get a phone call saying remember when and do you still want the car, of
course I did but I had just bought a house and had zero money and even thought
he was basically giving the car to me I had zero money. I called my
older brother and talked him into getting the car and holding it until I had
the money to buy it from him. The car was in good mechanical shape and
over all not bad. It took me about a year to save up the money to get
it. With raising children and houses and stuff the car has sat under a
tarp most of the time, I will take it out in the summer and drive it for
couple of days each month except winter. Just recently I decided it was
time to start fixing it up and spent the money to have the interior done, wow
did it turn out nice and it looks just like I remember it new. This
summer I have been doing some things, rebuilt the tranny, carburetor about
fifteen times ( I am a Holley guy and this quadra jet about killed me)
until I finally got it working right, and now I am looking for some
one who knows the tune up spec's for this car? If you know of anyone
that can help me out I would appreciate it. I would also be interested
in rally's and sharing more information with other spoiler owners.
Court
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