Speedway #6 Dodge Charger

       
 
 
Elvis' #6 Dodge Charger from the movie Speedway
Speedway #6 Charger engine Speedway #6 Charger interior Speedway #6 Charger fender detail

 
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My original plan for Petty's Plymouth Belvedere had been to build the track car to go with my Fireball 500, but then I found myself with a spare '67 Charger body and decided to see if I could go a diffrent route. A quick test fit showed that the body would fit the Plymouth chassis without too much headache, so I set to work.

Starting with the Plymouth, the only changes needed for it to accept the Charger body were trimming the leading edge of the chassis pan and moving the rear axle forward a few millimeters. This also meant modifying the driveshaft, but thanks to the way the kit was made that was just a matter of thinning the shaft where it fits the transmission. Wheels and tires came from Plastic Performance Products, left as blackwalls to match the movie look. The engine was straight out of the box.

Inside, I had to make a few more modifications to match the Charger. Both front and rear dashboards needed to be extended, which I did by laminating thin styrene to the top of each and trimming them where they met the inside of the body. The front dash also needed a new face, which was scratch built from bits of styrene and filler putty. The gauges were then added and everything was painted a mix of blacks and metallic colors.

Finally, the body needed to have its fuel door removed and a new taillight filler panel added. I probably could have kept or modified the existing engine bay, but I wanted to ensure as tight a fit as possible so I grafted those parts from the Plymouth to the Charger. The finished look was so clean I decided to keep it as-is rather than cut out part of the inner fender as was often done on these cars. The body was then painted Tamiya TS-26 Pure White, and the trim was done with a combination of Bare Metal Foil and paint. Decals also came from PPP, and even included the movie-accurate "Steve Grayson" scripts for the doors.

 

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