| History of 1970 Pace Car : |
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1970 pace car story
Sources: John Vermisch (Ford Motor Company, actually worked on project) Terry Fritts (expert on Twister cars) Jerry Heasley (author of multiple Mustang articles and books) Lois Eminger (Mustang historian) John Craft (author of numerous automotive articles and books) Various other Ford employees and mustang enthusiast
In 1969 Ford was looking for ways to promote their hi-performance image, at the same time American International Raceway (owned by Larry Lopatin) was looking for any free supply of cars he could get for his 4 existing and one yet to be built NASCAR tracks. There is a lot of “legends” of how this deal was struck and who the real players were. Confirmed facts are as follows: Ford agreed to supply one modified convertible for actual pace car duties and one stock fast back Mach 1 as a back up car, for each of the five tracks. The attached info attests to the delivery. Ford executives did not want the cars modified by an outside contractor because Ford’s claim to performance might be questioned, so an internal group from the engineering, marketing and other people interested in racing was assembled as a special project team. The five convertibles were built in October of 1969 and delivered to the “I R” building garage on Ford’s corporate complex grounds, After a lot a research I discovered that the building was actually an original test and engineering facility for Ford tractors and was mostly used to store old junk. The team simply asked the facilities manager where they could get some temporary space to complete this project.
As you know no one has ever seen a 1970 convertible 428 ‘R” code with air conditioning except for these pace cars.
It is still hard to determine exactly which modifications were done on the assembly line and which ones after. The list as far as I know consist of the following:
After the modifications were done, the cars were delivered to American International Raceway at their Detroit office. One car each was sent to Atlanta Ga, Riverside Ca, Michigan International Raceway, and one to the Texas track, the fifth car that was built for the un-built New Jersey track was used at the other tracks as a second or back up car since the New Jersey track was never built. There is “rumor” that each track received one of the stock Mach 1’s with decals as seen in the attached photos, however, no one to date has either produced a photo of these cars off Ford’s cooperate office grounds and none have surfaced. It is possible that they were used for the photos and then stripped of the decals and sold as regular Mach 1’s???? A bill of sale/agreement of how the Atlanta car was transferred from Ford to American International Raceway is attached. This one was found in legal documents in Georgia. I presume that each car had similar documents but none have been found. As you can see Ford wanted the cars back at the end of 1970. An unforeseen event took place in 1970, American International Raceway went bankrupt and a federal judge had all their assets seized including the cars. Ford soon lost interest in retrieving the cars and they were sold in each of their respective states a year latter. I was able to find the original window sticker, copy of the MSO, and the bill of sale/agreement in an old legal file in the Georgia federal bankruptcy court dead storage. Since I was the current legal owner they gave me the originals and they kept copies. I found the car through a friend who worked at a Ford dealer in the Atlanta area who phoned one day and asked if I would be interested in a 1970 “R” code convertible that someone wanted to trade-in for a new Saleen. The dealership didn’t want the car and he thought I might, My first reaction was “there is no such thing” he gave me the serial number and immediately called Lois Eminger, She assured me she not only had a copy of the window sticker but it was one of 5 built with consecutive numbers and that she thought it was a old pace car, fours hours latter I flew to Atlanta with cash and bought the car at the dealership. The car still had the original paint and interior. The ghost images from the decals could be seen on the paint. Everything was there except for the anti-pollution system. It was just old and worn out.
I know from photos that several promotional cars were sold trough dealerships, all were fastbacks and completely stock except for the decals, I have seen photo’s of “351” cars as well as “428” cars. There is no documentation of what cars were sold this way. I think the dealers ordered decal sets and simply installed the on cars in stock.
I decided I wanted to restore the car as an MCA Thoroughbred car. The car was stripped to the bare unibody, sanded to the bare metal then restored. Every part on the car is original as to the correct part number and the right date code. It has been judged numerous times in the Thoroughbred class at National MCA shows and has scored a perfect score plus bonus points for paper work. John Vermisch at Ford, who worked on the original project, supplied me with countless information as well as the original patterns for the decals. I produced the new decals for the Michigan car. The engine and transmission were rebuilt to original specs but was only started once briefly to become MCA certified, then never started again to keep the exhaust in “as new condition”.
Including all the so called “Mustang experts” this particular car has no disputed history or originality.
This car needs absolutely nothing to compete in the MCA Thoroughbred class except it would have to be started now due to rule changes that require all cars to pass tech inspection.
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