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 Intro
- Ford Regional Special
Edition Mustangs
In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, Ford and their regional
district sales offices collaborated on a bunch of "regional
special edition Mustangs". These promotional special editions
were typically intended to either reward a sales district for
outstanding sales, to stimulate sales in a sales district or to
commemorate a special event.
Because they were only advertised locally within a sales district
and sold in very limited numbers, little is known about many of these
"special edition" cars. While some are fairly well known
such as the 1968 California Special (since over 4,000 were produced
and sold in a relatively large area), many regional specials are still
being discovered and documented to this day (read
more about many of these regional specials). While most regional
special packages consisted mainly of only badges or decals and special
paint colors applied to any standard Mustang, some specials did
receive distinctive performance and/or appearance equipment. One such
regional special was the 1970 Twister Special out of the Kansas City
District.
Over the years, marketing methods changed and Ford’s interest in
producing promotional "regional specials" through their
district sales offices waned. However some long-time Mustang
enthusiasts did not forget the excitement generated by these
promotions and, early in model year 1985, some Kansas City area
enthusiasts and the Kansas City Ford District Sales Office came up
with an idea to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the 1970 Twister Special
by issuing a 1985 Twister II Mustang.
1970
Twister Special Mustangs
The creation of the 1970 Twister Special
is an interesting story in
and of itself. Late in 1969, the Kansas City District Sales Office
approached Ford about producing some limited-edition high-performance
Mustangs and Torinos for their region. These cars would be featured at
their upcoming "Total Performance Day" on November 7, 1969
at the Kansas City International Raceway and were to be optioned with
the 428SCJ engine (in the Mustangs) and 429SCJ engines (in the Torinos)
and a bunch of other performance options. (Due to an unforeseen 428SCJ
engine shortage, half of the Mustangs were ended up being equipped
with a 351C engine instead although they all received the reinforced
shock towers required for the 428 engine.)
Unbeknownst to the Kansas City district sales office, this request
couldn’t have come at a better time for Ford. Earlier in the year,
American Raceways, Inc. (ARI) had contracted with Ford to design and
produce a group of high performance Mustang pace cars and
official
vehicles for their 5 racetracks across the US (Atlanta, Eastern,
Texas, Riverside and Michigan International Speedways). After Ford had
already designed and started building the cars, ARI declared
bankruptcy and Ford was stuck with figuring out how to cut their
losses on the time and money that had gone into designing and
developing these cars.
To recoup some of the wasted expense from the abandoned ARI
program, Ford decided to use a variation of that styling package for
the Kansas City special promotional Mustangs. The side stripes were
used but the ARI logos were replaced with Ford Script and Mach I logos
and the large ARI racetrack logos on the rear quarter panels were
replaced with a large "Twister Special logo". All Twister
Special Mustangs were Mach I’s painted Grabber Orange with black
decals and the Torinos were painted Vermillion with similar markings.
In all, 96 Twister Special Mustangs and 90 Twister Special Torinos
were produced and delivered to participate in "Total Performance
Day". At the conclusion of this factory sponsored event, all of
these Twister Specials were driven to the various dealerships in the
district to be offered for sale to the public.
1985
Twister II Mustangs
Fast forward to a
decade and a half later... the 1985 Mustang GT had just been
introduced with a revised 210 hp engine in the 5-speed version (up 35
hp from 1984) and it was already being touted as one of the premier
muscle cars of its day - a perfect platform to once again bring back
the modern-day version of the Twister Special on its 15th
anniversary. With the encouragement of some long-time Mustang
enthusiasts, Ford and the Kansas City district sales office once again
collaborated to produce the 1985 Twister II. A total of 90
Twister II Mustangs were produced in October 1984.
Unlike
the original 1970 Twister Special Mustangs which had many performance options, few comfort options and were all
Mach 1 fastbacks painted Grabber Orange, the 1985 Twister II's could
be had in both the Mustang GT hatchback and
convertible models, were
available optioned with creature comforts such as air conditioning,
power windows and locks, etc. and could be had in 3 or 4 different
colors. While most Twister II's came with 5-speeds (and the 210 hp, 4v
carbed version of the 5.0L), a handful were also produced with the
automatic (AOD) transmission (which required the 180 hp, CFI / fuel
injected 5.0L).
A Ford press release
(from November 1984) for the Twister II says:
"On November
7, 1969, a Twister hit Kansas City Ford dealers' showroom -- and was a
smashing success. Now, 15 years later, the Twister returns.
The original
Twister was a high-performance version of Ford Mustang and Torino and
was an immediate sell-out hit with performance car buffs. The
1985 Twister is a Mustang with a 210-horsepower V-8 engine, 5-speed
manual transmission and special exterior trim.
