69 Cyclone barn find ...

No secrets here guys so here's the straight skinny as I know it so far. This could be lengthy so I'll break it up into sections...

THE COST - $ 3,000.00 green money.

THE HISTORY - This car was purchased new at Randall-Sanders Ford Lincoln Mercury in Rogers, Arkansas in January of 1969. The original owners gave it to their kid to drive to school at The University of Tulsa in Tulsa Oklahoma, about 120 miles away from their home in Rogers. The car sat in the owners garage for a number of years in the late 70's and early 80's. Then in 1985 they sold it to the wifes' brother for his son to drive to school at The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, about 20 miles from his Rogers home. In the spring of 1988 the car had an underhood fire which was extinguished with water. The car was then parked in a building until 2007 when the 3rd owner purchased it. He was a good friend of both families and has known this car since new. Some where along the way the right door was repainted for unknown reasons. It has no hail, flood or significant collision history.

THE DRIVETRAIN - Don't get too excited about the peformance angle of this car. It is NOT a Cale Yarborough Special even though it was factory painted this way. It is a plain Jane 302 2 barrel with automatic, AM radio, hubcaps, special order paint and whitewall tires being its' only options. I've got the Marti report on the car and I'll post some pics of the report highlights. It would be great if it were an R code SCJ Drag-Pak car... but it isn't.

THE KNOWN DETAILS - This was a special order car out of the Memphis ordering district. We know for sure that it was ordered this way by Mercury and then distributed to the dealer. There were a number of identical twins built, each identical in every way. We aren't sure how many, but certainly less than 100. Interestingly enough there is a twin built several days AFTER this car with a serial number 10 digits EARLIER than mine. All of this is a proven fact. Allegedly the batch of identical cars were all serial numbered and built within a period of a couple of weeks or less.

LEGEND HAS IT - Mercury was having a hard time meeting the required number of Spoiler II's needed to satisfy NASCAR's homologation rules. NASCAR mandated 500 production units ( for sale to the public ) in order for the car to be legal for competition. Supposedly Mercury ordered that a number of base "W" nose Cyclones be painted and striped like the Yarborough cars. Mercury then parked them all in a neat little huddle in a parking lot, surrounded them with slope nose Spoiler II's and invited the NASCAR folks to come over and count roof tops. Since all the tops and sides looked alike ( the big difference was the extended fenders and grille mods ), NASCAR allegedly counted roof tops and was satisfied that initial production requirements had been met. This is all a mixture of educated guesses and legend. I currently have some very well connected friends working to authenticate the "decoy" theory. The Marti report confirms that very few cars were painted and striped like this one and this figure includes the Cale Yarborough cars. Whatever the end of the story tells us about this old girl... I am confident that her history is significant. I've already decided that the vanity plate will read DECOY.

THE CARS CONDITION - This old car is rock solid with NO rust through anywhere. I'll need the front fender and hood trim, carpet, seat upholstery, headliner and an am radio. I've got a 69 Torino located with 15,637 actual miles that I'll be harvesting the engine, trans and underhood accessories from. ( It's a 2 door hardtop Torino coupe if anyone needs a rust free rolling body. ) I'll be pulling the original engine and trans this summer, blasting the engine compartment and repainting to do the reassembly. The carpet and headliner are readily available but I'm stumped on the seat fabric. Maybe I can find some repro fabric to do the seat right. I also need to find another hood to bolt a Cyclone hood scoop on and I need another deck lid to bolt a spoiler on. I'll put the original panels on the shelf so I don't ruin the original pieces. I'll also be having the car painted and restriped. I want the car to look a little sportier and adding the replacement panels, scoop and spoiler will do the trick.

CURRENT STATUS - The car currently resides in my shop here in Springdale, Arkansas. She's snuggled in between my rotisserie restored 73 Mach 1 and my wifes' 91 Thunderbird SC. The Cyclone will take on the role of Sunday driver for my wife when completed.

With respect to parts sources, I'm all ears. If you can help me find the hood, deck, chrome, spoiler, scoop etc ... I'd really appreciate it. I have spent over 2 decades buying, selling and trading parts. In fact I'll be at Petit Jean in a few weeks selling off some of my small collection of new chrome Dorman brand lug nuts. I found a deal on 40,000 nuts a while back, so I bought them. I'll be on row SS, just look for the yellow topped canopy.

