Mercury Cyclone

Mercury (Comet) Cyclone
File:1971 Mercury Cyclone.jpg 1971 Mercury Cyclone GT
Overview
Manufacturer	Mercury (Ford)
Model years	1964–1971
Body and chassis
Class	Muscle car
Body style	2-door coupe 2-door convertible
Layout	FR layout
Related	Mercury Comet Ford Fairlane Mercury Montego Ford Torino Talladega

The Mercury Cyclone is an automobile that was produced by Mercury from 1964 to 1971. It started as a performance model of the 1964 Mercury Comet, and was named the Mercury Comet Cyclone through 1967. For 1968, the "Comet" part of the name was dropped. Options such as GT, Spoiler and Cobra Jet were added and removed. In 1971, it was integrated into the Mercury Montego line as their performance model.

History

1964

The Cyclone started as an option for the 1964 Mercury Comet. It featured a , engine and a sporty look. It had a spoked steering wheel and bucket seats. Some of the engine parts were chromed in the style of muscle cars.

1965

In the 1965 models, the engine was updated to the four-barrel carburetor version of the unit, but generated . The '65 had a few performance options, which include a handling package, a special fan, and a "Power Transfer" rear axle. Special features included a black out, stand-up grille, bucket seats with sew-through pleats, centre console, chrome-plate wheel covers with lug nuts, engine "Dress Up Kit", unique insignias, a vinyl roof in black or white and a Power-Pac gauge cluster for the heavily padded instrument panel.

1966

File:1964 Mercury Cyclone GT.jpg

1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone GT Hardtop

The 1966 models underwent a major styling change. The body received "sculpturing" that ran the length of the car, and was based on the body of the Ford Fairlane. The models introduced new engines. The 390 Y code was a engine with a two-barrel carburetor and . The 390 H code had a four-barrel carburetor and .

The GT option used a 390 S code engine which was a engine with a four-barrel carburetor and . The GT featured car stripes, a fiberglass hood (bonnet) with scoops and several other performance options.

1967

The 1967 model was produced with several engine options. The standard engine was the 289 V8 with and . The GT's engine was , but was quoted with 15 fewer horses at .

Neither the 1966 Cyclone nor the 1967 Cyclone used the side-oiler engine that went into the standard Comet. Only badges told of the under the hood (bonnet).

1968

The 1968 models dropped "Comet" from their name. The Cyclones had a mid tire level body tape stripe. The Cyclone GT's had an upper level body stripe, buckets, wide whitewall tires, special wheel covers, all vinyl interior, and the special handling package. It was named the fastest car of that year, because it set a world record speed of 189.22 mph (304.52 km/h) at Daytona.

Several engines were available for the Cyclones:

The standard engine was available as either the two-barrel carburetor, which generated , or the four-barrel carburetor, which generated .

The optional engine (standard for GT) was available as either the two-barrel carburetor, which generated , or the four-barrel carburetor, which generated .

1969

In 1969, the Cyclones had several engine options:

The engine was available with .

The engine had two versions: one was and the other was .

The engine for the GTs was available with .

Spoiler II

Main article: Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II

Mercury produced a version of the Cyclone for NASCAR called the Cyclone Spoiler II. The model was available in two flavors. The street version featured a Windsor block, and was used to enter into the NASCAR business. The racing version featured a Boss block, which was the same engine as the one in the 1969 Boss Mustang.

Cobra Jet

Mercury also added a new model to the Cyclone line: the Cobra Jet (CJ). The Cobra Jet's engine was a which generated . The engine had a Ram Air option, a 735 CFM Holley four-barrel carburetor, although the option showed no quoted difference in horsepower rating. The Mercury Cyclone CJ had the following enhancements over the Cyclone and Cyclone GT: it had a blacked-out grille; dual exhausts; 3:50:1 axle ratio; engine dress-up kit (chromed parts); hood (bonnet) stripes; and a competition handling package.

1970

File:1970 Mercury Cyclone GT 429.JPG

A 1970 Cyclone 429.

