24 replies to this topic

[Slot Car Rod]

I saw this '64 Plymouth slot car for sale, and it caught my eye.  I like the period Super Stock look.  The body is crisply molded in red plastic, and the period graphics are stickers.

 

The car came with MPC Dyna-Charger running gear.  While this running gear worked fine, I wanted to use more slot car drag race-oriented running gear.  

It looks like MPC did sell a Dyna-Charger Dodge.  See the magazine article from an April 1965 Car Model magazine below.  This red Plymouth is from a Jo-Han model, according to the seller.  Eric thinks the body looks like a promo model.

 

The new running gear centers around an aluminum International brand frame and a Ram 850 motor.  I think this motor fits in with the Hemi-Ram name on the car.  The used frame was cleaned and straightened.  The Ram 850 motor is new.  Weldun gears, Ulrich stock car wheels, and urethane rear tires were also used.  For the stock drag race class, ball bearings were not allowed.  Bushings are used in the car.  The body is mounted with posts, and the driver figure is painted.

 

This car would have fit right in with the proxy race Rick and I helped run years ago.  It is fairly quick, and does jump off of the line.  The motor in the car is one of the better performing Ram 850s I have seen.  The narrow urethane tires have more than enough grip for the car.  I think the car has "the look." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Original running gear, and a Car Model magazine article from 1965.

 

 

[Pablo]

Very macho        I dig it

[don.siegel]

Absolutely Rod, beautiful job, and that International chassis really looks good in there. 

 

Is the 850 a 6V or 12V version? 

 

MPC probably never released the Ramcharger commercially, maybe just a few prototypes in conjunction with drag events. But they're easy to duplicate. I did one a few years ago that did very well in a proxy drag race, shown here. Won middle eliminator with consistent ETs around 1.48... 

 

Don 

 

 

[Slot Car Rod]

Thanks Paul and Don. 

Don, your Dodge turned out great.  Fast E.T.  You are probably right about the MPC release of the Ramcharger. 

At the urging of Rick, a 6-volt motor was chosen.

 

[Lone Wolf]

That is sweet.

 

I like the green International chassis.

 

Have never seen that one in green, I have the rail in green and that one in natural.

 

You can never go wrong with a vintage Mopar drag car.

 

OK, don't want to keep hijacking your threads but I wanted to share what I know.

 

Both your car and Don's cars are 64's.

 

The MPC car was a '65 Coronet.

 

It was never put in production as far as I can tell.

 

It was based on the extremely rare MPC '65 model kit. 

 

This was actually an AMT kit released by MPC, only released one time by MPC. 

 

Don't know the specifics but they did that sometimes back in the day, Johan Torino in an AMT box for example.

 

Here is one I have in the project box.

 

Still in the mock up stage.

 

Based on a older Polar lights kit ( with beautiful box art by our own Jairus )

 

I wasn't going to cut up an original kit even if I found one.

 

Oddly enough it's out again in AMT box.

 

Anyway, I'm trying to duplicate it as best as possible using those few old pics.

 

MPC made two versions of this chassis.

 

Standard and hypoid, the hypoid is thinner and appears to be what MPC used so that's what I have here.

 

Hideous screws right through the body Ala period correct MPC.

 

You can see I modified the interior bucket as best as possible as per the pics.

 

Sorry for rambling.

 

 

 

 

[don.siegel]

Thanks Joe - I get confused about the different versions of this car and your info helped a lot. I saw that the original had screws through the body, but I just couldn't do that! Fortunately, the posts held up through all my drag runs. Your's looks good with the bucket seats visible. 

 

Glad you like it Rod; it's very possible that I had a hot version of the Dyn-O-Charger motor in my Ramcharger - it seems faster than most others I've seen, and I've seen rewound versions of this motor sold by MPC. (and of course Rick would recommend 6V!)

 

Don 

[Dave Crevie]

I have always been nutzo about S/S cars. It's what they were running when I used to go (as a tag-along with one of my two cousins who raced S/S) to the drag strip. My first two cars followed the trend. My '63 Plymouth Sport Fury had the LA series "semi-hemi" and a modified push button Torque Flite. My Road Runner had a punched out 440 and a Torque Flite that also got the push button mod. It eventually got so far away from a streetable car that I sold it when the first gas crunch hit. 

