"BUDDY ARRINGTON's 1981 IMPERIAL!"
By Don Gambino
Quote from Don:
"In 1981, Buddy Arrington campaigned the last Chrysler product to run in the Nascar Winston Cup Series. Despite lack of factory support, he managed to finish in the top ten in points that year. I have always been a fan of Chrysler products and when I saw that Fred Cady offered decals for this car I had to build it. The '81 Chrysler Imperial has never been offered in plastic or resin, so I had to scratch build the body. The first attempt at building the Imperial I used the Revell Lincoln Mark VII, and could not get the right look. I thought my chances of building the car were slim until Monogram came out with the '81 Thunderbird stock car kits. After looking at the T-bird, I realized that it had about the right "squarness" to build the Imperial. After a lot of cutting, filling, and scratch building parts out of sheet plastic, I had the Imperial looking pretty good. I made the entire nose-piece out of sheet plastic and filler. The hood was made the same way, and the cowl section was removed from the T-bird. The rear window was modified as well as the quarter windows. The trunk and tail light panel were extended. All in all, the project took about 4 months.
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By Don Gambino
Quote from Don:
"In 1981, Buddy Arrington campaigned the last Chrysler product to run in the Nascar Winston Cup Series. Despite lack of factory support, he managed to finish in the top ten in points that year. I have always been a fan of Chrysler products and when I saw that Fred Cady offered decals for this car I had to build it. The '81 Chrysler Imperial has never been offered in plastic or resin, so I had to scratch build the body. The first attempt at building the Imperial I used the Revell Lincoln Mark VII, and could not get the right look. I thought my chances of building the car were slim until Monogram came out with the '81 Thunderbird stock car kits. After looking at the T-bird, I realized that it had about the right "squarness" to build the Imperial. After a lot of cutting, filling, and scratch building parts out of sheet plastic, I had the Imperial looking pretty good. I made the entire nose-piece out of sheet plastic and filler. The hood was made the same way, and the cowl section was removed from the T-bird. The rear window was modified as well as the quarter windows. The trunk and tail light panel were extended. All in all, the project took about 4 months. "
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