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Get ’em While You Can: These 8 NASCAR Specials Are on the Rise
Homologation specials have always been a fun subsection of the collector-car hobby. Only a few types of racing lend themselves to it, of course. No one ever homologated Top Fuel dragsters, for instance, but can you imagine …?
It seems the darlings of the race-cars-for-the-road realm are those built to satisfy rally regulations, especially the Group B flyers of the 1980s. Your Audi Quattros, your Lancia Delta Integrales, your Porsche 959s. Less talked-about, it seems, though no less important, are the American coupes and sedans that have propped up NASCAR stock car racing over the decades.
From its earliest, actual “stock car” days, NASCAR’s homologation edict called for 500 production units in order to qualify a car or its engine for competition. As the sport grew, so, too, did its rulebook, and the stipulations around homologation changed over the last 75 years. Today, enthusiasts with an interest in stock car racing have several choices when it comes to production machines with distinct similarities to their racing counterparts. Some have fared better than others in the collector-car market, but over the last five years, examples in #3 (good) condition are on the rise across the board, to varying degrees. Not all the NASCAR-adjacent cars on this list are homologation specials in the strictest sense, but each carries a rich connection to stock car racing’s past, which makes them worth seeking out.
1951–53 Hudson Hornet
The “Fabulous Hudson Hornet” dominated NASCAR racing in the early 1950s, with championship seasons in 1952, ’53, and ’54, including 27 wins in the ’52 season alone. Despite its on-track successes, however, by the middle of the decade, Hudson was in rough shape, and a merger with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation was seen as a last-ditch effort to save the company. Spoiler alert: It did not, in fact, save the company. The Hornet that appeared for 1955 was nothing like its revolutionary, lozenge-shaped “Step-Down” predecessor, and instead was simply a warmed over Nash, except it sold in even fewer numbers. By the summer of 1957, Hudson production ceased entirely.
Values for American cars of the 1950s have largely been flat over the last five years, with our ’50s American index gaining just 5% in that time. Twin-H–Powered 1953 Hornets, arguably the pinnacle of the model, however, have outpaced that segment, with #3 condition Hollywood hardtops up 12.8%, to $32,100, and #3 Club coupes up 13%, to $30,200.
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1969 Dodge Charger 500
By the late 1960s, NASCAR was red hot, and the Ford-Chrysler aero wars of 1969–70 turned up the fire to 11. Dodge’s 1968 Charger looked great and sold well, but it struggled on race tracks, especially the fast ones, thanks to its recessed grille and rear window. The fix, for 1969, was the Charger 500, which featured a revised rear window and a grille that was now flush with the leading edge of the hood and fenders. Wind-tunnel testing showed the changes to be major upgrades in efficiency. The results were practical on track, too, but they also kicked off even more development by Chrysler as well as Ford. Rules dictated that at least 500 had to be built, but that doesn’t seem to have been the case, and Dodge produced fewer than 400 of them. The car never proved as successful on the track as Chrysler hoped it would be.
Though the Charger 500 was largely overlooked in competition because of the “winged wonders” that immediately followed, and similarly overlooked in the market for the same reason, #3 values have been on the up over the last five years. Those equipped with the 375-horsepower 440-cubic-inch V-8 have climbed 51%, up to $67,900, while their 426 Hemi-powered counterparts, rated at 425 hp, have given far more modest gains, up 5%, to $146,000.
1969 Ford Torino Talladega & Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II
Almost before the Charger 500 turned a wheel in anger, Ford Motor Company had already formulated its response, with a pair of its own sleek hard chargers. Although Ford’s major coup of 1969 might have been plucking Richard Petty out of the well-worn driver’s seat of his Dodge, the car it put him in was no slouch. The Torino Talladega benefitted from the same grille-forward treatment as the Charger 500, to much better effect, and Fords won 26 of 54 races that season, including 11 in a row throughout the summer. Ford factory driver David Pearson claimed his third championship in four years. Meanwhile, LeeRoy Yarbrough and Cale Yarborough drove Mercury’s new Cyclone Spoiler to four wins.
Each car was homologated and offered for sale, with roughly 750 Torino Talladegas and 519 Cyclone Spoiler IIs produced. Curiously, Mercurys raced with Ford’s 429, though that engine was homologated in the Mustang 429, while the Mercury’s homologated body, with its six extra inches of nose, came only with a 290-hp Windsor 351, offered as either the Cale Yarborough Package or the Dan Gurney Package. These hot Mercs have gained significantly in the last five years, with values of #3 condition Cyclone Spoiler IIs up 103%, to $61,800. Street Torino Talladegas came with no such downgrade underhood, however, with their 428-cu-in V-8s making 335 hp. They are up 46%, to $68,300.
1969 Dodge Charger Daytona & 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird
Given Ford’s dominance over the 1969 racing season, it was readily apparent to Chrysler that simply inching the grille forward in a Charger wasn’t going to cut it. To win required something a little more … drastic. In the Charger Daytona and Plymouth Road Runner Superbird, things got drastic, indeed.
