Perry Cottingham 73 Buick Regal

[DoctorLarry]

Count this one as another from the Tim Stevens file of little known 1970's NASCAR cars. Evidently Perry Cottingham raced a Buick Skylark and this Regal out west and at one point had Kenne-Bell engines in his cars. First a 455 then a 350. Didn't win much but this car was unique. As far as I can tell this is the only picture of the car. It is a73 Buick Regal. I started with two of my own castings. I have a 73 Century Gran Sport and a 75 Century Indy Pace Car. The Regal has a longer nose and rectangular marker lights and a slightly different grille than the Century and this car has a formal roofline. So do I cut the formal roof off the 75 and splice it to the 73 or cut the nose off the 73 and glue it to the 75? I chose option 2. I will worry about the back later-it is different too. I will use a T Bird chassis and engine out of a GM NASCAR kit or a Buick one if I can find one. The other kits have a correct seat, too. PPP 5 slot wheels and Monogram tires. Decals will be scratch made-there are not many to worry about. Paint is a GM touch up that is close in color. Should be a fun build. First step was to get rid of the T tops, moldings, marker lights, door handles and glue the nose and headlight bezels on from the 73. Next is to fix the rear and narrow the bumpers. Then fit the chassis. Away we go!

 

[TarheelRick]

Going to be an interesting build.  Really like these obscure, low-buck racers. Keep those updates coming.

[yellowsportwagon]

Larry I wish I’d seen this before stop!!!!! This car does not have a formal roof. I have studied this picture for hours. Look very closely through the door window . You won’t see the split in the center of the formal roof glass. Plus if you look closely where the quarter meets the roof it comes together as a Fastback would. I truly think this car is a 74 Century body with a 73 Regal front bumper and nose on it.

[DoctorLarry]

It looks like it has the opera windows in it, though?

[DoctorLarry]

Luckily I have an unlimited ability to make more bodies!

[yellowsportwagon]

5 minutes ago, DoctorLarry said:

It looks like it has the opera windows in it, though?

Yes it does but look through the car it looks to have the long sail panel on the drivers side. Malibu had a small window like this in 74. Could this be a skinned Malibu??? There’s some weird about this car. Compare these pictures with the race car. In my opinion for what it’s worth the roof to quarter transition looks more like the Fastback. I have been wrong before however.

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by yellowsportwagon

[yellowsportwagon]

The yellow car has the smaller window.

[yellowsportwagon]

Here’s a formal roof for comparison. The roof to quarter transition is almost flat compared to the others.

[DoctorLarry]

Here's how they modeled out. The roof to quarter is flat and the roof on the fastback sweeps back.

[yellowsportwagon]

9 minutes ago, DoctorLarry said:

Here's how they modeled out. The roof to quarter is flat and the roof on the fastback sweeps back.

Exactly if you look at the original picture it looks like the Fastback to me. This is what has kept me from finishing this car. I started it with your 73 body but I have too many unanswered questions. I’ve got requests for more pictures on Facebook but it’s probably futile at best.

[DoctorLarry]

I have scoured the internet but this seems to be the only one. Filling in the window is easy.

[DoctorLarry]

I guess I will extend a 73 nose and fill in the quarter window.

[yellowsportwagon]

1 hour ago, DoctorLarry said:

I guess I will extend a 73 nose and fill in the quarter window.

That’s I think the most accurate. You know just like me when you get it all done. A picture will show up proving how wrong it is. Happens to me all the time.

[DoctorLarry]

Well, after Tim Stevens and I staring at one grainy picture for hours we have concluded this is a Century fastback with opera windows and a 73 Regal front end. So I cut the front end off the 75 and glued it to a 73 Gran Sport Century body, I opened up the front wheel wells and filled in the triangle window and cut out the opera window. I have assembled part of the chassis and need to lengthen it for the correct wheelbase. I need to fair in the windows and then prime the body. Back on track again.

[gks1964]

That looks more accurate!!

