Car Spotlight>><br/>torino Talladega

Heading to the Shelby Reunion, I expected to see all sorts of Shelby Cobras and G.T.350s running around the Pomona Road Course. What I wasn’t expecting to see were vintage stock cars. As I walked through the paddock and saw this Ford Torino Talladega prepping for action, I huge smile across my face.

You can’t go wrong with any stock car from the ’60s and ’70s, but Ford’s Talladega has to be one of the greatest. Named after the famous superspeedway in Alabama, the Talladega was an aerodynamically enhanced version of the Torino that Ford introduced in 1969.

This particular Talladega is the #98 car, as driven by LeeRoy Yarbrough. I couldn’t determine whether or not it’s an original competition car from ’69, but if not it’s one hell of a recreation.

The NASCAR interior as it was in the late ’60s. By this point stock cars had already started to diverge from their production roots, but still very much “stock” when compared to today’s cars.

Under the hood is Ford’s thumping Boss 429. Although it became famous when Ford dropped it in the Mustang, the “semi-hemi” Boss 429 motor was designed specifically for NASCAR use and found its way into the Mustang thanks to homologation rules.

NASCAR will probably never return to the days of true “stock car” racing, but thanks to cars like this one the younger generation can still experience what it was like back in the glory days.

-Mike Garrett

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1

It's neat to see some of these older Nascars still showing up at events. It was always more interesting to see racers based on actual road car profiles rather than the current crop of spec racers with a corporate grill sticker and a logo, but all relatively the same shape. Check out this custom tribute to the Talladega at Rad Rides by Troy.
 
http://www.radrides.com/images/1969TorinoL.jpg

2
greenroadster

Great looking car! Not a fan of Nascar, but this car is amaizingly good looking and very cool in 2012. I would love to hear her on the track.

3
greenroadster

Great looking car! Not a fan of Nascar, but this car is amaizingly good looking and very cool in 2012. I would love to hear her on the track.

4
tenpennyjimmy

Cool. But im afraid i agree with somebody's comment on another recent post that these spotlights are too brief! What's up Mr Garrett? Your posts are usually my favourites.

5
tenpennyjimmy

Cool. But im afraid i agree with somebody's comment on another recent post that these spotlights are too brief! What's up Mr Garrett? Your posts are usually my favourites.

6

thank you for spotlighting this, not a fan of NASCAR either but i do love the 60's and 70's era stock cars they have alot of soul.

7
Fredericks Balls

Thats the last spotlight by Mike Garrett i'm reading. 4 or 5 pictrures. How is that a spotlight? The last one I read it was obvious he hadn't even spoke to the owner as the car wasn't even opened. Come on, this car looks awesome but we dont even see the back or engine bay??!! At least get a spec list and pictures of the whole car and some info on its history if its a car like this.

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