The Daytona debuted late in the ’69 season, at September’s inaugural race at Alabama Speedway (known since 1989 as Talladega Superspeedway). With their extra long, pointy noses and comically tall rear wings (23 inches), there was nothing “stock” about these machines. Although many drivers boycotted the race due to safety concerns over the rough surface and the speeds being achieved on the 2.66-mile tri-oval, Daytonas swept the first four places. While it’s fair to affix an asterisk to those results given the controversy, it was obvious how fast the new Dodge was, and Daytonas won seven of the remaining 11 races of the season.
With its nearly identical Superbird debuting for 1970, Plymouth wooed back Richard Petty, and the Superbirds of he and teammate Pete Hamilton took 21 victories (18 of which were Petty’s) while Daytonas claimed another 17. Ford had officially pulled out of racing, so competition from the remaining cash-strapped Ford-based teams amounted to little.
Dodge built 503 Daytonas in 1969, and these days the winged wonders live at the top of the muscle car hierarchy. Although they’ve retreated slightly from their pandemic-era highs, their overall trajectory remains healthy. The 375-hp 440-cu-in machines in #3 condition are up 36% over the last five years, to $228,000, while their Hemi-powered siblings will set you back about $541,000, up 21% in the same time frame. Plymouth was far more prolific with Superbird production, and various sources claim anywhere from 1920 to 1969 of them were built. You could get them with either a 375-hp four-barrel or 390-hp 3×2 “Six-Pack” 440 V-8, or with the Hemi 426, and today the lower-rated 440 car costs $136,000 in #3 condition, up 7% in the last five years, while the Six-Pack is up 47%, to $211,000. The Hemi Superbird, meanwhile, costs about $301,000 in #3 condition, up 35% in the last five years.
1974–76 Chevrolet Laguna Type S-3
By 1971, NASCAR’s rule changes had forced a ceasefire in the aero wars and largely put the “stock” back in stock car racing—in appearance if little else. General Motors, which had withdrawn factory support for motorsport throughout much of the 1960s, finally re-entered the fray (albeit unofficially) with its Monte Carlo, and by the middle of the decade, it and the Chevelle Laguna S-3 were regular front-runners in the hands of Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, and Benny Parsons.
Sold only as a coupe, the S-3 effectively replaced the SS trim as the Chevelle’s performance model and differed from the rest of the lineup thanks to a well-incorporated urethane front end—which was especially well done for 1975, when it had a NASCAR-friendly slanted and aerodynamic look to it. The car’s sides included a tiny opera window often covered with louvers. Underneath, it featured a more sporting suspension, and engine options ranged from a 145-hp two-barrel 350 V-8 to a 235-hp four-barrel 454 big-block. Swivel front seats were the highlight of the interior. Homologation was never an issue, as Chevy made nearly 33,000 of them over three years.
Today, the market makes no real distinction between ’74 models and later cars with the changed nose, but the S-3 is up in value across the board over the last five years. A #3 Laguna S-3 with the 175-hp four-barrel 400-cu-in V-8 (LT4) is up 50%, to $20,900, and the low-spec 145-hp 350 cars have risen similarly.
1986–87 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Aerocoupe
The Monte Carlo had been a NASCAR mainstay since 1971 (it is the winningest model of all time, by a mile), and by the mid-1980s the fourth-generation G-body car was firmly established at the front of the grid, with drivers like Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt winning regularly. But the all-new Thunderbird of 1983—a slippery shape straight from the assembly line—had begun to tilt things in Ford’s favor, all the while making the boxy Montes seem, well, boxy. To counter the T-Bird and appease the teams growing concerned over its startling rise, Chevy dreamed up something special for its thoroughbred: the SS Aerocoupe. By replacing the short upright rear window with one grafted on at a 25-degree angle, and by clipping the trunk lid to accommodate it and reducing the size of the spoiler, the company had effectively changed the shape of the car to something a bit more wind-cheating, with modest but noticeable results on track.
In 1986, Chevy built just 200 Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupes, all of them white with a burgundy interior, while 1987 production totaled 6052. Each was powered by a 305-cu-in V-8 making 180 hp. Notably, GM applied the same treatment to the Pontiac Grand Prix, dubbed the Grand Prix 2+2, though it came with more artfully incorporated, curved rear glass and a completely different nose. Production was limited to 1986 alone and totaled roughly 1225.
In the last five years, Aerocoupe prices have climbed by 63%, and today a #3 car will set you back $23,800. Though Hagerty makes no distinction in the price guide between the much rarer 1986 cars and those from 1987, there’s every chance that real-world asking prices would indeed make that distinction.
The long and the short of it is this: If you’re in the market for semi-rare American performance cars rooted in NASCAR history, you’ve got plenty of choices, from inexpensive to crazy expensive. You just need to choose your era and get shopping.
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Good article about NASCAR machines. I did notice though, that you quoted under the Ford Torino Talladega pic as it being a 1970 model. It is in fact a 1969 car, as is the Mercury Cyclone Spoiler shown beside it.
Oops! Thank you for pointing out that error.
To add to that- You could get a Mercury Cyclone ( including the Gurney/ Yarborough models ) with a 428 CJ or SCJ. The Mercury version of the Nascar aero Torino Talladega is actually called the – “Spoiler II ” – not just Spoiler. These are the 351-W only cars._ Congrats to the Wood Brothers team for this past weekend win. Hope to see you back in the winners circle soon.
(ps) to clarify, the Cyclone Spoiler and the Cyclone Spoiler II