curt raitz Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 "Suddenly it's 1960" was the ad slogan used to describe the new Plymouth for 1957. It was touted as being 3 years ahead of of their time. Wally Parks and Ray Brock from Hot Rod Magazine decided to enter a car in the the newly created Experimental catagory at the 8th Annual NASCAR International Safety and Performance Trials in Daytona Beach, Florida. They picked up a canary yellow '57 Plymouth Savoy two-door hardtop from Chrysler's East Los Angeles assembly plant and with two weeks until the event they began getting the car ready. They replaced the stock powerplant with a Chrysler Hemi from Harry Duncan. The engine sported Hiborn injectors and a Scintilla Vertex magneto. Running on straight alcohol the engine produced 448 hp on the dyno. On the "Two-Way Flying Mile" Wally Parks ran 153.153 mph on the south run and returned north at 166.898 mph establishing a track record for this class. After Daytona, they brought the car to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Ray Brock made a 178 mph pass qualifying for the D/Fuel Coupe and Sedan record. On the backup run Suddenly was up to 183 mph when the engine blew up. After Bonneville, Suddenly became a daily driver and it's whereabouts today is unknown. I modeled "Suddenly" as it appeared at the Bonneville Salt Flats. I used the the re-issued amt "Christine" 58 Plymouth Bevedere as the base kit. Ground/sanded the Belvedere trim off and added Savoy trim, '57 Plymouth front grill/bumpers and rear bumpers from "The Modelhaus". I also picked up the early Chrysler hemi engine and valve covers from "the parts box". The tires were pulled from the "parts bin". The wheel covers are printer plate super-glued to a wheel, spun in a dremel using a medium grit sanding stick to finish. Paint is Chrysler Canary Yellow from Scalefinishes. Decals were homemade. thanx for lookin'... 2
DynoMight Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 wow, good detail and a awesome story about it too!
donb Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 Awesome car! Nice details. Great backgound. I enjoyed it very much.
Maxicoop Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 that is an awesome flats car ........ very nice detail on everything !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bbowser Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 That's really cool! I'll bet those fins provided stability at 170+!
Terminator-Fox Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 I love that car. Awesome model you've built!
TooOld Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 Very cool looking car Curt , and some great detailing ! Definitely a good use for a so - so kit .
charlie8575 Posted June 20, 2014 Posted June 20, 2014 Nice to see you back, Curt, and what a nice build. Charlie Larkin
John Goschke Posted June 21, 2014 Posted June 21, 2014 Outstanding job, particularly on recreating the markings on the original "Suddenly."
dino246gt Posted June 21, 2014 Posted June 21, 2014 Very nicely done! I like the '57 over the '58, great job!
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