is this one for real or not???

Real 1968 Holman-Moody NASCAR Torino

you have to respect the cars and drivers of the 50s and 60s who made the series what it is today. David Pearson and Holman-Moody are two of the famous names which took this car to victory in 1968. It is just now restored and available here on eBay starting at $50k without reserve.

You had to love NASCAR when the cars were truly modified production cars like this Torinothey almost look like they could have run in the Trans-Am series. The sponsor logos were not overpowering, and the big steel wheels looked like the ones you had at home. Ford specifically developed the fastback Torino for aerodynamics in NASCAR, and this car was the first to hit over 190mph at Daytona.

This car is restored to a high standard, and the dash includes signatures from driver David Pearson and Lee Holman of car builder Holman-Moody. We would almost prefer to see the car in more battered as-raced condition, but this restoration is very impressive. We hope the new owner would take it on track at least for Historic NASCAR exhibitions.

Vintage Stewart Warner gauges and interior parts look greatshockingly not that different from NASCAR rides of today. The big 427 was Fords racing answer in all forms of motorsport in the mid-60s. Somehow the stray dog in the photo below is fitting for this car.

We think this bid will climb quite high, especially considering that the seller claims they represent David Pearson in the sale. The sky is the limit on this cool race car. For more info on the 1968 season click here .

UPDATE: The eBay auction for this car ended at $185,100 with 26 bids . Wow.

updated by @johnny-mallonee: 04/02/17 12:47:53AM

Great restoration from what I can see. 1968 and 1969 were some of my favorite Pearson/Hutcherson/Wilson/Holman-Moody memories and they certainly earned the title Champions. 1968 this team won 16 races, 36 top 5's and 12 poles in 48 races. Waddell Wilson was particularly fond of the duel carbed 427 engine and loved the way it performed. Another engine that played a huge role in winning the championship was the 396 Ford that was also run on short tracks. This team had no weakness and the new owner will hopefully get it out and race it, not just let it sit. I know if johnny had it, it would race!!

as far as caring i think a lot of the members care--why else would we discuss and cuss over them ---my opinion on this but i think you have sorta the wrong idea of what matters here

Jim Reep Jr said:

this car came out of Wendell Scott's "back of the shop junkyard." Who knows where it came from after Haynes had a hold of it . . Pearson bought it @ a car show & sold it . It wound up in the California Vintage Car Club . Its a replica. Dr. Craft could tell you the history, but no one on here cares about that, so long as it looks like it was real once. Stats on this car would be an entire world away from the real thoroughbred. I wonder if Gilder ran into Haynes @ Carolina last night? No matter, what difference would the truth make on here ?

Mr Reep.

Seems to me this post started off with the question "Is this one real or not?" If yo missed that then please read from the beginning before posting. Can you not post your opinion...or facts/hearsay...whatever the case without degrading insinuations? If not, then please take your crude remarks elsewhere. That sir, WOULD make a difference here.

Jim Reep Jr said:

this car came out of Wendell Scott's "back of the shop junkyard." Who knows where it came from after Haynes had a hold of it . . Pearson bought it @ a car show & sold it . It wound up in the California Vintage Car Club . Its a replica. Dr. Craft could tell you the history, but no one on here cares about that, so long as it looks like it was real once. Stats on this car would be an entire world away from the real thoroughbred. I wonder if Gilder ran into Haynes @ Carolina last night? No matter, what difference would the truth make on here ?

--
Founder/Creator - RacersReunion®

Jim, if you're referring to the stats that I used in my reply, please note it referred to the season and team. No where did I refer to this car except I thought it was a nice restoration and Johnny or whoever bought it would take it out and enjoy it. I just posted my memories of those great seasons of the Pearson /Hutcherson years at Holman-Moody. Car can be a replica or real, it's still cool to talk about it. It was my favorite time in Grand National racing.

