Vehicle Description
To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys' Auburn Fall event, 30
August - 2 September 2018.
Estimate:
$45,000 - $55,000
The original NASCAR �aero car'One of only 738 built for
homologationAll-original, numbers-matching example
With racing engines already producing incredible amounts of
horsepower, manufacturers who competed in NASCAR in the mid-'60s
turned to aerodynamics to make their cars faster. Ford's answer was
the Torino Talladega. Based on the production Torino SportsRoof,
the first of the so-called �aero cars' had to first meet
homologation requirements before taking to the track. Legend has it
that Ford came up a little short of the 100 examples required to
begin the season, having only completed 40 cars by the deadline. It
is said that NASCAR president Bill France was fooled into counting
each of the completed cars multiple times when NASCAR legend Ralph
Moody played a trick on France at the Ford factory. With the
homologation requirement satisfied, by ruse or otherwise, the
Torino Talladega would go on to win 26 races and both the driver's
and manufacturer's championships for the 1969 season. Ford would
ultimately complete 738 production Talladegas. The car offered here
is one such example.
This superb example of the original �aero car' is being offered
from the private collection of NASCAR legend Ray Evernham. This
Talladega is all original with just 78,898 miles on the odometer at
the time of cataloguing. It presents beautifully in Presidential
Blue, one of just three original colors for the Torino Talladega,
the others being Royal Maroon and Wimbledon White. The mighty Cobra
Jet 428-cu. in. V-8 engine runs as expected and makes a proper
rumble, making the car equally suited to the show field as it was
the high banks at its namesake superspeedway in Alabama.
After the 1970 season was dominated by overwhelmingly fast aero
cars powered by massive V-8 engines, NASCAR changed the competition
rules. �Aero cars' were forced to use a much smaller, less powerful
engine. This effectively killed the aero wars overnight, and cars
like this Torino Talladega were no longer competitive. With today's
stock cars bearing little resemblance to the actual production
vehicle that bear the same nameplate, it seems likely that the era
will never be repeated. This Torino Talladega is an eminently
drivable throwback to the fastest days of America's most popular
spectator sport.To view this car and others currently consigned to
this auction, please visit the RM website at
rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/AF18.
