The history of Dynamic in ads
#1
Posted 01 October 2010 - 07:22 AM
Hi Johnson's early slot car enterprise was highly instrumental for many eager scratch builders back in the day.
Still today, Dynamic parts is very popular and held in high esteem by the vintage people, not least as can be seen
in this fresh thread in this very forum: Dynamic build-up challenge?
So what could then be more suitable in this section of the forum, than a presentation of the Dynamic history seen
through its company ads? We'll begin with the pioneer years, 1963 and 1964.
Hold on to your hats!
This is the very first Dynamic advertisment, issued in Model Car Science, August 1963 (Vol. 1 No. 3).
The same ad also appeared in MCS in September and November 1963, and again in May and June 1964.
Curiously, no Dynamic ad appeared in the October 1963 issue of MCS. Or anywhere else, for that matter...
Instead, the second variation on the initial theme showed up in MCS in the December 1963 issue (with no later repeat):
January 1964, a new year and the third Dynamic ad in MCS.
No colors, and the same ad also appeared in the March and April issues.
Intermission. The fourth Dynamic ad was only a one-column affair, in the February 1964 issue of MCS.
July and August 1964, the fifth Dynamic ad in MCS. Novelty: The ”DynaMite” drop flag...
A new era in advertising: Dynamic News Vol. 1, No.1 — September 1964. A lot more info and letters than previously.
Dynamic News Vol. 1, No.2 — October 1964. Meet Tom, Dick and Harry — and also Alice...
Dynamic News Vol. 1, No.3 — November 1964. Dynamic goes into high gear...
Dynamic News Vol. 1, No.1 — December 1964. What the...??? It's back to the September issue again, minus the color.
[To be continued...]
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Overseas Observer
#2
Posted 01 October 2010 - 07:31 AM
6/30/54-6/27/22
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#3
Posted 01 October 2010 - 08:29 AM
The hobby shop listed on Hillsboro Road in Nashville TN might have been Cheater's home track?
11/6/54-2/13/18
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#4
Posted 01 October 2010 - 11:35 AM
Back then, I was unsure about the ads. They usually came into the mags about six months after the parts were already on the shelf being bought! From this period, every track had a couple builders who just ran away with things, and the Dynamics were what people who weren't builders ran! My survivors usually are things I was paid to build for someone who gave it back when they left the hobby.
When I spent the summer of '65 wandering around the US because my dad had retired, seeing and running on uncounted tracks, overwhelmingly, one saw Dynamic "kit cars" as the bulk of the reasonable cars versus the backmarkers like the Cox and other such 12 buck RTRs.
Fate
3/6/48-1/1/12
Requiescat in Pace
#5
Posted 01 October 2010 - 11:55 AM
Nothing like posting the company's propaganda with dates to make some realize that the technology was a lot slower going than what many think today...
Philippe de Lespinay
#6
Posted 01 October 2010 - 12:03 PM
Don,The hobby shop listed on Hillsboro Road in Nashville, TN, might have been Cheater's home track?
In 1964, I was still in Tullahoma, TN. Didn't move to Nashville until late 1966.
I don't remember that hobby shop so it might have been gone by then.
My home raceway was Harding Mall Grand Prix, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hall. It was a the typical AMR franchise operation, with a Purple Mile and two other AMR tracks.
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Gregory Wells
Never forget that first place goes to the racer with the MOST laps, not the racer with the FASTEST lap
#7
Posted 01 October 2010 - 12:50 PM
Barney Poynor
12/26/51-1/31/22
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#8
Posted 02 October 2010 - 01:10 PM
mid-1960s. Dynamic News was a recurring feature in MCS in all of 1965, although the content and volume numbering
was a bit confusing and far from consistent. For instance, four issues of Dynamic News (Vol. 2 No. 2, 4, 6, and 12) are
completely missing, while several other issues are doubled and re-doubled with different volume numbers...
