“Back To The Future” Spec – A 1985 Toyota SR-5 For Marty McFly

The jet black 1985 Toyota SR-5 from Back To The Future, with its yellow-capped KC Daylighter spotlights on the roll bar, has been a car lusted after by countless millions of viewers since the first film in the trilogy was released in the mid-80s.

The DeLorean DMC-12 has always been the main star of the series of course, but given its relatively brief appearances on screen the SR-5 left a lasting impact on many and helped the humble Toyota Pick Up become an icon.

Fast Facts – 1985 Toyota SR-5

• This 1985 Toyota SR-5 has been carefully built to the same specification as the vehicle featured in the Back To The Future film trilogy.
• This was a one year only model called “The Unicorn” by Toyota enthusiasts thanks to its rare combination of a live axle front, the SR-5 option package, and the EFI engine.
• The team that built this replica have focussed on each of the fine details, getting things like the wheels, tires, spotlights, license plate (and license plate holder), all correct to the film. There are even “a couple of sleeping bags in the back.”
• This same truck was offered for sale at auction few weeks ago but failed to meet the reserve, so you now have a second chance to get your hands on it.

“Back To The Future” And A World Famous Toyota Pick Up

When President Ronald Reagan watched Back To The Future with his family in the White House in 1985 he’s said to have loved the scene where Doc Brown was incredulous that he could be President – so much he had them rewind the scene and play it back multiple times.

Above Video: This 30 minute documentary covers the rediscovery and restoration of the real, screen-used Toyota SR5 from “Back To The Future.”

The film must have made an impact on Reagan, because a year later in his 1986 State of the Union address he said “As they said in the film Back to the Future, ‘Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.'”

The Toyota SR-5 Pick Up appeared in the first film as a promotional truck for Statler Toyota in Hill Valley. Though it had far less onscreen time than the DeLorean it did appear in all three films at crucial plot points tied into the constantly changing future and past caused by Doc Brown and Marty McFly’s tinkering with the timeline.

The 1985 Toyota SR-5 is now considered one of the most collectible pick ups from the Japanese marque as it was the last year to have the live axle front and back, and the first year to have the desirable EFI engine option. Later trucks for the USA market would all have independent front suspension for better road handling, combined with a live axle rear.

This truck was built to fulfill the wish Marty has in the film, of taking it to the lake with a couple of sleeping bags in the back so that he can sleep under the stars with Jennifer.

“Check out that 4×4. That is hot. Someday, Jennifer. Someday. Wouldn’t it be great to take that truck up to the lake? Throw a couple of sleeping bags in the back. Lie out underneath the stars.” – Marty McFly

The “Back To The Future” Spec Toyota SR-5 Shown Here

This truck is the most faithful recreation of the original screen-used Toyota we’ve seen, whoever built it clearly paid attention to even the smallest details. In fact it’s indistinguishable from the original truck in the above documentary.

During the build this truck was fitted with a suspension lift, the correct wheels and tires, and the correct front and rear bumpers. It has a tubular roll bar fitted with those distinctive KC Daylighter spotlights, and the seller is offering it with a Hoverboard, a pair of “self-lacing” shoes, a Gray’s Sports Almanac, a framed poster, and a 1/10th scale remote controlled model.

If you’d like to read more about this truck or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing. It’s due to roll across the auction block with Mecum in Kansas in early December, and at the time of writing there is no price guide.

Images courtesy of Mecum

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Full Documentary: Styling The Motor Car – 1949

Styling the Motor Car is a 1949 film from General Motors that showcases the design process followed by each new car, from research and sketches, to full-size models and mock-ups, to the final production cars out of the factory.

After WWII ended in 1945 the American automobile industry, which had largely been re-tasked for producing vehicles and goods for the war effort, was released to return to their former line of business. There was much being said about what the new line of post-war vehicles would look like, and the late 1940s were a time of major upheaval on both sides of the Atlantic.

As the United States prepared to enter the 1950s, a new decade of hope with the war far in the rearview mirror, American car designers were given more freedom than ever before. They created what we now call the “Jet Age.”

This film shows the design process from early sketches through to clay models and the final car, all done completely by hand as it was long before the use of computers in design studios.

Based in 1949 this film captures the design process right as the country was on the cusp of the 1950s. It’s fascinating to see the purely analogue design process long before computers and CAD made their appearance in the development studios.

We’ve included another film in this series below called Up From Clay, this is another General Motors design film but it’s from exactly 10 years later in 1959. It’s interesting to see all of the differences in design between the two eras just a decade apart.

The post Full Documentary: Styling The Motor Car – 1949 appeared first on Silodrome.

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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

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