115 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

As a member in good standing of the Society for the Historical Preservation of Bay Area Pro Slot Car Racing (SHPBAPSCR) Museum I have been allowed to borrow our "Bay Area Thingie" collection. My intent is to build a few thingies of my own based on these great old cars and to share them with fellow bloggers.

First a little background on the SHPBAPSCR Museum. It is located in an unassuming building in the San Francisco area so as not to attract attention:



Humble as its outside appearance may be inside is where the Museum thrives:

 

 

Our Thingie collection is our smallest and fits into this small Hoffman box:



Inside the box lid are some rare Choti stickers:



Opening the box up shows our modest collection:



Three of the four Choti bodies documented in this factory catalog are represented:





Two #5 Ultra's a #8 "B" Custom and a #15 Wild One are here in the top shelf:



The bottom drawer contents:



Not yet at the museum is the Dave Lenz "Bat Ray" that I am currently restoring:



There are also some Lenz motors (some very early) I'll be showing in future posts along with lots of pictures of each car and its running gear.

More to come that we hope all you thingie guys will enjoy.

[Mike K]

Does anyone make a repop of the #5 Ultra? Looks like just the ticket for a Gerding King!

[Horsepower]

Those are some rare and beautiful cars, Rick. I'm always amazed at what has survived for 40 years. I'm especially impressed with the museum, although it wouldn't fool me. I knew it would look like that just by seeing the outside of this 'unassuming" building!

[TSR]

Rick,

Beautiful find. Interesting that there is a Shinoda-bodied car in the lot as Fremont is a few thousands of miles from Detroit!

[dc-65x]

Does anyone make a repop of the #5 Ultra? Looks like just the ticket for a Gerding King!

Mike, I'm going to use a repop by Electric Dreams for my Ultra. They call it the Spoiler but it sure looks like the Choti Ultra to me . What ever, it's very well done and I'm glad it's available. Here's the link:

Electric Dreams Spoiler Body

[Jairus]

Does anyone make a repop of the #5 Ultra? Looks like just the ticket for a Gerding King!

Mike,

Three manufacturers now market a Choti #5 Ultra. Electric Dreams, Raynoda Werks. and Platos.

My good friend George Hawkins out of Australia has also produced a few but those are only sold privately.

[dc-65x]

Rick,

Beautiful find. Interesting that there is a Shinoda-bodied car in the lot as Fremont is a few thousands of miles from Detroit!

Hi Philippe,

The Dave Lenz cars in the top shelf are the silver-purple Ultra, the Metalic red-black Wild One, and the Red "B" Custom. The blue body (?) in the bottom drawer and the Lancer Bat Ray are also his. The others are from SHPBAPSCR's Oakland Speedway collection.

Hey Gary,

I'm especially impressed with the museum, although it wouldn't fool me.

Why, whatever do you mean.

[Bill from NH]

Rick,

I know the bodies look great, but how about showing us what some of the chassis look like? Personally, I want to see if any are built as simply as described in the Bob Lenz article.

[dc-65x]

Hi Bill,

I've taken pictures of everything, over 50 so far. Here is Dave Lenz (Bob's younger brother) "Wild One":





The chassis is a simple single rail but with a perimeter kind of like an early wing car:



How about these HO front wheels :



Notice the tubes to support the top of the body and transfer "negative lift" to the chassis:



The bottom view:



And the wings and their tube support:



Watch out, 1968 LA Pros, if you see this Thingie coming after you.

More to come...

[Edo]

Oooooh, whoooaa, wow, gee Captain Rick!
May you be blessed by the Thingie Goddess!
Fantastic stuff we got here! Thanks for sharing.
I gather that beside Lenz, Mura and U-Go motors, even Champions were used in the Bay Area then, right?
E.

PS: Hey Captain, you do know that there is an art inter-exchange from one museum to another, don't you?

We must set up one between the SHPBAPSCR and the MTM (Montagnola Thingies Museum), mustn't we?

[Bill from NH]

Thanks, Rick, for the chassis photos. Bob described a far simpler design in his article. Perhaps it didn't work so well.

Those "Negative Lift" stickers are cool!

[dc-65x]

Hi Edo,

The Hoffman box shown was chosen because it had the Choti negative lift stickers. I'll have to check to see where it came from. Maybe they used Choti bodies in the East or Champion stuff in the West... or both .

Bill, when was the article you're refering to written? This thingie has a '68 Mabuchi in it. The chassis is a simple single rail like this...



... but with the perimeter added.

This one's next:



I'll add more pictures tonight.

[Edo]

...when was the article you're refering to written?...

Here's the article I think Bill is referring to, written in May 1968 on MC&S:





E.

[TSR]

Bob Lenz built a lot of motors in period using the Mabuchi FT16BB can fitted with the Mura M444 shunt and either Arco or Magnum 88 mags. I have run into quite a few so far. I think he did this because the Mura can was heavier and they were looking for the lightest possible cars they could get to run on those speedbowls. However the arms HAVE to be Mura's and not Lenmz because of the rotational direction.

Would be nice to find him and ask him a few questions...

[Jairus]

COOL THREAD!!

