1971 Chevrolet Camaro - Hometown Hot Rodding

'70 Torino
List-Built
In 1970, Motor Trend magazine chose the Ford Torino as its Car of the Year. There were a lot of great models to choose from, so this was no meritless prize. Warren Douglas of Ottumwa, Iowa, found this particular car five years ago where it wasn't kept as a winner. It was rusty and if the parts were even there, they were unusable. He would have to re-create this car from scratch, using its history as a guide. A gentleman named Kevin Marti has created a database, called the Marti Report, for early Mustangs and other popular Ford passenger cars. This is where Warren was able to get the detailed option list that came on the car from the factory. Though none of the options on Warren's car survived the years, he wanted to build the car back to its original specifications. Lucky for him: this car had a long list of highly sought-after options. This would be fun!

Over the years, Warren accumulated parts to bring it closer to new. He filled the empty engine bay with a 351 Cleveland as the VIN specified. It also came with a four-barrel carburetor, wide-ratio, four-speed transmission, console, and bucket seats. The hidden headlights were a little harder to discover, but he managed. His favorite part of the rebuild was adding the once-present shaker hood and twist hood locks.

"I may not drive the Torino on the salted roads of the winter, but she is by no means a trailer queen," Warren says. He spent a lot of time and money to get this car exactly how it was, and he now enjoys the heck out of it.

By The Numbers