Mercury Cyclone Spoiler

Cyclone Spoiler at a glance

The Spoiler is a version of the Mercury Cyclone, Mercury's intermediate muscle car of 1964–1971; the catalogue lists it separately.

Mercury in the aero war

Mercury already had NASCAR success with the Cyclone: in the 1968 Daytona 500 Cyclones finished first and second. For 1969 the race was about aerodynamics. Dodge prepared the Charger Daytona and Plymouth later the Superbird, while Ford built the Torino Talladega and Mercury the Cyclone Spoiler II. NASCAR required at least 500 cars to be built and offered for sale, which is the only reason the Spoiler II reached showrooms.

The Spoiler II body

The Spoiler II was based on the Cyclone "Sportsroof" fastback. The regular car's inset grille and headlights gave way to a longer nose with a flush grille, the same as on the Talladega. Wikipedia describes the extension as about six inches. The Talladega Spoiler Registry gives 19.5 inches of added sheet metal at a 35-degree angle, against 15.5 inches at 30 degrees for the Talladega, and claims the Mercury was 2 to 8 mph faster at high speed.

The registry lists more details:

• doors, bumpers, grilles and turn signals were shared with the Talladega;
• the front bumper was made from a rear bumper cut into three pieces and reshaped;
• re-rolled rocker panels let race teams run the cars about an inch lower within the rules;
• an inside bonnet release, taken from Lincoln, was needed because of the long nose;
• unlike the regular Spoiler, the Spoiler II had no bonnet scoop and no hood pins;
• the rear wings were installed by dealers, and some cars never received one.

Cale Yarborough and Dan Gurney editions

Every Spoiler II was white. The Cale Yarborough Special had red interior and trim, the Dan Gurney Special blue. Wikipedia counts 503 cars in all: 285 Yarborough and 215 Gurney versions, which leaves three cars without an edition in its count. The registry cites the Marti Report for the total of 503. Both editions also existed on the regular 1969 Cyclone Spoiler, according to the registry.

The road cars had a mild specification: Wikipedia lists a 351 Windsor V8, an automatic gearbox with a column shift and a front bench seat. The racing cars first used Ford's FE 427 "side oiler" and later the Boss 429, once NASCAR had approved it.

Engines: 1969 to 1971

Wikipedia rates the 1970 429 Cobra Jet without Ram Air at 276 kW (370 hp) with a 720 cfm Rochester Quadrajet, and the Super Cobra Jet with a 780 cfm Holley. The Drag Pack added an engine oil cooler and a 3.91:1 axle; the Super Drag Pack brought a 4.30:1 axle and a locking differential.

Racing results

The Spoiler II won eight Grand National races over the 1969 and 1970 seasons, matching the Plymouth Superbird, according to Wikipedia. The registry notes that Ford placed most of its drivers in Fords, so few Spoiler IIs started. Ford ended factory racing support after 1969, but many teams kept racing their Spoiler IIs in 1970. From 1971 NASCAR limited the aero cars to engines of 305 cubic inches or less.

Mercury planned a 1970 Spoiler II with an even sharper nose, but only one prototype was built. The regular Cyclone kept racing: the Wood Brothers' No. 21 1971 Cyclone won 18 of its 32 races, and 12 of the 40 starters of the 1972 Daytona 500 were Cyclones.

1970–1971: the later Cyclone Spoiler

In 1970 the Spoiler came with the 429 Cobra Jet and Ram Air as standard. It came only in competition colours, although 31 buyers ordered the "colour of your dreams" option. Mercury built 1,631 Spoilers that year, next to 1,695 Cyclones and 10,170 Cyclone GTs.

For 1971 the car was marketed as the Montego Cyclone. The Super Cobra Jet and the Drag Pack were dropped, the base engine became the 351 Cleveland four-barrel, and Ram Air became optional on the Spoiler. Production fell to 353 Spoilers. After that the Cyclone name survived only as a 1972 Montego option package, built 30 times.

Production by year

Photo gallery