The 1970 model:


Most folks outside of So Cal probably haven't seen these, but one dealer here in Alhambra offered the 1971-on "Pangra" Pinto which offered a turbo version motor, and an front end that was extended nearly one foot. Offered in both sedan and wagon! Good times





Where did the headlights go?

The Pangra is no easy sight. Cool pics.

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Datsun 210=Love

...Honestly, I think Donks, or lowriders, are much more to the "Boso" point than any of those factory-built sharknoses...

Actually think the Pangra looks cool for a Pinto, and that the Pinto looks fairly stylish for a Detroit "compact" of that era to begin with Doubts on whether there's more awesome in it than a slope-nose, Cosworth Vega...

The Superbird/Daytona on the other hand...

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Agreed, I don't really feel the wing cars or Pangara count. Or even the King Cobra/Cyclone Spoiler II.

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Interesting pics.

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- '71 Datsun 240z.....L28ET here we come

...Those are among the worst things I've ever seen

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those last ones, wow, it looks like a S30 made a bastard child with a '70 chevelle? those guys over at hybrid Z are up to NO good again! hahaha jk.........

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gone: 82' datsun maxima
gone: 87' 300zx n/a 2-seater
gone: 87' cressida sedan
current project: 82' s11 200sx (ka24e swap)
current daily: 89' integra RS 5-door

To me the worst of those will always be the DRAG-ON-FLY Maverick...

Google "Ford King Cobra" and "Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II". These were supposed to be Ford's answer to the Mopar wing cars for Nascar dominance. I'm not really a wealth of info on them, but suffice to say only a very, very small handful were built, something like 6-8 cars. There was going to be a clip-on headlight cover (painted the same color as the car, not clear ones like you occasionally see on modded Z cars) for racing as well. However, I guess it turned out that this design, besides being hideous, wasn't as aerodynamic as it looked, and a variety of other issues ended up killing the program before any had been mass-produced. The few that survived were smuggled out of Ford.

Yes, it's totally hideous. However, it is an interesting footnote in the history of Muscle Cars. I've seen two of them in person, ever, and that was during the 100th anniversary of Ford Motor Company in 2003, when they turned the entire Ford Headquarters property in Dearborn into the biggest car show I've ever witnessed, with damn near every Ford product ever built represented. It was nuts.

Anyhow, I guess what I originally intended to do besides show off some really ugly ass prototypes (and two of those pictures were taken at Ford Design in 1969), was say, somehow, that Boso cars are never built from the factory like they are- they are each a creation of their owner/builder and a giant middle finger to society.

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The "AERO" cars as they became to be known were designed strictly for super speedway use in NASCAR. Ford had developed the Talladega Torino in 68-69 and then Mopar answered back with the Daytona and Super Bird's in 69. Ford's answer was the Super Snake Torino and Spoiler II. NASCAR stepped in and outlawed the AERO cars and increased the minimal production number to almost triple the previous 500 production cars from before. NASCAR rules before only required 500 production cars be made in order for a car to be used in a race. This is back when the cars used real production motors and real production sheet metal. This was when the manufacture played just as much a part in winning as the driver did. In fact it wasn't uncommon for drivers to switch manufactures back then to gain a performance advantage. Just look at the days when Richard Petty drove a Ford. Yes it happened.

To call these aero cars a copy of the boso style is just rediculous though and truly shows no respect for the heyday of when american muscle cars were truly the envy of the automotive world. Well that and the cars were made 10 to 20 years before that pikachu car making even became popular.

Oh and there were only rumored 4 cars made by ford. 2 super snakes and 2 spoiler 2's. Both snakes are still out there and only one known Spoiler 2 is still in existance.

Didn't Mopar try with the Charger 500 first?

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83' DR30

Yes, the Charger 500 had a Coronet grille pushed out to the front edge of the grille opening, the rear window area plug, and A-pillar covers. It wasn't enough to beat the Fords however, so they came up with the Daytona later on in the '69 model year. The Charger 500 was introduced at the beginning of the '69 Model year in September 1968 and the Charger Daytona was released in April '69.

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You gotta be kidding me...those Ford Torinos with the 240Z nose are....gasp...factory?

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Kinda.
Technically, they aren't "factory", since none of them ever rolled off a factory assembly line, all 6 (like Pertano said, 4 Torino-based King Cobras, and 2 Mercury Cyclone based Cyclone Spoiler IIs) were hand built. They predate the release of the 240Z (though obviously not the design of it), so I imagine they were designed with no knowledge of the Z's existence.

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Ah, ok so they're from before the S30 came out. I suppose that sugar-scoop headlight treatment was not unique in the 60s, I can think of the Ferrari Dino that had them and I'm sure there are others.

But my main concern was that those Torinos are not so....easy on the eyes

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Well easy on the eyes wasn't the point. Going over 200mph was.

Unfortunately these cars were notoriously unstable at high speed and the ford teams went back to using the 69 Talladegas in the 70-71 season. So it was as much an aerodynamic bust as it was in styling.

But just a cool bit of history on how serious the manufactures use to be about "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday." Without this philosophy you wouldn't have any of the iconic muscles cars like Boss 429 Mustangs, 427 Fairlanes, Hemi Darts and Superbirds. Truely a great time in american car culture.