Just purchased a 1981 Indy 500 pace car

[NCTyphoonKid]

I believe this is the first year buick did the pace car at Indy . View attachment 342188View attachment 342187

They paced at Indy a few times before this car. But this one was the start of there v6 pace cars as the 75 century free spirit was a 455 I believe

 

[Mark T-TB]

yeah, there were a few other Buick pace cars going 'way back...
FWIW, per the book: 1939, 1959, 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1983.

 

[vicious6]

I love that banner! Do you mind if I ask where you found that? Do they have more? As far as your decal question I have never found anything Phoenix Graphics did not have!

 

[vicious6]

They paced at Indy a few times before this car. But this one was the start of there v6 pace cars as the 75 century free spirit was a 455 I believe

It actually was a twin Turbo V-6 putting out about about 306 HP I believe.

 

[NCTyphoonKid]

It actually was a twin Turbo V-6 putting out about about 306 HP I believe.

The 1975 free spirit red white and blue pace car? Everywhere I read it said it was a 455. I know the 76 was a turbo v6

 

[Mark T-TB]

^^^ not sure why(?), but the book "Pace Cars of the Indy 500" (published 1989) specifically notes that the '76 was Turbocharged V6

 

[NCTyphoonKid]

^^^ not sure why(?), but the book "Pace Cars of the Indy 500" (published 1989) specifically notes that the '76 was Turbocharged V6

Yeah the 1976 car I know was turbo v6 but I thought you were talking about the 1975 free spirit car. The 1975 car I read was a 455 Buick v8. This is the 1975 pace car

 

[Mark T-TB]

... The 1975 car I read was a 455 Buick v8. ...

exactly - the book says the '75 car was one-of-a-kind with a "highly modified 455"

 

[Mark T-TB]

Hmmm... now in looking further in the book, I see in the photos that the actual '81 Pace Car had DID have the "GTA'GNX" type gold wheels. I guess that the "replica" cars did not(?).

 

[NCTyphoonKid]

Hmmm... now in looking further in the book, I see in the photos that the actual '81 Pace Car had DID have the "GTA'GNX" type gold wheels. I guess that the "replica" cars did not(?).

They weren’t GTA wheels they were a 14” gold bbs style wheel. The replicas has the gold turbine style wheels. I have attached a picture of the bbs style wheel and replica wheel.

 

[HotAirWH1]

"THE" Indy car displayed at Flint's Bishop Airport with the bbs wheels......

 

[b4black]

Since we are on the the topic of Pace Car wheels, I found one in the U-pick -it yard the other day.

 

[HotAirWH1]

Nice boat anchor !

 

[NCTyphoonKid]

Nice boat anchor !

Right lol shame about the wheel though there pretty hard to find

 

[NCTyphoonKid]

Just got this Buick Power flag in supposedly came from the Scott Brayton estate

 

[Mark T-TB]

WOW - great find!

 

[NCTyphoonKid]

Got the new Buick graphics installed and gave the trunk lip a fresh coat of paint looks a lot better

 

[NCTyphoonKid]

Gave the Buick logo on the dash plaque a fresh new look since the original chrome had worn off I used some of my chrome paint I use on my model kits and gave it a nice new look I think it came out ok

 

[grass doctor]

great job , I have used chrome paint pen on some of my trim worked great
happy fourth !!

 

[fast86gn]

Very cool car good luck on the build.

You guys were posting banners so I thought I would post this one, it's not in great shape but it's been hanging in this room for almost 20 years.