Okay, so the other day I was rummaging through some old boxes. You know how it is, looking for one thing and finding a bunch of other stuff you forgot you had. Found a load of my old wrestling figures, mostly WCW guys. Man, that took me back. Goldberg, Sting, the nWo… good times.
Then I remembered something else from that era – WCW getting into NASCAR. It was kind of wild, seeing those logos on actual race cars. I specifically recalled having a die-cast model of one, I think it was the Kyle Petty #44 Hot Wheels car with that crazy WCW paint job.
Finding the Ghost
Couldn’t find my original one anywhere. Must’ve gotten lost or given away years ago. So, I did what we all do: I went online. Started digging around on eBay and some collector forums. Took me a while, scrolling through pages and pages. Found plenty of mint condition ones, but people wanted a lot for those.
Eventually, I stumbled upon one. It was definitely the #44 WCW Pontiac, but man, it was beat up. Looked like it had been played with hard. The paint was chipped all over, decals were peeling off, one of the wheels was a bit wonky. But it was cheap! Like, really cheap. I thought, “Hey, maybe I can fix this up.” A little project.
The Fix-Up Job
So I bought it. When it arrived, yeah, it looked rough. But I was kinda excited. First thing was stripping off what was left of the old paint and decals. Got some model paint stripper. That stuff is messy, let me tell you. Took a couple of tries to get it all off down to the bare metal.
Then I had to figure out the supplies I needed:
- Sandpaper (fine grit)
- Primer spray
- Paint (matching that specific blue and yellow wasn’t easy!)
- Replacement decals (this was the tricky part)
- Clear coat spray
Sanded the body smooth first. Then sprayed it with primer. Finding the right paint colors took a trip to the hobby shop and some guesswork. I got some acrylics that looked close enough. Spraying the blue base coat took a few light layers to get it even. Then masking it off to do the yellow sections… required some serious patience.
The decals were the real challenge. The originals were trashed. I ended up finding a guy online who makes custom waterslide decals for model cars. Sent him some good pictures of the original car’s scheme, and he managed to recreate them. When they arrived, I was super nervous about putting them on. They’re so thin and fragile. Used tweezers, a shallow dish of water, and that special decal setting solution. Took forever, sliding them into place just right without tearing them.
The Result
After the decals were set and dried, I gave the whole thing a couple of light coats of clear spray to protect it. Stood back and looked at it. You know what? It didn’t look half bad! Way better than the wreck I started with. It’s not perfect, definitely not collector-grade mint, but it looks like the WCW car again.
It’s sitting on my shelf now. Kinda cool to have brought that little piece of weird wrestling and racing history back to life. Just a small thing, but fixing up that WCW NASCAR die-cast felt pretty good. A fun little trip down memory lane.
