NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR Herb Thomas' 1955 MOTORAMIC Chevrolet

When you look at the parade of Monte Carlos that routinely finish up front most races these days, it's hard to believe that at the start of the NASCAR series, back in 1949, Chevies were not remotely competitive. Problem was, that faithful old straight-six, although a great engine for touring the highways and byways of North America, certainly did not have a reputation for performance and pizazz. It wasn't for 6 long years, and the introduction of the small-block V8 in 1955, that the bowtie started to strike fear in the hearts of the Fords, Buicks and Chryslers and other powers of the day.

Herb Thomas was one of the NASCAR pioneers. He started a sawmill business, supplying the military with lumber during World War II, then after the war discovered racing, becoming a race car owner first, then competing in wildcat races as a driver. He joined NASCAR as soon as it was started in 1947, and went on the Grand National circuit as soon as it was organized two years later. In 1949, Thomas took part in NASCAR's first Strictly Stock race, and made four starts in the series' first year. The following year, he made thirteen appearances in the series, now renamed the Grand National division. He scored his first career win at Martinsville Speedway in a Plymouth as an owner/driver, which he was for most of his career.

He started the 1951 season with some success in his Plymouth (plus one win in an Oldsmobile) before switching to a Hudson Hornet, at the suggestion of fellow driver Marshall Teague. Thomas won the Southern 500 in "The Fabulous Hudson Hornet", which would be the first of six wins he would earn in a two month span. His late charge helped him narrowly defeat Fonty Flock to win the Grand National championship. With help from crew chief Smokey Yunick, Thomas became the first owner/driver to take the championship.

After four successful years in a Hudson, Thomas began driving Chevrolets and Buicks in races in 1955. One of his rides was the Smokey Yunick-prepped MOTORAMIC Chevy. If anyone could, Smokey was the man who could make the seemingly-prosaic Chevy into a race winner. But when the first win for Chevy came in March 1955 at Columbia, it was Fonty Flock who broke the ice for Chevrolet. Herb finished 10th, in the MOTORAMIC Chevy, the only other bowtie in the race. Herb crashed hard 6 races later in Charlotte (NOT the current track by the way... another pioneer and lumber entreprenuer, Curtis Turner, didn't build it until 1960...). Herb was forced to miss six months of the season. He returned with a bang, to score his third Southern 500 win, in the Motoramic Chevy, one of three wins he would earn during the season. He finished 5th in the championship on the strength of his win at Darlington Raceway.

The decals actually repesent the replica built by GM a couple years back to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the small-block Chevy engine. As such it is very faithful to the original car as seen in pics from the day. The only discrepency, which I did NOT pick up on until the model was built, was that the style of script on the roof for "Driver Herb Thomas" doesn't match pics from Darlington Victory Lane in '55. Also look like SMOKEY'S was a bit more prominent on the fenders on the original...See shot to the right... that's Smokey standing on the roof... no template worries back then... Ol' Smokey would stir that pot about 10 years later...

The starting model was, of course, the venerable AMT '55 Chevy two-door sedan. Body modifications were minimal, as was the case on the real cars back then. I did have to remove the fancy side chrome, to get the model to look like the base model that Ol' Smockey used. I also noted that this mold from AMT is getting pretty worn out. A lot of flash and detail obscured, that needed attention... and I'm sure the motor is 'way too small...

Before I got too heavy into the build, I emailed my vintage NASCAR guru, Chuck Poi, to get the lowdown on what modifications would likely have been made that I could duplicate. Chuck came thru with good advice. Other than adding hooks for the bungee cords on the trunk and hood, the body was mostly left stock once the chrome was gone. On the interior, I removed the rear seat, replacing it with sheetplastic, and built up a period-representative rollcage using 3mm EVERGREEN Rod. The side panels and dash were left stock. The rear seat back on the passenger front seat was removed, and I built a bolster which is actually held in place on the right side of the driver seat with scale strips of duct tape. On the chassis, I replaced the kit wheels and tires with a set of Chuck's excellent 6-lug GM rim/tire combos. These are cast with the tires in place, so no hunting thru the parts bin for proper-sized tires. All you need is a steady hand to do the painting. Exhaust pipes were made from Evergreen plastic tube, and run straight back from the exhaust manifolds, exiting under the rear bumper, as was general practice back then. Mine are a bit larger in scale than on J.P.s references, I figger Smokey wouldn't permit no backpressure to rob precious H.P...

The body was primed with white PlastiKote primer, then shot with Canadian Tire white touch-up aerosol lacquer. The interior was also done in white at the same time, including the dash. I then masked off areas to be left white - the roof on the body, and certain panels, seat areas, plus the bottom half of the dash on the interior. AMT gives clear instructions on the interior colour scheme.