VegasNick
VegasNick Reader
7/30/19 9:31 p.m.

I have been looking at this thing for months. Today, I finally made a deal on it. It is a (from the history we can find) copy of a Petty kit car from the 70's. Right now it has a Valiant body on it, and it came with another Valiant skin. We will most likely leave the body on it and replace the entire front end with the good Valiant and not the home built front end on it now. I'm kicking around getting a Challenger body for it later on. Hoping to run it locally or maybe...maybe start a Champ Car team. 

 

As it sits today, perfectly in a "Days of Thunder" dirt floor barn:

 

We had it outside back in the fall:

 

Just an idea to make a twin to the Charger:

stuart in mn
stuart in mn MegaDork
7/30/19 11:06 p.m.

Cool!  I remember when those Petty kits came out.  I thought they were mainly meant to be used with Volare bodies, at least that's what usually was shown in the ads.  It should be Petty Blue, though.  smiley

 

VegasNick
VegasNick Reader
7/31/19 11:03 a.m.

In reply to stuart in mn :

haha! They had all sorts of bodies on them. Even a challenger at one time. 

 

I know, I know! 

stuart in mn
stuart in mn MegaDork
7/31/19 1:10 p.m.

I found this link to a Petty/Volare kit car that was set up for road racing.  There's also a copy of the original ad for them: 

http://www.race-cardrivers.com/Chrysler%20Petty%20Kit%20Car%20IMSA%20Volare%20Road%20Runner%20SCCA%20Trans%20Am.htm

A couple more interesting links:

http://mopardealer.com/chrysler.htm

http://www.superbirdclub.com/EarnhardtKitCar.html

Adrian_Thompson
Adrian_Thompson MegaDork
7/31/19 1:42 p.m.

What is/was a Petty kit?

stuart in mn
stuart in mn MegaDork
7/31/19 1:53 p.m.
Adrian_Thompson said:

What is/was a Petty kit?

Click on the first link in my post above, it goes to an advertisement for the kit.  It was basically a kit for building a stock car that was developed by Petty Industries for Chrysler - chassis and suspension parts, roll cage, engine components, etc.

VegasNick
VegasNick Reader
7/31/19 2:05 p.m.
Adrian_Thompson said:

What is/was a Petty kit?

Adrian, I have not confirmed it as an actual kit or a really good copy. I am sending some pics to a few guys that are well versed in them. There is a possibility that it is one of 8 clones built here way bak in the 70's. 

GTXVette
GTXVette UltraDork
7/31/19 8:27 p.m.

It Was a Race Car chassis Kit Bought through Petty Enterprises, all I ever saw had Duster bodies, Wanna Know who the Test Driver was during Development. His Initials were D E

redco2
redco2
7/31/19 10:54 p.m.

Hi Nick, seems like it's gonna be too much work for you but you can do it! I agree that you should just enhance the vitage beauty of it! 

Incircles019
Incircles019 New Reader
8/1/19 11:56 a.m.

I’m petty sure I know that car, it raced Stafford Springs speedway in Connecticut during the 80’s and maybe early 90’s

Dusterbd13-michael
Dusterbd13-michael MegaDork
8/1/19 12:01 p.m.

I have a boner now.

Definitely go for the duster body. One if my dreams since i got mine at 14....

wvumtnbkr
wvumtnbkr UberDork
8/1/19 12:13 p.m.

I do t think that car will be champcar legal.  It doesn't look like it has the stock chassis.

 

Tube frame cars are not allowed per the rules.

 

All champcar needed to start out as a mass produced vehicle.

 

Lemons or wrl may accept it.

VegasNick
VegasNick Reader
8/1/19 1:39 p.m.

In reply to GTXVette :

Yep. They had Duster, Volare, Dart and a few other bodies. 

VegasNick
VegasNick Reader
8/1/19 1:39 p.m.

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

One of the groups would allow an exempt (no points) car. It has been a while but I had talked to them about a nolder Grand National car running. 

 

VegasNick
VegasNick Reader
8/1/19 1:40 p.m.
Dusterbd13-michael said:

I have a boner now.

Definitely go for the duster body. One if my dreams since i got mine at 14....

hahah! I knew you would be here. We will see how it shakes out. It is going to be some work. She's gonna go on stands or a table and get stripped for a full rework. 

 

VegasNick
VegasNick Reader
8/1/19 1:41 p.m.

In reply to Incircles019 :

That is bad ass!

stuart in mn
stuart in mn MegaDork
8/1/19 9:22 p.m.
wvumtnbkr said:

I do t think that car will be champcar legal.  It doesn't look like it has the stock chassis.

 

Darts, Dusters, et al were unibody cars.  However, the genuine Petty kits used what looked like conventional frame rails, with a cage added on top.  I don't know what the rails were from, though.

VegasNick
VegasNick Reader
8/2/19 9:02 p.m.
stuart in mn said:
wvumtnbkr said:

I do t think that car will be champcar legal.  It doesn't look like it has the stock chassis.

 

Darts, Dusters, et al were unibody cars.  However, the genuine Petty kits used what looked like conventional frame rails, with a cage added on top.  I don't know what the rails were from, though.

I have mae friends with one of the most knowledgeable guys there is about the kit car. He is close friends with the original designer. I am hoping to get some time to pick his brain some. If you look at the original chassis on a jig table, the frame rails do look stock factory with square tube add on sections.  

VegasNick
VegasNick Reader
9/19/19 1:33 p.m.

Thanks to some local racers I scored a nearly new set of Hoosiers. Now she's looking tough! Hopefully I can get it in the shop soon and start tearing the front sheetmetal off of it. Engine is still in the machine shop. 

 

wvumtnbkr
wvumtnbkr UberDork
9/19/19 10:20 p.m.

Hawt!

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