1975 Bobby Alllison AMC Matador

[gami8630]

This car is a Penske Racing AMC Matador, which finished second in the 1975 Daytona 500, with driver Bobby Allison.
Penske Racing made its NASCAR debut in 1972 with Mark Donahue driving the AMC Matador.
Bobby Allison then joined the team in 1974 and won four races in three years up to 1976.

The kit built for this project was released in 1975, when the AMT
PENSKE/ALLISON MATADOR.
As it was a very old kit, there were several parts that had to be refurbished, but I managed to complete it.

The body has enlarged front wheel arches and the rear spoiler is made from parts of JO-HAN's Ford Torino.
The cockpit has a roll cage with additional side bars and a reworked instrument panel.
The racing seats are modified from the AMT GEN4 kit and the fire extinguishers are from the MONOGRAM kit.
Window nets and tyres are from PPP.
Decals are from CHERRYRUNMODEL and as usual were purchased from Mike's Decals.

The last image shows it side-by-side with the Roger Penske 50-winning Dodge Intrepid R/T driven by Ryan Newman.

[TooOld]

Beautifully done !  Both Mark and Bobby made the Matador a legitimate race car when others laughed at it .

[Volzfan59]

Great work! I always liked the Matador because it was different.

[Dave Van]

A nice clean build of one of my favorite Cup cars. I had a 'IN' in NASCAR during that era and Penske/Bobby was a Fav! So much so I bought a real 74 Matador coupe later on. The kit is a little simple. I have used the 90's era AMT Thunderbird chassis under mine and it works well with mods. 

Well done....

My 1/1 Mat....next project!

 

 

[Jim N]

Great work on both the Matador and the Intrepid.  My first car was a 75 Matador.  I have fond memories of that car and the AMC racing program.

[Volzfan59]

Not trying to hijack the thread, just remembered something.

Do any of you remember when the AMT Matador kit came out? I bought one as soon as Woolworths stuck them on the shelf. There was an order form for a red, white and blue AMC Racing Team insulated jacket. My mother ordered one for me. I had the old Winton Cup (looked like a cigarette pack with a checkered flag) and Goodyear patches sewn on. Man, you couldn't tell me anything when I got that jacket!

[MarkJ]

Excellent job on both, Yoshimi. I remember wanting to buy one of those Matadors back in the day but knew it would be a major no, no being that I worked for a Chevy dealership. I had bought a new Dodge Charger back in 1973 and did not realize how the management was going to feel about it. They weren't too happy so luckily it was a horrible car, and I sold it to my next-door neighbor. In 1976 I bought a Laguna S-3 so at least I was driving a Nascar at the time in Chevy form. It also turned out to be a horrible car because I got it with a 350 with 2 barrel carb. That car was so heavy and underpowered that it was actually dangerous to drive. You could not get a 350 4 barrel. To get a 4-barrel carb you had to get the small block 400 engine with the siamesed cylinder heads that had a lot of problems with head gaskets.  Yes, the Penske Matadors with Allison driving must have made for a huge sales increase for AMC back then. At least with Nascar fans.

[ChrisR]

Looks great!

[Vettegasser]

Very nice job

[PappyD340]

Very nice!

[gami8630]

Thank you all for your replies.
I'm glad you all like the matador I built.

[slusher]

Beautiful built classic!  Best version I have seen built. 

[ewetwo]

Great build.

[gami8630]

Thanks, slusher, ewetwo.

I'm glad you appreciate my matador.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Great job! Both look very nice. Good work.

[gami8630]

Thanks. Rattlecan Dan.