Talladega Prototype Trio

During a daily on-line search of the North Carolina Craig’s list web-site a self proclaimed “car nut” comes across an ad for a 1969 Ford Torino Talladega. Intrigued by the listing he coaxes his father into taking the 3 hour trip south from his residence in Tennessee.   They looked the car over and discovered it had options not normally found on the vehicles Ford Motor Company manufactured as the production version of the Torino Talladega. The pair left empty handed.

 Acting on a hunch Jason Thompson started researching and discovered the 1969 Torino Talladega was the first prototype he’d heard about years before.  An article mentioned a prototype was produced with the exact options as the one he and his father had come across earlier. It was around midnight when Jason had his facts together and the evidence needed to convince himself this one was a rare find. At 4:00 AM he and his father hit the road with a flat bed open trailer attached to the back of their pickup truck on a mission determined to not return home empty handed. They purchased one of the rarest and most desirable aero cars.  The Talladega with its Candy Apple Red paint, R-code engine and documented as the first prototype put it in the “rare finds class”. It’s arguably the Talladega to own.
When they found the car in a salvage yard it had original Candy Apple Red paint, C-stripe, original interior, and prototype modifications intact. The Talladega appeared to have not been altered and the odometer read 15,000. It was complete and in need of a total restoration.