1969 Ford Torino Talladega 428 Coupe (LHD)

Description

The Torino Talledaga was the Blue Oval’s ultimate weapon in NASCAR’s aero wars and a key instrument in Ford’s Total Performance program for 1969. Having dominated stock car racing for the better part of a decade, Ford faced a new challenge in 1969 in the form of Dodge’s Charger 500 but the new Talladega ultimately proved to have the edge in top speed, while the surprise signing of Richard Petty helped tip the balance in Ford’s favour on the driver’s side. From March 1969, Ford also had the advantage of a new engine, the 429-cid unit having been homologated in the Boss 429 Mustang and proved to have the edge over Chrysler’s Hemi. The season turned out to be something of a Ford rout, with 26 wins (plus a further 4 with Mercury) against 22 by Dodge drivers and David Pearson, driving for the Holman-Moody outfit, secured the his second consecutive driver’s crown with 11 wins from 51 starts. Based on the Torino, the road legal Talladega (and sister Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II) was built in strictly limited numbers at Ford’s Atlanta plant in January 1969, with 754 completed just in time to homologate the car for the season ahead (a minimum of 500 were required). Based on the Torino “SportsRoof” fastback and named after the recently completed speedway in Alabama, the new model featured an extended nose with a flush grille for better aerodynamics, adding six inches in length. These were fabricated by the Holman-Moody shop in Charlotte then trucked down to Atlanta and fitted on the assembly lines over the weekends. Sold in just three colours (Wimbledon White, Royal Maroon and Presidential Blue), the Talladega featured a matt-black bonnet, stripped out interior and a 335 bhp 428 Cobra Jet engine. All were equipped with C6 automatic transmissions, 3.25:1 Traction-Lok and heavy-duty suspension, with Goodyear F70x14 Wide Oval tyres. Listing at $3,680.10, Ford’s factory-built stock car may have been a performance bargain but proved a slow mover in dealer showrooms. The Talladega was Ford’s swansong in stock car racing, proving faster than its 1970 replacement (the Torino Cobra) by as much as 5 mph on quicker tracks and many teams continued using the older model. Having achieved everything it possibly could in NASCAR, Ford decided to cancel it’s racing program, killing off the Talladega’s successor, the King Cobra.