Jim Reep Jr said:

this car came out of Wendell Scott's "back of the shop junkyard." Who knows where it came from after Haynes had a hold of it . . Pearson bought it @ a car show & sold it . It wound up in the California Vintage Car Club . Its a replica. Dr. Craft could tell you the history, but no one on here cares about that, so long as it looks like it was real once. Stats on this car would be an entire world away from the real thoroughbred. I wonder if Gilder ran into Haynes @ Carolina last night? No matter, what difference would the truth make on here ?

Maybe he felt sorry for you Jim--- maybe he saw a glimmer of hope in your eyes ---

Jim Reep Jr said:

I don't know that Lee Holman has such High Standards, he hired me once upon a time, LMAO !!!!!!

Robbie Solesbee said:

It would be nice if the car retained the original Holman-Moody ID tag and it was shown. But regardless it is a nice piece and a great representation of a Holman-Moody car. Lee Holman has very high standards and the cars and engines under construction in his shop is proof of that. I doubt he would autograph a car that was not a Holman-Moody car. Keep in mind alot of these cars were hand me downs to independent drivers and the ID tags may be lost to time. Where these cars end up before restoration have some great back stories. I was visiting Banjo Matthews' shop when they were restoring the Mercury he started with. I wanted it restored-not a copy. Over the course of our conversation I found out from a guy in the shop that the chassisunder ole DW's #95 Merc began it's life as the car Mario Andretti won the '67 Daytona 500 with. Sometimes when restoring a car some allowances have to be made. The gauges are a good point. It would be very hard to find working ones from that era. JMHO.

Lordy, wouldn't touch the authenticity debate with a 10 foot pole, but in 1986 Lee Holmanlet us (Morris International - ad agency for P&G Tide & Crisco programs)use the Holman-Moody building to paint the original Tide Machine show car, trailer andsupport vehiclefor the November 1986 press conference in Atlanta to announce the Hendrick/DW/Waddell Wilson/Tide "Dream Team". Unfortunately Lee was also storing a huge number of arcade video games in the building for a vendor. They all wound up with Day-Glo orange overspray on them. There were quite a few ugly words spoken over the situation by all involved parties and money sought for the damaged games. The Hendrick/Waltrip show car we had hastily assembled for the press conference was a real pile of junk we'd secured in the Atlanta area. But it managed to impress the assembled press corps when DW drove it through a giant Tide box at the College Park, GA Ramada Renaissance Hotel. I'd sure hate to have to vouch for the authenticity of that junk pile.

Better yet, in 1982, master fabricator Robert Gee (Guvnor) turned our former 1981 Wrangler Jeans Osterlund-built Pontiac into a 1982 Ford #15 Bud Moore lookalike. Only problem was we could not afford another engine for the car and it toured for a year with a GM engine. I'll never forget the late Hank Schoolfield answering a fan letter in his Southern MotoRacing newspaper questioning the position of the distributor on that 1982 Ford Dale Earnhardt show car he had seen on display. Schoolfield eloquently answered that race engine mechanics often altered the original location of the distributor. We about died over that one. But those fans that had their picture taken with and sat in that car were still thrilled and Dale Earnhardt HAD driven it, just as a different make. I guess to those thousands of Earnhardt fans in 1982, it probably wouldn't have mattered a lot. In 1983, Bud Moore did build a new 1983 T-bird for our show car.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

see things like that are GREAT to read and it tells tales of by gone era i love it when you guys that were part of the lets say before the ranks got blown outta place by money.

Any more neat deals like that or those you just mentioned makes most folks hang on every word because you did things no one would think of...

P O S T M O R E please sir

These photos were taken at the Pearson shop beside his home in Spartanburg. I was in there years ago and saw this car sitting there. I recognized the building.

I don't know for sure if this is the same car or not but David did buy this one. I am pretty sure the fellow on the left was the owner. The fellow on the right is Bill ??, my mind fails me. Some you you old Ford folks will reconize him. The fellow in the middle is some one they picked up hitch hiking to the show. The bottom photo is a little bonus for you.