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Winter 2010, Car Chatter, Car Chatter
Markus' ‘70 Mercury SCJ Cyclone Spoiler 429 GT
The ‘70-‘71 Mercury Super Cobra Jet Cyclone Spoiler 429 GT. A title that was well earned in its day as one of the fastest factory muscle cars made on the planet.
The ‘70-‘71 Mercury Super Cobra Jet Cyclone Spoiler 429 GT. A title that was well earned in its day as one of the fastest factory muscle cars made on the planet. It was specifically designed and inspired by the NASCAR racing circuit in the late sixties and early seventies. You’d be lucky to find one of these machines used and in good condition and not rotting into the ground in some old person’s backyard somewhere. Generally, you won’t see anything bigger or badder than the SCJ Cyclone GT or Spoiler GT which all had the option of a huge 428 or 429 Cyclone V8 big block power plant. Talk about raw torque and horsepower, most of these bad boys would do 0-60 in six seconds, and run a quarter mile in less than 15 seconds right from the factory. I’ve even heard of some running a low ten second quarter mile run, while missing one cylinder to boot! This car is very rare at just over 600 made.
In all of my 39 years I have never even heard of the SCJ Cyclone spoiler until I met Markus. This guy is a restorer that does it right the first time. Ever heard of a rotisserie? No, not the one at the Boston market! A rotisserie is a device specifically designed so you can mount a stripped chassis or unibody of a car on, and spin it around to treat all of the areas that need it in terms of patching, welding and seam sealing. But for you restorers out there, you know what I mean. It’s necessary to go over every square inch if you really want that piece of mind of knowing you did it right the first time. Well, Markus had his ‘70 Cyclone Spoiler on the rotisserie for about a year and after extensive sandblasting and re-welding of the torque box in the unibody he thankfully found that he had very little frame rot.
He inherited the car from his dad about twenty years ago, and has been collecting the parts to restore it ever since he started his construction business after High School. This guy can build a house from the ground up just about by himself. This is a picture of what the car will look like when it is done.
The rear end and Tail lights remind me of my favorite car from the Mad Max movie, the XB GT AMX from Australia. Though it had a 351 Windsor and was screaming for a big block, the car is almost as rare as the Markus’ car and if I could find one, I would buy and rebuild it.
The Montego was the basic model offered as the high performance car after ‘71 as well as the Torino mid-sized and Falcon models. Those models started and were offered in late ‘68 through the early ‘70s. If you were a teen in those days you’d really work hard to try and earn enough to buy either a Cyclone GT or a Montego Spoiler to be the king of the strip. The Cyclones only came in two door hard tops at the time. Most of the Montego Cyclones came with a 351ci 250-290 hp 4 barrel V8 with a four speed transmission and a Hurst shifter on the floor.
The gauges are positioned and angled towards the driver for at-a-glance peripheral sight. One of the rare and sought after perks of owning a true Cyclone Spoiler GT. It seems the longer the name of the car in those days, the better the collector potential was for the future! 1971 was the last year of the Cyclone and 429 ci engines averaging 380 hp were a regular option by ’71 for all of the Cyclone and Spoiler models.
The suspension packages were a cross country ride system that was long lasting and had reasonable cornering stability as compared to some of the other more cantankerous cars at the time with big block engines. These power plants required a bit more spring in the front end as you can imagine.
Those big blocks usually got no more then 10-12 mpg if you were lucky and could resist putting your right foot down for a quick adrenaline rush. These beasts were famous for the $100 bill on the dash trick. If you had a 429 Cyclone Spoiler and a friend who thought he was quicker than the car, you would set a $100 bill on the dash and tell him “If you can grab that bill before you’re thrown back in the seat then you can keep it” was the game in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. If you ever have a chance to ride in a Cyclone, I would strongly recommend it. 450 ft lbs of torque at 3,500 rpms is the reason, let alone the torque at redline.
This Ram air system was a standard option on the SCJ Cyclone GT Spoilers and Montegos. The front Grill even had a removable center section for easy camshaft changing at the different tracks at which they were raced, whether it was drag racing or the NASCAR circuit. The engines were all 90 degree V8s with big Cyclonic intake ports and valves, hence the Cyclone name. It came with hydraulic valve lifters and a Holley 4 barrel carb. Aluminum valve covers, dual exhaust, traction lock differentials, AC and power windows were offered as factory options. You could order it with either a 351ci engine or with the bigger badder 429ci depending on your aptness to handle the extra power and not get too squirrely going down the road. Everyone who knows true muscle cars, knows how easy it is to over steer the car while under power and potentially crash.
Well, Markus took his Cyclone off the rotisserie just recently and is now sealing it and getting it ready for paint. He has decided to build the 429 big block to the hilt, leaving no exceptions to horsepower, and show it at as mant shows as he can attend. He has spent numerous hours searching for all the ingredients he needed, from all the window moldings to the original steering wheel center section that has the Spoiler logo. I believe that piece alone was $500 just for the center vinyl part of the steering wheel. He has almost everything he needs to finish it, and is now putting in a lot of shop time to have a rolling chassis by the middle of summer 2010. His goal is to have it as original as possible minus the engine, drive system and suspension. The nice thing about this car is everything was built so well, he is able to use most of the original drive components like the 9” nodular rear end pumpkin it came with. This piece looks like something right out of a drag racing parts catalogue and it’s a stock part made out of forged ductile iron. He’s going to modify the suspension though, and also add a new four wheel disc brake package for additional stopping power.
I’m certainly aware of Cyclones since I met Markus. They just don’t build’em like that anymore…
John is a freelance writer.
Comments(1):
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one owner 40,000 mile 70 cyclone 429 SCJ spoiler orginial
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 gerald