"This one's
going to sell out, too" says Joe Heisler. "It is an
exclusive, limited Kansas City special edition car and Ford dealers
already have taken orders for one-third of the scheduled
production."
The 15th
anniversary of the original Twister and the introduction of the '85
version will be celebrated at a luncheon next Wednesday at the
Marriott Hotel at I-35 and Metcalf Avenue, Overland Park, Kansas.
Several of the
original Twisters will be on display, courtesy of a local Twisters
owners group, along with the '85 models. Members of that group
and area Ford dealers will be honored at the luncheon."
How
to Identify a 1985
Twister II Mustang
The
limited run 1985 Twister II Mustang's were basically standard 1985 Mustang GT's
with a decal package applied by the Kansas City District
Sales office (DSO 53). As such, they came with all the
visual and performance goodies of the regular 1985 GT's such as
5.0L HO
engines (210 hp, 4v carb/5-speed or 180 hp, CFI/automatic), Traction-Lok differentials, special
handling package, quadra-shocks in the rear, dual exhaust, exterior GT
markings, etc. (see the complete list of 1985 GT
features). The '85 Twister II received no additional
performance enhancements over the regular '85 Mustang GT. Twisters
were available with any of the options available on regular GT's including sunroof,
T-tops, optional axle, rear defrost, power windows, power locks, etc.
1985
Twister II's came with the following:
-
Exterior
"Twister II" decals
–
consisting of a large set of black stripes with the cut-out words
"TWISTER II" running the length of the rocker panel
below the rub strip on each side of the car and a smaller black "tornado with eyes" decal directly in front of each rear
wheel (above the embossed "GT" on the rub
strip).
These decals were not applied at the factory, rather they were all
applied at the Claycomo Ford plant transport lot near Kansas City,
MO.
-
Bronze
dash plate - this plate reads "1985 Limited Edition
TWISTER II, Kansas City District, October 1984" with a
running horse emblem/tornado design in the center and was to be
placed on the passenger side dash. Many Twister II's do not
have these as the plates were shipped separately to the dealers
and unfortunately, it is believed many of them ended up in the hands of
salespeople or other dealership personnel as keepsakes instead of
being placed on the cars.
-
Alabaster
coaster - this reads "1985 Limited Edition TWISTER II,
Kansas City District" with a running horse emblem/tornado
design in the center. This was to be given to the new owner
of the car upon purchase, however, as with the dash plates, these
often found their way into the hands of dealership personnel
instead of the new owner.
-
Press
package - this featured a press release about the 1985 Twister
II and a picture of the Twister II along with the original 1970
Mach 1 Twister Special. Similar to the coaster, this was
supposed to be given to the new owner of each Twister II, but, in
many instances, the owners never received one.
An
authentic 1985
Twister II must have ALL of the following (in addition to the
items described above):
-
DSO
code of "53" (Kansas City District Sales Office)
-
this code can be found on the middle/lower right side of the certification
label (aka driver's door tag) - this code can also
be found on the original window
sticker, owner's warranty card or build
sheet if the door tag is unreadable or unavailable. The
"53" DSO covered dealerships in large parts of Missouri
and Kansas.
-
Scheduled
build month of October 1984 - this can be
confirmed by looking in the upper left corner of the driver's door
tag - it should say "Date: 10/84" (note: the
"actual" build date such as on the owner's warranty card
may be late September).
-
VIN
in a certain number range - while the 90 1985 Twister II VIN's
are not consecutive like the original 1970 Twister Specials, the
last 6 digits of their VINs do fall within a few certain number
ranges - the last 6 digits of the VIN must fall in the following
ranges 109800-109899, 110300-110399 or 112200-112299. (NOTE -
other non-Twister II Mustangs do fall within these ranges so a VIN
number in these ranges alone does not positively confirm a car is
a Twister II, it should meet all of the other criteria listed
also). The VIN numbers can be found in a number of places on
a car and they should be compared to ensure that they all match
(for example, sometimes the driver's door is replaced with one
from a different car and the door tag would therefore show the
incorrect data for the car). The VIN can be found in the
following places: metal tag on driver's dash at the base of
the windshield, driver's door tag
(middle of tag) and buck tag (last 6 digits only).
-
Limited
exterior paint colors - the vast majority of Twister II's were
Jalapena Red (aka Bright Red) (2R), however they were also produced in only
three other colors - Oxford White (9L), Medium Canyon
Red Metallic (2A) and Silver Metallic (1E) - the
original paint color can be verified by checking the code on the
middle/lower left side of the driver's
door tag - this code can
also be found on the original
window sticker, warranty
card, build
sheet or buck tag if the door tag is unreadable or unavailable.
