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1969 Ford Petty Torino

You may have seen them on eBay and may has read about them on some Forums but was there really a 1969 Petty Blue Torino? In other articles and pages on this site we have discussed the 1968 Mercury Cyclone GT 500 and other Specials. From all that I have been able to find it appears that the Petty Blue 1969 Torino was real and was much like the 1969 Mercury Cyclone Dan Gurney and Cale Yarborough Spoilers. It was a special Ford promotion for the 1969 Charlotte 600. It is reported that there only 100 such cars built.

These 100 cars were all identical 351 Cleveland powered C6 automatics. Obviously, Mercury had the Dan Gurney and Cale Yarborough Spoiler and Spoiler II tribute cars but why didn’t Ford have one? It appears that they did; and it was the Richard Petty Blue Torino. Remember this was a big year for Ford, The King had left the MOPAR Team and joined up with Ford and drove a Petty Blue Torino. To make the story complete I should be able to tell you that there were also Petty Blue Talladegas just like the Mercury Spoiler II Cale and Dan cars with the long noses but such is not the case. However, Ford did build three 428 CJ C6 automatic Petty Blue Torinos!

I recently received a call from the owner of one of the 428 CJ cars. He is interested in selling it and I will provide the contact info to anyone who is interested. Just send me an email to rfleener@comcast.net.

The car shown here is now owned by Otto Bryant. He has owned it approximately a year and a half. It was ordered on February 20, 1969 and built on March 11, 1969. It was then sent to a holding facility until it was given away as part of a contest. I am unaware of the details of the contest but would like to get more information if anyone has it.

This particular car still has most of its original paint and is rust free. It has been garaged all of it life of 99,000 miles. The owner does have a Marti Report and Build Sheet confirming its pedigree. It is believed that Richard himself handed the keys to the winner of the contest and that the other two 428 CJ cars are in the Richard Petty private collection and have never been titled, but this has not been confirmed.

In addition to the C6 automatic the Torino has a bench seat, oil cooler, PS and white sidewalls. This was a non-ram air car with the only other option being an AM radio.

 

We have received new updated information on these cars that can be found by Clicking Here.

We have now added a Registry for these cars on our sister site www.TalladegaSpoilerRegistry.com If you have one of these cars or know the VIN of one of them please go to that site and Register the car. There is no charge to Register and all info (other than that the owner wants to restrict) will be available online.

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Richard

I grew up and lived in Iowa for a good portion of my life before moving to Southern California. After 20+ years we now live outside Nashville Tennessee. I have been into cars since I was old enough to remember. I don't have a brand loyalty although I do prefer American Muscle especially the 1969/1970 NASCAR Aero Cars. (Check out our other web site at www.TalladegaSpoilerRegistry.com site) As long as it has four wheels and an engine I get excited. Few men are lucky enough to be able to share their passion for cars with the woman they love. Fortunately, my wife, Katriana, is also a gear head and many of our activities revolve around the cars. We have a small collection that includes at least one car from each of the Big Three. It includes a Best of Show winner, a survivor, a driver with lots of patina and several others. Katrina prefers all original cars while I like to modify them so we have a few of each. When we aren't playing with cars we are out working with or showing our miniature donkeys. You can see more about that part of our lives at http://www.LegendaryFarms.com.

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