1970 Torino GT questions (2024)

Hey All,

newbie here on the forum but not a newbie in life.

I have curious questions regarding what my dad told me about our 1970 Torino GT.

I am curious because of his Claims and Statements.

First the car was the Light Yellow with a stripe down the side. It was a GT and had that on the side of fender if my memory serves correctly.

It was a 429 car with a 4 speed that had a Hurst shifter on it. It was like brushed aluminum.

It was black interior and a 2 door.

So here is what my dad claims and am wondering how much truth there is to it.

Facts I do know, my uncle owned a ford dealership in Wilber, NE. He got this Torino because of his Dealer Status and it was ( supposedly per my dad ) a special car that had a certificate of a 500unit status of some sort to meet a requirement to be able to compete in the daytona 500. It had special gearing/rearend to be certified to run in the race. Another Supposedly............he said it would run 70mph in 1st gear, 120+ in second, and from there he had no idea but was NEVER out run in a long legged race. He said it was so High Geared it was ridiculous.

He said most he outran in 3rd gear and if he ever had to grab 4th it was with cards like a vette.

I will say I had a 70 buick lesabre with a 455 and it was long legged to the tune of 140ish so wondering about his Torino Story.

I also have heard stories about these short run cars to meet Nascar race requirements but never have heard it substantiated.

I have looked around a bit and found some 3.50 rearend information on the 429 GT cars with 4 speeds but nothing much higher speed like a 3.0 or even in the 2.something range to make a car hit 150+ speeds.

Do any of you know anything about these so called short run cars and some sort of certificate that came with them regarding their certification and if these claims were possibly true?

unfortunately my mom wrecked the car, dad traded it for a 1975 ford superduty and the dealerships son took it the torino out for his senior celebration and got pursued by the police, out ran them and with 5 of them in the car i believe 2 of them were killed ( one was the dealers son ) and 3 suffered bad injuries, they ended up out in some farmers field and he found them the next day and story is they buried the car due to the circ*mstances.

This all happened in Missouri.

well maybe my dad wasnt making it all up and the special run car that my uncle at his dealership received with a special certificate had one of fords 2.5 or 2.33 gear ratios in it from what i found they were posi

I called my uncle today who is still alive and 77 y.o did confirm my dad didnt shift until around 70mph he could hear him shift, my uncle had a chevelle with a 396 and they would drag race from 25mph rolling cause my dad had troubles getting going

he said once my dad shifted out of 1st gear that was the end of the race - he said he had no idea how fast it would go but it was the fasted car he ever knew of also. - according to google the F 60 x 15 tires were close to a 235 currently

i found the scj to be 5600 rpm and the CJ 5400 so i put in 5200 just for sake of fairness

i looked up the tires, engine info and the 4 speed ratios and here is what it shows

and

Edited by searcyfarms - 18 hours 2 minutes ago at 12:47PM

handsofstone wrote:

That's a lot to digest. Pretty cool that your uncle has the memory burned in his mind.

yes i found it interesting that the gear ratios of the 4speed were available online and they confirmed it was such a high speed 1st gear with that rear end ratio it would indeed be 70ish MPH.

i wish there were a way to find out the old VIN# and if my dad/uncle would have kept that certificate but i think dad gave it to the dealership when he traded it after mom wrecked it