Few years ago a nameless thingie lover from a foreign country used my house as a drop zone for a package of Thingie stuff purchased on eBay. The reason was because the seller would not ship overseas. The cars and bits in that package were built using those very instructions even though the soldering and construction techniques were not nearly as clean. I forwarded on the package, but not before studying all the ideas and parts enclosed within.

I began a collection of Mura/Lenz/Choti like bits for my own replica to be wrapped up in a beautiful George "Nostalgic" Hawkins #5 replica body.



It will look like the real thing but nothing here is actually Mura or Lenz. Most likely go faster due to better quality magnets and John Havlicek's master wound arm of course...

Hope I did not divert the purpose of this thread. Sorry if I did Rick.

Thanks for posting the instructions, as I have saved and printed same.

Ciao,

J

[Bugeye]

Hi Edo,

The Hoffman box shown was chosen because it had the Choti negative lift stickers. I'll have to check to see where it came from. Maybe they used Choti bodies in the East or Champion stuff in the West... or both .

Bill, when was the article you're refering to written? This thingie has a '68 Mabuchi in it. The chassis is a simple single rail like this...



... but with the perimeter added.

This one's next:



I'll add more pictures tonight.

I bought three of these chassis at a slot show last year. Two in the original bags and one used
one that I am going to build a choti car with. If I finally get a digital camera for xmas, I will
take some photos. And One27Ray answers his messages

[One27ray]

Hey Bugeye

Check your in box. You have a cool box-o-body's there man. Love the Choti stuff Just doesn't get any better.

Here's a pic of a Choti-ish design I did back awhile ago before I saw these pic's..and wow was I on the right track



Although ,the side wings aren't as tall, so they don't need the pin tubing, and the nose is squared off. Frame looks great under neath too.

Very Very Very inspirational

i-noda

[TSR]

Yo Ray,
I got one of those too!

[Steve Deiters]

Is it just me or does that Choti #5 Ultra body look a lot like the Oldsmoble Aerotech car from 1987 that Foyt was hot lapping in back in the day with a Quad Four engine?!!!

[TSR]

It's just you!

[dc-65x]

This is the Dave Lenz car I'm building a version of now:



The chassis is a little more interesting than the first one:

The long Tradeship - UGO rear axle bracket has been shortened to use with the small 27T crown gear:



The chassis is another single rail with a perimeter. He made the main rails in two pieces and connected the two halves with a short piece of piano wire that is then bullet proofed with tie wire and solder:



He also added a front axle/front body mount that attaches only at the center point of the chassis and the end of each side of the front axle:



These two cars were not over restored as I can't seem to help doing. The Museum's Master Restorer Rodney did just enough to get them cleaned up and back on the track again. The original tires just had the dried skin ground off and even the braid is original.

On Eddie's Blue King this thingie was within .5 seconds of our Oakland Speedway "Pro 20's" :



These are NCC 20 chassis with ball bearings, 64 pitch gears and NCC20 Mura C-can motors:



A HALF SECOND with original old tires that keep the cornering speed down . I'm looking forward to getting my new thingie built and on the track .

More to come..........

[One_Track_Mind]

He made the main rails in two pieces and connected the two halves with a short piece of piano wire that is then bullet proofed with tie wire and solder:

Hi Rick,
May I ask? WHY? what is the purpose or function? Other then it Looks kinda cool!

The lead wires remind me of speaker wire used in the auto for 8-track player and Panasonic speakers!

Can hardly wait and watch you build this one!

finally a how-to-do-it for drop front axles...

Thank You,

[dc-65x]

Hi Brian,

I ASSume it would be easier to make the main rails in two pieces instead of a single U-shaped piece. I like the way the tie wire wrap looks too .

I have some lead wire like that in a Tradeship package.

As for the drop front axle, I had an.........ahh................incident with the front wheels. I'll be attaching them differently that Lenz did but I actually like the "different" way much better.

[dc-65x]

I gather that beside Lenz, Mura and U-Go motors, even Champions were used in the Bay Area then, right?

Edo, Rodney confirmed that the Hoffman box with the Champion and Choti stickers was from our California Bay Area Oakland Speedway collection.

This next thingie has a Dave Lenz Choti body:





.........on a complete runner also from the Oakland Speedway collection:



Check out that plate on top of the motor. Must be some kind of "Flux Capacitor" or something :



This one might be a modified UGO chassis with a new front axle and a perimeter body mount system:



For comparison this one is a UGO chassis with body mounts added. All the parts were from Oakland Speedway and assembled and painted by Rodney with a Patto's repop Choti body:



Check out that new old stock Lenz motor :



More to come........

[nostalgic]

Wow, and Wow again!

Thats a real box of teasures there Rick! Fantastic stuff,

I wonder what that blue body is, maybe a Choti ?
The factory catalogue (Choti) is very Interesting, I never saw that befor, and so is that Mura Scan, which by the way that sketch looks a tiny bit like the "Swift" Body...

I did a couple of these style chassis for my addiction of all things thingie! the hardest thing I found was to keep them true to the original style, they seem very crude! haha, good luck with your builds, I look forward to seeing these, and more pics from this wonderfull lot of survivors