page_title: Ford Torino Talladega
section_title: Racing involvement
hierarchical_section_title: Ford Torino Talladega / Racing involvement
caption_attribution_description: English: Reproduction of David Pearson's NASCAR Championship Talladega
context_page_description: The Ford Torino Talladega is a muscle car that was produced by Ford only during the first few weeks of 1969. It was named for the Talladega Superspeedway, which opened the same year. The Talladega was a special, more aerodynamic version of the Torino / Fairlane Cobra, produced specifically to make Ford even more competitive in NASCAR racing, and it was sold to the public only because homologation rules required a certain minimum number of cars be produced and made available.
  A largely equivalent vehicle was also sold under the Mercury marque as the Cyclone Spoiler II.
context_section_description: Racing versions of the car were initially fitted with the FE 427 side oiler engine that had been Ford's main racing engine since 1963. Later in the season, the Boss 429 engine was used by many of the teams, after it had finally been declared "officially homologated" by NASCAR president Bill France. The Boss 429 engine was homologated in the 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429. In a very unusual move, Ford homologated the engine separately from the car in which it was to race. Many experts think this may have been done in order to get the bodywork of the Talladega officially homologated at the beginning of the 1969 race season, as the Boss 429 was not yet in production in sufficient numbers to homologate it. All production Talladegas were actually equipped with the new 428 Cobra Jet, which, while very powerful and reliable, was intended as a street engine for Ford's muscle cars, as it developed high torque at low RPMs, rather than being a high-revving race engine.
caption: Reproduction of David Pearson's 1969 NASCAR Championship Talladega
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