MarkJ

Thanks, Dave but I believe the monogram is a 1/24 scale model and the body I'm using is 1/25 scale. I had the same problem with my 77 Earnhardt Monte Carlo that I used a 1/25 scale "wheels of fire" kit for the body. The 1/24 scale monogram chassis will work, but the engine looked huge under the hood compared to reference pictures, so I had to go with the 1/25 scale amt 91 thunderbird chassis with a 91 1/25 amt olds, chevy engine, for under the hood. That's why when I found this mpc 1/25 scale 71 mercury model which is only 4 years older then the 76 torino , I knew it would work with the 1/25 scale "Starsky and Hutch" thunderbird kit. That's why I included a picture above of the torino sitting on top of the mercury. They are almost exactly the same length. Thanks again for the input.

As usual, I will reveal that at the end. But it wont be hard to figure out.

Wow , Tim. That is absolutely stunning. The details , paint, decal work and cleanliness of build are up to your usual high standards.

Got my decals finished so now I can start on the wip. I'm using the last of my 45 year old glue bombs as the chassis for this build. The body ,dash ,engine, and glass will come from the Starsky and Hutch kit. The tires and wheels will come from an AMT 91 Olds Nascar kit. I already stole the engine from this kit for a build, I did a while back. I know the chassis wont be right for this build, but it wasn't right for the 71 mercury that it was kitted with. It will serve my purposes. I just have to lengthen the floor a little to get the tires in the tire openings correctly. I will probably cut the tranny off the 429 and install it to the 351 Cleveland. Another one of those builds I always wanted to do and I'm finally getting around to it.

Super nice build.

Excellent build, Tim. Sits just right . Paint and decals are perfect. Love the gold engine. As usual, up to your high standards of skill and accuracy.

Cool, that should work fine then.

Thanks, Jim and John. I really appreciate it.

Looks great. I hope you allowed room for the hood to shut with the air cleaner on that high rise manifold. If not you could just make the air cleaner removable and only have it on the engine when you take underhood shots.

Any more progress on this one?

Nice clean build. Paint and decals look great.

Thanks guys for all the feedback. I really enjoyed researching and then putting this one together. I was watcning the cup race today and it looks like they might have a package that makes for better racing. Those Mustangs sure look cool . I wonder if there is any plans by revell to issue the new cup Mustangs and Camaros? I know there is know hope for getting a Toyota of any kind.

Most of the pictures went away?

No, Tim. But that's something to think about in the future. I might group all my Rex White cars together for a group shot. That might be fun.

Ok, guys. A guy on another forum found this from a fantasy racing site about the mickey mouse on the hood. The highlight of Brooks's career came at the Talladega 500 when he drove the Plymouth of Jimmy Crawford to an unexpected victory. Brooks wasn't even supposed to drive Crawford's Plymouth, but after officials ruled that Crawford did not have enough experience on the big speedway, Brooks took over the ride. The car was #22 and had Mickey Mouse on the hood. The story behind Mickey Mouse on the hood was a comment made by Bill France stating that they were a "Mickey Mouse race team", so they put Mickey on the hood. Brooks would pull off the starting grid in 24th place. He would work his way to the front and take the lead for the first time on lap 49. It was an exciting race as there was 64 lead changes. The most laps in a row any driver lead was nine; all the way up to lap 157 when David Pearson led 12 in succession. On 44 occasions where a lead change occured, the leader would lead 3 laps or less. Brooks would take the lead on lap 181 and head the field for the final eight laps to get the win."

Actually Wayne, the car Hamilton last drove was this one a year earlier at Atlanta. He had to retire because of a bad back.

Here is a picture of the real car in the race If you want to see how the model came together click on the link below http://cs.scaleautomag.com/sca/modeling_subjects/f/31/t/129905.aspx

This is the 72 Plymouth that Dick Brooks drove to the victory at the 1973 Talladega 500. I always wanted to build this model but could not find a kit. A couple of months ago I found a 71 Richard Petty build that I had done 45 years ago, so I decided to repurpose the model into this one. There are several noteworthy things about this car that make it very interesting. It was the only car that Brooks ever won in, in the cup series. It was the last Plymouth to win a cup race. It was the last car that Pete Hamilton drove before he ended his cup career. I got to see this car run in person at the 1972 Texas 500. Gordon Johncock drove it that day. Jimmy Crawford and his brother owned this car and he drove it the most when it ran. He was an Eastern Airlines pilot when he wasn't racing the car. I listened to the broadcast of the 1973 Talladega 500 from a small transistor radio while helping my wife prepare her very first classroom in the city that Nolan Ryan grew up in. We had just gotten married the May before the race was run in August. I couldn't believe my ears when he ended up winning the race, beating some pretty stiff competition that day. I read that the Crawford brothers had modified the intake manifold to make it work better with the restrictor plate, and that is why he was able to compete with the more highly funded teams. If anybody knows why Mickey Mouse was on the hood please share it. I could not find the reason it was there. One other thing, the reason Brooks name is not on the car is because he only signed on to drive it the Friday before the Sunday race, and I guess they didn't have time to put it on the car.Thanks for looking.

Great job, Mack. Very clean and some nice detailing.

I feel your pain. I have done some things, really didn't like them, but realized nobody but the rivet counters would care, so I forged ahead. I'm sure nobody will notice when they see the final pictures. As long as the over all look is awesome, which this model will be, that's what's important.

Going to be another beautiful replica.

Super nice build, Dan. Rex is my favorite back in the day driver. Glad you did his championship car.

Great job, Dan. Excellent replica.

I was flipping through one of my old umi books that covered the 1978 season, and when I got to the Delaware 500, there was a picture showing J.D. on the pole for that race.. He beat out Bobby Allison who was on the outside pole. Apparently he had used McCreary tires instead of goodyears and that was the key to winning that pole. Still, that was a huge accomplishment for him at that time.

Wow, Tim. What a beautiful build. Everything about it is topnotch. Like the others have said, I love obscure cars. You nailed this one.