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Post by Art on Mar 26, 2013 21:09:58 GMT -8
I wanted to share with you all a project I have been working on the last two years. It's taken a long time so far, not because the model is all that complicated, but rather because it's been more of a journey than a model. Actually two models as it turned out. There’s nothing really awe-inspiring about this build, but because I haven’t been building all that long, it led me into some areas of modeling that I have not been to previously. A lot of what I did was done over and over again until it met my expectations Also, a lot of what I’m going to post is old news (if you have seen my Fotki page, you may have stumbled on this already), but I want to show what I’ve gone through to get where I am today. I hope you guys don’t mind, but this is going to be a super long post! Anyway, here's the story... A while back I stumbled upon the Monogram Owens Corning SCCA A Production Corvette model and it struck me that it was similar to a car I remember my dad working on many years ago. My dad always had a picture of the Vette signed by the driver, Lynn Butler, thanking him for the track record at Riverside International Raceway, so I asked him to send me a copy. This is the picture I had in mind when I saw the Owens Corning model box, and I thought it would be a fun, quick build. I also did a Google search, using “Corvette” and “Lynn Butler” as my key words, and that’s when everything about this project changed! What I found immediately was a Corvette registry that had the details of the car, including the VIN number, year of the car (it turned out to be a ’68), and all the owners who raced the car. The most intriguing thing about that was the very first name, none other than James Garner. My fun, quick build was now a research project! The Corvette historians among you may see where this is heading if you are putting the pieces together. For 1968, a new racing team was assembled with James Garner as its listed owner, he having been brought in to attract sponsorship for the effort. Being a racing fan and having just completed “Grand Prix”, he was a very active “owner”. Garner’s team was called American International Racing team and had purchased three 1968 L88 Corvettes. The car was one of three cars taken by Garner’s AIR team to Daytona for the 24-hour race in 1968, with two cars racing and one used as a show car. This car, #45, was driven by Scooter Patrick and Davey Jordan in the race, the other by “Mr. Corvette”, Dick Guldstrand, Ed Leslie and Herb Caplan. Neither of the two cars finished that race, and Garner’s team replaced the Vettes with Lolas for the remainder of the season. Here are a few pics of the #45 car at Daytona. Here’s a shot of the drivers, Scooter Patrick and Davey Jordan, with Garner at Riverside testing prior to Daytona I had the opportunity to meet both Scooter Patrick and Davey Jordan at a Riverside International Automotive Museum this past April and tell them about my project.
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Post by Art on Mar 26, 2013 21:15:18 GMT -8
The lineage of this car certainly provided a lot of reference shots, especially since the sister car to this one was restored about 12 years ago. That car was restored by a guy named David Herlinger and his brother Jim. Jim owned the #45 car in the ‘70s and had repurchased it in the ‘90’s. Jim sold that car at auction for an astounding $744,000! This is the restored sister car. There were a lot of pics out there of it going together, which was really helpful. While it was nice to find all of these references of the AIR car, that wasn’t the livery or era of this car I planned to build. Lynn Butler was the third owner of the car and hired my dad to maintain the car while they campaigned the 1972 SCCA Southwest Regional series in the A Production class. Once I really got into this project, I interviewed my dad to find out as much about this car as possible. Of course, he already knew where the car came from, but he had no idea how much the restored car sold for! He had a ton of those vintage parts off of the original car that were not used later on. Anyway, he gave me a bunch of details, including the fact that they went undefeated that season, setting track records along the way. He was able to dig up a few more pictures that he sent to me as well. Not a lot of detail, but enough to know that the Owens Corning kit was going to be nothing more than a jumping off point! A lot of custom work ahead… And here’s one with Lynn Butler talking to Mr. Corvette, Dick Guldstrand. I decided that this was the livery I wanted to replicate, which had my dad’s logo on the side and slick tires.
