Description
Author: Bob McClurg, CT-SA526, Hardbound, 192 Pages, ISBN: 9781613251287, 1st Edition, 2014
Tasca. The name evokes mental images of fleet-footed Ford Super Stockers, wheel-standing Mustang match racers, and fire-breathing FoMoCo-bodied fuel funny cars. Back in the day, East Providence, Rhode Island's Tasca Ford (founded by the unflappable Robert F. Tasca Sr.) was not only one of the dominant teams in drag racing, it was also the second-largest-volume Ford dealership in the nation, and every bit as much of a trendsetter in the high-performance automotive marketplace as Holman-Moody, Bud Moore Engineering, Shelby American, Bill Stroppe & Associates, etc.
Like any successfully run enterprise, Tasca changed with the times. When Dearborn shifted its focus in the early 1970s from high performance to economy, emissions, and better-built cars, the newly founded Tasca Lincoln-Mercury stayed right in step and became the largest L-M dealership in the nation. The agency's motto was "None Bigger, None Better."
Today the Tasca Automotive Group is run by second- and third-generation Tasca family members with dealerships located all around the Greater Boston area. It now handles Ford, Ford trucks, Lincoln, Mazda, Volvo, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Ford Motorcraft, Tasca Parts, Tasca Mobile Service, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, RAM Trucks, and the Tasca Automotive Group's latest acquisition, Nissan. In spite of its phenomenal growth, Ford is still the flagship of the enterprise and performance still reigns supreme. Bobby Tasca III's high-3-second, 316-mph 'Ford Motorcraft/ Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Shelby GT500 Mustang fuel funny car is certainly proof of that!
During the 1960s, more specifically during the height of the muscle car era, each manufacturer had at least one dealership that pushed the envelope, that created muscle cars beyond the factory offerings, that created a reputation so legendary that collectors pay real money strictly for the original chrome trunk tags telling the world that their car came from somewhere special. Chevrolet had Yen ko, Nickey, and Baldwin-Motion; Chrysler had Spaulding Dodge; and if you were into Ford performance, you had to go to 'Fascia Ford.
Tasca Ford was not only a dealership that sold and specialized in performance models, they created models of their own, influencing Ford to follow suit. The factory Cobra Jet Mustang was a direct result of Tasca stuffing 428 engines into 390 Mustangs, re-creating the effort of building the legendary Ford Thunderbolt only a few years earlier. But Tasca Ford was not simply a performance dealership. They gained their reputation, and the attention of Ford, through outstanding and innovative sales and customer service practices that led to them becoming the premier Ford performance dealership in the country. That continues through their sales and racing efforts today. Tasca Ford is truly an American success story. ,
Bob McClurg brings his accumulated knowledge and experience of more than four decades to this. heavily researched book with the full cooperation of the Tasca family. He details the early days, when Bob Tasca was just getting his start, through the growth of the dealership during its successful performance years, all the way to modern times. The Tasca name is still pproudly selling Fords, and winning races with them too. If you are a Ford fan, or even a muscle car fan in general, the Tasca Ford story is one you will want to read.
