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A Rare Ford Mustang Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet “G Force”

The Ford Mustang Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet was released in the 1969 model year as one of the fastest cars to ever carry the Mustang name. The key to the car’s speed was the 428 cubic inch (7.0 liter) Ford Cobra Jet FE V8 engine under the hood, capable of 335 bhp and 440 lb ft of torque.

Ford had been hard at work creating faster and ever more desirable versions of the Mustang to compete with rivals like the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird. The Mustang had created the pony car market segment when it was released in 1964 however the competition had wasted no time catching up.

Fast Facts – The Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet

With its 335 bhp 7.0 liter V8 the Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet was one of the fastest road-legal Mustangs built by Ford up until that point in history.
Ford only offered the Mach 1 with the “SportsRoof” fastback body, and additions like the black hood, hood pins, and side decals, so that early examples could be easily distinguished from their non-Mach 1 rivals.
The Mach 1 proved so popular that Ford actually opted to cancel the Mustang GT, as the Mach 1 was out-selling it almost 15:1.
The first generation of Mach 1 production ran from 1969 until 1970, these cars are now the most desirable to collectors and they’ve been the key influence of the succeeding generations of Mach 1s.

The Ford Mustang Mach 1

When Ford introduced the Mustang in 1964 they didn’t realize just how much of a success it would be. It was a car that created the entirely new “Pony Car” genre after its running horse (Mustang) logo.

The distinctive interior of the late 1960s Ford Mustang was left largely untouched on the Mach 1s, with most of their modifications being limited to the exterior and engine bay.

Ford sold hundreds of thousands of Mustangs in the 1960s as the other American automakers all rushed to catch up they realized they didn’t just need to match the Mustang, they needed to beat it. Ford worked with Carroll Shelby on the pricey Shelby GT350 and GT500 versions of the Mustang however these were typically produced in somewhat limited numbers.

By the late 1960s it was clear that the Mustang was falling behind, and drastic action was needed to get the original pony car back to the top of the hill.

1969 would be a critical year for the Mustang, and it would be a year when the car did (arguably) reclaim its place atop the pony car mountain. It would be in ’69 that Ford released the Mustang Mach 1 as well as the Boss 302 and Boss 429, and both the Shelby GT350 and GT500 were updated.

The Mach 1 would be the best seller from this list, likely because it had the most competitive pricing. It sold so well that in its first full year of production Ford sold 72,458 of them.

The Mach 1 could be distinguished from the other Mustangs in production by its adornments, most Mach 1s had a black hood with hood pins, a hood scoop, a Mach 1 side decal, a black rear spoiler and front splitter, and some had louvres over the fastback rear window.

This vehicle has the desirable shaker hood option, the hood scoop is bolted directly to the top of the air filter housing and it exits through a hole in the hood. It gets its name from the fact that you can see the hood scoop shaking slightly when the engine is running.

There can be no denying that the Mach 1 looked fast, but Ford wanted to ensure that it actually lived up to its appearance, so it was given a number of engine options including the 351 cubic inch Windsor V8 which came as standard, this could be upgraded to a higher performance version of the 351, or you could opt for a 390 or 428 cubic inch V8.

The most powerful engine on offer was the modified 428 cubic inch Super Cobra Jet V8 offering 335 bhp at 5,200 rpm and 440 lb ft of torque at 3,400 rpm.

All Mach 1s were given upgraded suspension but the big block 428 cars also received reinforced shock towers up front and thicker sway bars to try to compensate for the mass of the V8 under the hood.

In order to drum up publicity for the new Mach 1 Mustangs Ford hired racing drivers Mickey Thompson and Danny Ongais to take three Mach 1s to there Bonneville Salt Flats – the men were tasked with breaking as many speed records as possible.

They succeeded admirably at the undertaking, setting over 260 speed and endurance records over a series of 500 mile and 24 hour courses.

Above Video: Silent footage from the record breaking Mach 1 visit to the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1968 with Mickey Thompson and Danny Ongais taking turns behind the wheel.

The Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet “G Force”

The Mach 1 you see here was nicknamed “G Force” thanks to its unusual paint scheme that was applied under the direction of its owner Barry Sturges.

It originally included a full respray with a Snow Pearl base coat, this was then topped with a coat of Silver Mist Pearl. The stripes were applied in Burnt Orange Candy and then the whole thing was finished off with six coats of lacquer.

The original paint scheme included a quintessentially 1970s-style mural on the bonnet by an American artist called Lee Roy Strange depicting people in a spaceship. It would be this mural that would give the car its “G Force” nickname, a nickname the car still carries even though the mural was painted over long ago when such things became uncool.

Sturges was a keen amateur drag racer, an unusual sport in Britain at the time. He’s said to have managed a mid-14s run in G Force against a similarly 1970s-named car – “Neon Star.”

The car is now due to come up for sale with Historics Auctioneers on the 27th of November in England with a price guide of £39,000 – £45,000 (~$52,800 – $60,900 USD). If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Historics Auctioneers + Jake Darling

The post A Rare Ford Mustang Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet “G Force” appeared first on Silodrome.

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This Is The Only Iso Rivolta GTZ Zagato In North America

The Iso Rivolta GTZ Zagato was unveiled in 2020 as the first model from the long-awaited rebirth of Iso Rivolta, one of Italy’s most interesting low-volume automakers in the 1960s.

