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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR Curtis Turner's 1956 "PURPLE HOG" Ford.

In 1955, Ford decided to get serious about NASCAR, and set up a team under Pete DePaolo of Indy and Miller fame. The drivers were Joe Weatherly and Curtis Turner - a BAD pair to have under the same roof... The cars were painted purple, and were known as the "Purple Hogs", even sporting a mascot on the fenders. The team continued into 1956, even though official Ford backing evaporated, as they saw the AMA clampdown on promoting cars through racing on the horizon. In 1956, Turner spent most of his time running a '56 Ford in the Convertible Division, entering only 13 of the 56 NASCAR Grand National (now NEXTEL Cup) events, finishing 20th in points, and scoring one win at the Southern 500.

This is NOT that car. In fact I know little about the car shown here. My references were primarily pictures of a replica in the Weatherly Museum (I think...) that I "harvested" from a FOTKI site. Unfortunately, I have no idea whose pictures they were. If anyone can tell me I would like to send him a set of these decals as thanks!

I was becoming convinced that this replica was a phantom, not representing an actual race car at all, as I could not track down any pictures of the car from the period. Finally, I found one, which I have included here. (I Googled this car, expecting all kinds of Action-type diecasts to show up, but there was only one picture, repeated over and over, plus a 1/43rd Vitesse model, which I have, on eBay that is very lame... and some really kinky leather goods...)

The basic kit for this build was AMT's venerable 1956 Ford hardtop, one of their best kits ever, in my opinion. Since the car is a two-door sedan, I used a Hendrix 1955 Ford resin body which I ordered from Southern Motorsports Hobbies, and the running gear, chassis and engine from the AMT kit. I also used the AMT grille, hood and bumpers to update it to the 1956 car. One area where I deviated from the Museum car was that I filled in the rear tail lights. I don't believe they ran with actual tail lights in place as represented on that car, and I feel my one period picture below supports that...

The Hendrix body is a bit rough, but I was able to clean it up enough to build a decent stocker; to make it into a clean showroom stock car would require a fair bit more work. It reminds me of an R&R Vacuumcraft body - lots of potential if you are willing to put the work into it, but not up to Modelhaus or Perry's Resin standards.

I filled in the head and tail light openings, removed the side trim, and that was about it for the body, other than filling some defects, sanding and priming. I had planned to paint it with Tamiya's TS24 Purple, but found it too be too light and "milky" compared to the photos. I decided to mix my own using the Tamiya as a starting point, and adding violet tint base I had on hand. That got the depth and richness I wanted. (I suspect there is a Testors colour by Boyd Coddington that would work, but they are difficult to find in Canada...)

The interior tub was built up mostly stock except I removed the back of the passenger side of the front seat, and did not install the rear seat. A single hoop rollcage bent from 3mm soldering wire was installed behind the front seat. That's ALL they used back then... Other than the rollcage being painted satin black, the rest of the interior was painted in grey prime and left that way.

I used the stock suspension and motor, other than adding exhaust dumps bent from aluminum tubing. Stock wheels were used, but I substituted a set of "early to mid '50's Darlington style" resin Firestone tires from Model Car World (MCW) to give a "beefier" look. They fit over the rims with a minimum of hollowing out with a file, and are molded black. I highly recommend them.

Hendrix supplies a vacuum-formed clear windshield and backlight, as the greenhouse on the sedan is much taller than the hardtop represented by the AMT kit. Fitting and installing these I find is 99% of the frustration associated with using resin kits. It took some fancy footwork, but I did get the backlight to fit reasonably well. Although Hendrix supplied a windshield, I was pleased to find that the kit version would just fit, with very slight overlap, enough to allow me to fasten it in place with Microscale Crystal Clear glue. Rear side windows and vent windows were cut from Mylar transparency stock. All were installed after decal application and clearcoating.

Using the Fotki pictures as templates (with corrections for size, skew and perspective) I was able to pull together a set of graphics I was quite happy with. All the graphics except the "PERFECT CIRCLE logos on the side windows are on the sheet. I forgot those, but will add them. Those on this model came from a SLIXX nostalgia sheet.

As is my usual practice, once all the decals were in place, and had had 24 hours or so to dry, I applied successive light coats of TS13, again from warmed rattle-can, and after a day of two to dry, I polished it all up with terry cloth and Turtle Wax to a nice shine. Ol' Pops never drove a Hog as shiny as this one!!

One important detail I added was the bungee cords to hold the hood and decklid down, as was the practice back then. The cord was made from silver craft string painted flat black, with wire hooks bent and cyano'd in place on each end. Prior to installing the bumper guards on the car, I had drilled out the backs, and installed small brass eyelets for the hooks to attach to. I also drilled the hood and trunk and installed brass hooks that I had bent from wire. I think they really add to the authenticity of the model. (It also means I have an excuse not to remove the hood, and reveal my minimally-detailed engine bay...)

Pops and the REAL "PURPLE HOG" back in The Day... it's definitely a '56...

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