Discuss...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/wh...,4447340.story

 

dang! that guy really hates the grand torino!!!

 

Obviously.

I actually liked the Gran Torino when I was a kid. They looked great, the stripes were actually reflectors, so the stripes would glow when lighting hit them, the interiors were nice and high quality for the day, it still had "T" bar shifters on automatics, and the design was the textbook of "muscular". To top it off, the early versions with the 460 or the 351 Cleveland would move.

The down sides of the car was they were made in the day when Fords tended to rust prematurely.... and badly. Another downside was the Gran Torino was made during a time when Ford was obsessed with making cars that could adsorb anything a road threw at it (meaning great, smooth riding cars, but horrid handling).

Early 80s, a friend of mine got his dad's Gran Torino. The thing was rusted out so bad that he had to get body panels from another one and have them welded on. But even though I had my '75 Malibu Classic (no where near as much rust and far better handling), I still admired the styling of that Gran Torino.

 

My parents kept one of those for 18 years. It had a 351C, but it was Lime Gold with a green Vinyl top.

It never rusted and they never had any problems with it. I'm sure it's still out there somewhere, but I doubt it's the same color.

 

An early experience taught me that a Gran Torino with, I believe, a 302 could not outrun a 76 280Z with a 4 speed, and a rusted passenger footwell, from a standing start.

 

First - The guy is a dufus to think a 1972 car (meaning it was actually on the design boards around 1969) is the reason Detroit is in the sh1++er today - some 30 years later. This does not deserve any more of my time.

Next - the Torino was the Ford "do-all" model, much like the Chevelle was to GM in the same day, or the Bonny to Pontiac. Torinos were family cars... 2 or 4 doors available, fastback, convertible, or regular tent-top - all avaiolable. They were based in mundane shocks and 6-bangers, but reached into 428CJs and 429 SCJs as well. MOST were basic 302-2V engined with a C4 or FMX tranny behind. Decent for groceries and runabouts with 4 fat farts inside, but not meant for the dragstrip or Silver State Classic by any stretch. Just as many love to think that all Chevelle's came with the 454 and a Muncie, the same want to think the Torino was supposed to be a supercar. Well, NO - it wasn't.

I actually draw a totally different perspective on the car and think it is supposed to resemble the MAN in the MOVIE, not the "auto industry" (f-ing dorkus that wrote the review is an intellectual misfit ).
* The Gran-T was a common Joe - just like Clint plays in the movie.
* The Gran-T Sport might have a better suspension and engine than the average Joe, but not your supercar of the day - just like Clint again, he's not a mega-star, but he's not your average peasant... well-armed, morals and ethics, and he's strong enough to fight for what he believes in.
* The Gran-T Sport is kinda rare these days, hard to find one that is pristine and roadworthy, just like it's hard to find a guy that is both physically healthy and mentally willing fight for what's right as opposed to rolling over and playing dead.

I can go on about the comps, but I think you get the point.

Personally, I have collected 3 powerplants from '71-'72 Gran-T Sports - both Q-code 351-Cobra Jets with 4-bolt mains, Rochester Spreadbores, and C6 trannys behind them. That's a bullet-proof block putting out an under-rated 266hp in factory config for those who don't know them. Just a cam, intake, and exhaust work would net you an easy 330hp and a mountain of Tq (almost 400ft-lb). This was the same basic engine that maintained the fastest Mustang on record until the 03 Cobra came out... a 1971 Boss 351 that C&D recorded a 13.80 @ 106 with on factory bias rubber.

So guys, please don't believe all the bunk that guy wrote in that article. That was so lame it's not worth the effort or retort. YES - there were MANY lame Torinos, but that is because there were supposed to be - it was a main-stream car, not a "performance" car. But it could be ordered to perform if you wanted. Isn't that what muscle cars are all about?!?!

1971 Torino Video


72 Gran Torino Sport with the 351 CJ video


And the baddest of them all...

"You had to love NASCAR when the cars were truly modified production cars like this Torino…they almost look like they could have run in the Trans-Am series. The sponsor logos were not overpowering, and the big steel wheels looked like the ones you had at home. Ford specifically developed the fastback Torino for aerodynamics in NASCAR, and this car was the first to hit over 190mph at Daytona."

Despite being fairly unrecognized today, the Torino and it's immediate variants were wildly popular back in their prime. Ford sold some 350,000 units in 1971 alone, with 89,966 of them being the Torino 500 2-door hardtop alone! Funny how time warps the facts sometimes, isn't it?

Yeah. Torinos were lame duck egg-sucking behemoths that spelled the end of Detroit.

I digress.

 

My buddy had a yellow Torino. I always liked that car for some reason! Makes me almost want to go out and buy one seeing it in the movie..

 

Doesn't "The Dude" drive a Torino?

 

One of my middle school friends Dad owned an early model with a 428 under the hood. It was a greenish color with a multi-colored stripe down the side panels.
I only rode in it once, when we missed the school bus, his ex-moonshiner dad, caught the bus quickly, introducing me to power drifting through horse-shoe turns on steep mountain Kentucky roads...I think my fingerprints are still in the backrest of his passenger seat!..
Very wicked sounding, cool car.

 

As much of a tool as this guy is, there are people out there buying into this kind of idiocy! I've talked with some of them myself. As for Torino's. I don't like the 72, the 71 is nice, but that 68 or 69 one in the third pic! Now those were some badass Ford's! Probably my 2 favorite Fords of all time are the 67 & 68 Mustangs & 69 Torinos!

 

Back in 1976, a 428 CJ Torino was the fastest car at my high school...

 

The movie was excellent by the way. I just saw it last night.