I was diggin around in some old boxes and throwing away some stuff and I ran across these.

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/110/l_c39a52e34381442187f3dba0ea3e2d49.jpg

Some customs I did when I was about 10 or 11.

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/80/l_98dce1795a1c4889abea293e0502d98f.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/98/l_b4720a83c5a247d8b51de5c985d7e1bd.jpg
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/65/l_89221ed8bd1744c0a0b5e9a3857392b7.jpg

I used to have a book on Petty when I was a kid. I had a Holly Farms Monte Carlo too, but it got stolen. I still remember the kid that got it. Have no idea where the 21s went on the Pearson car. The first STP decals were some I cut off of a gas treatment can. I added the better ones later when I was about 13.

Rich

Those Monte Carlo Stockers were my absolute favorite hot wheels, thanks for posting a pic, I may have to do the same...

Betcha them summa guns went down that dang orange track like "you know what" through a tin horn. Especially the Pearson car with the Speed Hole in the hood. :thumbsup: nd

I see Sparky has been working on em!!! RM

Always was a Petty fan.. Always will be!!! Betcha Rich had 43 drawn in crayon on his diapers too!!! :lol::jest::tongue::hat:

What slotcarman said::tongue::dude::freak::rolleyes::):hat::wave:

Always was a Petty fan.. Always will be!!! Betcha Rich had 43 drawn in crayon on his diapers too!!! :lol::jest::tongue::hat:

I think Rich's blood is Petty blue :thumbsup::jest:
Cool first builds though :thumbsup::thumbsup:

SWEEEETTT!!!

Wes

Love the Petty cars! All of them thru the decades. Dave.

OK so when I saw this I about Shatner'd myself as I had done the SAME THING when I was a kid! :eek:

Here is the two I did:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0774.JPG

On the Pearson 21 I puttied up the Torino's headlights and reshaped them to more closely match the '77 Mercury the Wood Brothers had built:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN07752.JPG

More in a minute . . .

I don't know if it's any easier to spot here or not:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN07762.JPG

For the Petty Charger, I painted 71s instead of 43s since NO ONE but The King himself would be #43. So I used 71s since they were easy to paint and Wisconsin racer Dave Marcis used 71, so it was cool by me at all of 13 years old:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN07772.JPG

On the Petty car I puttied up the C-pillar louvers to get the look right for a Charger, and believe it or not the trunk STP I cut from an actual 1970s Petty bumper sticker:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN07781.JPG

Continuing on . . . Later as we know The King switched to a Chevy Monte Carlo:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN07791.JPG
The white dots on the tires look cool when the car is rolling.

Some more customs from this period of my childhood:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0790.JPG

When Hot Wheels did the Buick Regal at the same time the actual car was still racing in NASCAR it was AWESOME!

Here's Darrell Waltrip 11, Cale Yarborough 28, Neil Bonnett 75, Terry Labonte 44, Ricky Rudd 3 and Ron Bouchard 47:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN07801.JPG

Rudd & Bouchard again, along with Labonte (incorrect as 77 but I already had a 44 Labonte haha), Harry Gant 33 and a Ricky Rudd Thunderbird 15:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0781.JPG

I used toothpicks to paint the sponsors, and brushes to do the numbers, and sometimes scotch tape to help with the stripes:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0782.JPG

The pack races past the speed shot:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0783.JPG

A couple of Earnhardt Buicks, although he was in a Chevy by then, and his Bud Moore Ford #15:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0784.JPG

A couple of Bill Elliott Thunderbirds:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0785.JPG

A few more Buicks -- Ron Bouchard 47, Geoff Bodine 88, Morgan Shepherd 98 and Buddy Baker 1:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0786.JPG

When I saw this Hendrick motorsports car on the cover of Stock Car Racing magazine, I thought it was the coolest yellow car I'd ever seen so I had to try it -- that's supposed to be a star on the door there behind the 5:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0787.JPG

Anyway a few years later Hot Wheels did a later model Grand Prix so I Dremelized one up to turn it into a fictional Buddy Arrington Chrysler LeBaron:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0788.JPG

The nose didn't look like a Pontiac anymore, but it could almost pass for a Lumina of the same period:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/DSCN0789.JPG

I want to thank Rich for posting this thread and reminding me of when I couldn't wait to get home from school and start painting my next batch of racers . . . 25 years on and not much has changed except I can't wait to leave work! Hahaha :wave:

Unreal!!!!! OK Who else????? LOLOL c'mon!!!! Fess up!!!

Wow, Doba. What a great start! Peer pressure caused me to move into 32nd then 24th scale models in my teens. Well, okay, it wasn't really pressure, just what all my friends had done. I would take muscle car models and make nascars out of them. Painted army men for the pit crew. If I would have just done the math, I could have had piles of Hot Wheel customs for the money I spent on models. I realized that when I got back into slot cars in my early twenties, opting for HO over 32nd or 24th scale.

Great collection of memories you got there.

Rich

I found a pic of a couple of models that I was talking about.
The Petty car is a 69 Charger, and the 30 car is a 68 GTO.
Both are 32nd scale. I picked that scale because the army men were close to that scale.
I used army men for the pit crews. Who would have ever thought they would stop making those 70s army men?

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/8/l_b9d0c5a38b714ddb8e7e8c3b126129fe.jpg

... if not by geographical location... certainly at heart. WTG :thumbsup::thumbsup: nd

Hey , these are raceable !

I have a buddy that work s for Ford Motor Co. and they race die cast at lunch time for 25 cents a run.

Never underestimate a racer.

Also , I was running underground electric to the garage and dug up one of my sons old die cast cars. It was a Gremlin Modified. Coll find.

Gonzo

I'm still bummed. I had tons of Aurora, Matchbox and Hot Wheels (and N gauge trains) in the 60's. My mom threw them all out!