1988 Pontiac, Neil Bonnett

[Ben269]

I was watching several of the 1988 races on youtube while building the Bobby Allison Buick, and decided I liked the Valvoline Pontiac driven by Neil Bonnett.  Cool car, and now I picked up one to make.  I have several questions about cars from this time period.  The monogram Grand Prix body has a pretty thin B pillar.  I have seen guys add a strip of styrene to make it thicker, and shorten the window to make it fit.   Problem is, half the photos I find of this car, the B pillar looks thin and the other half it looks wider.   Not sure if I should make that mod or not.

Second question I have, when did the change happen where the oil tank moved behind the seat?  Looks like Monogram started in 1990 with the Lumina kits, but they didn't do the Fords, Olds and Pontiacs that way for a few more years?  Was there an official change in Nascar where that was required, or was it team by team preference?   I am planning a few builds from this era, 1988-1993, and would like to get them close if possible.   I'll add pics of the Pontiac tomorrow.

 

[Shark]

The B pillar would vary from track to track. You will find some that are "beveled" looking for aerodynamics where they weren't required to run the side window.

As far as the oil tank, the frame in that Pontiac was a carry over from the early 80's and not accurate. By then they were running single Bilstein shocks, the cross over headers were gone among other things. Some of the Lumina kits are cheap and it's not hard to put one under that body.

[Ben269]

 Shark, thanks for the input, that's what I was wondering about the chassis stuff.  I have one of those I can use.  

 

Here are a couple of examples of what I was talking about.   I already added a strip to the b pillar, but I may be second guessing that.