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Thunderbolt colors


gtx6970

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bill, the t-bolts originally came with 9.50x15 firestone drag slicks but most teams switched to m&h slicks because the firestone rubber compound was too hard to get good traction.early on the t-bolts ran a/fx till the nhra required number were built.the problem with the revell kit slicks is the wheel size is too large.finding correct width s/s 7" pie crust(recap style) slicks without going the aftermarket route is possible.another thing to remember is all nhra legal super stocks had to have a exhaust system with muffler. even the nhra legal a/fx cars had to have this type exhaust system although it was removed for match racing and most meets.the muffler used was a aftermarket Monroe goldtone muffler. all the 7" and 10" slicks were the pie crust style, usually m&h.even if you find the correct width cheater slicks they wont have the grooves cut in the slicks that you can find in the aftermarket. it depends how accurate you want to be.

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So these are my best option for the S/S cars ?

I want them to look accurate,, at least to a point. But not enough I want to have a big money tied up in aftermkt stuff either.

http://speedcityresin.com/7InchCheaterRubberSlicks.jpg

I'll have to look thru my stash and see what I have in the parts box without robbing from unbuilt Johan kits . Then decide how to procede..

Something I just thought of,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, is if I change the rear tires , it'll require a wheel change as well, which will require a Ft tire / wheel change as well to look right,,,,,,,, decisions decisions decisions

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bill, let us know what cars you are doing in super stock and then I can check my photos to see what wheels they ran. nhra would not allow a lighter wheel than the ones that were offered with the car.t-bolts came with steel wheels and rader wheel were an option.

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bill, let us know what cars you are doing in super stock and then I can check my photos to see what wheels they ran. nhra would not allow a lighter wheel than the ones that were offered with the car.t-bolts came with steel wheels and rader wheel were an option.

Thanks . When I get to the point I am ready to start these I post with questions ( probably a winter project ) If the weather holds out I may try to get bodies painted in the next few weeks .

I have the decals to do all the cars I have listed in addition to the 2 I already have finished

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Thanks . When I get to the point I am ready to start these I post with questions ( probably a winter project ) If the weather holds out I may try to get bodies painted in the next few weeks .

I have the decals to do all the cars I have listed in addition to the 2 I already have finished

When painting/decaling the bodies, watch out for the colour insert in the side-trim, could be black, white or body colour. And don't foil the driprails, these were painted on the full size cars.

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When painting/decaling the bodies, watch out for the colour insert in the side-trim, could be black, white or body colour. And don't foil the driprails, these were painted on the full size cars.

All the T bolts shared the same color and trim of interior correct? only differences were auto or 4 spd

Were some column auto - versus floor shift ?

16095_Interior_Web_zps25f34256.jpg

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I wonder whos car this was then ?

No idea when or where I snagged the pic off the net .

Something else I've noticed none havea roll bar, and almost every T-Bolt interior pic I've found they all have the back seat in them. So I assume that was required by the NHRA at the time ?

800px-1964_thunderbolt_interior_zpse5e14

Edited by gtx6970
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At some point roll bars became mandatory (obviously) but in the early to mid-sixties, for S/S cars, roll bars were not required but the back seat had to remain in the car. Then, there was a period where, the back seat could be removed but only if it was replaced with a roll bar.

Good luck with your project. I'll be following along as I've got the 'bolt on my short list.

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At some point roll bars became mandatory (obviously) but in the early to mid-sixties, for S/S cars, roll bars were not required but the back seat had to remain in the car. Then, there was a period where, the back seat could be removed but only if it was replaced with a roll bar.

Thanks, thats what I figured. I usually build to replicate the time frames when the cars were new . But at the most nothing newer than about 1974 time frame on just about everything.

Once I get rolling I'll post a few pics along the way . I restore 1/1 cars for a living and at the moment I am quite busy . So model bench time is not easy to come by right now , so these will be winter projects

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The street machine series is the same. The last issue was a 2 in 1 series, which had all of the original pieces, plus a flat hood, inserts and lens to make the inner head lights "functional"

and dog dish wheel covers.

To reiterate, the Butch Leal car was always "Vintage Burgundy" and never "black". Also the "Bob Ford" T-Bolt was repainted "gold" with a "black" roof after it was raced by Kenny Vogt

in it's "yellow" color. The information on the "Fred Cady" decal sheets stating that the "Leal" car was black and the "Bob Ford" car was "silver and black" was incorrect. In Fred's defense,

the photographs he had available at the time were black and white. I have seen some models built with the black and silver colors though, and they look awesome that way too.

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By the way, anybody building the "Hubert Platt" version, be aware that the decal placement for the driver's side on the instruction sheet are incorrect. They are backwards. The placement should be left to right like on the passenger side. (The cartoon figure of "Frank Vego" should be on the front fender and the rest of them should mimic the passenger side, so that everything flows the same way). I made this mistake, as did some others that I've seen built. And if anyone is interested, the correct color for this T-Bolt (as most all of Platts cars were) is "Guardsman Blue." It's not available in model car paint. You can get it for an air brush from "Scale Finishes."

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You are correct! I got to thinking about that later. I had corresponded with the current owner of the car a few years ago, to get the paint code for the gold. He told me exactly

what you said. Also said he had a rough time deciding which way to restore it (yellow or gold). He eventually decided on the gold and black.

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Scale Finishes has both Vintage Burgundy and Wimbledon White in their catalog. They also have the Poppy Red for the Russ Davis Ford car , the Gold for the Bob Ford car, and the Platt Guardsman Blue. I have not tried their paints, but I intend to soon. They are pricy, but where else can I get some of the Hudson colors.

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