A Goat and a Cobra in a yard....

This was my first magazine coverage of cars I had found. They were in a short run magazine called "Muscle Car Motion". I had 4 of my finds in that magazine. Sadly if folded and merged with another big company.

While exploring the countryside of Wisconsin near my families summer, I found a Torino Cobra and a GTO Convertible. Looking for cars in barns and yard with my friend Mike. We were driving my "new" vehicle, a 1993 Chevy Lumina after my Taurus had a date with the crusher due to another bad transmission, and a minor accident a few months prior.

While exploring a small field, I had decided I had enough and started turning around in a small lot. I pull in and there in front of me I see two old cars. I pull around and there sitting, rotting away is a 1968 Ford Torino Cobra notchback.

I had never seen one before. I never even knew that they had existed. Across from the Cobra was a 66 GTO Convertible! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I dared not go and look closer at the cars, as they were on private property. I was on public property though.

So my friend and I went to the house that the property bordered and knocked on the door. A nice young man comes to the door and we asked him nicely about the cars. He said they weren't for sale but we could have a look around.

So my friend and I went back to the cars and began to look around. They were both really cool cars. The first pictures I took were all before I had a real camera. So they are kinda old looking.

The first car we looked at was the GTO. It was a true 389 tri-power 4-speed convertible. Originally a green color it looked like. The years of having the top down did a job on the old girl. There were no floor pans to speak of. The body was alright, but it needed a large amount of work to be a nice car. I don't know if it was numbers matching or such, I have little to no clue about GM products.

The Cobra was also not in the best of shape after sitting for what looked like decades. It had the "ram air" hood with air cleaner all there. The engine was the nice 428. The rust was so bad on the hood it rusted in half when we tried to open it. We went through the rest of the car. It was very badly rusted as well. Not a straight panel on the entire vehicle. Automatic on the floor too.

I would return every year and talk with the owners. He sold the GTO a few years ago for a good profit, and recently sold the Cobra for a profit as well. He does deal with hot rods and muscle cars though, and is recently letting a 68 Torino GT Vert with 302 sit outside. But he does have it properly covered for the meantime.

I hope those cars get restored to the condition they deserve. The Cobra might not have been the most desirable car, but it was definitely a very cool one.

Ryan