1/18 Custom Wendell Scott/George Wiltshire Dodge Charger

[ibj40]

I met Wendell at the inaugural Nascar Winston Cup race that was held on December 7, 1969, at Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas.

I had been hired by Union 76 to man the fuel pumps and distribute oil and lubricants to the Nascar teams.

I always admired the courage and diligence of Wendell, and have gone on to not only collect a considerable amount of memorabilia, but to also create (or have created) a number of custom 1/18 scale diecast models of the various paint schemes he used during his career.



Apparently, Wendell Scott had wrecked his usual Ford at the race immediately prior to the 1970 Falstaff 400, held at Riverside, California on June 14, 1970.


George Wiltshire was a black journeyman Nascar West owner/driver, not noted for much success. He had a 1969 Dodge Charger prepared to Nascar Winston cup regulations. He used either #39 or #139 depending on the venue.


Nascar Hall of Famer Scott, of course, is iconic. He was also a died-in-the-wool Ford associate, with reports of “backdoor” contributions of used parts from the Ford factory teams.


Not sure about the details, but Scott ended up in Wiltshire's Dodge for the race, qualifying 28th, but finishing a dismal 35th when the Hemi in Wiltshire's Dodge overheated.


There are not a lot of pictures of Wiltshire’s Charger. I have attached the two that I have been able to find on the Internet. The photo quality is not great, and it is difficult to tell if they are color photos or black and white.






There is also only one picture I have found to document Scott in Wiltshire’s Dodge, a picture in a newspaper the day after the race.



There is some video of the 1970 Falstaff 400 available on YouTube.
  


If you look at 0:11, you see a purple Charger with what appears to be a lime green rear bumper on the outside. The outside line was the even-numbered starters for the race (at the start of the video you can see Richard Petty’s pole-sitting Plymouth Superbird leading the inside line), so it would be appropriate for Scott to be in that line following the green flag.


Based on the video, I chose Mopar Plumb Crazy as a paint color. To me it made sense that a low budget racer would use a factory paint, especially with Wiltshire carrying Star Dodge as a sponsor. I used SubLime Green for the rear bumper.


My donor model for this is the Paul Goldsmith driven Ray Nichels prepared Dodge Charger 500 distributed by Merchandising Incentives Corporation (MIC). This model was part of the Winged Warrior Series, and appears to be based on an Ertl mold.


Working with a very talented artist and decal maker, Sam Lopez with Three Amigos Decals (https://switchlinedecals.com/3-amigos-decals/), we have been able to produce, to the best of my ability, as close of a factual model of the Charger as humanly possible.


I’ve attached some comparison shots of the donor and final paint.







The finished model.










Enjoy!

[Flynlo]

Great job! I think it is awesome how you even duplicated the taped on "4". Thanks for sharing!

[bbowser]

I love this!  Really nice work and attention to historical accuracy.  Thanks for sharing.

[jchrisf]

Great build and story Jim.. what was Wendall like?  I saw the movie about him.. seemed like he was a nice and cool guy.

[TonyK]

You've done a very nice job replicating his cars. I've always been a big fan myself and built a few models. Tough to find photos though.

[ibj40]

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

I didn't have a great deal of time to get to know Wendell Scott (he was preparing his race car and I was pumping gas).  When you saw him in the garage area, he was as proud of his efforts as anyone else.  As many know from the literature, he had a determination to succeed, in spite of the obstacles that confronted him.

 

[PappyD340]

Awesome!

[espo]

Amazing attention to fine details between your build and the subject. I also like the background information for the inspiration for your build. I find one thing very ironic about your personal background with Union Oil Company. At that same time I worked at the Colton Distribution Center in Colton Cal. When they had races at the Riverside Raceway I would help man the station in the pits at the raceway. My only interaction with the teams during NASCAR races was usually with members of the pit crews that would bring their red wagons around with a bunch of the ten gallon tip up cans. I enjoyed the clip you included showing Riverside and especially going thru the "S"'s. We would stand on top of our fuel truck trailer to try and see them get to the top of the rise at the end of the "S"'s but other than that we couldn't see much from the station in the pits. Hard to think that Riverside Raceway has been a shopping center for many years now.  

[ibj40]

The location of the pumps at TIS/TWS was right outside the tech inspection portal in the garage area, actually between the hot pit entrance and the garages.  Drivers, owners, and crew chiefs almost all had to walk by at one time or another.

We had a U-Haul truck that Union 76 would drive in that was loaded with all the oil and lubricants parked right next to the pump island.  That served as our "office" during the weekend.

This is a picture of me at the pump island.  I'm in all white, with my back to the camera.

Me and the #6 - TWS by Jim Forte, on Flickr

We watched from there as Richard Petty and Andy Granatelli filmed an STP commercial one year.  Of course, behind the cameras were all the other drivers and crew, trying to distract them.  It was pretty funny to watch the interaction between and among them.

Marty Robbins had a guy hanging out with him one year that had one of those empty collar dog leash things, and the guy wouldn't put it down.  Every time you saw Robbins you saw this guy, with the leash and collar, pretending there was a real dog, including hunching around on other guy's legs with the collar part.

Back then, Buddy Parrott was just another crew member for Harry Hyde, and he'd come over and hang around the pumps during his breaks.

Bill Broderick, "The Hat Man", was my point of contact.  He'd arrive, and almost seemed like he ran the show.

Wow, those were the days.  Of course, I spent so much time out at the track that I was put on scholastic probation at the end of the first semester of my Junior year at Texas A&M.  Had to sit out a year before they would let me back in.

Edited September 21, 2021 by ibj40

[espo]

At Riverside the station, it looked like and was laid out like a small two bay service station, was tucked into the very end of the garages. The garage buildings were a series of long low structures that you could drive into from either side. I don't recall any type of internal walls to divide the garage areas between teams but I'm sure they had some sort of markings to show who's area was who's. The long back straight came down the slight grade behind the garage area and just behind the Union station was the entrance thru the wire fence into the pits and the inspection area. This was the only way in and out of the garages and the actual pits and the race track. The track made a hard right turn around the garage area to come to the start/finish line and the entrance to the pit road. With all the fencing and the teams equipment we couldn't see the pits or the start / finish line and only the exit from the "S"'s from the top of the gas transport truck. We were allowed to use some of the race fuel that came from Brea Research in Brea Ca. after the races. I had a '68 Chevy Bel Air 427 4 speed, and the difference between the gas at the regular station and what we were putting in the race cars was very different. On a cool damp morning you had to crank the engine for a bit before it would start and then it would sputter for a moment. But when you started going thru the gears and especially when you got on it the difference was a little startling at first. It was like you suddenly got another 50 or 60 more horse power. This was with a pretty much stock 10 to 1 engine. The down side was the gas mileage also dropped. Couldn't be because I still had my foot in it. 

[Wakefan77]

Thanks for sharing that story!  Great build as well.  I like the personal touches you put on that car. 

[slusher]

Great build and story..