Fireball Robert's 1957 "zippertop" Chevy. My entry for The Marconi Proxy Race (Nascar catagory) by Mark Gussin
Back in July and August 2000 I painted and decalled three Gunze Sangyo static cars up to look like late 1950s Nascar cars. The decals were all made by me and all three were based upon real cars that ran. Reference was very difficult in fact the cars I ended up doing wern't those I initially wanted to do! My final choice was two Fireball Roberts cars, a white closed 1957 Chevy and a black open "zippertop" 1957 Chevy plus a Bob Welborn 1959 Chevrolet Impala. Great looking cars though! These cars resided for months on static chassis' with the grand scheme that they'd all be converted and entered in the Marconi race. A great idea that didn't happen completely as only one car made it to enter. That was the zippertop and this is how I put it together:
A 57 Chevy zippertop wasn't exactly state-of-the-art. More like state-of-the-ark! But I really wanted to put a chassis that was different underneath it. So that's when I came up with the idea of combining state-of-the-ark with state-of-the-art materials as the chassis was going to be made of carbon fibre. Cartrix sell small sheets of carbon fibre so with that, cut up and combined with the Fly sidewinder motor pod I thought we had an idea with potential. I'd never worked carbon fibre before but cutting it and drilling it was easy though dusty (wear a mask) and you have to be careful the cutting discs don't shatter (wear eye protectors). I removed the thin bracing strips from the bottom of Fly's motor pod and the other protrusions to flatten it so it could be glued to the carbon fibre. The carbon fibre was abraded slightly then one was glued to the other. The joint is fantastic! No way could they be separated.
Pete Sardella had suggested a simple chassis with a floating body mount and this is what I tried to do. The two being loosly held together with brass bolts. Mounting the front axle started off as a challenge but ended up quite simply. I used a cut down Fly rear motor bracket again for this front end with a metal guide mount glued and incorporated within. It all looks OK. I used a Slot.it motor, rear axle and gear. The wheels were made by Chas Keeling of SCD. They are turned aluminium of the same dimensions as the Gunze Sanyo kits. In fact I used the kit's rubber wheels for the fronts. The rears were made by George Lowe who did a fantastic job; again!
Because the motor is a sidewinder I was able to install a full interior with painted brass roll case. The "zippertop" tonneau cover came from the Impala's kit. The slot.it motor is very powerfull and with the narrow rear wheels wheelspin is the order of the day. Great fun to drive on the test circle but how it performs on the Marconi track, we'll have to see.
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