54 replies to this topic

[TSR]

The only one who made copies of the Pactra dune buggy was Dallas Booth.  Dallas sold his repro body business about 12 years ago to a man in NorCal. Not sure if the buggy mold was part of the deal. In any case, a bit late to ask: 

Follow this hearse!

Here is a damaged Pactra dune buggy apparently factory painted body that showed up on ePay a few years back. It does not have the decals.



Here is the one at the museum, so far the only complete example we have seen:





There ought to be some more around, but so far, nothing. Here is the body produced by Booth at one time, likely in the early 1980s:



It was decorated with paper stickers made from a photocopy of the original decals.




 

[Martin]

Thanks Dokktor  for sharing the Dallas's picture story. Too young to go. Very sad, I would like to know more about his slot car contribution. All I know is he made slot car bodies and then sold that business to Scott Macloed. Did not know Dallas owned raceways.

[Terry Reeves]

I have an original Manx body but it is unpainted.

[don.siegel]

Any possibility of seeing a pic of that Terry? 

 

Welcome to SB by the way... 

 

Don 

[TSR]

Pactra marketed the Manx body separately, unpainted and with a black styrene driver insert (the Manx buggy factory RTR slot car has a white styrene insert). They are scarce but not rare. Auto World and Champion purchased the leftover inventories when Pactra pulled the carpet under their slot car program in 1968.

Auto World used the Pactra Manx bodies on their "dune buggy kit" in 1970-71, that using the Atlas chassis and motor designed for the never-issued Cheetah and Ferrari Dino kits, and when supplies were exhausted, bought Riggen bodies that are a different shape with no top.

Since this was first discussed nine years ago, I also discovered that there were two versions of the scarce Pactra chassis with the hinged brass drop arm, one with the known wire front axle as on the Manx, but here is another with a standard 1/8" front-axle tubing! So far it is the sole example I have run across.

The two chassis present substantial differences, the one with the standard front axle looking more ancient and clearly derived from an earlier more standard model used in RTR cars. Did Pactra make an attempt to modify existing chassis to update them to the hinged brass drop arm, eventually to drop the idea and use the center section of the later "Iso" chassis?

"It Never Ends..."

[don.siegel]

That is rather odd! Looks like they just used up the front axle assemblies from the old Competition kits, but without the independent front wheels. 
 
But judging by how many of these brass front ends have popped up on eBay, they never used them all up either...
 
Who knows?
 
Don

[Terry Reeves]

Had this body for about 14 years. Don't recall getting any interior bits with it, just came with some other parts.

[Terry Reeves]

It's a very poor photo off my phone but the body has no cracks or splits.I never painted the body because I never found a chassis that seemed to sit well under it.

[don.siegel]

Thanks Terry. 

 

Actually, the photo looks pretty good, and you can really see the body, even with the shafts of light coming in - hard to do that with a clear body. (well, for me it is)

 

Don 

[TSR]

Terry, thanks.

The body was always sold factory trimmed and with a black vac formed styrene interior insert and an injected-plastic driver's helmeted head, because part of it is the simulation of the VW engine at the back of the body. The drivers head was in a small clear-plastic bag stapled to the display label, itself taped to the body. We have a pair of them intact just like that.

The Auto World kit with the Pactra body also had the interior and the driver's head.

[Terry Reeves]

I don't think I have the interior for the body but I will have a look just in case.It was part of a box of Russkit parts I bought years ago and I never considered it be anything unusual so didn't really pay any attention to the contents.

[MattD]

Is there any interest in getting this body copied?

[don.siegel]

Hmm, no answers yet Matt, but I know at least one slot buddy here who is buggy crazy and would like a copy - he has his own 1/1 buggy! He lives near Bordo too, where there are some famous sand dunes... 

 

Don 

[TSR]

I do not believe that too many would be interested in a possible replica. Not sure if it would be worth sacrificing a body to make a mold, but, Dallas Booth may have sold his replica mold to that McLeod character in northern CA when the man bought the "Booth Machine" business. Problem is, the quality of the bodies pulled is nowhere as good as when Booth was doing them.
 
But worth inquiring anyway... or not.

[don.siegel]

I checked with Scott - he doesn't have the Pactra repro any more... He does a Russkit buggy that's not too bad. 
 
From a bunch of guys five years ago, we now have very few doing good repro vacform bodies... 
 