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Post by Art on Mar 26, 2013 21:20:25 GMT -8
While they were great, getting the pictures from my dad only fueled my desire to find more details than those pictures provided. For instance, I couldn’t read the writing on the rear deck, although my dad said it was a listing of the track records during the season. So I decided to see if I could find a schedule for the Southwest Pacific Division schedule somewhere so I could piece together the text for the rear deck. Nothing turned up on the net, but I was able to get the number for the SSCA Cal Club, so I gave them a call. They put me in touch with their historian, who dug through boxes in his garage to find some 1972 newsletters. He sent me copies which had the scheduled races and then some! There were point standings lists, and even a picture of the car in one of the newsletters. There were also some interesting names running junior divisions back then, like Elliot Forbes-Robinson and Ganassi Team Manager Mike Hull in the Formula Ford classes. My dad placed a call to Dick Guldstrand for me just to shoot the bull and recount this car. He knew Dick a little back in the day and even had Guldstrand attempt to qualify a NASCAR Cup car for him at Ontario Motor Speedway once, but that’s another story. Dick remembered the car and said I could call him any time, but I wasn’t able to reach him myself. In the conversation with Guldstrand, he told my dad that he thought that Lynn Butler had passed away. He was an employee of Guldstrand’s at the time he drove this car in ’72, so Dick knew him well. His passing turned out not to be true, as I would find out later. In my research from the internet, I learned that Dave Herlinger, who restored the #44 car for his brother Jim, was now in possession of the car. He owns a Corvette repair shop in Northern California, so I looked him up and gave him a call. He was more than happy to talk to me about the car and all things racing. Herlinger had himself tried to contact Butler without success, as that was the era of the car he knew the least about and I actually ended up giving him as much or more information than he gave me. Here’s the car as it was when Herlinger purchased it from a guy in Alaska where it last raced. The roll bar that my dad had fabricated is still visible in this shot, as is the head rest mandated by SCCA, which he informed me was the buddy seat off of his Hodaka motorcycle, a bike I logged a few dirt miles on myself. It also morphed a bit, with a newer model nose, some wider fender flares, a roll cage and whole lot of miles! I realized with the additional pictures I now had that I was going to need another kit, but one with some bumpers, and a different side mirror, like come in this kit.
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Post by Art on Mar 26, 2013 21:25:35 GMT -8
VRM has an AIR decal sheet I also found while doing internet research. I bought a set, as the graphic pattern on the AIR version is still the same as the version I’m working on, so I am using photocopies of it for templates. The only difference is that Butler painted the car black and in later trim (the era I’m replicating) added a pinstripe around the graphics and the fenders. The sheet also has gauge decals and other scripts and emblems that are useful on this project as well.
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Post by gwadagone on Mar 26, 2013 22:11:08 GMT -8
The AIR Corvettes at their garage at the 1968 Daytona: The trackline at the '68 Daytona with the two AIR Corvettes: Greetings.
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Post by gwadagone on Mar 26, 2013 22:21:17 GMT -8
Meanwhile the Lynn Butler car,the '68 Daytona AIR Corvette drove by Dick Guldstrand & Ed Leslie. Revell-Monogram model car,with Plasti-Performance H&M wheels,Decals by VRM,white paint by Tamiya & Metal Blue by Testor... Greetings.
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Post by 4wheels on Mar 27, 2013 4:15:35 GMT -8
Keep the posts coming, Art! This is the kind of project I love to see. Sometimes the research is as much fun as the actual modeling! Please don't leave us hanging too long!
Brian
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Post by Art on Mar 27, 2013 9:25:57 GMT -8
Nice build, Bernard! I would like to build the original 45 as well, with the steel wheels like you did. Did you use the Reliable Resin conversion, or the Stars and Stripes as your base?
Brian, most of this work was done over two years ago, so I will be posting much more very soon. As I am coming to a closse on the project, I want to get caught up on the WIP to show where I am today ASAP. Thanks for looking!
-Art
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Post by gwadagone on Mar 27, 2013 11:19:25 GMT -8
Not the Relable Resin,just a Revell 68 Corvette with Hard Top,mixed with the Owens Corning Monogram,with any racing pieces. The Resin from reliable resin is good to realize the BFG Goodrich or the Owens Corning cars,with detailled front lights,but to this one a simple kit is sufficient. Greetings.
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Post by Art on Mar 27, 2013 18:10:15 GMT -8
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Post by Art on Mar 27, 2013 18:10:51 GMT -8
While I was interviewing my dad again to get some details straight, I asked him about the crew members listed on the side of the car in one of the pictures he had provided me earlier. One of the names was Theo Lassig, and my dad told me he was a good friend of Lynn Butler’s and maybe I should try to find him. So I did, and within 10 minutes had him on the phone. He was surprised, but really glad to hear from me and about this project. In our conversation, he relayed that he had probably somewhere like 60 pictures of the car from the Butler year. He also was still semi-in touch with Lynn and he was alive and living in Salt Lake City. I ended up meeting with him and he provided me with the pictures. The pictures clearly illustrate the some details, and also document the livery changes they made throughout the season. It turns out that Theo was the one that painted the car, so he had some insight. Here we have roundels with the numbers, and no flares of any kind: You can see the rear fender flares in this shot: Gotta love the bubble shield! The number font is now different at this point: Early in the season they ran treaded tires: There’s plenty more, but this one below is my favorite. My dad is in the middle with the cool ‘70s ‘stache.
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Post by Art on Mar 27, 2013 18:14:43 GMT -8
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Post by Art on Mar 27, 2013 18:15:23 GMT -8
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Post by Art on Mar 27, 2013 18:15:53 GMT -8
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Post by Art on Mar 27, 2013 18:16:34 GMT -8
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