Underbird Revival Project Seeking to Restore Piece of NASCAR History

A storied piece of racing history is being restored, as the Underbird Revival Project seeks to restart Alan Kulwicki's legendary No. 7 Ford Thunderbird to pristine condition.

In collaboration with Paul Andrews, Kulwicki's former crew chief, the Underbird Revival Project is working to restore the car Kulwicki piloted in the Hooters 500 in 1992 to secure that year's NASCAR Cup Series championship. Through a partnership with Foundation For The Carolinas, a community foundation serving 13 counties across North and South Carolina, the Underbird Revival Project hopes to restore the car to its former glory.

Currently in the Collections Garage at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Underbird Revival Project will be working on car #008 of the former Alan Kulwicki Racing stable. Andrews and many other members of Kulwicki's team will be involved in the project.

“The plan is, it’s funny how it started, a bunch of past crew members and friends and stuff like that knew that the Hall of Fame had acquired the car and that it was in dire need of rework," Andrews told Racing America. "We just started talking about it as a group and then, next thing you know, we all wanted to have it redone. We’re trying to pay somebody to do it, but they’re not going to spend the money because they have enough stuff going on as it is.

“As a group of us, we decided, well, maybe we can do it. That’s kind of how it all started. We want to take it and restore it, pretty much completely to how it was when we sold it, we being Geoff [Bodine] sold it to Larry Bean."

The Ford Thunderbird will be fully restored as part of the project to honor Kulwicki's legacy, including new body panels, an engine rebuild and more.

“We want to put it back together as a group," Andrews explained. "It’s just beat up. It’s not been sitting outside in the weather, maybe a little bit, but it’s still in decent shape. It needs some body panels put on it, need some nose and tail work done. We don’t have no idea what the engine’s like, so we want to pull the engine out and get it going again. We’ll have one of our past engine builders who wants to do it.

“We wanted to try to get it back running, get it back in pristine condition like it was when we sold it. Kind of go at it like that. It was a really neat project. We didn’t realize it was a really neat project in ’92 or whenever we did it. It was a pretty awesome project, once you kind of step back and look at it all, the way it’s put together like it was when Alan raced."

Many elements of the car are still as they were when Alan Kulwicki narrowly edged out Bill Elliott at Atlanta in 1992. In fact, the engine currently inside the Underbird is the same engine that was in the car on that November afternoon.

“The motor that is in it is the one that Alan won the championship in," said Andrews. "It’s got a lot of cool history and we would love to see it back in pristine condition to maybe use at different events. Even Bristol Motor Speedway has mentioned they would love to have it there for a display or pre-race, things like that."

With many of the people who originally worked on the car alongside Kulwicki, there will undoubtedly be some bittersweet moments during the Underbird Revival Project. Still, Andrews is looking forward to working on the car alongside his former teammates, as well as others who were part of the racing industry at the time.

“It’s a story we need to remember," said Andrews. "We know the whole Alan Kulwicki story was something we need to remember as a racing industry. When this car gets restored, we’ll have it documented along the way with all the people, a lot of the past crew members are going to be putting this thing together. It’s going to be a lot of fun. There will be a few sad moments, but it’s going to be a lot of fun, for sure.”

“A lot of people are retired, of course. I’m retired, and a lot of the other people are, too. Some people aren’t, but they want to dedicate and devote some time. Even some people that were just in the industry, our competitors, are wanting to help. So it’s going to be a pretty cool deal to get everything put together. Once we get close on the funds, we’ll start getting all that stuff and set in stone and make 100 percent plans."

Click here to donate to the Underbird Revival Project and contribute to the renovation of this legendary piece of NASCAR history.

-Photo credit: Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority