In the late 1960s, Ford had a habit of creating “regional” Mustang special editions. But they had absolutely nothing to do with their namesake regions. In 1970, the Kansas City sales district finally hit on an idea locally inspired. The Mustang Twister Special.
The very existence of this limited-edition muscle car is a beautiful tale of misfortune and opportunism. Ford had a batch of special Mustangs built under contract to serve as safety cars for a company called American Raceways Incorporated. Then, ARI went bankrupt, leaving Ford holding a pile of performance-spec Mustang Mach 1 SportsRoofs.
Meanwhile, the savvy Kansas City sales district, desperately trying to boost the Mach 1’s profile in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, snatched them up. Ford simply stripped off the ARI branding and the Twister Special was born.
All 96 units were finished in the vivid Grabber Orange and decked out with side stripes and a functional hood scoop. The entire run was split evenly. 48 cars got the respectable 300 HP, 351 cubic-inch V8, and the other 48 received the highly coveted, and underrated, 335 HP 428 Cobra Jet big-block. The 351 was relegated to “grocery-getter” status in the muscle car golden age. But the Twister Special 428 was the real prize, capable of a blistering 5.1-second sprint and a 13.7-second quarter mile.
The Twister Special concept was a smash hit. The Kansas City district didn’t stop there, also creating the Torino Cobra Twister Special. These 90 Torino Cobras were painted in Calypso Coral. They were all equipped with the 429 Cobra Jet or Super Cobra Jet V8, producing 375 HP. All 90 units conveniently ended up in the Midwest, making them an unofficial regional rarity. Of those, only 30 were equipped with the preferable manual transmission.
Today, rarity translates directly into value. A clean standard Mustang Mach 1 428 might fetch $115,000. But Mustang Twister Special with the same engine sold for $330,000 in 2023, placing it squarely in Boss 429 territory. Even the “lesser” 351 V8 Twister Special is still a six-figure car.
