The 1969 Ford Cobra in the junkyard is a rare classic car that is in terrible condition. It was found by the folks at YouTube’s “Iron City Garage” sitting in a forested area of the junkyard. The car is nearly cracked in half, the interior is loaded with junk, and the frame is likely too far gone. Yet our host decided to pull it out of the woods.
Why would anyone rescue a car in such terrible condition and with only a few salvageable components? Well, it has something to do with the fact that it’s a rare classic. This isn’t your average 1969 Torino, but a Cobra model that was born with a 428 cubic inch (7.0-liter) Cobra Jet engine. The Cobra was also a short-lived nameplate.
First used by Carroll Shelby on his early 1960s sports car, the “Cobra” badge found its way on a midsize car in 1969. That’s when Ford expanded the Fairlane/Torino lineup to include two new Sportsroof and two-door hardtop body styles. These models are often called Torino Cobras or Fairlane Cobras, but Ford marketed them without “Torino” or “Fairlane” badges.
The Cobra was more than just a Torino with a snake emblem and a sleeker roof. It was created specifically to go against the Plymouth Road Runner and Dodge Super Bee, which broke cover in 1968. It was a stripped down model missing most of the Torino’s fancy trim, but it came standard with the mighty Cobra Jet V8. Rated at 335 horsepower, it was Ford’s most potent engine at the time.
The 1969 Ford Torino Cobra, a muscle car icon, was available in various configurations, including the Ram Air Induction and the potent Super Cobra Jet with the Drag Pack option. While production continued until 1971, with the nameplate transitioning to “Torino” badges in 1970 and the 428 engine replaced by the 429 Cobra Jet, the 1969 model remains a unique and sought-after year.
Despite a production run of 14,885 units, the 1969 Cobra is relatively rare when considering the Fairlane/Torino sales of over 300,000 that year. Moreover, the 11,099 Sportsroof models represent a smaller subset, with the exact number of Cobra Jet equipped cars still uncertain.
The specific Cobra featured in this article, currently in a dilapidated state, once housed a 302 V8, but its original engine, likely a high-performance Cobra Jet, is believed to be stored in a junkyard.
