Words and Photos: John Gunnell
Cars like the Cyclone Spoiler II put “Viagra” into Mercury’s high-performance image in the muscle car era. When NASCAR Grand National stock car race teams tested the new ‘68 body styles, they found Mercury’s Cyclone fastback to be a bit faster than its Ford Fairlane counterpart. A more aerodynamic nose design was said to be the reason.
When Cale Yarborough drove the Wood Brothers Cyclone to victory in the Daytona 500 in February 1968, the battle of the “NASCAR noses” was on. Dodge countered with the Charger 500 for 1969. Ford Motor Company fought back with the Torino Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II. Both featured flush grilles and extended noses.
The Talladega was simple, but not the Cyclone Spoiler. Mercury announced it as a midyear model to go on sale in January 1969. The main feature in early information was a spoiler bolted on the trunk deck. It was nice, but the device was not legal in NASCAR at the time. Originally, an extended nose similar to the Talladega was to be an option.
After considerable confusion, the long-nosed Spoiler came to be known as the Cyclone Spoiler II. A total of 519 were made, all with the 351-cid four-barrel V-8 despite an announcement that there also would be a 428-cid Cobra-Jet Ram-Air option. At least 500 needed to be produced to qualify the car as a production model so it could be raced.
Cyclone Spoilers came in two trims. A “Dan Gurney” Spoiler had a dark-blue roof, dark-blue striping and a signature decal on the white lower portion. A “Cale Yarborough” edition featured red trim similar to his Wood Brothers stock car and a signature decal.
As it turned out, the Spoiler wasn’t declared legal in NASCAR until the Atlanta 500 stock car race on March 30. This put Mercury Cyclone pilots in Talladegas for the Daytona 500 race, which was won by Lee Roy Yarborough in Junior Johnson’s Talladega.
Yarborough turned out to be the year’s hottest driver, but his Spoiler season was short since Ford was worried that it wouldn’t win the manufacturer’s title. The company put him back in a Talladega at mid-season.
The aerodynamic wars got hotter late in the year when Dodge announced the Charger Daytona and then the cartoon-inspired ‘70 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird. That helped Plymouth snag Dan Gurney to drive.
The featured car is seen at Wisconsin events like the vintage races at Road America in Elkhart Lake and the annual Miller Meet at the Milwaukee Mile. It was originally built at Ford’s Lorrain, Ohio factory and rail-shipped Uptown Motors on Mayfair Rd., in Milwaukee. The Cyclone two-door hardtop had a list price of $2,771 including the white paint with red trim on this car. The 351-cid four-barrel V-8 engine was a $101.10 option.
The Cyclone Spoiler II package listed for $393.90. According to a factory window sticker, it had the unique Spoiler II front, a 3.25:1 high-po rear axle, the two-tone roof and deck lid paint treatment, the hood stripe, Mercury’s “Cross Country Ride” suspension, body side sport stripes, styled steel wheels, racing type outside mirrors (with remote control on the left mirror and a stationary right mirror), the rear deck lid spoiler and a vinyl steering wheel cover. A Select-Shift automatic transmission was $206.10 extra.
Other options ordered for this car were a set of four F70 x 14 glass-belted traction tires for $94.60, power steering (also $94.60), power front disc brakes for $64.80 and an AM radio for $60.90. With the Spoiler II modifications the total option cost was $1,016.00. With transportation charges of $53.50, the total cost of this vehicle was $3,840.50.
Musclecar Review in January 1989 said, “Just in case new engines weren’t enough to worry the Dodge and Plymouth drivers, Mercury homologated its own version of the long-nose Talladega design with a run of similarly configured Cyclones.” The Cyclone II Spoiler was good for 0-to-60 mph in 7.4 seconds or a 14.4-second quarter mile at 99 mph.
