Lizard Racing

After building race cars off and on for many years, I decided to try a big rig. I chose the Papa Truck because it's a race car hauler to start with. I can't decide to build it a Papa Truck, or something else. In the meantime, I am working on the chassis and engine. There's a lot of parts to this! Here's what I have so far. Ideas? Thanks for your attention.

I just finished a tribute to the 1959 Washburn Corvette that was such a terror on the Pacific coast 1959-1962 in the hands of Bob Bondurant and others. The kit was IMC's 1960 Vette, but I'm calling it a 1959. The decals are from the excellent Vintage Racing Miniatures for both cars pictured. The other car is a tribute to Washburn's 1963 Sting Ray, the last successful Corvette prior to the Cobra "dark days." Excellent source material is Corvette Thunder by Dave Friedman. I have built several cars inspired by this book.

Just finished a phantom supermodified from the '60s. It's the DTR/Monogram Edmunds Super with Big Donkey Resin wheels, tires and headers. Decals are from the Vintage Racing Miniatures set for the Kurtis Midget. I built one of these back in the day, but this one came out better.

I saw your car at GSL. Now everyone can see how great it is. Picture was taken from my phone, so is out of focus a bit. As I remember, Lloyd qualified poorly, but moved up rapidly. A drive gear broke and put him out. The car was a development of the Brabham chassis that first appeared in 1964. For old Indy cars, I heartily recommend Karl Ludvigsen's series Indy Cars of the '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s.

Just last year I rebuilt My old Monte Carlo with new decals and wheels. I have a Chevelle in the stash to be made into the Cale Yarbrough '71. Now I may have to get another to make an Allison car. Good work!

Actually a lot of paint shops have ready-made covers to go on the wheels. So that detail is not entirely inaccurate. An unusual entry in the GSL. I will look for it.

If you hadn't told me, I would have thought it was a real car!

I thought this forum was for models, not 1:1 cars (LOL). Great presentation of the car and the diorama!

Here are some underhoods as requested. I should have included them before, since it was so much work. Online photos of the 1:1 came in handy to be accurate. Here are the two 427 engines from '63. The one on the right is the Z-11 based on the 409 for the drags. Sadly, both projects were cancelled during the season.

In 1963, Chevy unleashed a factory drag racer based on the Impala. A new engine loosely based on the 409 now displaced 427 ci. Weight saving involved substituting everything forward of the firewall in aluminum. But again the factory pulled the plug and left the SS and FX to Fords and MOPARS. This project started as the Revell lowrider kit. The engine came from a '58 Impala and was supposed to be a 348. Slicks are the M&H from AMT Parts Pack. This is fantasy car run by a Chevy dealership in Wichita. The decals I made myself. The air cleaner came from an original AMT '68 Impala kit. The bumper, fender wells and fan shroud are painted to be aluminum. The factory also moved the oversize battery to the trunk. You could go to the dealer and buy one of these! There were two 427s in '63. On the left is the Z-11 RPO for drag racing. On the right is the Junior Johnson NASCAR "Mystery Motor." Heady days.

I think John Surtees' real strength was his ability to develop a race car. The Ferrari F1 and sports cars, Lola T70 and the Honda F1 come readily to mind.

You are indeed a man of many talents!

Very nice build! I also built one decades ago. I have a new one in the stash I thought of making a phantom Super from the Midwest.

The Chevy privateers didn't stand a chance against the factory Fords and Chryslers. Oddly enough it was Junior Johnson's car that broke the drought once the factories left.

I just finished my tribute to Junior Johnson's "63 Impala. The base is the Revell '63 with engine from a AMT Corvette and air filter and headers from an original AMT '66 Impala. Fred Cady decals came out good, but a bit of a pain with only one color at a time. The first two racing applications of the '63 Mystery Motor. The Mickey Thompson Corvette was actually raced first in the American Challenge. These two cars bracket the 10-year Chevy drought in MASCAR. After the factory pulled out in '63 (with Ford and Chrysler entering) it wasn't until '72 that Bobby Allison started winning with the Monte Carlo.

Wow!! More pix please. I'm not really a Ford fan, but this is art.

As I figure it, all that would be required to make a street car into a Trans-Am ('66-'70) is a non-molded in back seat, roll cage, instrument insert engine and wheels/tires. This era would be easy to do because the cars started out as stocks, then modified. No tube frames and race suspension. A good example is the MPC '70 Javelin.

My daughter got me one for Christmas a few years back and it brought me out of retirement. Now fully involved, even more than 50 years ago! Thanks Martha.

Now that's real art!!

I decided some time ago to pay tribute to the Chevy that Junior Johnson drove in 1963. It used the infamous "Mystery Motor." Junior won seven races that year, then GM pulled the racing plug, just as Ford and Chrysler were ramping up. The result was a 10-year drought for Chevy in NASCAR until the Bobby Allison Monte Carlo in 1972. The basic engine came from the AMT '63 Corvette. The correct headers came from the '66 or '67 Impala. These have been in the parts box all these years. There is a great video on YouTube with Junior talking about the original car. I added the truck arms at the back and a Panhard rod. The interior is the hardest, making it a race car. The roll cage is .080" Styrene. Note the extra bar in the center to hold the driver in the stock seat. About all that remains is to wait for the weather to clear so the body can be painted. then assembly and final details. I started with Revell's '63 Impala low-rider kit. I like the separate frame and the opening trunk. I have already bought another to make an Impala Z-11. Did I mention I'm a Chevy man? Thanks for looking.

I would have thought it a promo because of the screws holding the chassis on. Would Snap kits be screw assembled?

I just finished re-reading the book Black Noon-The Year They Stopped the Indy 500. This is an excellent account of the 1964 Indy 500, a black day for auto racing. I heartily recommend it. As I was walking the dog today, I began to think: How would the Indy 500 have been different if Ford had not thrown its weight against it? The rear-engine revolution would still have happened, just not as quickly. Lotus certainly would not have come without Ford support. That would have left American builders to make rear-engine versions of Offy roadsters, which they did in the beginning. Some stock block engines might have been further developed to replace the Offy. Offy might have developed their own V-8 (which they did later). Of course, this is mere speculation on my part. Anyone else have any ideas? Here's wishing everyone a happy holiday season and good fortune in building for 2017.

This has been covered in other threads, but for anyone building a GS I heartily recommend the book Corvette Grand Sport by Lowell Paddock and Dave Friedman. If you have a question, submit it to this form and we can consult the book.

I originally built this as the Delmo Johnson version S/N 004. Recently I decided to convert it to the Jim Hall/Roger Penske S/N 005. This was the most successful of the three coupes, placing 3rd at Road America and winning the Nassau Tourist Trophy in 1964. Thanks to Vintage Racing Miniatures for their excellent decals!

A cool representation of a classic hot rod.