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@dennis-garrett commented on @robert-mitchell's gallery
7 years ago

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SHORT TRACK MODELS by MR NASCAR Curtis Turner's 1940 Ford Sportsman

Curtis Turner, better known as "Pops", was one of NASCAR's originals; a true character and a pioneer of the sport in its fledgling years. His first race was in 1946, and he won his second time out. He was racing before NASCAR even got off the ground, and built up a reputation as a fast driver, and a man who loved life in the fast lane. He was renowned for his partying, and famous for "starting brand-new parties" after each race, usually with his buddy, Joe Weatherly. In the early '50's he drove Oldsmobiles, switching to Ford later in the decade. His greatest success was in the Convertible Division, where he won 27 races. He won 18 in Grand National as well.

Ol' Pops was also a wheeler-dealer, making, losing and regaining several small fortunes in the timber industry in the South. He also helped finance Charlotte Motor Speedway, which opened in 1960, but lost it due to cost over-runs in the excavation/construction (Who Knew there was a granite layer a couple feet below Turns 1,2,3 and 4?).

Pops ran afoul of NASCAR when he tried to form a drivers union to get a fairer share of the purse, and was banished, only to be reinstated in 1965.

His final years in Stock Car Racing were spent in partnership with another NASCAR legend, car builder Smokey Yunick, who ultimately dissolved the partnership, as he was afraid Pops would kill himself in one of Smokey's potent machines.

Unfortunately, Curtis was killed when his private plane went down in 1970, but he left an indelible mark on the sport and is a true Hall of Famer .

The model here was built to represent one of Curtis' 1948 rides, a 1940 Ford Coupe Sportsman. The starting model was Revell's new 1940 Ford Coupe, an excellent piece, by the way, and it was built as my Project Car for the Group 25 2004 Club Project.

This is a neat idea we have where we vote early in the year on a model we will all "do our thing" with, and if we have it done and ready for display at the Club display at the November Toronto Hobby Show, the model is free. If we miss the deadline, we pay the Club for the model (participation is not mandatory for members... this was my first in a year or two. )

The model was was put together based on one black and white picture from UMI's excellent "NASCAR, The Early Years" book, with a lot of SWAG and assumptions along the way. The main assumption was the colour scheme, it looked like red and white to me! The next assumption was that this was indeed a Sportsman, and not a Modified, based on the skinny whitewall tire and the presence of running boards, so I used the stock frame and engine, only modification being exhaust dumps and radiusing the wheel openings.

(Modifieds at the time ran tricarb setups on Alky with dumps thru the fenders or side panels, and usually mounted the body on a stronger pick-up truck frame.) Other assumptions were based on pictures of other cars from the same era - numbers on the hood and rear deck; the cutout sides of the hood, and the opposite slant on the "14" on the passenger side. I also hogged out the center post from the rear window, and the perimeter that represents the stock weatherstripping - that at least was evident in the reference picture.

The trim was shaved off the body, and holes drilled where the doorhandles, tail light and trunk handle would have been. The pipe to the gas tank was made from aluminum tubing, and a simple gascap was scratchbuilt - the stock one being far too fancy!

I developed the number 14 decals by scanning in the picture on the above right, and in PhotoShop, by reversing the process of using the skew and perspective features, "straightened out" the side graphic, and resized it to fit the car body as per the picture. The Turner name was done in Brushscript which looks pretty close. In the reference picture, it looks as if another "1" has been added. making it car number 141. I opted not to do this as i assume this was unique to the particular race this was taken at, due to it's crude appearance, and i didn't want to spoil the overall aesthetics. The bungee cord holding the trunk closed is a bit of craft elastic, painted flat black, with hooks fashioned from wire at each end, and a wire hook on the trunk lid.

The driver figure, which is a bit too large in retrospect, was made by combining a current driver figure body from the Revell NASCAR kits with an open-faced '60's vintage COX slotcar driver's head. This was still pretty close to what Pops woulda wore in the 40's. All the shoulder harness was carved off the figure, and extreme elective joint surgery was needed to get the relatively upright sitting position these old cars demanded.

The rollcage was a simple hoop behind the driver, made from 3mm soldering wire, bent to the roof underside contours, with a simple cross brace behind the driver's head. No tie-in to the front of the passenger compatment, that was still a few years away... I left it unpainted as the solder looked like extruded pipe. The stock dash, seats, three-on-the-tree tranny shifter and front seats were retained, as were the door panels. The rear seat was left out. The flathead engine was wired, and that was all that I did under the hood. The rest was box stock. Looking at the model now, the only thing I might do different might be to not remove as much of the hood sides at the front as I did... I'd likely only come as far forward as where the top of the grille meets the fender.

The reason that Pops has his arm out the window was that I had envisioned a mini-diorama, with him holding a checkered flag after a victory, with the car placed on a dirt track with a Martinsville-esque vertical board fence to his right. Then I realized if he'd just raced and won, the car would be covered with red southern clay! I even went so far as to mix up a red clay colour from TAMIYA aerosols to apply as weathering - but when it came time to pull the ol' airbrush trigger I just couldn't do it... Guess it'll be Ol' Pops wavin' to the crowd at the START of a race in 1948...