Muscle Car FC

Named after an Alabama town where a new 2.66-mile superspeedway was opened, the Talladega had an extended nose and flush grille. A revised Torino rear bumper was used up front and the rocker panels were reworked. The result was a car 6 inches longer and 1 inch lower than a stock Torino fastback. NASCAR teams started from stock and enhanced their Talladegas
In stock format, power came from a 335-hp CJ-428 available only with Cruise-O-Matic. Ford wanted stocks car drivers, not street racers, to create the Torino's performance image. They did. David Pearson won his second straight championship driving for Holman & Moody.
Early race cars ran the 427. Beginning in March, they got the new "semi-hemi" 429. The 429s were not put in showroom cars, since Boss 429 Mustangs satisfied race-sancrioning requirements for that motor. The '69 Talladegas were fastm but their '70 replacements were five mph slower on the big tracks. As a result, factory teams ran year-old models at many tracks during the '70 season. Counting prototypes, Talladega production easily passed 500 and hit 754. The cars came in Wimbleton White, Royal Maroon, or Presidential Blue with black bench seats

After ’71, Javelins and AMXs shared bodies, though the four-seat AMX had a cowlinduction hood, spoilers, badges, and special trim. A 245-hp two-barrel 360 V-8 was standard. A four-barrel gave you 40 extra ponies. The real muscle-car mill was a new 330-hp 401 based on the AMC 390. The 401 made the Javelin-AMX a muscle car. Driver George Follmer took the ’71 and ’72 Trans-Am titles with Javelins. Only 2,054 Javelin-AMXs were produced in ’71, and only a fraction of those had the 401. Besides being the most powerful Javelin engine ever, the ’71 version of the 401 was the last to require premium gas. The 401 was also used in some ’71 Javelin SSTs, such as a fleet of 100 Alabama State police Interceptors. After ’71, the 401 was de-tuned for unleaded. It dropped to 255 net hp, but the ’72 (0 to 60 mph in 8.3 seconds/16.1-second quarter mile) and ’73 (0 to 60 mph in 7.7 seconds/15.5- second quarter-mile) Javelins with the 401 were still pretty hot cars. Javelin-AMX output increased to 3,220 in ’72 and 5,707 in ’73, before tapering to 4,980 in ’74, the fi nal year. A “Trans-Am Victory” package was offered only in ’73. It included commemorative fender decals.