Collector Cars provide a lot of enjoyment and help meet new friends. This often begins with the search for just the right car and expands as the car is acquired and restoration, if needed, begins. Once the car is back on the road the enjoyment really explodes; there are the cruises, shows and the Sunday drives with the family on backroads. However, if you have not yet traced the history of your ride you may be missing one of the best parts of owning the car. One of the first things I do when I get a car that is going to be part of our family for the long term is start tracing its history. I want to know more about it and what it has been through and what it has experienced. When you first met your spouse you wanted to know as much about that person as you could and the more you learned the more you understood and loved that person. It is the same with that special car, get to know its history.
We like to publish such stories about our “Family of Talladega cars”. We recently received an update from one of our car buddies, Wayne Perkins. He owns a Cale Yarborough Spoiler II that he has restored. Here is Wayne’s update.
My Cale Yarborough Spoiler II was one of two sold new from Kumpf Lincoln-Mercury in Denver. There must have been some dealer wheeling and dealing on these two cars since the Cale’s were to be sold east of the Mississippi and the Gurney’s sold west of the Mississippi.
At any rate on 1-16-1970 Don Grandstaff bought the car for $3902.00. According to his son Kerry, the car came from the dealer with a “red” wing instead of the normal “black” wing and no fender (Cale) decals. These items were installed by the dealer, so it is very possible the dealer painted the wing to match the car. (Editors Note: The wings for the Spoilers and Spoiler IIs came from the factory unpainted. They were made in a semi-gloss black plastic. It would be reasonable for a dealer to believe they should be painted and could have done them in the standard competition black to match the hood scoop or paint them the same color as the roof and trunk; red for Cale cars and blue for Gurney cars. We have seen several orignal cars with body colored spoilers.)
On 1-3-1978 Vivian Zook bought the car. Then it was sold to Sunset Motors on 9-21-1984. After the Winged Warriors National meet in Denver, when the Fords and Mercurys were dropped from the club, I contacted the Ford director looking for a SPII. He said there was a nice one in Denver. So I called and asked about the car, flew out and bought the car, and drove it home 12-8-1984. As it would turn out this is the longest road trip for this car in almost 30 years. I gave $4067.00 for it with 81,155 miles and it now has just 87,000.
The car was in an accident during a surprise snow storm, where the rear name panel got dented and the front end got damaged. When I bought the car I knew the hood had been replaced because it had the holes for trim the SPII never had. Upon restoring the car I noticed the header panel had been replaced with NOS part (part number showing) and some damage to the driver’s fender.
The car’s interior is still original with only the back of the driver’s seat being replaced years ago. I would like to thank all the previous owners for keeping the original paper work, it is so cool and something most of us never see.
In the photo Kerry (left) Rick (center) myself (right)
