Hooniverse Obscure Muscle Car Garage – The 1970.5 Ford Falcon 429 Cobra Jet

This is another installment of the Hooniverse Obscure Muscle Car Garage, when we uncover unusual cars that were built during the era of the “Classic Muscle Car”, and to help redefine what a Muscle Car could be. Show of hands: How many of you realized that there were two different Ford Falcons offered during the 1970 model year? This was an interesting time for Ford, as they were phasing out the Falcon, to supplant it with the Maverick. On the other hand, they wanted to hedge their bets and continue with a nameplate that served the company well for almost a decade. However, when it became apparent that the Maverick was a hit the Falcon nameplate soon vanished (at least here in North America). But look what we have here… A car that was produced for a period of less than six months, with a unique body style, and with a 429 Cobra Jet under the hood. Lets take a look at Ford’s six month wonder, the 1970.5 Ford Falcon.

An interesting event occurred as the Falcon line was coming to an end. Production terminated entirely on January 1, 1970. For a brief time thereafter, the ’1970 1/2′ Falcon was offered. The 4-door and Station Wagon were re-badged Fairlanes, with Falcon specific chrome, but the 2-door was unique to the Falcon line. The Torino and Fairlane lineup had 2-door vehicles, but they were fastbacks and hardtops. The Falcon was the only one offered with a 2-door sedan (it has a b-pillar behind the driver door glass). The Falcon line did not offer fastbacks or hardtops. Interestingly enough, this ’70 1/2 Falcon had seven engine choices up to an awesome 375 hp 429 cu in Cobra Jet V-8. The ’70 1/2 Falcon was a stop gap measure to hold the market until the Maverick was ready for production. Thus ended the Falcon line.

The Grabber Green Falcon pictured was built on 01/21/1970 and sold 06/27/70 Other Options: the 429 Cubic Inch Cobra Jet V-8, C-6 Select shift Cruise-O-Matic, Optional Axle Ratio, Power Front Disc Brakes, AM Radio, Argent Style Steel Wheels. Marti Auto Works is the privileged licensee to Ford Motor Company’s entire production database for the 1967-1979 model years. They can produce the Marti Report, detailing everything about any Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury made in North America during 1967-1979.

The Marti Report for the Grabber Green Falcon featured in this post is as follows:

429,134 Torinos Built 26,071 were Falcons
69 came with 429-4V CJ non-Ram Air engines
27 where automatic transmissions
2 where painted Grabber Green
2 had black Vinyl Bench Seats
1 was equipped with Argent Style Steel Wheels

This makes this Falcon one of one. However, it is interesting to note that there were 68 other Falcons equipped with the 429-4V CJ engines. I’ve included other 1970.5 Falcons in this article for illustration purposes only.

So, there you have it, a very rare, 6 month only model, with a fire breathing engine. So you have to ask, is this a true Obscure Muscle Car, or is it really just a stripped down Torino? And if it isn’t all that Obscure, does it belong in the garage? In reality, this was a true competitor to the Plymouth Road Runner as an inexpensive Muscle Car of the day, but was it? I look forward to your comments.

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Please Note: All Images are screen grabs from around the web. If you want credit for any image, please let me know in the comments section. Thank You…