Michael Callahan from Cincinnati, Ohio, always dreamed about going to Bonneville with a street car and getting into the 150MPH Club.
After he retired from the printing business the search for a 150mph street car commenced. He wasn’t after any specific car, with his parameters being for something he could easily modify aerodynamically, and performance-wise too. In 2015 he found the car he thought would work for sale in California, this 1969 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II. It hit him that this would be the perfect type of production car to make an attempt for his dream.
Rumors over the years have speculated that actually only 351 Cyclone Spoiler IIs were built, and that Mercury assembled “503” Spoiler IIs as verification for NASCAR, with the cars further back of the assemblage actually being standard Wimbleton White Cyclones. Supposedly NASCAR didn’t notice the difference when doing a quick count.
Michael’s changes to meet SCTA specs to race the course included a 4-point roll bar, driveshaft loop, V-rated tires, 5-point harness and seat brace, and a handful of other additions. When he put it on a chassis dyno a few other changes were deemed necessary to surpass 150mph at Bonneville. Beehive valve springs with titanium retainers were added, an Edelbrock air-gap intake replaced the single plane manifold, 16-inch rear wheels were added to gain speed, an aluminum driveshaft replaced the clunky original, and many minor changes were made to the Holley. But keep in mind that this car runs a mechanical fuel pump, stock pistons, rods and bottom end. With those changes the Merc ran 168mph simulated on the chassis dyno at 5900rpm.
Michael drove the Spoiler 1800 miles to Bonneville. Getting there for Tech Day, he passed tech and the next day ran 154mph on his first pass, with a backup pass of 153mph, making it into the 150MPH Club no problem. This was done with windshield wipers and side mirrors, the tune he drove it to Bonneville with, and a mix of 91 octane gas the car had for the trip to Utah, and some 100 octane gas he picked up on the course.
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/mercury-cyclone-spoiler-ii-got-owner-150mph-club-bonneville/
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