I happen to like that photochop. Looks good to me. I'm also a big fan of the early 70's Torinos.

 

Import Falcon, and call it Torino???

*Calling Mark Fields....*

 

The 70's Torino's were ugly as sin. Why you'd want to recreate that I don't know.

BTW, my parents had a 73 Torino fastback. Lime Gold. Green vinyl top. Green viny interior. 351C and Magnum 500's. They proceeded to drive this car for eighteen years . They traded in a 1968 428ci Mercury Cyclone fastback for it.

 

A short time later....

"Thank you Mr. guionM, its ideas like these that will really help Ford turn the corner and put the company back on its feet. If you will excuse me though I'm going rihgt now to do a feasability study and get some hard numbers, with any luck the Torino name will ride high again and help usher in a new era at Ford!"

An even shorter time later...

"Hey guys this is Mark, I've got a bang up idea on how to help turn the company around, yeah, yeah was sitting in the office and checking out that that Starsky & Hutch movie, and pow, it hit me, what we need is something with history other than mustang. Thats right you got it, Torino, it'd be killer, we could even do some red ones with a white stripe and some sorta new millenuim version of those old aluminum wheels. So anyways, here's my plan. Get the styling boys to whip up a fancy new grille and fenders for a Focus and..."

 

No me gusta...

Glad you posted those pics because I didn't know what the original looked like. The black one is ok... but we all know FoMoCo isn't going to do anything to miss one mustang sale.

 

That's similar to what happened to Brock Yates and Chrysler in the late 60s.

For those unfimiliar, Brock wrote Chrysler a letter in the late 60s pitching an idea for a barebones performance car that would sell for alot cheaper than the relatively loaded GTO, and market it to tap into the new "youth" market (GTO was very "establishment" after a few years in the market). They gave him a relatively polite "Thank's for the input" response, and some time later came out with the Roadrunner.

True story.

 

It happened to me too. I came up with the idea for the Saleen S7.

Seriously. We had one of the top guys at Saleen visit my college to talk to the engineering students. At the end of the presentation, lots of dumb questions like "are you going to make more faster mustangs?" and other questions of similar ilk. So I asked the guy "Have you ever thought about making your own Saleen sports car?" and he said something like "no, but that sounds like a neat idea." 3-4 years later, the S7 magically appears.

 

Ugly!!

 

I don't think anybody wants to remember the Gran Torino.

 

Don't fool yourself... the Torino was just the tip of the iceberg for Ford back in the late 60's and early '70s. It's mercury twin - the Talladega - was a huge success, and won the NASCAR title several years. It spawned such names as Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, and many others. The Torino was SO GOOD, it even got Richard Petty to switch over to Ford in 1969, and he won 10 races in his Ford that year!


A bazillion variants were sold on the Fairlane platform, with Torino being the most popular by far. It was in about every movie and TV show in the 1970's.
The result is that a lot of people (who were around back then) were very fond and familiar with these cars. It was "replaced" by a new-technology unibody called the "Fox" platform, and the Fairmont/Zephyr came to life (you may have heard about the Fox-body?).

There are MANY people 35 and older on the US that would be fond of hearing "Torino" come back, just as there would be for a Chevelle or Nova that was proprly executed. But NO CAR is going to make a good showing if done improperly... name-pimping only get's them into the showroom, good product sells.

 

LMAO!

My commissions are VERY reasonable BTW.

You know - honestly - if some dipschitt from Ford would simply read a few decent threads, even from this very site, they'd have some incredibly justifyable programs to consider. I've seen and offered some true home-runs here, and on what should be a "competitor's" board no less. You'd think if the competition likes an idea, it should REALLY get considered, wouldn't you?

Screw it... I blame everything else on bean-counters, may as well give them this one too!

 

Actually, the Magnum 500's that were the rage of the day from 1969-1974 have already been faithfully redone for the 2003/2004 Mach 1 Mustangs. Go back to page 2 and almost every Torino in our pics have the Magnum 500 rims on them!
old... new...
A little creative sheetmetal on the Falcon would pretty-much constitute a "good" replication of the original Torino into a modern-day vehicle with cues from yesteryear.

MY personal issue with a rebadging stems back to the GTO/Monaro thing...
I say leave sleeping dogs lie unless you are going to be true to their heritage.
Ford of Oz has an awesome car in the Falcon, one that we should have selling here in the US. So if they bring it, should it be reskinned at all, or simply bring it here as a Falcon? I'd be all for bringing it JUST LIKE IT IS, Falcon badges and all. Sure Ford had a Falcon back in the 1960's - it was the car that supplied the platform and about 70% content for the first Mustangs in fact, and they were both made on the same lines simultaneously. But much fewer people will have a recollection of the Falcon than the Torino, so name-pimping won't be a real issue.

Besides... Falcon starts with an F, which seems to be Ford's naming game these days... Fairlane, Focus, Freestyle, Freestar, Fusion, Five-hundred, Fiesta, etc.

SIDEBAR - It would be awesome if Ford WOULD come out with a multi-purpose platform like the old Torino though. 2-door or 4-door, wagon, sedan, fastback, convertible, performance or economy, etc. Man, that one vehicle offered it all.

PS - I have personally scavenged 2 Q-code 351 Cobra-Jet drivelines out of Torino Gran-Sports in junk yards. I got a running 351 CJ, C6 auto, and 9" rear from a junkyard that was GM-favored for a whopping $50!!!! (I had to remove the goods myself - big whoop - I'd RATHER do it myself so as not to tear anything up!)
Those cars essentially had BOSS 351 Mustang drivelines in them, and they were fast as hell in their time.
Mid-13's @ 103 on bias-ply tires is not slouchy in anybody's book.
There were also 428-CJ cars until 1969, and 429-CJ and SCJ cars in 70 and 71 that carried over 400fwhp from the factory... talk about sleepers!
These things ruined many a Mustang-owner's day, much less other brands.
Found a neat testimonial... http://www.walt-n-anne.com/Ranchero/torino.htm
And a neat website for a 429 CJ car with GREAT pics... http://www.hotautoweb.com/70cobra.html

 

as for Torinos.. my only exposure has been the Starsky and Hutch one.. and i thought that looked good...

but that photochop is ugly as sin... no thanks

 

[QUOTE=ProudPony;4262292]It's mercury twin - the Talladega -
[QUOTE]

Check your facts bro, IIRC, the Talladega was a slicked up version of the regular Torino, made a bit more aerodynamic by dropping the nose a bit, making the grille flush and adding the rear bumper from a Torino station wagon to the front of the Talledaga, in response to the superbirds and daytonas I believe. Can't remeber the engines, but nothing to exciting also IIRC, interiors were limited to bench seats and columnshift.

Even better, the Boss 429 was such a pig in street trim, that had Ford not put it in the Mustang and instead opted to put it in the Talledaga, the result would have been a serious lack of performance (think early 4.6 mod motor mustangs with thier heady 215 HP rating when introduced).

I cant think of the Merc version but, I beleive it was the Cyclone Spoiler, or maybe even a Cale Y. special or some such or both together???????

 

Yeah the Magnum 500 is a sweet wheel, I'd take a set of those on a 1970 Grabber Blue Mach with shaker, 428, 4-spd and drag pack err pac, errr whatever. To bad thats 40 to 60k for a restored example