1969 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler History
This is a continuation of our history of the Ford Talladega, Mercury Spoiler/Spoiler II
1969 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler Cale Yarborough Special 428 CJ Ram Air
As you may remember, Ford had to build 500 Talladegas to get the body modifications authorized for the track; this was also true with the Spoiler IIs. There was an urgency to get these 500 cars built but there were a very small number of potential buyers for these cars. Examples often sat on new car dealer lots for 18 months before selling at deep discounts. So what did Mercury do?
If you are not yet confused enough, Mercury not only built a Cyclone Spoiler II but they also built a Cyclone Spoiler. The Spoiler came only in the identical paint schemes as the Spoiler II but did not have any of the Spoiler IIs aero modifications (front end extension and rerolled rocker panels).
The best news was that you could order the Spoiler with any option that could be found on a regular Cyclone including the 351, 390 or 428 SCJ with Ram Air and even Drag-Pak! This gave the Mercury one up on the Talladega. If you wanted to forgo the aero package you could get the biggest engine Ford had along with 4-speed and Drag-Pak or even air conditioning in this NASCAR tribute package. The Spoiler without the extended aero nose is called the “W” nose for its shape as seen from above.
A total list of the VINs for Spoilers and Spoiler IIs has never been found like exists for the Talladegas. However, Mercury built both Spoiler IIs and Spoilers with the red and white paint job and the Blue and white paint jobs. The rumor goes that when the NASCAR inspectors showed up at the Lorain, Ohio factory to count the mandated 500 Spoiler IIs there weren’t enough built. The inspectors did see 500 red and blue tops but not all were Spoiler IIs. The factory pulled a fast one by parking the required number of easier to build Spoilers in the center of the parking lot and the real NASCAR Spoiler IIs on the outside edges.
If you think this was terrible, the Guy’s in the “White Hats” over at Dodge have been said to have done very similar with their aero car the 1969 Dodge Charger 500. Dodge just sat the inspectors from NASCAR down at one end of a building and kept running the same Chargers back in at the other end until 500 were accounted for!
It is widely believed that Mercury planed to sell the Cale Yarborough Spoiler IIs and Spoilers east of the Mississippi River and in the South while the Dan Gurney Spoilers were west of the Mississippi River and in the North through its dealer network. There is evidence to suggest this may have been the plan but it appears that there were exceptions. But we do know that the Spoiler II and the Spoiler by Mercury are very special cars.