Thanks for the votes of confidence guys. I'm really excited to get this old girl home and get to work on her soon. She's going to make a really nice driver. If you've got a line on parts, give me a ring.

Dean Bitner 479-263-3326

Thank goodness for the wheel dollies


This is a full shop...


Marti Report production info...


Marti Report options info ...

Originally Posted by 69fury

wicked-there are now three barn finds up on this board! yours, the 63Fairlane, and my 61exGasser Falcon!

Hey, mine sat in a barn for 17 years before I drug it out if it's napping place!

BTW, that Merc looks pretty darn clean. Just maybe respray the front clip, and polish the rest of the car.
Sounds like the prefect time to get a complete wiring harness, maybe a 351w EFi setup...
Cool ride. Alot nicer than the '68 FB Torino I pulled off a Christmas tree farm some time ago.

Thanks for the "rest of the story." I would pay $3,000 for that in a heartbeat. I'm still jealous. Have fun

Here's the latest on the Cyclone.........

Gents, I have made some progress on documentation and parts acquisition of the Cyclone. In no particular order here is the latest...

The car is home in the dry and awaiting my full on assault this winter. In the meantime I am just gathering up the necessary stuff to do the deal. I have acquired a 69 coupe for a donor engine and underhood parts. The rolling body will be going to Kyles dad in Michigan for his resto project. It's a 15,637 actual mile donor car so we'll both wind up with nice pieces for our projects.

I have also purchased an NOS grill emblem insert for the car on ebay. It's a nice piece and since my car had no emblem... I was glad to find it for 30 bucks.


I have contacted the folks at Wood Brothers racing and I am awaiting their response. I am hopeful that they will either confirm or debunk the theory that it may have been a Wood Brothers promo car or a " decoy " used to fool NASCAR. I have not heard back from them yet. Additionally I have a friend within the Bud Moore operation who is investigating anything they may know.

I have spoken to the general manager of the dealership who sold the car new. His name is Buddy Wright. After I showed him the photos he said he remembers the car and says it was pushed on them by the Mercury rep. " We would not have ordered that car as part of our regular inventory " were his exact words. Further he claimed the rep sent them the car as a vehicle outside their regular allotment. They had no idea what they were getting and it just showed up after the rep worked his magic.

I have also located the sales manager who sold the car new. His name is Carl Butler and he has long since retired. He is 88 years young and his mind is still sharp. I am traveling to his home this afternoon to discuss the car further with him.

As many of you know I've collected bought and sold Ford parts for years including many NOS pieces. As I've mentioned in other threads I am a packrat to the worst degree. This piece of chrome has laid around my shop and office for several years now and I could never identify it. It is absolutely NOS Ford but I could never quite identify it since the packaging was long gone. Many times I thought about throwing it in the scrap aluminum barrel but I never did. Boy am I glad I didn't !

When I bought the Cyclone I noticed the fender chrome and hood chrome were beaten up pretty badly. I noticed that the right side looked a lot like the unidentified trim I'd been moving around for years so I went searching for it. I am happy to report that I found the stray piece of trim and when I held it to the fender of the Cyclone... IT'S AN EXACT MATCH ! Immediately I went in the house and got the little lady to show her my good fortune. " SEE " I told her..." It was meant that we own this car ! ". She did not see the humor Here's a pic ...


Lastly I have broken the ring finger of my right hand. I toughed it out for 3 weeks before going to the doctor and I'm sorry that I did. The fracture was to the middle knuckle and it tore all of the ligaments in the finger when the finger angulated. The orthopedic surgeon has " buddy tape " splinted 3 of the fingers on my right hand leaving only my pointy finger and thumb usable. That has really cramped my style and slowed me down a ton. I go back on July 1st for a consult and discussion of surgery options if it isn't healing. I guess the hardest part about the whole deal is that I am right handed. THAT sucks ! I tried to throw a softball to my girls left handed and it was pathetic. I've stabbed my cheek with my dinner fork and it's all I can do not to piss on my feet at the urinal. Fortunately I never learned to type properly so I use the 2 finger method. That hasn't slowed me down much on typing