The car features styling that was strongly influenced by the Iso Grifo A3/C, a car that won its class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1964 and 1965. The A3/C was been developed by Giotto Bizzarrini, the man who developed the Ferrari 250 GTO and a slew of other world-beating race cars in the 1950s and 1960s.

Fast Facts – The Iso Rivolta GTZ

It wasn’t that long ago that the thought of Italian automaker Iso Rivolta being resurrected seemed like a pipe dream, but Iso Rivolta sprang back to life in 2020 with a 21st century take on their much-loved Iso Grifo A3/C from 1963.
The project to build the GTZ was largely led by Italian design and coachbuilding firm Zagato, for whom the “Z” in the model name was added. Each of the 19 cars that are planned to be built will be made by Zagato in their Milanese workshop.
Each Iso Rivolta GTZ takes over 2,500 hours of labour to complete, they feature a full carbon fiber body, a largely bespoke interior with a discreet roll cage for protection, and running gear supplied from the Chevrolet Corvette – just like the original.
The GTZ is powered by the V8 from the C7 Corvette Z06, a 6.2 liter supercharged engine producing over 650 bhp and 650 lb ft of torque.

Iso Rivolta – From Building Refrigerators To Le Mans Racers

Iso Rivolta started life as Isothermos, a company founded by Renzo Rivolta just before WWII that made electric heaters and cooling units. During the war some of the company’s facilities were destroyed by Allied bombs, and after the war Rivolta decided to pivot the company to instead produce scooters and small motorcycles.

The bodywork of the car is all hand-laid carbon fiber, resulting in a curb weight hundreds of pounds lower than the Corvette Z06.

Post-WWII Europe was beset with crippled economies and severe austerity, people still needed transportation to get to and from work however cars were too expensive for the average Italian. This economic reality led to the rise of companies like Ducati, Vespa, Lambretta, and Iso – all of whom made affordable scooters or small-capacity motorcycles.

In 1953, now named Iso Autoveicoli, the company released the Iso Isetta microcar. This was essentially a tiny bubble-shaped car powered by a 236cc two-stroke engine producing 9.5 hp. This design would be licensed by BMW and sold as the BMW Isetta in Germany, it was also licensed and produced by automakers in France, Argentina, and Brazil.

Having developed a taste for the automobile industry, Renzo Rivolta decided to expand his four-wheeled offerings and in 1962 he released the Iso Rivolta IR 300. The first of a few powerful and luxurious GT cars that would be produced by Iso, all powered by American V8 engines.

The fastest and arguably the most famous car made by Iso (alongside the Isetta of course) was the Iso Rivolta A3/C. This was an all-out race car for the road developed by the legendary Italian engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, the man who had developed the Ferrari 250 GTO and the original Lamborghini V12 engine that would power the company’s supercars for decades.

This is an original Iso Grifo A3/C from the 1960s, the similarities to the modern version are clear as day, right down to the Corvette engine under the hood.

Bizzarrini loved the A3/C so much that after he left Iso due to differences of opinion with Renzo Rivolta he started his own marque and released a version of the car called the Bizzarrini 5300 GT. All production of Iso cars ceased in 1974, many thought that was it for the company however there have been persistent rumors in recent years that the company might make a comeback.

Iso Returns – The Iso Rivolta GTZ

When the newly re-established Iso unveiled the Iso Rivolta GTZ with Zagato in 2020 the world sat up and took notice. The car was clearly influenced by the Iso Rivolta A3/C however it was entirely modern, it offered blistering performance, and just like the original, it was powered by a Corvette V8 engine.

The project to design and build the GTZ was largely led by Zagato, a legendary Milanese design and coachbuilding company. Each GTZ starts life with a donor C7 Corvette Z06 which is stripped, Zagato uses the chassis and powertrain but not much else of the original car remains.

An entirely new carbon fiber body is fitted along with a mostly new interior, all new glass, and many new internal body panels. The completed car tips the scales at just 2,645 pounds or 1,200 kilograms, down from the original C7 Corvette weight of 3,523 pounds or 1,598 kilograms.

The interior is significantly modified over the original Z06, and the car now has a discreet roll cage integrated into the pillars for additional safety due to its almost-200 mph capability.

The Iso Rivolta GTZ, also called the Iso Rivolta GT Zagato, is powered by the Z06 LT4 V8, this is a 6.2 liter engine with supercharging and intercooling, it uses Rotocast A356T6 aluminum cylinder heads and the 1.7 liter Eaton R1740 TVS supercharger. All together the engine is capable of over 650 bhp at 6,400 rpm and 650 lb ft pf torque at 3,600 rpm.

There’s no listed top speed for the GTZ however due to the lower weight it’s likely higher than the 185 mph (298 km/h) offered by the Z06, the 0 to 60 mph time is just 3.7 seconds.

The Iso Rivolta GTZ Shown Here

The car you see here is currently the only GTZ imported and registered in the United States, it has just 169 miles on the odometer, and impressively it won its class at The Quail Motorsports Gathering during Monterey Car Week in 2021.

It’s now due to roll across the auction block with Mecum in January as a main attraction at the Kissimmee Auction in Florida.

If you’d like to read more about this car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing, at the time of writing there’s no price guide.