'68 Petty Road Runner build

[Mike Stem]

In the '68 Daytona 500 Petty's Road Runner had a black vinyl top. What could I do to make the top look a vinyl top? 

[moparfarmer]

Mike are you closing in the chassis and reworking the body like Maurice Petty did? He said years ago that the RR of 68 Daytona was the most cheated up race car he's ever built..Him and Dale Inman did great work..

 

[dwc43]

11 hours ago, Mike Stem said:

In the '68 Daytona 500 Petty's Road Runner had a black vinyl top. What could I do to make the top look a vinyl top? 

Masking tape painted black or use a sharpie on it. It has texture like a vinyl top. 

[james460]

Wasn't a vinyl top was painted with a textured paint.

[MarkJ]

11 hours ago, Mike Stem said:

In the '68 Daytona 500 Petty's Road Runner had a black vinyl top. What could I do to make the top look a vinyl top? 

just do a really strong version of an orange peel paint job, just on the roof. get a fast drying paint and shoot it far away. Flat black of course. practice on something else first just to get it right.

[james460]

Mark do you think the textured spray with semi-gloss black would look ok ?

[Misha]

The 68 Petty RR was quite a creation! The vinyl roof helped camouflage the alterations, yet it did lead to it’s own trouble when it began peeling off...

 

[wrenchr]

They really had it dropped in the nose as well. Looks like a small kick up towards the back window on the roof?

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by wrenchr

[yellowsportwagon]

FOR THE FIVE THOUSANDTH TIME THIS CAR ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY DID NOT HAVE A VINYL TOP !!!! It was painted with texture paint. When the roof started peeling up it was the sheet metal. Hence Petty standing on the hood stomping the roof back into place. If it was vinyl you wouldn’t have to kick it would ya?????

[gks1964]

The black top was to make you look away from the rest of the car. That car was cheated up so bad. Look at pix of the chassis!!

[moparfarmer]

On 12/7/2020 at 7:08 AM, james460 said:

Wasn't a vinyl top was painted with a textured paint.

No, there actually was a picture of them putting 200 mph tape over the bubble from the vinyl lifting up..

[yellowsportwagon]

1 hour ago, moparfarmer said:

No, there actually was a picture of them putting 200 mph tape over the bubble from the vinyl lifting up..

No no no no no the tape was holding the sheet metal down . The car was flipped upside down and acid dipped too long the sheetmetal cracked and buckled up. Once again why would he have to stomp vinyl down??? Come on think about it.  Start reading nascar history not the myths. The roof was painted With texture paint for two reasons. One like GKS Charger said was a distraction and the other was to hide the waves cause it was so thin and weak. Again if you think it’s vinyl you are 100% wrong. Sorry but that’s a fact.

[Force]

I don't know but I don't think you would need a hammer to get soft vinyl back to shape, so I agree with painted sheet metal.

[moparfarmer]

6 minutes ago, Force said:

I don't know but I don't think you would need a hammer to get soft vinyl back to shape, so I agree with painted sheet metal.

By the look of the pictures I was wrong..

[Straightliner59]

On 12/7/2020 at 6:53 AM, MarkJ said:

get a fast drying paint and shoot it far away. Flat black of course. practice on something else first just to get it right.

Mark just gave you the best way to accomplish this. It's simple, and looks better than any other method I've seen.

[THarrison351]

There used to be great discourse on this car, the #6 Cotton Owens Dodge Charge Daytona, and many other NASCAR race cars from the past on Randy Ayers website. Sadly, it was all lost when his servers failed and there wasn't a backup. The best discussions were from crew members or people who were associated with the cars at the time. Most, are no longer with us, so that expert history is gone. I'm glad Tim Stevens held his ground. I knew it was thin sheet metal covered with paint, but I wasn't going to throw it out there first. I'm not an expert and I couldn't find anything to back me up.

[Misha]

Thanks for the correction on the roof, I see the error of my ways....

Cheers Misha

[Vietnam Vet67]

Maurice Petty told me the car was also narrowed 2 inches.

[yellowsportwagon]

10 hours ago, THarrison351 said:

There used to be great discourse on this car, the #6 Cotton Owens Dodge Charge Daytona, and many other NASCAR race cars from the past on Randy Ayers website. Sadly, it was all lost when his servers failed and there wasn't a backup. The best discussions were from crew members or people who were associated with the cars at the time. Most, are no longer with us, so that expert history is gone. I'm glad Tim Stevens held his ground. I knew it was thin sheet metal covered with paint, but I wasn't going to throw it out there first. I'm not an expert and I couldn't find anything to back me up.

Thank you I don’t mean to be harsh. But I really hate misinformation. Don’t even get me started on the Smokey Yunick 7/8 scale Chevelle myth!!!

[gks1964]

The good ol' days of honest cheatin'!! Don't believe your lying eyes!! 

[MarkJ]

On 12/7/2020 at 10:59 AM, james460 said:

Mark do you think the textured spray with semi-gloss black would look ok ?

The roof looks more like flat black to me but you could try the semi gloss black and see how it looks. Then you could always shoot the flat black over the semi gloss. Just orange peel the heck out of it. 

Edited December 14, 2020 by MarkJ

[Mike Stem]

Thanks for the help. I knew it wasn't a vinyl top. I should have said "a vinyl looking" top

 

[Mike Stem]

I've been practicing for so long & can't get paint to orange peel! I've been spraying up to 2 feet away. It looks orang peel until it dries. And when it's dry it's smooth as glass! I'm thinking about giving up & going with the '68 Firecracker paint job. White from rear of top to hood & C pillars & be done with it.

 

[Vince Nemanic]

There was a photo in a magazine with the Petty car in pit lane next to another Plymouth in it's pit stall. It really showed the differences in the cars Unfortunately, I don't remember what magazine it was in.

[wrenchr]

5 hours ago, Mike Stem said:

I've been practicing for so long & can't get paint to orange peel! I've been spraying up to 2 feet away. It looks orang peel until it dries. And when it's dry it's smooth as glass! I'm thinking about giving up & going with the '68 Firecracker paint job. White from rear of top to hood & C pillars & be done with it.

 

Its mind set, try to paint a smooth paint job and see how it turns out......................