[DoctorLarry]

Got some more work done. I lengthened the TBird chassis about 1/4" to put the wheels in the center of the wheel wells. The track on this chassis is really too wide for these bodies so I had to revise the rear wheel wells slightly and I need to thin the body some around the wheel lips for a better fit. I may need to re-do the rear wheel openings-I may have rounded them too much. I also had to modify the wheel tubs some-they arch too high so I put a flat spot on top so they would fit under the quarter windows. I may need to lower the front spindles some because the chassis sits the car really low. I have not tried to make a cage yet but that will probably have to be scratch made.

[DoctorLarry]

Well. more fabrication. The dash panel was too high and interfered with the hood and the front tires still sit pretty high in the fenderwells. So I put a shorter dash panel in which fixed the hood problem and radiused the front fender lips up a little more. Everything seems to sit where it should but I now need to raise the rear spring mounting points up. Once I get the body sitting right I will move on to the cage and rest of the frame. The Monogram GSX has a 455 Buick engine but it is in 1/24 scale so a little larger than normal. It also has a molded on transmission. A 69 Riviera has a correct engine with a molded on trans as well so I would have to cut them off and glue on another trans either way. More fabrication, I guess.

[yellowsportwagon]

5 hours ago, DoctorLarry said:

Well. more fabrication. The dash panel was too high and interfered with the hood and the front tires still sit pretty high in the fenderwells. So I put a shorter dash panel in which fixed the hood problem and radiused the front fender lips up a little more. Everything seems to sit where it should but I now need to raise the rear spring mounting points up. Once I get the body sitting right I will move on to the cage and rest of the frame. The Monogram GSX has a 455 Buick engine but it is in 1/24 scale so a little larger than normal. It also has a molded on transmission. A 69 Riviera has a correct engine with a molded on trans as well so I would have to cut them off and glue on another trans either way. More fabrication, I guess.

Oh yeah !!!! There ya go looks sick!!!!

[yellowsportwagon]

On 6/21/2021 at 8:52 AM, DoctorLarry said:

Got some more work done. I lengthened the TBird chassis about 1/4" to put the wheels in the center of the wheel wells. The track on this chassis is really too wide for these bodies so I had to revise the rear wheel wells slightly and I need to thin the body some around the wheel lips for a better fit. I may need to re-do the rear wheel openings-I may have rounded them too much. I also had to modify the wheel tubs some-they arch too high so I put a flat spot on top so they would fit under the quarter windows. I may need to lower the front spindles some because the chassis sits the car really low. I have not tried to make a cage yet but that will probably have to be scratch made.

Car sits just right these things were low. Look how high the front wheel openings were cut!

[DoctorLarry]

I started on the cage. To match the car I had to shorten the sides so they would fit inside the windows like the picture. Now on to the front framing and engine.

[yellowsportwagon]

12 hours ago, DoctorLarry said:

I started on the cage. To match the car I had to shorten the sides so they would fit inside the windows like the picture. Now on to the front framing and engine.

Hey Larry you need to lose the bar going straight up and down off the door bars near the front . That bar didn’t come around till the eighties. 

[DoctorLarry]

That was on the TBird cage. Still in the modifying stage, getting it to fit in the body and around the windows and roof. Thanks for the heads up. I had to chop the front bars off already. How does the rest look?

[gks1964]

1 hour ago, DoctorLarry said:

That was on the TBird cage. Still in the modifying stage, getting it to fit in the body and around the windows and roof. Thanks for the heads up. I had to chop the front bars off already. How does the rest look?

You'll get it done!!

[DoctorLarry]

Got some more done while it rained. Worked on the body more. Went a little rogue and added a rear spoiler and fuel vent tube. Put the rear bumper on and fitted it in. Put the front chassis rails on, put the gas tank in and test fitted the Monogram Buick engine. Fabbed up a lid for the oil tank behind the cage and cut the seat down. Progress.

[yellowsportwagon]

Looking good