 

I built this no-bar car model of my cousin Ron Kipke's '64 Plymouth. He followed it up with a 65 Coronet called "Outdated II".

 

 

 

I think this has been posted before. My '68 Runner.

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[Slot Car Rod]

Thanks for the information, Joe.  Nice MPC project.  The partial interior is a nice touch.

Don, magic motor.

Nice recollections Dave.

I built this wheel stander in the late '60s.  Powered with a dewound 36D.

 

 

[Mad Mark]

Nice wheelie machine

[mickey thumbs]

Nice build. My first drag car as a kid in the 60’s was based on the AMT Ramcharger model. My older cousin built a brass tube frame for. 6V Kemtron 503. I had to race in Gas Class to find competition which meant sponge tires at 24V. I won first time against a bunch of “grownups”. Great fun for a 12 year old!

[Bill from NH]

I thought the Dodge kits were Johan.

[Lone Wolf]

Forgot to add this into the '64 discussion.

 

Altered wheelbase creation.

 

Saw it on eBay and had to have it.

 

Build quality is questionable.

 

It's one of those so bad it's actually cool.

 

 

 

[Slot Car Rod]

Two more.

 

[Pablo]

Love the padlock powerplants, Moon rim fronts, side exhausts and the USA flag paint      

[Bill from NH]

Forgot to add this into the '64 discussion.

 

Altered wheelbase creation.

 

 

 

Many 1:1 Chrysler Motors drag cars ran altered wheelbases.  GM & Ford probably followed suit.

[John Luongo]

i believe those altered wheel base cars evolved into the funny car classes, iirc. 

[Dave Crevie]

Correct, guys. It started with engine setbacks. There was some kind of a loophole in the rules that allowed a mis-alignment of the engine in the frame. That was followed by racers moving the rear axle forward to get more weight on the rear tires. The organizing bodies caught on, and dictated that the original wheelbase be kept original. But they forgot to rule that that wheelbase be in it's original position under the body. So the racers just moved the front wheels forward to keep the length the same as it was when the car was new. By this time the governing bodies just threw up their hands, and declared a new class, the"factory experimental", or F/X class. The factory teams had already been "fudging" the rules, Making a new class was the easy way out. 

 

With all the changes, the cars began looking a bit weird. Spectators started calling them "funny cars", and the name stuck. 

[don.siegel]

Never knew that Dave, thanks for the explanation! 

 

Don 

[Martin]

 

I always thought it was The Fuel Altered AA/FA that led to Funny cars ?

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[Lone Wolf]

Rod, that ragtop is especially sweet.

 

I believe this is the start of the funny car.

 

Don't miss the fire up at the end    

 

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=S_YiYjxQH1U

[Slot Car Rod]

Joe, that video is great.  Thanks Joe.

[Dave Crevie]

Fuel altereds were around long before the funny cars. As a class, they began to form in the 1950's. It took a little while for the dividing line between gassers and altereds to become defined, the most obvious difference was the fuel allowed to be used. Gassers were supposed to be full-fendered, altereds didn't need fenders. Funny cars started to germinate with only late model sedans, beginning in the mid 1960's. 

 

Typical gasser. Full fenders;

 

 

 

Altereds didn't need them. There were other differences as well. 

 

   

 

 

Early funny car. You can see the wheels were not in the right place, making the car look a bit "funny".

 

 

 

By the 1970's, funny cars had moved away from steel bodies altogether. The one piece "lift off" fiberglass body was now the norm. 

 

 

Although we have drifted away from Rod's original reason for this thread, it has given me a reason to do a little reminiscing about what I consider the greatest period in drag racing, the 1950's and 1960's.

[Tom Katsanis]

Don't forget the Mercury funny cars they are the first flip top fibreglass cars (besides big Al) coming out in 66 by 68 the Mercury style funny cars were the norm.

[Slot Car Rod]

Convertible

[Dave Crevie]

Good shot. Good stance. Really brings back the days of the stock and super-stock classes.