( One can only imagine the confusion if Chevrolet ended Corvette production and attached the badge to a low-end Chevelle with a big engine.)
First year Road Runner sales shot through the proverbial roof. Product planners guessed a run of 2,000, but 1968 model year production topped an incredible 45,000 units. The Fairlane Cobra could not muster a third of this total in its first model year, 1969.
Still, the Ford’ s new Cobra was a formidable car. Despite the Fairlane heritage of economy, the 1969 Sportsroof, seen here, was pure performance, starting with a“ Sportsroof” body style with a radical rear roofline. The mid-sized Fairlane was Ford’ s NASCAR entry, and designers took into account aerodynamics. Blacking out the trim and inserting Cobra badges on the Sportsroof created a great looking muscle car fitted with the right pieces for the muscle car wars.
The 4-speed was standard, as was a stout nine-inch rear end. The Drag Pack added an external oil cooler, 3.91:1 or 4.30:1 gears in a Traction-Lok differential, plus stouter engine internals, including Le Mans connecting rods for durability on the drag strip.
The Cobra was the muscle machine Ford needed to compete with the Chevelle SS 396, Road Runner, Super Bee, 4-4-2, GTO, and Buick Grand Sport. With the Cobra, buyers received a muscle car turnkey-ready to take on
Bench seats have gone the way of the dodo bird on today’ s cars. Among the muscle car cognoscenti, plain bench seats add to the no-nonsense character of a 1960s big block American mid-sized coupe or sedan.
The interior utilized four pods for circular gauges. This Cobra did not come with an in-dash tachometer. This could have been a cost-saving measure. For drag racing, most diggers added their own tach, anyway.
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