Since Twister II's
were a Kansas City Sales District promotional car, there was nothing
on the window sticker indicating it as a Twister II. There are
also no distinctive markings on the driver's door
tag, buck tag or buildsheet that identify the car as a Twister II.
We have heard that some dealers added their own additional window
sticker to mark up the price of the Twister II over the standard GT
price (per the original owner of a Twister II convertible, the dealer
charged an
extra $85 for his Twister II over a regular '85 GT).
1985
Twister II Mustang Production Numbers
Only 90 Twister II
Mustangs were produced in October 1984. The table below breaks
down the production numbers by bodystyle and transmission:
|
1985
Twister II Mustang Production Numbers |
|
Total
= 90 |
|
|
5.0L
5-speed
(4v carb) |
5.0L
automatic
(AOD) (CFI) |
Totals |
|
Hatchbacks |
74 |
2 |
76 |
|
Convertibles |
9 |
5 |
14 |
|
Totals |
83 |
7 |
90 |
While other
production details are not known at this time, it is known that of the
74 5-speed hatchbacks produced, 12 or 13 were
equipped with the optional 3.08 gears. In addition, approximately 25
of the hatchbacks came with T-tops and approximately 10 were equipped
with a sunroof. No Twister Special convertibles were equipped
with the optional 3.08 gears.
Although the vast
majority of 1985 Twister II Mustangs were produced in Jalapena
(Bright Red) (approx. 74-75 made in this color), they were also
produced in a few additional
colors such as Oxford White (approx. 13-14 made in this color) and Medium Canyon
Red and Silver Metallic (believed to be approx. 1 of each color).
Conclusion
Now that it has been
eighteen years since Twister II's were produced, it is hard to say how
many of these cars still exist. At this point in
time, we have five 1985 Twister II Mustangs in our registry - three 5-speed
hatchbacks, two 5-speed convertibles - all Jalapena Red (Bright Red)
2R. We
have also seen a number of Twister II's in person at various Mustang
events around the midwest that are not in the registry and have heard
about other Twister II's coming up for sale every so often. The Twister II's
that we are aware of range in condition from rusted out hulks to
pristine, like-new cars still in the possession of the original owner.
Since the limited
edition 1985 Twister II Mustangs featured no additional performance
equipment and offered only small cosmetic changes over a regular
Mustang GT, the topic of Twister II values can be somewhat
controversial. Obviously, a pristine, all-original,
completely-documented Twister II will command a higher premium over a
regular 1985 Mustang GT than a Twister II in very poor condition, but
it's hard to say how much higher. Basically, these cars are only
worth however much a seller is willing to pay and how badly they want
a car that is not your average, run-of-the-mill Mustang GT.
If YOU OWN a 1985 Twister II Mustang (or if you know of one someone
else owns one, find one in the junkyard, run across one for sale, etc.), please be sure and enter it
into our registry!!!! We are trying to get as many '85
Twister II's registered as possible to get a good idea of how many still
exist. Thanks!!
Information
Still Needed!
1985
Twister II
Mustangs - We are still looking for ANY additional information on
1985 Twister II Mustangs that we can get our hands on
including:
-
original
documentation from when the cars were sold new (such as window
stickers, buildsheets, press releases, newspaper articles) AND
-
additional photos (including
good exterior photos, good detail shots of Twister II-specific items on these
cars, photos of the Twister II introduction).
Other
1982-1993 Mustang regional specials - We are also looking for ANY additional information on
any other 3rd generation Mustang regional specials that may be out
there.
If you have
ANYTHING that would help us out, please let us
know!
NEW!!
1:18 Scale Diecast Twister II Model!!!
|
| We're
excited to announce that GMP
Diecast has recently released a 1:18 scale version of the 1985
Twister II!!! This
model is available in both Jalapena Red and Oxford White and is
limited to a run of 500 cars each. To read our review of
these models and to find out how to order one of your own, check out our: |
GMP
1985 Twister II 1:18 Diecast Model Review
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SOURCES
This
article would not have been possible without the following
contributions:
Robert
Greb (1985
Twister photos/
info)
Ron
Fields (1985
Twister info)
Mac Krog (1985
Twister info)
Brad Bowling (1985
Twister photo)
AND
any other 1985 Twister II owners that have contacted us or registered their
cars!!
THANK
YOU!! This article would have been impossible without your help.
Other
sources:
Mustang Monthly (8/85) article - "Twister Sisters"
Mustang
Retrospective article - West Michigan Mustang Club
History of
the Twister Special article - Town & Country Toys
Mustang
Specials article - Limited Edition 600 Registry
ARI Mustang
articles - ARI Mustang Pace & Promo Cars Registry
Various Ford Kansas City District Sales Office personnel
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