Model: Eat Florida Watermelon Chevy Silverado NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race truck
Line: Lionel NASCAR Authentics, 2020, Wave 07
Where to buy: Click here to buy the #42 NASCAR Eat Florida Watermelon Chevy Silverado
Why it’s in my collection: NASCAR has given us some of the best liveries in race history, and the truck series is no exception. While the truck series doesn’t make headlines like the Cup series does, they have some badass looking trucks – including driver Ross Chastain’s #42 Eat Florida Watermelon Chevy Silverado.
I’ve collected NASCAR 1/64th scale cars for decades and they are still part of my normal diecast hunting routine. So when I flipped through the stack of NASCAR Authentics at my local Target and spotted this baby, ooooh boy — it was so cool I just couldn’t pass it up.
The watermelon themed card and truck are super eye-grabbing and I love out-of-the-ordinary NASCAR paint schemes. From Days of Thunder and Talladega Nights themed liveries, to wild food and throwback paint schemes, NASCAR has given us some awesome (and sometimes hilarious) paint schemes — and this truck is no exception. From the bright red front end sprinkled with watermelon seeds, to the side profile that features the different, colorful layers of a watermelon, that “bed” filled with watermelon, it all works so well together to make the entire truck look like a rollin’ watermelon on wheels. I mean how awesome is that?!
This #42 watermelon truck is not only cool in design, it also pays homage to driver Ross Chastain’s background. Ross and his family are fourth generation watermelon farmers and Ross takes, and breaks, a watermelon with him every time he ends up in victory lane. His enthusiasm about bringing farming front-and-center to NASCAR helped him land Florida Watermelons as one of his sponsors on the #42 truck. Since running the watermelon livery in 2019, he has spent time in the Xfinity Series and is now a full-time driver of the #42 Cup Series car. You could say he planted a racing seed and farmed it into a full-blown race career. I’m happy for his continued success and pumped to have a replica of his watermelon truck in my collection 🏁
