This is the 1982 Daytona 500 winner, a Buick Regal run by DiGard Racing, sponsored by Gatorade and driven by Bobby Allison.
Allison effectively dominated the ’82 race with a clear speed advantage, but the win came in controversial circumstances. The rear bumper flew off the car early in the race. Rival teams claimed this was on purpose to allow air to escape from under the car, giving it more top speed. A video about the race and “Bumper Gate” (note the missing rear panel and bumper) below, plus interview with the car’s Crew Chief, Gary Nelson, who sets the record straight.
Discussion about Daytona begins at 9:14, the bumper at 12:40 – but there’s some great cheating tales beforehand!
The Kit
It’s a 1:24 scale plastic kit from Salvinos JR Models, kit No. BAB1982D. The mould was first released in the early ’80s as a Monogram kit, but re-popped by Salvinos in 2019 after they purchased the tooling for Monogram’s 1980s and 90s American stock car models.
Box art features a photo of the Gatorade sponsored car on the high banks of Daytona
The Build
Like most of my builds, the plan was to do this mostly out-of-box, but adding low-budget detail or corrections where possible. That was fine until I went ‘off plan’ and caused myself some grief…
Wow, does this kit have some flash!
A LOT of clean-up is required on nearly all the parts…
Really? That’s not supposed to be filled in.
The shape of the rims look good, but the plating is a bit dull and ‘yellowed’. Some dark wash in those slots should make this look better.
The plating was removed from the back of the rim so the plastic cement can do its job later.
Even the tyres have flash! Thankfully only on the inside sidewall; the outside surface looks fine.
The rubber tyres are quite concave with a big seam line.
Sanding these down improved the appearance (I mount them to a drill and use a sanding stick), but to turn these down enough to flatten the tread would decrease the overall diametre by too much. The seam line has mostly gone on this section, but is still evident on other areas.
The small rear side windows are the wrong shape (note top edge), but at least they fit in their recess – unlike the front windscreen! Luckily for this build, the car did not run these windows in the ‘500, so the poor fit can be ignored.
Body shell with mould lines marked up ready for removal. The ‘K’ shaped bracing in the engine bay is removed prior to painting.
BEFORE: Rear shock absorbers.
AFTER: Even though it takes a lot of time, cleaning up parts is rewarding in a weird way. It’s like mowing the lawn – turn a mess into something that’s neat and tidy. Thankfully the plastic in this kit is quite soft, which makes the process easier.
Finally, all the parts are off the sprues, cleaned up (except for the body) ready for paint and assembly to commence. A few pieces have been glued, such as some of the engine components and a couple of chassis pieces.
The location of the wheels in relation to the body on the Salvinos JR Oldsmobiles I built previously was not good. To check this Buick and make corrections if necessary, I decided to dry-fit the running gear into the chassis, then fit wheels and body.
Using a piece of glass at a flat patch, the left side was not looking too bad.
But the right side – the right front wheel was in the air (it’s propped up here to where it should be sitting)
So, I pulled all the bits off – see the problem?
The chassis has a huge twist in it! The plastic is very soft, so a hair dryer and lots of physical bending (thankfully without breaking anything) has eliminated much of it, but I wasn’t able to get it perfect. Hopefully all four wheels will touch the ground when complete.
The side structures include the front upper chassis rails, footwell sheet metal and the side intrusion bars. But when they are fitted into the chassis, the front rails sit nowhere near where they are supposed to be!
Those upper rails are supposed to come down and meet with the groove of the square box-section of the chassis! It was time consuming bracing these while the glue cured, but eventually they sat in position.
The chassis will be semi-gloss black. Rather than painting all the parts and then assembling, I figured as much as possible should be assembled first (ensuring better plastic-to-plastic bonds) and then painted all at once. Here the firewall and dash have been fitted. Sprue Goo was used to fill gaps between panels and where the bars go through the firewall.
In hindsight, perhaps the dash should not have been fitted at this stage – it’s going to be difficult to paint now… Not all the bar work is in place as some room needs to be left to add the pedals and other interior parts after painting.
There was a gap between the outer wheel arch and the side panel of the chassis. Sprue goo filled it.
While doing body test fits, I thought it sat a little too high. The top rollover bar on the driver’s side was holding it up, so I scraped the top of the bar flat allowing the body to drop by a good 1mm or so.
Fuel overflow outlet was drilled out.
Chassis ready for primer in the paint booth.
A batch of parts sprayed with Tamiya Fine Grey Primer.
