Is it the Real Deal?

If you have been around the 1969 Ford/Mercury Aero Cars for very long you are most likely considered an expert on them around your friends. These cars are so rare and accurate information on them is so hard to find that any accurate knowledge of the cars is unique. I often get asked is the car advertised on eBay or Craig’s list the Real Deal? It is far from unusual to see our Aero Cars misrepresented or the facts surrounding them greatly distorted in sellers’ ads.

One recent example was a 1969 Mercury Cyclone Color Code car that was poorly restored with numerous incorrect modifications. What is worse, the car was represented as a Spoiler and a Spoiler II all in the same ad! Of course, neither of which it was. I am not knocking the Color Code cars they are equally rare and desirable but simply are not Spoilers and should not be advertised or sold as such. When ever I see an ad for such cars (some even going to well known and televised auctions) advertised incorrectly I bring it to the seller’s attention and direct them to this site to get more information. I have only once had a seller ask for follow up info and none has ever thanked me.

It is also not uncommon to have a potential buyer contact me regarding a specific car they are looking at and considering purchasing. They also usually want a value which is next to impossible to do without seeing the car and doing a thorough inspection. Even then so few of these cars hit the market there are no real good consistent comparables.

When ever a car is found that is being misrepresented I always try to list that information on the web site VIN Registration page and on the For Sale and Sold Prices page. If you ever see a car you think might be misrepresented please try to get as much information as possible and pass it on to us to verify.

It is through this process that we also found two “Gap” Talladegas. These were cars that no one had records of. Since they were not on the master VIN list they were subject of concern. Marti Reports verified them as real and both

have since been added to the  master list of VINs for the Talladega.

We are also keeping a list of VINs for any known “clones, recreations or tribute cars” that may be out there. This is much less of a problem with our cars than the Camaro and Chevelle performance models but never the less there are some out there.