Poor Mercury…always building slightly plusher Fords, never really getting much credit for it. Outside of the Cougar, which was different enough from the Mustang in it’s first couple of forms to stand out, there really wasn’t much justifying the higher cost compared to the nearest Ford clone, was there? Unless the styling was to your tastes, there wasn’t much of an argument to make. But for this 1969 Cyclone GT, it’s not so much about being different from the Torino, but because of how this car is set up. Notice: no stripes, no call-outs, just the make and model badging on the outside. Nice and clean in it’s Light Ivy Yellow paint. As she sits, it’s perfect. 
The fun part of this Mercury starts with that it’s a one-owner car. That’s right, ordered new with no stripe, no fanfare and a couple of niceties like intermittent windshield wipers, we could stop there, we’d be happy. But the original owner didn’t stop there. Straight from the line, the car was powered by a 351, but somewhere throughout the years a 429 was built up to give this Mercury a bit more bark. And the original 351 was sacked away and saved, just in case it might be needed again down the line. If this car has been restored, you’d be hard-pressed to prove it. Other than a repaint, it looks new, or at least Day Two fresh. No 1969 anything can qualify as a sleeper anymore…they are either dragging their tongues or have already been worked up and over…but the simple execution of this Cyclone just works.
McTags with the Ford orgy this morning. My first car was a 1969 Mercury Comet. Same platform. My grandfather bought it new just after Dad went to work for the Blue Oval Brigade. He trashed it and gave it to me at 14. My dad and I took a ragged-out, unwanted, baby blue Comet and turned it into waaaaaaay too much car for a 16-year-old. Ended up with tubs, ladder bars, wheelie bars, a big block, C6, cage, skinnies, some 10-second time slips, and too many tickets. Sold it to a fella that turned it into an ISCA show car (even had chromed brake rotors in the end). Wish I still had that one.
Approved.
Sweet ! ! !
It just occurred to me that I’ve never had a Ford (or Mercury) passenger car. Just a ’69 F-150, a ’64 van and a ’74 van all of which refused to die.They each became unfit for hiway use, but never crapped out completely.
I don’t remember what happened to the pickup, but the ’64 went to live on a farm and became a rolling pumphouse, while the ’74 got stuffed with Harley parts and old blues records and was shipped to Germany.
I knew a boy that drooped a Cammer into one of these. Embarrassed a lot of punks in Camaros.
That should be dropped a Cammer.
Really only needs a factory cold air air cleaner housing to be perfect.