Tamiya Gray was also used on the chassis and body. It’s just a single coat on the chassis so the colour will stick later. It’s a bit heavier on the body and will be sanded back as part of body prep. White primer will be used on the body prior to final colour. The gray just makes it easier to spot and rectify surface issues.
Tamiya Fine White Primer on the body parts. This had to be lightly sanded to remove a couple of specs of dust.
To avoid building up excessive layers of paint on the detail moulded into the under-bonnet panel, I masked it off before hitting the body parts with two coats of Tamiya TS-26 Pure White.
SMS semi-gloss ‘Chassis Black’ on the chassis. Window net is masked off as it is to be a light colour.
Assembling all this before painting has sped up build time, but the finish is not as good as what can be achieved by painting the parts individually prior. It doesn’t look too bad in the photo, but believe me, parts of the interior and underside are pretty rough. I just hope the body and decals turn out well and the wheels/stance is ok.
The instructions call for the instrument panel to be flat black. This is wrong. Old video footage shows the gauges mounted into an aluminium panel.
So, lots of masking to only have face of the dash exposed for aluminium colour.
Video footage of the Victory Lane celebration reveals the car had aluminium panels in the rear sides. The different approach of this build (assembling lots before painting, and not doing enough research before starting) is beginning to bite me… More masking to enable this to be sprayed.
A single coat of SMS Aluminium was sprayed on, then all the tape removed.
The finish of the alloy colour is not very good due to the poor finish of the black it went over.
Stock rim from the kit. Strangely, the chrome on this kit is nowhere near as bright and lustrous as my previous Salvinos JR kits. Thankfully the flash on the chromed tree isn’t too bad, so I decided to just go with the chrome components as they are.
Black Panel Line Wash added to the slots to create the illusion of a hole.
Rims assembled and tyres on. Sidewalls will be decorated with Goodyear decals later in the build.
It appears to have been a successful decal session! The kit’s decals were great to work with; tough but still flexible. They required softener and lots of time working the edges to get the big Gatorade signage to conform to the top of the rear quarter panels, but they did eventually go down. While the decal quality was great, the sizing left a bit to be desired. Referring to the photograph of the real car on the box, the scaling and placement is a bit of a compromise in places. The most notable issue was the radius of the green decal on the front does not follow the radius of the wheel arch. Decals were given two days to dry before any clear was applied.
While watching another video of the 1982 Daytona 500, there is a shot that shows the instrument panel is not an alloy finish all the way across like I had assumed. So, back in there with masking tape…
After another hit of Semi-Gloss Black. Starting to feel like I’m building a patchwork quilt!
Good time to add the dial decals to the gauges. I was assuming they would fit IN the recess, but they are far too large and hang over the bezel.
A mix of Flat White and some Deck Tan was brush painted onto the window net.
Then I noticed paint spatter from the window net on the dash and also on the floor… <sigh>
The kit includes nothing in the way of seat belts. 2mm black ribbon courtesy of a modelling mate makes a pretty good representation. Fixed in place with a dab of CA glue.
No buckles, so just a dab of silver paint on the end of the straps. This will be difficult to see once the model is complete, but I wanted to have a crack at using ribbon for belts. I think it does a really good job. Strangely (and fortunately!) the kit does include Simpson decals for seat belts, so hopefully they will adhere to the material.
Fire extinguisher was sprayed red followed by a couple of strips of Hasegawa Mirror Finish for the mounting straps. It was finished with some wash around the edges and silver paint on the fittings. Gear shift is a plated part, with shift knob and boot hand painted Tamiya acrylic White and Rubber Black respectively.
First coat of clear, Mr Hobby Premium Gloss, decanted and run through the airbrush, thinned with Mr Hobby Levelling Thinner. Tamiya TS13 and SMS Clear are both way too hot for the Salvinos decals.
The kit included a drink cooler, so I ran a “Gatorade Green” line from the bottle up and around the back of the seat and tucked under the left shoulder strap for the driver to take a drink.
The Gatorade line is purely fictional – no idea if this existed or not.
Front suspension and shocks installed. The oil filter & lines, plus the steering box, are not separate items, they’re just cast into the chassis parts. Brush painting plus a little wash makes them… better than not painted.
With the interior parts fitted, the final bar work can be installed, but the alignment is far from perfect. The mating surface (the white bit where the paint has been scraped off to take the cement) is not close to where it should be and had to be held down in place until the cement cured.
I took the model along to my local club meeting where the display and discussion of Works In Progress are encouraged.
The body got a second coating of clear gloss a couple of hours prior. Engine is also mostly done, but needs exhaust headers and a couple of other things fitted before it drops into the chassis.
