Dave Strickler's 60 Corvette Old Reliable Jr.

[59 Impala]

Does anybody know what color the coves and interior are for this car?  I want to build a replica of it.

[TransAmMike]

Thats a tough one Dan.  I'm sure you googled.  I thought I'd give it a try too and nothing.  Even the George Klass website  georgeklass.net did'nt have a picture, and he has a whole lot of old Corvette drag car (and of course other)pictures.

Good luck, Mike

[59 Impala]

Thanks Mike, and yes, I did google this and these two pics are the only ones I found.  I hope that someone knows the answer.

[Cowpunk]

You might try asking the person who decided that the lettering was red....

https://smpdecals.com/shop/ols/products/old-reliable-1960-corvette-from-the-dave-strickler-racing-stable

 

[peteski]

Funny coincidence. There used to be SMP Industries. They produced a line of hobby paints (Accu-Paint) and a line of high quality decals for model railroad subjects.

[59 Impala]

I found a set of wheels for the front and made the deep wheels for the slicks.  Those front wheels I found in my wheel stash.  I never knew that I had those and have no clue where they came from or what they're called.  As far as the color of the coves go, I'm just going to paint them Red.  The interior looks a little on the light side and maybe it is Tan.  Not sure, but with only Black and White pictures, you just have to guess and hope that you're right..

[Fat Brian]

AMT has wheels similar to those but not exactly the same.

[Snake45]

I think those wheels also came in the original AMT '63 Vette coupe kit. 

[59 Impala]

Thanks guys.  I got some primer on it tonight.  I had to fix a couple of dings on the right rear fender remove the flags on the front fenders.  I also had to remove the three horizontal pieces on the coves and still need more body work there.

[GarryR]

On 10/21/2020 at 3:54 PM, 59 Impala said:

Does anybody know what color the coves and interior are for this car?  I want to build a replica of it.

Just found this on the H.A.M.B.

 

 

[GarryR]

And this one in color.

[59 Impala]

Thanks for the picture.  This helps.

[TransAmMike]

16 hours ago, 59 Impala said:

Thanks for the picture.  This helps.

So whats the progress on your build of this car??  Looking forward to seeing it Dan.

[59 Impala]

Sorry, I thought that I posted pictures of the build.  From what I understand, the decals that I used are the wrong color.  In the picture the color is Blue and I used Red.  Also, the lettering on the car looks like they are Black.  Here are some pictures of the one I built.

I have another car and thinking about building it with Blue coves and interior and Black decals.  I do need a stock hood for the car though and I'm looking for one.  It has to be the MPC kit, also under the AMT logo, although AMT made a 60 Corvette and it is not compatible with the MPC kit.  I have an AMT kit and the hood is smaller. 

[Snake45]

27 minutes ago, 59 Impala said:

In the picture the color is Blue and I used Red.  Also, the lettering on the car looks like they are Black. I have another car and thinking about building it with Blue coves and interior and Black decals. 

I could be wrong, but the lettering looks blue to me, especially in the second picture. 

[Mark]

Lettering (all of it) looks like black to me, if I remember right the lettering on the white '62 Bel Air and the '63 Impala was black.  The 'Vette would likely be the same.

The interior seems to be the same, or similar, blue as the side cove.  For that, I'd first look at stock 'Vette interior colors and go from there. 

[59 Impala]

I thought the same thing Snake but if you look at the lettering on the hood it looks Black.  I wish there were better pictures of this car.  Maybe a third car is in the works with different color decals.  LOL.  Mark is right about the 62 Bel Air and 63 Impala having Black letters.  This is so corn-fusing.  I've built 9 different Knafel Pontiac's "Tin Indians" and they had different color decals on some of the cars.  Not enough details for these cars either.

[Mark]

Just looked at my copy of the book about Bill Jenkins' cars, the lettering on each of the Old Reliable cars is a different color!  The red '61 Biscayne had white lettering, the white '62 Bel Air had blue lettering (matching the interior), the short-lived white '62 Impala had red lettering (again matching the interior), and the '63 Impala had black lettering with a touch of yellow shadowing.  The pictures of the '63 in the book aren't particularly clear where the interior is concerned, but I'm pretty certain it is black.

That said, if I were building the (again short-lived) Corvette, I'd go with black lettering and coves that matched the interior, probably stock Chevrolet colors.

[Snake45]

Okay, I've looked again at the second blue photo. 

Look at the 863 C/SP ahead of the rear wheels. That's definitely black. 

Now compare that to the Vern Smith and Tuned by Bill Jenkins. They're definitely lighter and I'm saying they're blue. 

Comparing The "Old Reliable" to the 863 and the Vern Smith, I'd say that's black--BUT the JR looks like the blue. 

The hood's a baffler. If you just look at the HP on the near side, that looks black. But the 290 could be blue. And on the far side, the 290 could be black and the HP could be blue. 

Or not....

[AC Norton]

16 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Okay, I've looked again at the second blue photo. 

Look at the 863 C/SP ahead of the rear wheels. That's definitely black. 

Now compare that to the Vern Smith and Tuned by Bill Jenkins. They're definitely lighter and I'm saying they're blue. 

Comparing The "Old Reliable" to the 863 and the Vern Smith, I'd say that's black--BUT the JR looks like the blue. 

The hood's a baffler. If you just look at the HP on the near side, that looks black. But the 290 could be blue. And on the far side, the 290 could be black and the HP could be blue. 

Or not....

RICHARD, DID MY EMAIL TO YOU GO THRU LAST NITE.....ACE...

[Snake45]

15 minutes ago, AC Norton said:

RICHARD, DID MY EMAIL TO YOU GO THRU LAST NITE.....ACE...

Yah, got it--just haven't had a chance to give it a good reply yet LOL. I haven't forgotten ya. 

[Mark]

I'd go with a combination of colors as Snake has described.  The car wasn't around long, from what I have read about it, the 'Vette was put together for Vern Smith to drive, and it turned out he wasn't a particularly good drag racing driver...

[AC Norton]

29 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Yah, got it--just haven't had a chance to give it a good reply yet LOL. I haven't forgotten ya. 

NO PROBLEM....JUST WANTED TO BE SURE....MY LAPTOP HAS BEEN ACTING UP LATELY....BEST, ACE...