One of the top honors at the massive SEMA custom-car fest in Las Vegas is the Mothers Shine Award, given by the auto-detailing giant to a custom car that is judged to be the best in terms of creative vision, fit and finish, detailing and blending of stock and custom elements. This year’s winner was the 1969 Ford Torino Talladega “GPT Special” owned by George Poteet of Memphis, TN.
Driving Fans had the opportunity to check this car out in person when it was at the Detroit Autorama earlier this year, and it’s gorgeous. Built by Rad Rides by Troy’s Troy Trepanier, this ’69 Talladega looks like a relatively mild custom job, but it’s not. The car is five inches wider and has had three inches taken out of the front fenders, with another inch lopped from the wheelbase. The body has been given a Coke-bottle shape, with front and rear fenders widened. Most of the custom components were painstakingly milled from billet aluminum. Once that was done, the car was sprayed in a two-tone with “Tennessee Whiskey Gloss” and “Daytona Sand” satin paint.
Under the hood, there’s a real Boss 429 V8 with an experimental Ford fuel injection intake that’s been converted to electronic fuel injection. The GPT Special rides on a C5 Corvette front suspension with a nine-inch axle and a Detroit Speed four-link rear suspension.