The engine does not fit! The instructions call for the engine to be installed prior to the firewall, but as I’d built up all the chassis beforehand, the firewall and top bar work prevented the engine from sliding back far enough for the headers to clear the side rails!
So, I had to pry the headers off the engine, fit the engine, then re-affix the headers from underneath the chassis. It was fiddly work and the end result is the exhaust headers are scratched and poorly aligned 🙁
I don’t believe this is accurate – shrouding for a cooling fan. Race cars don’t use cooling fans! Photos show there is ducting on the engine side of the radiator, so I’ve used the kit part as intended. The coolers have been hit with some black wash on the cooling surfaces. Tubes and fittings were brush painted before it was fitted to the chassis.
Cooler installed and the body dry-fitted to check the radiator alignment is ok.
The photo on the box clearly shows a black band across the top of the front windscreen, but the kit mentions nothing about it. I masked off the screen then brush painted semi-gloss black from the inside.
Before the rear glass goes in, the safety retaining struts are painted semi-gloss black. To prevent getting black on the body, I add small bits of tape to mask the edges.
Making a start on the tyre decoration. Circular masks are cut from tape to cover the wheel, then the sidewalls are hit with gloss clear to help the Goodyear decals to take hold.
Once the decals are fully dry, a very light coat of Tamiya Smoke clear is applied, then a mix of gloss and flat clear to give this sort of satin effect for the rubber. Masks are then removed to reveal the completed wheel.
Some black in the back groove and Bare Metal Foil around the edges for the front windscreen surround. The kit calls for the windscreen to be fitted prior to the body going on the chassis, but I was worried there would be clearance issues with the dashboard and firewall, so left it until later.
Front and rear bumpers are secured in place by pins that fit in holes in the body. However, these pins for the rear bumper are far too long and prevent the body from fitting in the chassis and have to be cut back.
The ‘glass’ in this kit is a disaster. Not one window fits its aperture properly. This is the rear window looking from the inside, held in with Kristal Klear. I could not get it to sit up against the mounting straps and there are gaps on the top and bottom.
Playing around with camber on the outside front before fixing the wheels in place.
Checking wheel alignment as the glue dries (5-minute epoxy). I thinned down one of the front stub axles to give a bit more scope for adjustment – it turns out the chassis twist mentioned earlier in the build was not fully corrected. The grill was hit with black wash, and the two air intakes on the headlight were also hit with wash, one black, the other grey. Also, the entire inside of the bodyshell and the underside of the bonnet has been painted semi-gloss black.
Rear wheel placement looks really good. Panel-line wash in the fuel filler brings out the detail. Trunk pins are plated kit parts that fit into recesses in the boot and the bonnet.
The car had exhausts exiting from both sides, not just the left as the kit depicts. I cut a couple of lengths from the plated sprue, then drilled up the centre to make the tip hollow.
With the headers all out of alignment, I gave up on the underside (who knows what is accurate here anyway?). The two tail pipes were glued in place so the model at least looks ok from the outside. Lazy? Yes.
But from here, the exhaust outlet looks fine 🙂
The photo’s not sharp, so this doesn’t look as bad as it is! The front windshield does not fit in the recess properly and is scratched. I added foil across the bottom to simulate what looks like silver race tape in photos.
Conclusion
I considered doing this as a ‘post race’ build with the missing bumper and rear panel, plus some race grime and exhaust soot. I elected not to because that would require some fabrication at the rear for an area I was not able to find clear photos of.
Parts of this ex-Monogram kit are well engineered, but it’s a well worn tool judging by the amount of flash. The decals are excellent. The clear parts are crap.
If you’re building this kit, spend time straightening out the chassis rails and manipulating the windows to fit at the beginning of the build. Replacing the kit glass with transparency film might be a workable alternative? Also, fit the engine when the instructions tell you to :p
The body on this model has heavily bubbled wheel arches. While the real car did have bulged fenders to clear the tyres, the flaring was much more subtle – as explained in the video interview earlier.
It’s a nice looking 1980s stock car, but I wonder if the front of the body should be a little lower and the rims more ‘chromed’. Ironically, I bitch about chrome in kits being too reflective and shiny, but in this kit, for the rims, it’s not shiny enough!
The hood is hinged, but can be removed.
Overall, the water-slide decoration is vibrant and went down quite well. The little blisters at the bottom of the digits must have been me not getting the decal fully settled into the body groove.
Obligatory closing shot – my build with the box art (18 April 2025).
