664 replies to this topic

[TSR]

Nice to see that the Aguirre were good students of my own lucubration... 
I remember the look of them when that new chassis or mine cut everyone's time on the old Buena Park "Red" track by a cool 2 tenths first time out, which was also the first sub-4-second laps on that tricky piece of real estate.
 

[Slot Car Rod]

Rick showed his Aguirre chassis style formula car.  Here is my formula car that predates the Aguirre chassis.

The body is a combination of a Matra and a Tyrrell.

Independent front suspension and nose mounted on the drop arm.

 

 

 

 

 

[Pablo]

Thanks for showing that, Rodney   It sure helps me think I'm on the right track on the one I'm building 

64P gears, left side can drive. Man you sure have a talent for shoehorning motors in tight to the rear axle 

 

Great inspiration, just when I needed it

[TSR]

My MATRA built in 1972 with the first M.A.C. body "off the press" before any production was made... we needed it for the advert.
The front end of the body was pinned to the front of the chassis, while the rest of the body was suspended from the hinged side pans.

It won "Concours", set fastest qualifying time on the Orange track where the USRA event was held, in the San Fernando valley, easily led the main until midway, but an errant car it hit, destroyed the nose and its handling was ruined for the remaining of the race.





Unfortunately these are the only surviving pictures. I don't remember what I did with it.

[Slot Car Rod]

Here is the Matra from the Oakland Speedway Collection. The body is a MAC.  As the rules dictate, the car is powered by a NCC20 armature.

 

[Slot Car Rod]

To finish off this era of slot car formula cars, here is a Tyrrell-bodied car (body by Dynamic).

I made two of these chassis, and Eric still has the other one.  Mine was originally built with fixed body mounts.  The one with floppy body mounts worked much better, so I later converted mine to floppy body mounts.  The usual NCC20 armature in a Mura C can powers this one.  Rear tires are pretty worn, and they should be 13/16".

The red number 66 formula car shown above was built for a June 1971 race at Oakland Speedway.  This Tyrell was the last formula car of this era that I built.

 

 

For clarification, the red number 66 started out as a Tyrrell and was modified with a Matra cockpit glued on top of the Tyrrell and Matra nose added.  The Tyrell rear wing was cut off and replaced with a sheet plastic wing.

[Slot Car Rod]

This chassis dates from 1972.  Years ago, I got this chassis from a Southern California racer to restore.  Note the center pivot hanging off of the front axle tube.  The chassis is engraved with "open group."  The car is powered by a Pooch motor.  I believe the motor is a 24 single wind.  Rear tires are 13/16".  I painted a Parma Lola T290 body for the car.  This is the short tail version of the Lola.  By 1972, lots of raceways were gone, but the cars were still interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

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[Bill from NH]

Another beautiful car Rodney. From the  stamped name on the drop arm, this was a Monty Ohren built chassis, He was a fabulous chassis builder & later a very good motor builder for 16D classes & most any classes on up. I don't know who originated that pivot in the middle of the front axle. It may have been Monty, but in 1971 or 1970, I saw a 15 yr. old Brooklyn teenager named Brandon Kaaren using them on the chassis he was building. But he wasn't using the PDL .032 wire hangers on the front side of the axle tube. Long out of slot cars, last I knew Brandon had a musical instrument shop in Brooklyn. Monty had a question & answer forum on OWH. He gave lots of good advice & information there. I always enjoyed reading what he wrote. Upon his death, OWH froze his forum, so it's still readable, but can't accept new questions.

 

You must remember the days when K&S piano wire came all plated. Do you recall a foot of any size between .032 & .063 costing only a nickel?  For about $2.50 in pans & drop arm, another $0.50 worth of piano wire, you could go home to build a chassis for about. $3.00. Those good old days are long gone too. 

 

The chassis of your Grp. 20 Dynamic bodied F1 above looks like an ordinary brass center section, but with narrow strip pans. The wheelbase might have varied, but are there other tricks used my eyes are missing? I never used any of the MAC or Dynamic F1 bodies, because during the 70s & early 80s, no tracks in the 6-state New England area ran them. And in those days, I wasn't one to build any car that I couldn't raced.