Getting older? Naw, it couldn't be that. 
 
Don

[Ed Steinbruner]

Fascinating information, you guys are living encyclopedias. Loved reading this thread!

[MattD]

After finding the new buggy body and Gene molding it and making perfect repros, I found the original chassis (according  to this thread) in my junk stuff!    I got the body painted and pulled the chassis out last nite.   Big difference in wheelbase!    Maybe there was a one off  chassis for the dune buggy that must have been shorter then the carded bare frame which had a longer wheelbase.   Anybody got any ideas?  Philippe?

 

[don.siegel]

Hi Matt, 

 

It does seem to be a bit long on mine too - I've got a wheelbase of 3-7/8", what's your's? 

 

Here's a side shot in a genuine, untouched photo! (too lazy to open Photoshop...)

 

 

Doesn't seem quite so radical... 

Don 

[MattD]

The wheelbase on mine measures 4 1/16.   I can't see anything changed on mine.   Some repair work, but nothing to change wb.   Maybe these were done haphazard and the shorter ones saved for dune buggies!!

 

The sides of my body don't really come down far enough to cover the pin tubes if I run tires the size you have on yours Don.    My pin tubes come out flat from the body, there is no up or down angle.

[don.siegel]

That does seem kind of long Matt, maybe you have the chassis for the Lotus, which I think is about 4". 

 

Don 

[MattD]

Philippes previous post said the Lotus had the ISO style chassis.

[don.siegel]

Ah, can never remember which is which... but you do seem to have a different version of the chassis, and now that I look at it more closely, the front wheels are different, so maybe somebody stretched it and modified the front for some reason. I don't think these Pactra chassis used the Riggen pinhole wheels like you show... 4-1/16" is kind of a strange length, isn't it? Too long for sports cars, too short for stockers... 

 

Don 

[MattD]

The wheels are not original for sure.   I can't see where the front wire axle is in a different location than in the pictures above.   I think it is possible the rear motor bracket could be farther back, not that it looks re-soldered, but it would make a longer wheelbase.   Maybe the front wire axle cold be tilted back?   That would bend and mess up the brass supports soldered to the axle.   I have swapped rear tires and may trim the body to make  them look like a better fit.     

 

I could overlay my frame over the above pix and it looks the same in all respects!   Space between motor and drop arm also look the same.   

 

I really think Gene made this body slightly bigger just to mess with me!!

 

Here's a pic with the larger tires, not the best, I wasn't expecting to post it here, but you can kind of see where I am at.

 

[TSR]

Matt, looks like your chassis is longer than the ones we have seen so far.
The Mabuchi motor in it is the correct type. Both your front and rear wheels are incorrect, and your fronts are far too small. The guide is also on an incorrect type. If you do not have a correct "late" Pactra guide, let me know as I have a little stack of them. Also, please replace these modern lead wires with the red and green vinyl Mabuchi stuff, they truly look incongruous...
Why is your chassis longer? Hard to explain, but it is not modified, so it is possible that this was for a longer body (at this time, of an unknown type).
I think that your chassis might have come from a sample sent to a distributor, that was sold and made its way to you when the hobby collapsed.

Tot this day, I have only seen two of these Dune Buggies, and believe that they were also only made as samples, never marketed. The longer chassis you have could have been made for the never issued Ferrari 330P4 coupe that was shown in a story in one of the magazines at the same time as the infamous "banana car".

Don, the Lotus, BRP-Ford and Ford MkIV models use a different chassis that is of the iso-fulcrum type, articulated from the rear axle. The Dune Buggy chassis has a conventional drop arm hinged from ahead of the motor. I was in error when I suggested that the Dune Buggy chassis was also used on the Ford. The wheelbase is too incorrect to have been acceptable.

The Pactra and Competition slot cars are quite a bit of a mystery, and while we know far more today than we did 20 years ago, there are still questions with no answers. Your chassis fits that definition to a tee.
To help you compare your chassis' wheelbase to that of the Buggy, here are two picture in a similar angle to yours, as well as showing you the correct guide and wheels:









 

[Martin]

I was going through some old parts trays and remember you guys talking about Matts 4"+ w.b. Pactra chassis.

 

Well looky what I found, another chassis the same as Matts.

 

What would be the correct body to finish this as a factory car ?

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