No secrets here guys so here's the straight skinny as I know it so far. This could be lengthy so I'll break it up into sections...
THE COST - $ 3,000.00 green money.
THE HISTORY - This car was purchased new at Randall-Sanders Ford Lincoln Mercury in Rogers, Arkansas in January of 1969. The original owners gave it to their kid to drive to school at The University of Tulsa in Tulsa Oklahoma, about 120 miles away from their home in Rogers. The car sat in the owners garage for a number of years in the late 70's and early 80's. Then in 1985 they sold it to the wifes' brother for his son to drive to school at The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, about 20 miles from his Rogers home. In the spring of 1988 the car had an underhood fire which was extinguished with water. The car was then parked in a building until 2007 when the 3rd owner purchased it. He was a good friend of both families and has known this car since new. Some where along the way the right door was repainted for unknown reasons. It has no hail, flood or significant collision history.
THE DRIVETRAIN - Don't get too excited about the peformance angle of this car. It is
NOT a Cale Yarborough Special even though it was
factory painted this way. It is a plain Jane 302 2 barrel with automatic, AM radio, hubcaps, special order paint and whitewall tires being its' only options. I've got the Marti report on the car and I'll post some pics of the report highlights. It would be great if it were an R code SCJ Drag-Pak car... but it isn't.
THE KNOWN DETAILS - This was a special order car out of the Memphis ordering district. We know for sure that it was ordered this way by Mercury and then distributed to the dealer. There were a number of identical twins built, each identical in every way. We aren't sure how many, but certainly less than 100. Interestingly enough there is a twin built several days
AFTER this car with a serial number
10 digits EARLIER than mine. All of this is a proven fact. Allegedly the batch of identical cars were all serial numbered and built within a period of a couple of weeks or less.
LEGEND HAS IT - Mercury was having a hard time meeting the required number of Spoiler II's needed to satisfy NASCAR's homologation rules. NASCAR mandated 500 production units ( for sale to the public ) in order for the car to be legal for competition. Supposedly Mercury ordered that a number of base "W" nose Cyclones be painted and striped like the Yarborough cars. Mercury then parked them all in a neat little huddle in a parking lot, surrounded them with slope nose Spoiler II's and invited the NASCAR folks to come over and count roof tops. Since all the tops and sides looked alike ( the big difference was the extended fenders and grille mods ), NASCAR allegedly counted roof tops and was satisfied that initial production requirements had been met. This is all a mixture of educated guesses and legend. I currently have some very well connected friends working to authenticate the "decoy" theory. The Marti report confirms that very few cars were painted and striped like this one and this figure includes the Cale Yarborough cars. Whatever the end of the story tells us about this old girl... I am confident that her history is significant. I've already decided that the vanity plate will read DECOY.
THE CARS CONDITION - This old car is rock solid with NO rust through anywhere. I'll need the front fender and hood trim, carpet, seat upholstery, headliner and an am radio. I've got a 69 Torino located with 15,637 actual miles that I'll be harvesting the engine, trans and underhood accessories from. ( It's a 2 door hardtop Torino coupe if anyone needs a rust free rolling body. ) I'll be pulling the original engine and trans this summer, blasting the engine compartment and repainting to do the reassembly. The carpet and headliner are readily available but I'm stumped on the seat fabric. Maybe I can find some repro fabric to do the seat right. I also need to find another hood to bolt a Cyclone hood scoop on and I need another deck lid to bolt a spoiler on. I'll put the original panels on the shelf so I don't ruin the original pieces. I'll also be having the car painted and restriped. I want the car to look a little sportier and adding the replacement panels, scoop and spoiler will do the trick.
CURRENT STATUS - The car currently resides in my shop here in Springdale, Arkansas. She's snuggled in between my rotisserie restored 73 Mach 1 and my wifes' 91 Thunderbird SC. The Cyclone will take on the role of Sunday driver for my wife when completed.
With respect to parts sources, I'm all ears. If you can help me find the hood, deck, chrome, spoiler, scoop etc ... I'd really appreciate it. I have spent over 2 decades buying, selling and trading parts. In fact I'll be at Petit Jean in a few weeks selling off some of my small collection of new chrome Dorman brand lug nuts. I found a deal on 40,000 nuts a while back, so I bought them. I'll be on row SS, just look for the yellow topped canopy.
Thanks for the votes of confidence guys. I'm really excited to get this old girl home and get to work on her soon. She's going to make a really nice driver. If you've got a line on parts, give me a ring.
Dean Bitner 479-263-3326
Thank goodness for the wheel dollies
This is a full shop...
Marti Report production info...
Marti Report options info ...