[Slot Car Rod]

Thanks Bill.  The car does have a standard drop arm and the pans are made from brass strip.  Here are pictures of when I added the floppy pan movement.to the chassis.  Nothing special on this chassis.

 

Notched the pans and added the hinges

 

[Slot Car Rod]

Here is a comparison of the long tail and short tail MAC Lola.  The long tail is really long.  Details of yellow car shown above.

 

 

[Slot Car Rod]

Camen motor and armature.  The motor in the yellow car is a 24.  Packaging says 23.  Pro motors were not inexpensive.

 

[Isaac S.]

Wow Rod! That Monty chassis is great, definitely one of his fantastic builds. Very similar to a car PDL built in '72 or '73. 

[Slot Car Rod]

Isaac, here are two variations.  Pro-Iso is from the Ben Jones collection.

 

 

 

[Isaac S.]

Beautiful, the craftsmanship is amazing.  

[Bill from NH]

I was running Camen (Pooch) arms until I found out that Rockets & Steubes ran even better. Joel is a great guy to talk to & to have done business with.  He was a way better & more experienced wing car racer than me. I still recall one Maine race that I finished 2 or 3 spots ahead of him. But that was only I had run that track before & he hadn't. Joel bought the first balancer Rocket built & still uses that. He had a stroke in the past year & I do not know how involved in slot cars he gets now.

 

Those Riggen ISOs in a box by Monty are great. I don't know how many of them Monty built, but they have occasionally showed up on eBay for the past 6-8 yrs. One west coast collector I know has ten or a dozen of them & will buy more. In his last years Monty was know better for building impeccable motors with outstanding performance. Not built with "special" parts ,this was achieved by his assembly techniques. I never bought any of his BOW products or met the man. we met though his OWH forum & exchanged several emails.

 

It seems to me Ben Jones was a good a chassis builder on the west coast as any of them. I can't believe I never came across his name before Rodney showed some of his work here. Thanks Rod!  Perhaps he wanted to remain a "small-town" individual who only built for himself & a few friends. That how I would have described myself during that period of the '70s & '80s.

[TSR]

 

Here is a comparison of the long tail and short tail MAC Lola.

Rodney, the "long" one won the 1975 Nats...
 

[Slot Car Rod]

Thanks, Philippe.  Anyone have a side view of the long tail Lola trimmed and mounted?  I am not sure how to cut this body out, nor how to add air control to it.

 

Here are a couple of customer chassis:  a Golden Boot and an 888.

 

[Bill from NH]

More beautiful chassis! Rodney, who built the Golden Boots?  The drop arm looks like the one Monty used on the Riggen ISOs, but one can't read all the engravings on this particular Golden Boot. Not an SFB area builder, but does your collection include any Lee Gilbert cars? I'm just inquiring, not requesting that you show them.

[zipper]

I suppose it's a Neat Things (after some manipulation I could read).

[Bill from NH]

Thanks Pekka, that answers my question on Golden Boots. The workmanship on Rodney's doesn't look like that of PDL. He probably had someone building them for him.

[Isaac S.]

That is defiantly one of the later Golden Boots so someone else probably did build it. 

[Slot Car Rod]

Bill, on page 9 post 202, there is a Mike Steube chassis car.  With post 209, there is a Lee Gilbert chassis car.

[Slot Car Rod]

Says ZEE Original Golden Boot

[Slot Car Rod]

Eric wanted Ben Jones' Dodge Charger restored   It was one of Ben's favorite cars to run.  I guess "resurrected from the dead" for the body would be more appropriate.  What was left of the body was held together with staples, packaging straps, and miles of tape.

 

 

 

Yes, the Dynamic brand Dodge Charger had seen better days.  I used a junk PETG Dodge body that was close to the Dynamic Charger.  Pieces of the PETG body were grafted onto Ben's old Dynamic body.  Flexible resin was used to blend the old and new together.  The repair areas were sanded smooth, and some day-glo orange paint was fogged in.  Was the body worth saving?  Yes, I think so.  Replacing the body would not be the same.  I guess it is about slot car memories and slot car friends.

 

 

I added some rear tires, and the car is ready to run.  The mechanicals will be cleaned up one day.  'Hope you liked this one.

 

 

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[Slot Car Rod]

One more picture.