Car of the Week: 1969 Ford Cobra

In 1963, Warren Mansfield was looking over the magazine rack at his local Rexall drugstore in Woodbury, Conn., when he came across a copy of Motor Trend magazine. He opened the magazine to an article about the Daytona 500 race where he found an eye-catching head-on picture of five Fords, nose-to-tail, with the headline, “Ford sweeps the Daytona 500 first 5-places.” Just 15 years old at the time, Warren already had the car bug and knew enough about NASCAR to realize Ford had done something that no automobile manufacturer had ever done before at the Daytona 500. To say Ford dominated the race is an understatement. Tiny Lind won the race followed by Fred Lorenzen in second, Ned Jarrett in third, Nelson Stacey in fourth and Dan Gurney in fifth—all in Fords. Never in the history of the Daytona 500 had one manufacturer finished in the top five spots.

Mansfield bought the magazine and after reading the article, became hooked on NASCAR. The article also further cemented his affection for the Blue Oval brand.

Now 61 years later, much has changed for Mansfield, Ford and NASCAR. But Mansfield still has fond memories of the day he came across that Motor Trend magazine at the Rexall drugstore. He’s reread the article several times and remains shocked at the outcome of the 1963 Daytona 500, much like other NASCAR fans who had the opportunity to read about the race, see the race in person or watch it on ABC’s Wide World of Sports.

“It still makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck,” Mansfield says. “After reading how Ford dominated the competition at the Daytona 500 in 1963, I was 15 years old and a teenager at the time, and the car bug had started to consume me. I was hooked on NASCAR and Ford. Besides, Woodbury Connecticut, wasn’t really a ‘Blue Oval’ town and I kind of wanted to change the landscape someday. I once told myself, ‘If I was ever to own a new car, it would be a Ford.’”

The first Cobra bite

On March 16, 1967, Mansfield began what would become a 43-year career with the National Cash Register Co. (NCR) in Waterbury, Conn., as a cash register repairman. He was earning a decent income and saving as much money as he could in hopes of one day buying a new Ford muscle car.

In the fall of 1968, he came across an advertisement in Car Craft magazine wherein Ford Motor Co. advertised the new Ford Cobra for the 1969 model year. The following spring, Mansfield walked into a nearby Ford dealer’s showroom and ordered a yellow 1969 Ford Cobra. Woodbury, Conn., was a small town in 1969, and word of Mansfield’s order traveled fast. A salesman from nearby Murphy Ford in Ansonia, Conn., who went by the name “Big Dee,” heard that Mansfield had ordered a new Cobra from a rival Ford dealership across town and called him within days of the order. Big Dee convinced Mansfield that Murphy Ford would beat the price quoted by the rival dealership and persuaded him to cancel the order so he could sell him the 1969 Ford Cobra in the color and options of his choice.

Over the course of a couple hours in April 1969, Mansfield and Big Dee went through the meticulous process of ordering a 1969 Ford Cobra 428 Super Cobra Jet painted Indian Fire.

The Cobra arrived at Murphy Ford in May 1969. When 21-year-old Mansfield arrived at the dealership to take delivery of his new Indian Fire SCJ Cobra, he found it parked in a special location and was blown away. The experience grew more memorable as he drove out of the dealership and onto Main Street while hearing the 428-cid SCJ V-8 engine roar as he methodically shifted through the four-speed transmission for the first time. It’s a day he’ll never forget and even now, recalling the experience puts a tear in his eye and a smile on his face.

While growing up, Mansfield says his father purchased used cars that fit the family’s budget. Until his Cobra purchase, no one in Mansfield’s family had ever bought a new automobile, and the purchase of the ’69 Cobra served as a catalyst for Mansfield to stick with his plan to have a successful career at NCR.

Speed kills a Cobra

Mansfield initially drove the Cobra to work only on days when the weather was nice. Then, in 1970, the drag racing bug bit him.

“By the end of 1969, I was a big fan of the NHRA, especially the stock classes, and got a monthly fix through my subscription to Car Craft magazine,” Mansfield recalled.

Mansfield wasn’t just reading about racing, he was becoming an enthusiastic spectator of the sport. After attending a few drag racing events with some friends at the Connecticut Dragway, Mansfield noticed there were few Fords.

The lack of Fords competing on the track motivated Mansfield to alter his Cobra so it would be more competitive in the Super Stock F class. He was going all in with the intent to win races and make a name for the Ford brand on his local track. In factory form, his 335-hp SCJ Cobra was a fast car, but to make it more competitive, performance enhancements had to be made.

“In early 1970, I decided to race my Cobra and was keen on showing all the GM and MoPar guys that Fords could run strong, too,” Mansfield said. “So, beginning in 1970 through 1971, I proceeded to modify my prized Cobra. I was anxious to have it remain looking like it was bone stock, unless you looked closely and saw the seven-quart, deep oil pan hanging down up front. Most of my guidance to the mods came from Ford’s very first performance parts catalog titled ‘Muscle Parts: A New Concept in Staged Performance,’ a catalog I still have to this day, and by ads and articles I saw in Car Craft magazine.”

