DoctorLarry

Body work is almost done. New body lines in the lower body in place along with the upper body lines. I put some flares into the existing wheel wells and just need to finish them and it is ready for paint. Basic frame assembly is doe using the Salvino's "upgrade kit". Looks better than the torsion bar setup. Rear end is from the TBird. Seat is parts box. I need to add the rear shocks yet. Plumbing on the rear is pretty much done. Now on to wiring and plumbing the rest, installing the cage and engine.

Spring break is a lovely thing. Started on the body of the Olds. It needs a body line 1/2" up from the rocker and then along the top edges of the sides. I started with .015X.100 Evergreen and then Tamiya white putty.

Got the frame and cage done. Rear suspension is set. I need some tweaking on the front end and it will be done. The body needs character lines put in but that is similar to the Century project (the real cars used the same doors). However, the engine in the kit is beyond lame. It has zero detail and the transmission looks like scale wise it came out of a dump truck. So I am going to use the engine out of an AMT 90's NASCAR Cutlass. It has great detail and it can be easily wired and plumbed.

Did some more work on this. The real car has a tunnel mount for the shifter. Added that. The roll cage on the 1-1 has no middle brace and has a diagonal running bottom to top so I cut out the middle brace and added that. I added a mounting area and tunneled the floor pans for the truck arm so it sits right. Finished the kickup. On the real car the puke tank for the radiator is on the firewall. That came from the T Bird. There is also a sheet of aluminum covering things on the driver's side. I added that as well. The kit seat is the wrong style and way too tall for the real car. I found one in the parts box. I also added the floor brace to the cage that runs over the trans tunnel. On the real car the battery mounts behind the driver seat so I need a box there for the battery. The floor pans, cage and front frame are ready for primer.

Tim: Would you repaint or decal it as is?

The gray is pretty close. It is the orange that is off. This was a hi resolution picture. The Allied Box and the 51 are gold. The Allied Box was probably gold leaf on the car and the 51 is gold paint.

Got the decal sheet from Speedway. Very impressive work! Now I need to figure out the paint color and decide if I want to start all over or go with what I have.

I always try to soften the blow, Chuck! I re-did the kickup area and glued the two chassis halves together (instructions say not to do that) The truck arm is sitting approximately where it should. I need to work on the floor pans a little and check ride height. Then box the "frame" area around the perimeter and body work the area. Then check spring and double shock placement.

Chassis length is still stock. I just cut the floor pans out and the rear kickup. I will need some more room for the truck arms but will cut that out later. I haven't decided if I will graft the T Bird front frame on yet or use the Salvino's one. It is less bothersome than the rear suspension so I may confine the mods to floors and rear suspension.

As many have pointed out, The Salvinos Olds has a few minor errors. A great build up was featured In Scale Auto magazine, and he noted wrong chassis, lack of detail in the engine, body lines etc. I bought 1 and got another for Christmas and since I can't leave well enough alone, I thought I could tweak things a bit. Rhine Built's web site has 20 or so photos of the restoration of the Baker Olds and so it is a fantastic reference source. I figured I would start with the chassis. It should have a full frame, a Galaxie front clip, stock floor pans and a Chevy truck arm rear suspension. A derelict 66 GTO donated the floor pans and the trusty T Bird will donate the truck arms. The rear kick up is also all wrong so I cut it out and will rebuild it. Cage is probably wrong too so it will get tweaked as well. This photo shows the rear kickup and battery box in the real car. The second one shows the stock floor pans when they got the car shell in.

Rear bumper is cocked as well. It moved when I put the body on the chassis. I just need to adjust the mounts.

Got the chassis 99% done. Still needs exhaust. Put it on the body. Rear ride height is still too tall. Speedway has my decals done and they are killer (as usual). Paint is off. He found a hi-resolution closeup of the car and it is definitely an orange-red color. I may cast this one and re-do the paint on a resin. I haven't decided yet. No foil or aluminum parts painted yet either.

Looks like someone found the Petersen Archives. Beware-once you start looking you will be there for awhile...

I agree with Gerald. There is a super human element at work here.

Here is the trunk on the Grey Ghost restoration. www. rhinebuilt.com. Lots of vintage NASCAR restos, including the Baker 77 Cutlass and a mid-70's RAHMOC Monte Carlo among others. Great resource.

More chassis work, based on pictures on the Rhine Built web site. They restored the buddy Baker Grey Ghost to perfection! They show crash bars in the back around the fuel cell as well as the trunk bars.

You can usually find the kits cheap on EBAY or you can also usually find people who sell the chassis separately. I have bought the Cutlass in both forms-whole kit or chassis. T Bird kits are super cheap as well. I have paid as little as $5 for one (plus shipping).

You can use any of the available GM A body intermediates. I think this was a 72 Cutlass. A Revell 66 GTO will also work but the Cutlass would be closer in years to the vintage of the car. The wheel base is different from the Laguna but you are cutting the front off anyway and part of the floor so it really doesn't matter anyway.

I would use Evergreen flat rectangular plastic or square plastic to replicate the ribs. They make that in smaller sizes, as well.

Evergreen makes very fine plastic rod. I use them in interiors to simulate bead rolls and they look great.

Much better close up. Here is a Nichels GTO. Same cage design as the RR.

Nichels RoadRunner

Later model system (late 70's) 3 stage dry sump system.

2224 mm circumference =27.88 inches diameter, 2252 mm circumference =28.23 diameter. Seem to be near the 28/10-15 spec. Possibly shaved down?

Just Googled "Nascar Tire size". two references had the same 28/10-15 on a 15X9.5 or 10 wheel.