Two Ford Talladega Prototypes for Banjo Matthews; an Update
We have been keeping you posted on the very special and very rare Ford Talladegas that will be appearing at the Forge Muscle Car Show In Kingsport, TN on October 1 and 2, 2010. Now we have even more info. The owners, Jason and Clarence Thompson, have provided us with a few new pics of the Banjo car during it current restoration. You can start to see some of the prototype differences even at this early stage of the restoration.
You can see that they have left all the original paint on the rocker panels. Jason said that the modification of the rocker panels was so weird that they left the original paint on them so everyone can see exactly how they were done. The rockers were pop riveted, and tack welded with brass in a few spots on the driver’s side and just pop riveted on the passenger’s side. Possibly the factory either had different people building each side, or they learned what was and wasn’t necessary from one side to the other. They covered all of this work with rocker molding, so none of the modifications would be visible when the car was completed. The restoration will include a provision to make the rocker panels removable at shows so people can see how it was done.
The Talladega as it appeared in magazines back in the day!
You can also see how they extended the headlights, and grill. Its pretty neat how they did things.
