Phil Patterson writes: Very nice, I hope they include Lee Petty's championship winning 1954 New Yorker, not forward look, but a very significant car none the less.Either way, I will be keepin my eyes open at Toys R Us next time I visit them! Thanks for the info! Mike Sealey wrote: > ---- Robert Whitman wrote: > > > Racing Champions is coming out with a few more finned Mopars in 1/64th scale > > (Hot wheels and Matchbox size). As you may know they produce racing cars > > and stock classics. They currently have a '57 Fury (very nice for $4!) and > > a '60 Fury. They have come out with a Petty history series with most cars > > raced/owned by Lee and Richard Petty. These include: > > 1953 Coronet > > 1954 Coronet > > 1955 300-B > > 1956 Coronet > > 1959 Plymouth Plaza > > 1960 Fury > > 1962 Plymouth Savoy > > 1963 Plymouth Savoy > > 1964 Belvedere > > 1965 Barracuda > > and almost every other Petty car raced to present. More may be added > > (hopefully a '57, '58, '61 Mopars, too). > > The Pettys had a factory deal with Oldsmobile in '57. > GM "officially" quit direct factory support later that > year, tho some Chevy and Pontiac teams continued to get > GM support waaaaay under the table. Olds simply sold > Lee Petty their entire supply of NASCAR stuff at an > incredibly low price, which he continued using through > '58 and into early '59 (Lee ran a '59 Olds in the '59 > Daytona 500, but was back in a Plymouth shortly thereafter). In fact, Richard's > first race car was an > Olds, I believe a '57 convertible (NASCAR had a short > lived convertible division). > > They definitely ran Plymouths in '61. I believe this > was the year Lee had the bad accident that effectively > ended the driving part of his career. > > Petty Enterprises stayed MoPar through the middle of the > '78 season with the exception of '69, when they ran a > F*rd Torino Talledega. This was the year Dodge got a > couple of aerodynamic NASCAR models (Charger 500 and > Charger Daytona). Chrysler expected the Pettys to keep > running Plymouths but did not give them the aero help > the Dodge teams got. The announcement of the Superbird > in 1970 was accompanied by a press release welcoming > the Pettys back, with a quote from Richard along the > lines of "Plymouth is, well, like family..." > > ----------------------------------------------------- > Get free personalized email at http://email.lycos.com
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