1972 Chevrolet Monte Carlo - Bobby Allison's coke machine

[gami8630]

This car is Bobby Allison's Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which won 10 of the 31 races in the 1972 NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

This was the beginning of the “modern era” of NASCAR, when the number of races was reduced from the previous year's 48 to 31, all dirt tracks were eliminated, and the minimum race distance for oval tracks was set at 250 miles.

The base kit is AMT's “BOBBY ALLISON MONTE CARLO STOCK CAR,” which was re-released by ROUND2 LLC in 2017. The packaging design follows that of the original 1972 release, with all-new decals added.

This kit is not a 3-in-1 kit, but a kit that can be assembled only as a full display NASCAR race car. The body style is a good reproduction of the real car design, but the chassis and cockpit had to be modified in various ways.

1. Body

Looking at the photos of the actual cars that Bobby drove during the 1972 season, most of them looked like the 1971 model with the narrow radiator grille and the turn signal lamps in the bumper.
Therefore, I cut both ends of the radiator grille and filled the gap inside the headlamps with plastic plates.
The rear window was cut to fit the window opening of the body and fixed.
In addition, a vent hose and an overflow hose outlet were added on the left side of the rear of the body.

2. Chassis

This kit does not reproduce the engine compartment pipe frame or front suspension.
Therefore, I created a front hoop with Evergreen rods and incorporated upper A-arms, twin shocks, and a radiator diverted from AMT's GEN4 nascar kit.
The engine is unmodified, but the exhaust pipes were replaced with plastic pipes.
The chin spoiler was made by myself with thin plastic plates, and the ride height was lowered a little.

3. Cockpit

The roll cage of the kit was not very realistic, so I made a roll cage combining parts of AMT's GEN4 nascar kit and Evergreen rods.
The dashboard was similar, so I replaced it with a combination of plastic sheets and monogram meter panels.
The gauges are made from Powerslide decals.
The shifter was modified and installed from parts of an old JO-HAN kit.

4. Wheels and Tires

The wheels are 5-hole type wheels found in a junk parts box, and the tires are PPP 1965-1969 Goodyear Tires.

5. Painting and Marking

The body was painted with Tamiya Super Surfacer (gray), Fine Surfacer (white), and TS-13 Clear, then sprayed with TS-49 Bright Red, TS-21 Gold, and overcoated with TS-13 Clear, then applied the kit decals.
Finally, after the decals were sufficiently dry, I sprayed a final coat of GSI Creos water-based topcoat premium.

As mentioned above, I made various modifications, but since I could find few images of the engine and cockpit of Bobby Allison's actual car, the images reproduced are only based on the specifications as a NASCAR race car in 1972.

Note that the Coca-Cola glass bottle in the image was sold in 1981 by the former Tokyo Coca-Cola Bottling Company, established in 1956, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the company's founding.

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:29 AM by gami8630

[Rattlecan Dan]

Very nice. Looks great!

[Mike 1017]

Most Excellent

[Jim N]

Looks great!  Really great work.

[Horrorshow]

Real sharp, nice all around build.

[Shark]

Wow, that's really nice. I like the modifications you did to the frame. I have been working on one of these kits (doing Richard Petty) and intended to scrap the chassis. Now I think what you did would be great under this car. Thanks for sharing your information.

[Ragtop Man]

Boom - the ideal amount of detail for me. 

Neat trick to get all the disparate parts to look like they were all there, all along. 

[ncbuckeye67]

Very nice work! I love how you enhanced the existing (or non-existing in this case) kit detail, without going down the "rabbit hole" with PE and 3D printed aftermarket goodies. I want to build the few NASCAR kits I have exactly like you just did, without throwing too much $$ into the aftermarket. You just can't do that with every build (especially if you sell your built ups down the road). I have a friend that did exactly that with a Harry Gant build. He sold it for $250.00, but complained the whole time about actually losing $$.