Topic: Solved - NEH 2938: Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II "Aero" prototype (?) - 1970

[Carnut]

What's this, from when - for an easy Rookie point?:

ANYONE FOUND GIVING ANSWERS OBTAINED BY USING GOOGLE SEARCH BY IMAGE MAY BE BANNED FOR AN INDETERMINATE PERIOD!

[prototypefan]

this car is one of two ford torino king cobra prototypes built

[Carnut]

this car is one of two ford torino king cobra prototypes built

No - that would be a re-post!:

http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=22852.msg245125#msg245125

[prototypefan]

cyclone

[Carnut]

cyclone

Cyclone is correct but I'll need a much fuller answer than that..

[prototypefan]

Nascar prototype  Cyclone Spoiler II

[Carnut]

Nascar prototype  Cyclone Spoiler II

We're getting there..!
Taking the fact that it's a Mercury as a given there's still one word missing.
Locked for you to give me it!

[prototypefan]

1970 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II prototype   

[Carnut]

1970 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II prototype

No.  There were 2 versions of the Cyclone Spoiler II; which one is this?

[prototypefan]

the red one

[Carnut]

the red one

No!
One last chance..

[prototypefan]

long nose

[Carnut]

long nose

That's what I was looking for, yes.
There are numerous references on the Web to this Spoiler II Longnose being the only one in that configuration, although there are pictures of different 1970 Cyclone Spoiler (later known as Spoiler I) cars.

Although there seems to some doubt as to the authenticity of these cars in general, which some say were only modified in modern times, there are references to their initial purpose out there, and I'm reproducing one here for interest.  Comments from those who know about these things would be very welcome!

QUOTE
A one-of-a-kind 1970 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II and one of three surviving 1970 Ford Torino King Cobras, both prototypes intended for competition on NASCAR's superspeedways, will be on display during the April 3-6 Food Lion AutoFair at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"These cars were built to compete with the Dodge Daytonas and Plymouth Superbirds on the NASCAR circuit," said Bill Adams, president of Comet East Car Club. "In the midst of all of that, there was a shift in thinking. Fuel standards changed and insurance rates for cars this big and fast skyrocketed. Ford backed off and never mass produced these cars."

Couple those facts with a new NASCAR rule that raised the minimum production number for homologation from 500 vehicles to 3,000, and even the prototypes became scarce.

"There is only one Cyclone Spoiler II," said Adams. "There were two of them built and this is the only one that survived. There were four King Cobras and only three of those are known to still exist."

These rare examples of Detroit muscle are owned by Steve Honnell, 68, a former Ford representative from Belfast, Tenn. Honnell has owned the King Cobra since purchasing it from Holman-Moody in 1970 after Ford suspended its factory support of stock car racing. The Cyclone Spoiler II was rescued from a muddy chicken coop in Indiana after the late Larry Shinoda, best known for designing the Corvette Stingray, gave it away as a gift once Mercury abandoned the project.

"Shinoda didn't want these cars destroyed," Honnell said. "He kept telling me there was a Mercury out there like the King Cobra. He helped me track it down in 1997 because he was so happy I saved the King Cobra."

As a result of being stored in a chicken coop, the body and interior of the Cyclone Spoiler II were in desperate need of repair and Honnell spent several years restoring the car.
UNQUOTE

[Otto Puzzell]

I've read elsewhere that the puzzle car is indeed a fake. Ford / Mercury built a Cyclone proposal with clay or fiberglass nose mockup, which the puzzle car mostly emulates - with a couple of differences. 

The Mercury 'clay', photographed in 1969, has 4 taillight lenses, for instance, versus the off-the-shelf 6-lens units. And the whole car sits a lot lower than the production Cyclone stance upon which the clone/fake was built.

The mockup also had no hood opening. The project was scuttled.

[attachimg=1] 

[attachimg=2]

[Carnut]

I'm not surprised.  The truth frequently seems to get lost in the mists of time..
Avalance sent me a PM including the following about this car:

QUOTE
The one in the photo you posted is claimed to be a replica that was allegedly found in a chicken coop. The full-sized styling exercise was, in all likelihood, destroyed by Ford. It was not a running, driving car and was (at least partially) made of clay. There are plenty of photos of that car floating around.



Of course, many will debate that it's real or not, as found here...

(website about the Ford Torino King Cobras..)

As John Craft posted, until actual paperwork is produced, the car is not real. Super Spoiler? Seems to be a name the builder has given it, not what Ford called it.
UNQUOTE

[fyreline]

The puzzle car currently resides in the Floyd Garret Muscle Car Museum near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  It's interesting to note that there were a couple different versions of the "production" Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II built, one of which was called the "long nose", but it certainly isn't the car in the quiz. The puzzle car was sometimes called the "Aero" version, and as has been explained above, was a prototype. These cars were informally called a lot of different things by the builders, owners, sellers and collectors, so it's a bit difficult to claim any one name as the official and correct one, even if it appears on or under a photo or two somewhere.  As an example, according to the Talledega Spoiler Registry - which is the accepted authority on the Ford Torino Talledega and Mercury Cyclone Spoilers - in the photo below the center car with the blue roof is, in fact, the 1970 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II long nose (compare the front end to the red & white car at the bottom).