1969 Ford Torino Talladega from North America - Comments

The gas gage is unreliable - hey, it's nearly 40 years old...

This is a very rare muscle car that ushered in the "aero wars" in racing (especially in NASCAR). It is one of only 754 total units (1 of only 743 production models) that were built by Ford specifically to homologate Ford's race cars in 1969. At that time, the cars that appeared in NASCAR had to start life as real cars, and a minimum of 500 had to be built and sold to the public by a manufacturer before they would be approved for racing. This is the car that dominated the super-speedways in 1969, and led Chrysler to build the Daytona - too little, too late. It continued to do extremely well in 1970 when Bill France finally pulled the plug on the specially built aero cars from that ere.

This car has tons of torque from the 428 CJ. This car handles like most cars from the 60s, which is poor by today's standards, but, very good for 1969 technology. It also has great top end. From the factory, they were rated for a top speed of 135+. However, that was a very conservative rating for these cars. The styling of these cars makes them appear to be flying, even when they are parked.

It is really nice to have a rare muscle car from the late sixties that not only looks really fast, it is. It is a real head turner and a head scratcher for most, as these cars were so rare that very few people actually saw one when they were new, except on Sunday afternoons. These cars were all built during a six week period in January and February of 1969 at Ford's Atlanta plant, using parts that were designed and fabricated by the Holman-Moody Racing Team to help Ford with their latest Going Thing, during their Total Performance years. This car will absolutely scream when that big 4 barrel kicks in.

These cars so dominated the high speed tracks on Sundays that NASCAR actually rewrote the rules to virtually outlaw them and the others that followed in their wake.

This review sounds like it was written by someone who knows a lot about the Torino Talladega, but doesn't, um, actually own one. A lot of history and production info, very little about owning or driving one...

Interesting reflection. However, you are incorrect.

Yes, I do own one. If you would care to see a photo (actually 4 pages worth) of my car, go to the March 2008 Issue of Muscle Car Review magazine.

The comment about the Dodge Daytona being "too little, too late" is also incorrect. They neglect to mention the Daytona's twin, the 1970 Plymouth Superbird, which dominated NASCAR to the point that they were banned from racing because there was virtually no competition against them --- no, not even from the Talladega.

Sorry to disappoint the Chrysler fans, but, even Richard Petty saw the obvious difference in 1969 and he gave up his factory ride at Plymouth to drive a Talladega. In 1969 Ford dominated NASCAR and won the manufacturers championship. David Pearson, driving a 69 Talladega, won the driver's championship.

The Plymouth Superbird was a 1970 model. Ford effectively pulled out of racing in 1970 due to pressure from Congressional hearings and certain environmental groups. The 1970 "King Cobra" that would have been built to compete against the Plymouth Superbird was stillborn after only 3 prototypes had been built. In 1970, Chrysler had the whole field to themselves as Ford and GM had both pulled out of racing.

Sorry to disappoint you guys. Check the numbers. Even if you average the 1969 and 1970 NASCAR seasons, Ford still dominated, even though in 1970 there was no factory support, and the teams were racing "last year's models" against the latest greatest that Chrysler could throw at them.

For those of you who weren't around (or can no longer remember clearly), I highly recommend that you peruse the data located at the following MOPAR website. I think you will find it very enlightening.

http://aerowarriors.com/naw.html

Enjoy!

Coulda-shoulda-woulda. Superbird was standing at the end, and Talladega was nowhere in sight. Yes or no?

Sorry, but I think you'll see it was the Daytona and Superbird that slammed the door on Ford, although Ford's Talladega and Cyclone were superior to the '68 Charger and the Charger 500. However, the '69 Charger 500 is NOT the '69 Charger Daytona.

http://www.superbird.com/daysb.html

Don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate what Dodge brought to the table, I mean "the track," with the Daytona in 1969, and what Plymouth brought with the Superbird in 1970. However, the bottom line was that the Talladega (and Ford) won the 1969 season, and made a very strong showing in 1970 with their "last year's models" and very little, if any, factory support.

