27 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

Just finished this up this evening!



The chassis came to me with one body, a pink can Mura "B", and a mis-matched set of dry rear tires. Both floppy pans were rusted solid with one pan drooped to below legal limits and the plumber had way too much movement. HOWEVER, the chassis was very nicely constructed and I am guessing is at least 40 years old. It has a Champion stamped guide tongue and motor bracket. The cut of the side pans was very nice and once jigged up the center section showed itself to be very straight and true. So, I felt it deserved some special attention in order to clean off the years of tarnish.



Pans were removed and the hinge tubes cleaned out and oiled. Then the chassis was cleaned and oiled. Next a proper 16D motor installed with Arco magnets, a new-better than-an-Orangepicker endbell installed with the correct Champion heat sinks, tubes and hoods added to the mix. Of course I aligned the brush hoods and added shunt wires.

THEN.... a nice John Havlicek custom wound arm was installed after carefully finding the magnetic field.

Well, the motor sings like Pavorati on the bench! Wish I could take it for a lap with a little glue... but that would spoil the car.



Wires are Champion and the body is a TrueScale Mirage, while the wheels are Champion glued and trued with fresh rubber to legal 1968 specs.



I love this picture with the motor viewed through the rear window.



Hope everyone is as tickled as I am as this one was fun!

[Mopower71]

That is sweet looking, but how can you resist taking it for a spin

[dz1]

Well I think it is sharp and I am enjoying it because it's there. The "Gulf" colors really accent that body and flow well along with the chassis. Impressive addition to your stable. You deserve to be "tickled" by it.

Dz

[Slotgeezer]

Very nice restoration, Sir...

The location of the plumber hinge is of interest... Behind the front axle was an early-style location...

Thank you for sharing, Jairus... Very sano!

Take care, & good racing!

[Cheater]

Gentlemen, I've cleaned up several posts that should never have been made to this thread and opened it back up.

Let's stay on topic, please.

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

It is a 1969 NCC Group 20 chassis by Champion, though it might be a little later, 70, when the rules allowed others to make similar chassis.

for several years this was a "spec" class for "Group 20". Almost immediately, there was a parallel Group 27 class where one used the allowed G.20 motor but scratchbuilt the frame.

These cars were a godsend to most racers who weren't builders being able to run well on most tracks against the outright G7s.

I love to see these things restored. Thank you J.

Fate

[TSR]

Rocky, it is not a Champion chassis, but as Jairus says, it simply uses a Champion bracket and drop arm, but it is a home built job that was nickel plated after completion.

The Champion chassis are well known and were all made in Japan by a company called AYK.

Here is a little excerpt from the book I am frantically trying to complete:

The AYK Company is known for its chassis kits, issued mostly in Japan and Australia.
Aoyagi Metals Industry Co. Ltd ( Aoyagi Kinzoku Kōgyō Yūgen-gaisha (commonly known as AYK or AYK Racing, later as Aoyagi Metals Company) was a Japanese company that became notable in the 1980s for its radio-controlled cars. The company began in the 1960s manufacturing metal chassis for slot car racing. The Aoyagi Metals Company was one of the more innovative RC manufacturers between 1979 and the mid 1980's. AYK on-road cars dominated the Japanese race circuit and captured consecutive world championships in their peak from 1980 to 1982.

But AYK is very interesting to us, because this company, utterly unknown in slot car racing circles in the West, produced a vast quantity of chassis for several companies not only in the USA but also in the United Kingdom and even... Spain! Indeed, Champion of Chamblee in Georgia, Mura and Riggen in California, USA as well as BMW Models and Richard Kohnstam (RIKO) in the UK, and the EIC Company in Spain, had chassis supplied by AYK. It is not known if AYK ever produced a complete model of complete slot car kit, but at this time none has surfaced.

[John Streisguth]

If memory serves me correctly, the original Group 20 chassis had a stamped steel center section, with pans that original were about 1/2" x 3", and the second generation of the chassis had "bat pans". Then there was Grp. 22 , which were production built copies of the pro cars but they had to use an actual motor/axle bracket when most pros were soldering motors directly to the frame rail and using a tube for the axle bearing carrier. They looked very much like this chassis, although this one in particular may be either scratch-built or a modified/rebuilt one

That sound right to you historians?

[Jairus]

I am pretty sure that Philippe is right, that this is a hand-made chassis. Too many bits and too tight a fit to be a production chassis.

It was this view of the careful fitting of the rails and the pan around the ends that suggested to me that it deserved restoration. And I have a box of chassis that are nowhere near as nice!

[TSR]

Hi John,

I think that you are mixing companies here. The "Group 22" chassis that you are thinking of was marketed by Riggen and Mura, but was never a Champion product.

After their original, American-made aluminum sidewinder chassis line (including the "Snuggler" series in both die-cast and stamped aluminum units), Champion had in fact, a very limited number of "brass & wire" soldered chassis, all made in Japan:

1) the original 1967 "F1" chassis:



2) a series of inline chassis, first with straight rails, then tapered, available for both the FT16 and FT26 motors in 4" and 4.5" wheelbases:





3) Then the first anglewinder chassis were issued (end of 1968):



4/ The center section of this new chassis was later used with larger side pans for the new 1969 NCC "Group 20" class:



There were two versions of the Group 20 chassis, one marked "NCC20", the other "NCC20-70". They differ slightly in the size of the holes at the back. An evolution of this chassis using an extra hinge (the so-called "plumber" hinge) was added in early 1970 and bombarded "Group 22".