In addition to the deep-sump oil pan, Mansfield added a dual-point distributor; an aluminum intake from the Ford “Muscle Parts” catalog (part C6AZ-9424-H); Jardine headers, which were all the rage for Cobra Jet race cars in the 1970s; a Schiefer clutch; a 40-lb. flywheel; a Lakewood blow-proof bell housing; a Hurst shifter; a Crane solid-lifter cam; Lakewood traction bars; and a Melling high-pressure oil pump. The engine was bored .030 over and fitted with Jahns lightweight pistons, and Mansfield had tow tabs welded to the car’s frame horns so it could be towed to the drag strip.

Mansfield did well enough with his 1969 Ford Cobra that it earned a Connecticut Dragway class winner decal that he proudly affixed to the car.

“I did most of my racing at Connecticut Dragway, an NHRA-sanctioned track,” Mansfield said. “This track was frequently visited by cars from the famous Tasca Ford out of Rhode Island since it was the closest to their dealership. The track went out of business around 1986 and the facilities were purchased by Consumer Reports and now serves as their test site.”

From 1970 through 1972, Mansfield regularly raced at the Connecticut Dragway, but then the first oil crisis hit the world and drag racing came to a screeching halt for Mansfield and his ’69 Cobra. A local guy by the name of John Jungen had tried to convince Mansfield into selling him the Cobra. Once fuel became scarce and prices for it went sky high, Manfield reluctantly sold Jungen the Cobra.

Jungen went on to continue racing the Cobra at the Connecticut Dragway and during a pass, blew up the original 428-cid SCJ V-8 engine. It was replaced with a Ford 352-cid FE V-8 engine and when that engine started having issues, Jungen parked the Cobra. Around 1975, Jungen pastured the Cobra beneath a tree where it began to decay.

Bringing back a Cobra

Mansfield heard his old Cobra had suffered a blown engine and was no longer operational, so he tried to buy it back, but with no luck. Although he was initially rebuffed, he continued trying by regularly calling the owner about buying back his car—for some 35 years!

By the end of those 35 years, Mansfield found himself established in Ohio, but he still had roots in Connecticut and in 2009, was back in the Constitution State for a family function. During the trip back east, Mansfield’s son, Joe, urged him to reach out to Jungen again since they were back in town. Reluctantly, Mansfield made another phone call only to be told the car still wasn’t for sale.

Just one month later, Mansfield received a call he never expected. On the other end of the line was John Jungen.

“Warren, this is John, are you still interested in your car?” Jungen asked. “If so, I’ll take this for it and it’s yours.”

Without hesitation, a deal was struck between Jungen and Mansfield. It was as if Hollywood had scripted it.

Soon after the phone call, Mansfield made another trip back to Connecticut to retrieve the ’69 Ford Cobra that he had ordered new. The Cobra was pulled out of the field and loaded into a trailer, never to look back at that Connecticut field again. The Cobra would begin the next chapter of its storied life in Dayton, Ohio.

For much of 2009, Mansfield planned for his forthcoming 2010 retirement from NCR. Upon retiring, he would put his resources into the restoration of his 1969 Ford Cobra, the car he’d bought shortly after he started his career with NCR.

“How many people get to pay for the car two times during their lifetime?” Mansfield jokes.

He says the restoration work began in 2009, shortly after he brought the Cobra home, and became a full-time effort in September 2010. His purchases of the car book-ended his career at NCR, and his time there was about to continue to impact the future of the Cobra.

“A guy who worked for me at NCR had a neighbor who was a retired auto body technician,” Mansfield said. “His name is Jim Zehring, and he has a shop at home in Farmersville, Ohio, where he works on restorations and performs custom body work. All the sheet metal work and paint were performed by Jim. The disassembly and reassembly were performed by me. I also did all the drivetrain restoration except for the machine work needed on the engine block, heads, crank and rods. I assembled the engine, rebuilt the four-speed, and rebuilt the 9-inch 3:91 rear axle.”

In resuscitating the car, Mansfield didn’t bring it back to exactly how it appeared on the first day he saw it parked at Murphy Ford, but to the “day two” look of how he remembers experiencing it in 1969 and into the early 1970s. Even the tow hooks, deep-sump oil pan, traction bars, engine tricks and hood pins are back in place—everything down to the Connecticut Dragway decal that the car once earned.

“When I sold the car, it proudly wore a Connecticut Dragway class winner decal,” Mansfield says. “When I got the car back to restore it, the decal was long gone, but by a stroke of luck, I found a guy in Connecticut that had an unused decal in his desk drawer, which he graciously gave to me and is now on the restored car.”

“I consider the restoration to be finished in 2012, but as with most hobbyists, there are always projects to improve on something. For example, two years ago, I decided to add Ford power steering. They are never really finished….”

After tearing into the Cobra, Mansfield became an active member in the Fairlane Club of America (fca.clubexpress.com) and writes articles for The Fairlaner, the club’s publication. He has also served as the club’s technical advisor for the 1968-’69 model years.

“I’ve been to eight FCA Nationals with the ’69 Ford Cobra,” Mansfield adds. “We’ll be in Dearborn, Michigan, from June 27-29, 2024, at the Double Tree Hotel for the Fairlane Nationals.”

Make sure to say hello to Warren at the Fairlane Nationals in Dearborn, Michigan June 27-29, 2024 and give his Cobra a thumbs up first hand.

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