In 1969, the Talladega was king, and the King (Richard Petty) drove a Talladega (both on the track, and off). 1969 is also the year that a Talladega won at Daytona and a Daytona won at Talladega (during the Professional Drivers Association boycott of that race).

It was a great time for John Q Public, in general, as these innovative cars had to all be available for sale to the public! Of course, as long as we're throwing the "what if" statements around, it does create some interesting fodder to think about how things might have been different if Richard Petty had been with Chrysler in 1969 and 1970, or with Ford for both years at the pinnacle of the aero wars. The fact that his time was split in both camps, probably evened the playing field as much as it could have.

The Superbird didn't even exist in 1969, and the Daytona didn't show up until very late in the 1969 season at the Talladega show. (Calling that year's Talladega event a race is like calling professional wrestling a sport.) They were both good cars, but, the Talladega still dominated the 1969 NASCAR season. (Check the records!)

As far as NASCAR rewriting the rules to eliminate cars, it specifically named five aero cars: the Dodge Charger 500, the Ford Talladega, the Mercury Spoiler II, the Dodge Daytona, and the Plymouth Superbird.

All five of these cars were NASCAR homologation specials that Ford and Chrysler built specifically to race in NASCAR. They didn't care about making money on any of them. They had to make a minimum of 500 copies of each in 1969 (the rules required a few more in 1970 - I believe 2000) in order to race them. They had to be made available for sale, but they didn't even have to be sold - many of the Daytonas and Superbirds actually languished on dealers' lots for years before they could be sold at very steep discounts and often after having more conventional front ends installed and the wings removed. (A criminal act, if I ever heard of one.)

However, in 1971 Bill France rewrote the rules to close the door on these "race special" models that were coming out of Ford and Chrysler.

I appreciate the enthusiasm, but, don't let your enthusiasm for your personal favorite blind you to the truth.

True, Petty left Plymouth to drive for Ford in 1969. However, Petty subsequently left Ford and returned to Plymouth in 1970. If you say one, you have to tell the whole story. If you used that as justification to state that Ford was better than Plymouth in 1969, then you also have to agree that Plymouth was better than Ford in 1970 for the same reason.

I agree with the first comment. You have done a lot of background reading, but I don't believe that you own the car. You just want to talk about how great the Talladega was.

It's strange that what began as a simple review of an old car that was "restored from the grave" has become someone's personal attack forum. Since this particular individual can't seem to accept facts about the 1969 NASCAR season, and where the Ford Talladega fit into it, I see about as much hope of convincing them that I actually own my car, as I would probably have of convincing them that Neil Armstrong actually did set foot on the moon. (I'm pretty sure that he did!)

I have already explained where there are 4 pages of glossy pictures and an article about my car. Short of running the reader over with my Talladega, I see little hope of convincing said person of its actual existence.

However, I did purchase my car in 2001, when it was sitting in the woods after it had been used as a parts car by its previous owner for a Mustang project. I spent 6 years and a fair amount of money trying to restore it to its original condition. During this same time period, I have tried to read everything that I could on these rare and relatively forgotten cars that were such an important part of stock car racing in 1969.

I took my Talladega to the Fairlane Nationals in June of 2007, and I have continued to take it to local car shows since that time. No, I don't drive it to work every day. It is not a daily driver. However, I do drive it to car shows and cruise in events.

My car has been seen by a fairly significant number of people, some in person, some through their readership of the MuscleCar Review magazine, and some electronically at various websites. I realize that I am almost certainly wasting my time, but, there are a few photos that you are welcome to view at the following website:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/your_garage/cars/8112.shtml

A few other photos appear at:

http://www.fairlaneclubofamerica.com/content.aspx?page_id=188&club_id=363066&module_id=27104&pp=1

A couple more of it at a local car show appear at:

http://rides.hotrod.com/ride/1004841/cjsharp/1969/ford/torino/index.html

Now, show me yours, if you can!