Beginning in 1964 Mercury got serious about the whole muscle car revolution. They saw other high performance cars coming out of Detroit and flying out of the dealerships and so they looked at that year's Comet, a light weight, compact car built on a Ford Falcon frame and originally planned, back in 1960, to be part of the Edsel line, and decided they could punch it up. And punch it up they did. They offered a 289 cubic inch V 8 for power and such touches as a spoke steering wheel and bucket seats for eye appeal. Called the Cyclone option, the car sold well.
With each ensuing year Mercury added a few more performance touches, starting with a four barrel carburetor that helped push the output of the 289 V 8 to 200 horse power. By 1966 they were offering a 390 cubic inch V 8 with a four barrel that punched out a skull numbing 335 horse power. In 1968, when the Cyclone was setting a land speed record of over 180 miles per hour, an optional 427 that cranked out 390 horses was under the hood.
Despite all of this muscle and speed success, the Cyclone didn't sell very well. The Mercury name wasn't generally associated with power and speed cars and the head honchos there and at parent Ford couldn't seem to change the perception of the public. By 1971 the Cyclone was merged into the Montego line and had a production run of under 1000 cars. Mercury pulled the plug.
The 1971 Cyclone Spoiler shown here is one of only 354 of the high performance versions of the GT manufactured that year. It was originally purchased by Eddie Wood of the famed Wood Brothers NASCAR racing team and sported a 427 cubic inch Cobra Jet V 8 with Ram Air that churned out 370 horses. It was quite a site to see, if you could catch a glimpse as it sped past.
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