Mike Sowers

DaleEarnhardt Nova

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Tommy Buxton
@tommy-buxton   15 years ago
Mike,did you do this build? It is nicely done. I have a replica of this car. It was owned by Gary Hargett and driven by Dale in 1977 and 1978.
Mike Sowers
@mike-sowers   15 years ago
Nope, I did not build this. It is just the only picture I have found of this car in color. The colors are not correct though as the one Dale drove was more Beige than White .... As I remember it anyway. I sure remember watching it race though.
Tommy Buxton
@tommy-buxton   15 years ago
Mike,When we built the replica of this car I called Gary Hargett. He gave me the original paint codes to the car. The White is actually the same white used on GM trucks in the early 70's, The orange is actually Ford Poppy Red used only on the Mustangs in 65 and 66.I have several photo's of this car and the white is correct. I have talked to some other people who remember the white being more of a beige color, I would have to trust Gary Hargett the most as he owned the car. It was painted by the infamous Robert Gee. The original car was destroyed at Bristol in 1978. To my knowledge ours is the only copy of it.This is the last Late Model Sportsman car Dale drove on a regular basis before he got the call from Rod Osterlund. The rest as we all know it is historic.
Jerry Sims
@jerry-sims   15 years ago
It would be appreciated if you would give credit to and tell people that this is a picture of one of my brother's 1/25 scale models and not the real car. He is a craftsman and an historian, having been building the models for the local teams and lettering the real cars for over forty years. He also shot that picture out behind his full sized shop on the "grass" (a piece of indoor outdoor carpet) that I gave him. Notice the hard line between the grass and the trees? The biege color referred to was "almond" and used on the Earnhardt's family cars. The original car that this model was patterned after was built by Robert Gee and he used a white and orange/red on most of his cars. Gary Hargett is an old friend of mine from the Starlite Speedway days.
Mike Sowers
@mike-sowers   15 years ago
Hey Jerry, I would be glad to give credit to your brother. This is just a pic I found on the internet a couple years ago with no names where it came from. I did not even look close enough to realize it was a pic of a model until someone on here commented so. It was just the only picture of this car I could find and saved it for my use only until I found racers reunion and put it here for others to enjoy. This is my favorite all time car as I watched Dale many times battle the likes of Butch Lindley, Sam Ard, Harry Gant, etc ...... I also am blessed to work in racing and was fortunate enough to work for Dale and get to know he and Randy well. Please send me the info to give credit to your brother or I will gladly remove it. Thanks for the info on the origin of the photo. Do you know of any color pics of the real car ? Thanks.
Jackie Sims
@jackie-sims   15 years ago
Hi Mike, As Jerry said this is a picture I shot of one of my models. I have been building race car models for a long time. You can see more of my work if you would like at http://public.fotki.com/gator-gallery/ Thanks, Jackie...
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