1972 Darrell Waltrip Mercury

[gks1964]

This is going to be my next project as the '69 Charger500 winds down. Any help that can be given would be of great help! I have The MPC Mercury Cyclone body to use and Yesterday's decal sheets on the way. This will be the car he ran at Talladega. I need help with chassis type and any other pix or knowledge you may have. Thanks to everyone!!

Edited May 18, 2020 by gks1964

[Len Woodruff]

Use the Polar Lights Ford chassis. It has everything you need for the chassis, motor interior.

[yellowsportwagon]

What Len said. Shorten the frame horns about 1/8 inch. Same with the engine hoop. Cut the hump off the rear firewall and it drops right into the Mercury body.

[john843]

Wasn't Darrell's  Mercury  originally the '67 H-M/Andretti Daytona 500 winner?

 

John

[yellowsportwagon]

9 minutes ago, john843 said:

Wasn't Darrell's  Mercury  originally the '67 H-M/Andretti Daytona 500 winner?

 

John

Yep

[Vietnam Vet67]

According to a book I have called the "NASCAR Family Album" the car was known as a a Holman & Moody "house car".It was run by quite a few drivers.  Bobby Allison drove it to his first super speedway win at North Carolina Speedway in 1967. It was originally a Ford Fairlane before eventually being converted to a 1971 Mercury. Mario also drove it to victory at Daytona in 1967 when it was a Ford. 

Edited May 18, 2020 by Vietnam Vet67
additional info added

[afx]

My Merc build with the PL chassis and 429.

[ChrisR]

Looks great!!

[64Comet404]

It’s one of the few that are still around in real life. DW parked it when he switched to Chevrolet in 1974, and he had it restored before he stopped driving. AFAIK, it’s still in his collection.

[gks1964]

This car has a lot of history to it! I was lucky to find 2 sets of decals and you knowledgeable  people here to help me along the way.

[gks1964]

7 hours ago, afx said:

My Merc build with the PL chassis and 429.

That's a beauty. Hope I cant do half as good!!

[DoctorLarry]

A later version with some specs. From the book Classic Stock Cars by Dr. John Craft.

 

[DoctorLarry]

Make that an earlier model.

[gks1964]

Found an interesting top view. Anyone have an idea on body colors, interior and chassis?

[gks1964]

20 hours ago, yellowsportwagon said:

What Len said. Shorten the frame horns about 1/8 inch. Same with the engine hoop. Cut the hump off the rear firewall and it drops right into the Mercury body.

When you say the frame horns, is this the foreword most area of the frame rail?

[yellowsportwagon]

34 minutes ago, gks1964 said:

When you say the frame horns, is this the foreword most area of the frame rail?

Yep! I cut about 1/8 inch off of them. Cut the shock tower loops off the engine hoop. They need to be modified anyway. Shorten the engine hoop 1/8 inch too. This will move the radiator closer too the fan but it still fits. I did my chassis like most Holman Moody chassis. Black underside and engine compartment. Gray spatter paint on interior floor rear firewall with black dash and cage. My biggest suggestions with these chassis are to remove the two stupid big lugs the steering gear is supposed to sit on. Allows more header room. Glue steering stuff directly to the control arms. The shock towers need to be modified to fit the boss engine. I cut them off each side. Then I slice most of the material away where they mounted to the hoop. So the material is only about 1/64 inch thick. Then glue them into the frame and back to the engine hoop. If this makes sense. 

[Bill J]

All these guys nailed it, the Polar Lights chassis. It does require a little work, it needs to be shortened in the front to clear the Merc bumper, the dash will need work to clear the windshield and the rear end may need some movement to line up with the wheelwells.  Whenever I make a PL Talladega or Merc SpoilerII I cut out off the curved down bars next to the engine and move them outward a little to provide clearance for the Boss 429. Someone else may have a better idea, that's what I found to work for me.

I paint my chassis gray and give it a speckled finish to replicate the Zolatone paint commonly used back in that time period. I paint the roll cage semi gloss black and the underside of the chassis is also semi gloss black. That was the way Holman-Moody painted them when constructed. I glue uo my cage without gluing to the chassis so I can paint it separately. Then glue it when everything is painted.

[gks1964]

Thanks guy's great stuff. How you duplicating the spatter paint? Think I'll get out a chassis and look at it good!

[Bill J]

The way I do the splatter paint is I paint my chassis top with Testor's Model Master gloss gull gray. Once it dries I spray Testor's Acrylic white from my airbrush, at a distance and without thinning the paint. I then do the same with Testor's acrylic black. Because the paint wasn't thinned, it spits and gets a nice almost to scale result. I am sure someone else has other ways of doing this. Not hard, just a few steps. The hard part is cleaning the airbrush, the acrylics tend to foul the tip and it can be tough to get it cleaned out. 

[Bill Edman]

5 hours ago, gks1964 said:

Found an interesting top view. Anyone have an idea on body colors, interior and chassis?

medium brown metallic is the dark and the gold is medium gold metallic both mercury colors

[gks1964]

6 hours ago, Bill Edman said:

medium brown metallic is the dark and the gold is medium gold metallic both mercury colors

Thank you.

[Bill Edman]

17 hours ago, gks1964 said:

Thank you.

no problem but double check before hand the ford and mercury teams used both company's paints

[gks1964]

Should the fuel cell be in the truck and the bottom of the chassis have a plate covering were the gas tank was? 

Edited May 20, 2020 by gks1964

[Bill J]

The fuel cell should be about the same as the cars of today. Partly underneath and partly in the trunk.

[gks1964]

38 minutes ago, Bill J said:

The fuel cell should be about the same as the cars of today. Partly underneath and partly in the trunk.

Thank, Bill!!