5) In the meantime and from early 1969, Champion issued another chassis using brass rods for the center section:



This chassis was the last produced by Champion (and their partner AYK in Japan) until the late 1970s when they issued a stamped brass chassis with "L" style front axle.

The chassis that most enthusiast wrongly believe to be a Champion chassis is this one:



This was also made by AYK as well as another adding yet another split hinge to double-hinge the drop arm. Neither was EVER marketed by Champion, unlike often quoted by persons assuming that they were, that is simply not true. This chassis, either loose or as an RTR car, was only marketed by Mura and Riggen.

Regards,

[John Streisguth]

Phillipe:
That's great stuff. I was not aware if Champion did or did not make a Grp 22 chassis, but it seemed similar to the Riggen chassis in your picture #6, of which I have a specimen. I also have one of the stamped Champion chassis, but right off the top of my head I do not remember if it is like pic #3 or 4. I also have a chassis like #2, which I rebuilt for the Jail Door GP race that Noose and TonyP put on back in May of this year (swapped out the drop arm for something from my junk box).
I have a 1967 Champion catalog that shows chassis #1. They look like a strong breeze could blow it away! LOL

I am really looking forward to when you have your book completed on slot car history.

[TSR]

I was not aware if Champion did or did not make a Grp 22 chassis, but it seemed similar to the Riggen chassis in your picture #6, of which I have a specimen.

John,
I think that you missed the whole point of my post: the Champion Group 22 chassis was NOT similar in any way to the Riggen/Mura chassis. Here is a picture of the Champion Group 22 chassis next to the Group 20 from the same company. Note the extra hinge right behind the front axle:



Now these (Group 22) chassis were a sales flop, so they are rather scarce, and that might have led to the current confusion where some wrongly believe that the Riggen chassis is actually by Champion, which it is... not.

[Steve Deiters]

I think the DNA of the chassis that was marketed by Riggen and Mura(?) may find itself originating in a Phase III chassis that was offered a little earlier with perhaps some slight variations on the import chassis on some fab details that lent themselves to mass production. The most obvious difference was the import was chrome plated while the Phase III was not. The use of a full motor bracket/tube assembly style and the design of the pan hinge assembly are two things that alos jump out at me.

The Champion Gr. 20 chassis no one seemed to get to work for a variety of reasons starting with the weight not generate a lot of interest in the class nationally. Whenever I see these retro kits from JK and others runnning so well I can't help but think what might have been if something like these had been available back then with a Gr. 20 (spec) motor.

[tonyp]

The Champion was just a solid slab, no flex, no bite. Poor design for handling but a good design for rentals.

[tjsguns]

BEAUTIFUL Restoration Jairus!!
And it's MINE!!!

[TSR]

I think the DNA of the chassis that was marketed by Riggen and Mura(?) may find itself originating in a Phase III chassis that was offered a little earlier...

Steve,
You are thinking of the OTHER Riggen chassis, the "7-hinge", one not marketed by Mura (or Champion for that matters), and that has ONE more hinge as I described above. That chassis was marketed in its unplated version by Phaze III and by "Billy Boy Products".

Here is a picture of it:



The same chassis, nickel plated, was marketed (very briefly) by Riggen in the form of a limited series of RTR cars. All were AYK products.

[John Streisguth]

Nope...I understood your point exactly.

[TSR]

John,
Sorry I got confused by your post.

[Jairus]

Can I have it?

[John Streisguth]

Don't worry Philippe...I do that to my family all the time!

Back to the origin of this thread....very nice restoration! Beautiful.

[TSR]

I believe that the chassis that Jairus rstored is a copy of one built by one of a team Champion members built in 1969 and published in one of the magazines. I vaguely remember the design, using a stock Champion motor mount.

[havlicek]

Spectacular Jairus!

-john

[dc-65x]

Spectacular Jairus!

What he said!

[Jairus]

I believe that the chassis that Jairus rstored is a copy of one built by one of a team Champion members built in 1969 and published in one of the magazines. I vaguely remember the design, using a stock Champion motor mount.

(Thank you John )

Maybe Tom will tell us where he originally got that chassis, since it is his car and soon to be traveling back to Michigan to reside in his collection.

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

Hmmm, confused after seeing all these in the day. But I still hold to the 69 date.

The original deal as we voted in '68 was that 20s were a spec class with Mura motors and Champion frames marketed by everyone. There was a lot of angst and it was quickly agreed by NCC to allow other manufactureres in. But all that was mid or late 69.

And, largly, 20s weren't successful initially. The Dynamic Angleiwnder as a Group 12 was cheaper, worked as well on most tracks and really changed the racing for the kids on a budget. As we talked about with the aluminum frames, initially, the C main down were dynamic bits, and the anglewinder came out and dominated.

At the same time, tracks went from some limited "Group 12" racing, to a lot of Group 12 racing a the crowds were dwindling. But the Dynamic was CHEAP.

later in the 70s, I remember someone in the Denver area running a Champion 20 in the "amateur" class. Was that Mark? I only saw him race once before I was bumped into the "Expert" class with Price and Kolar.

Honestly, I wasn't paying much attention to the 20s. I think due to various trades for "boxes" of stuff, that Ihave several somewhere. None are the sheet main rail versions you indicate were first, though, but the later multi rod chassis.

One problem was that, in the day, things like the Limpach 888 and what became the Parma 18 were cheaper, 9 bucks, and worked a lot better. Oh, and being pianowire, stronger.

Fate