The CJ model was dropped from the Cyclone lineup, and applied to some of the engine names in the series. Mercury thus featured the Cyclone, Cyclone Spoiler and Cyclone GT. The Cyclones consisted of 351 cid V8s and 429 cid V8 engines.

The standard engine for the base Cyclone was the four-barrel with dual exhaust that was rated at SAE gross ( net). It was the standard engine in the 1970 Mercury Marauder X-100 and was available in other full size models. It featured a 575 CFM carburetor.

Two optional engines were available for the Cyclone. The 429 Cobra Jet was the four-barrel with dual exhaust but with the Ram Air induction. It was rated at SAE gross ( net) and had a 700 CFM Rochester Quadrajet 4 BBL carburetor. The 429 Super Cobra Jet, which was part of a Drag Pack option, was a four-barrel with dual exhaust and Ram Air induction, but it was rated at SAE gross ( net), and had a 780 CFM Holley 4 BBL carburetor.

1970 Cyclone Spoiler

The Cyclone Spoiler was for the performance minded with front and rear spoilers, racing stripes that went from front to the rear of the car, hood (bonnet) scoop for ram air induction, duel point distributor, staggered rear shocks, racing mirrors and a competition package. The 429 Cobra Jet was the standard engine for the Cyclone Spoiler. An optional engine was the 429 Super Cobra Jet.

1970 Cyclone GT

This model featured a non-functional hood scoop, full length lower body side molding, remote and racing mirrors, high back bucket seats, door trim, and a three spoke rim blow steering wheel.

The standard engine for the 1970 Cyclone GT was the two-barrel with single exhaust that was rated at SAE gross ( net).

The optional engines for the Cyclone GT included the four-barrel with dual exhaust. It was rated at SAE gross ( net), and was available with or without Ram Air induction. The GT can also be outfitted with the other 429 engines.

While a convertible was offered for the Ford Torino in 1970 and 1971, no convertible was offered for the Mercury Montego or Mercury Cyclone in 1970 or 1971.

1971

In 1971, the Cyclone had lost its distinction as it was renamed the Mercury Montego Cyclone. The three variants (Cyclone, Cyclone GT, Cyclone Spoiler) were merged into the Montego line. It sold poorly; the production numbers for the Cyclone were in the triple figures. The Montego Cyclone GT, which used the 351 Cobra Jet engine, sold much better, but still sold less than its predecessors.

1972

For 1972, the Mercury Montego was fully redesigned with body on frame construction, front and rear coil spring suspension, and a new shorter 114" wheelbase for two-door models. The Cylcone was reverted to a performance option package available on Mercury Montego, Mercury Montego MX two door, and the Mercury Montego GT. The package included one of two engines, the four-barrel Cobra Jet engine rated at SAE net or the 4-brarrel rated at SAE net. The option group included a functional Ram Air induction through twin integrated hood scoops, Traction-Lok (limited slip) differential, F70-14 for cars, and G70-14 tires for powered cars, hub caps and trim rings, body striping and identification, three spoke steering wheel and dual racing mirrors. The was available with either a 4-speed manual transmission or 3-speed automatic, while the was only sold with an automatic transmission.

Early Mercury factory literature showed this option available, while later editions did not have any information on the Cylcone package. Only 30 1972 Cyclone package cars were produced, 29 Montego GT's and one Montego MX. Twenty of these Cylcones were equipped with the engine.

Production

Production of Cyclones

	№ Cyclones (all versions)	Notes
1964	7,454
1965	12,347
1966	8,194
1967	6,910	809 convertibles
1968	13,628	6,439 Spoilers
1969	9,143	5,882 Cyclones + 3,261 Cyclone CJs
1970		1,695 Cyclones, 10,170 GTs, 1,631 Spoilers
1971		444 Cyclones, 2,287 GTs, 353 Spoilers
1972		30 Cyclones

External links

• www.oldride.com Mercury Cyclone
• www.musclecarclub.com Mercury Comet History