Search the Community

I started a "batch build" of five 1/25 car kits over the summer in an attempt to reduce my ever growing stash, four 60's super stock drag cars and one stock Ford. Two of the drag subjects I picked were Hayden Proffitt race cars, his championship 409 powered '62 Bel Air and a 426 Wedge powered '64 Plymouth. Little did I know that Mr. Proffitt would pass away on August 19th at the age of 94 at his home in Texas while I was at about the mid-way point of my builds...weird timing. He was a legend in So. Cal drag racing in the 60's, driving Pontiacs, Chevies, Plymouths, Mercurys, a wild early "topless" funny car with a Corvair body and an AMC funny car. Both of these kits are AMT/ Round 2 and I used Slixx decals for the Chevy and Yesteryear decals for the Plymouth. The Plymouth decals were intended for Hayden's automatic Hemi-powered sedan (SS/A) but I decided to use them on this hardtop stick shift Wedge Belvedere. I added Fireball resin carbs and Detail Master distributors along with scratch-built fuel lines to both carbs. The Detail Master aluminum velocity stacks I used on the Plymouth are not period correct but I suffered build fatigue after five simultaneous car builds and decided not to attempt to scratch- build more correct lower/ flatter factory Mopar velocity stacks. Both are quite imperfect but were fun to build and look good enough to me to park next to my other 60's SS builds. I never saw Hayden Proffitt race but have read that he was fierce competitor as well as a very nice gentleman to all that knew him. RIP Hayden. John