It teamed up with General Tire to recreate the legendary race car.
Petty’s Garage, in collaboration with General Tire, has created a replica 1981 Buick Regal. While the NASCAR recreation comes with some nice modern amenities not found in the original race car, it is still a tribute to The King’s historic seventh victory at the Daytona 500. A reveal was held at the Daytona Beach ARCA race in February.
According to Petty, this car really stood out in his mind for good reasons. “I remember the ’81 race perfectly because my crew chief Dale Inman outsmarted them all,” he said.
Immediately, the color scheme of Petty Blue and Day Glow Orange make it apparent what this replica car represents. Under the hood is an LS3 crate engine with 430-RWHP on tap, backing up the race-inspired looks. To achieve that, the team used a Texas Speed Stage 3 cam kit and Holley EFI. Mated to the engine is a Tremec six-speed manual transmission, created by Silver Sport Transmissions.
A MagnaFlow exhaust kit sets the right kind of tone. Transferring all that power to the road are General Tire G-Max RS tires, which are wrapped around 18x9 Vision 55 Rally wheels. To better replicate the original wheels on the race car, Forgeline is creating custom 18-inch wheels. There’s also an Odyssey battery mounted in the trunk.
Power without control is never a good thing, and fortunately this replica isn’t reckless in that regard. A RideTech suspension helps keep everything riding smooth and straight. Wildwood brakes help with emergency stops and slowdowns in the curves.
This replica is also a thing of relative comfort, and that’s where it really departs from the original NASCAR racer. While the interior is mostly stripped down, including a complete lack of carpeting and a dash made of a single piece of metal, there are some surprising amenities. First off, the windows are fully functioning, so you can let the breeze run through or close everything up.
A modern Alpine stereo allows you to listen to some tunes, when you want a break from the roar of the LS3. Of course, the 650-watt system should do a good job. Using the Alpine Halo9 iLX-F309 9-inch AV Receiver as a jumping-off point, that means the racer has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
The fact that it took General Tire only one month to build this replica Buick is nothing short of amazing. Before it was one of 25 total 1984 Buick Regal Miler Lite promo cars.
General Tire is giving fans an opportunity to get up close and personal with the 1981 Buick Replica. It will be touring around the United States with the General Tire display at the 2019 HOT ROD Power Tour.