Also, the decoration colors from the early advertising days are now completely gone.
January 1965: Vol. 2 No.1.
February 1965: Vol. 2 No.1 – again(!).
March 1965: Vol. 2 No. 3.
April 1965: Vol. 2 No.3 – again(!).
May 1965: Vol. 2 No. 5.
June 1965: New & updated DN logo. But no label, also missing Vol. and No. info.
July 1965: Vol. 2 No. 7 — only a slight variation of Vol. 2 No. 3.
August 1965: Vol. 2 No. 8.
September 1965: Vol. 2 No. 9 — a repeat of Vol. 2 No. 7...
October 1965: Vol. 2 No. 10 — another variation of Vol. 2 No. 3...
November 1965: Vol. 2 No. 11.
December 1965: An odd one out – the Dynamic News logo is missing, as well as the Vol. and No. info.
[To be continued...]
Overseas Observer
#9
Posted 04 October 2010 - 03:57 PM
Model Car Science continues to be the prime exhibition for the Dynamic News during 1966. More parts and
new products are issued in a seemingly never ending pace. More variation in the ad implementations is also
a prominent feature. But the volume numbering, already bad in 1965 (see previous posting) now goes
completely out of whack. In this third year of advertising the DN number sequencing is totally lost – only one
ad is properly labeled ( February — Vol 3. No 2.), all the rest are mis-labeled or not labeled at all.
So what was the point to even bother with this volume and number labeling thing from the very beginning...?
January 1966 — no label but a plethora of parts in an odd presentation/orientation.
February 1966 — Vol. 3 No. 2.
March 1966 — First in a series of Dynamite ads — no label, but even the logo is now missing.
April 1966 — Odd orientation again — and back to Vol. 2.
May 1966 — No Dynamic News, instead the first RTR cars: Pre-Thingie — The Outlaws!
June 1966 — Back to ”normal”, err... Vol. 2...
July 1966 — Dynamite again, now with the DN logo.
August 1966 — Vol.2 No. ???. ”Another Dynamic First!
September 1966 — Even more Dynamite – also with logo.
October 1966 — Introducing The Swinger — a hardbody kit car with a unique inline-36D DynaFlex chassis.
November 1966 — Intermission with just a one-column Dynamic News. No volume label.
December 1966 — Last issue of the year, another full page ad with Dynamic News. But ”The times they are a-changin”...
[To be continued...]
Overseas Observer
#10
Posted 05 October 2010 - 10:58 AM
I was a big user of the Dynamic chassis way back when, including the spring suspension models. I found they worked very well on stock cars that I ran on several tracks giving a overall feel for the car on the track surfaces back then. To me, Dynamic was tops as far as their off the shelf chassis were designed. Loved them.
Michael Rigsby
"... a good and wholesome thing is a little harmless fun in this world; it tones a body up and keeps him human and prevents him from souring." - Mark Twain
#11
Posted 05 October 2010 - 07:05 PM
6/30/54-6/27/22
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#12
Posted 05 October 2010 - 08:02 PM
I'm wondering if any of the 664 670 rear motor mounts are still available (Pittman 704 and Ram motors) - the one with the overhead mount. I have a couple of the 704/Ram ones that go under the chassis but that extra spacing makes it so I have to use TALL wheels/tires. The overhead one (which I've never seen before, except in this thread!) would be the hot ticket for my Ram motor!
- Mikey
Mike DiVuolo
C.A.R.S. Vintage Slot Car Club
"Prosecutors will be violated"
#13
Posted 06 October 2010 - 12:21 AM
The end is near, and it is approaching fast. Only three Dynamic News logos remains (now revised in a third version),
and only on top of single columns. But a few very interesting products is still in the pipeline...
January 1967: The famous and powerful GE motor (derived from a toothbrush!) is presented.
February 1967: Another gem, the ”Low profile, quick change guide flag”. A true classic.
March 1967: Same ad as in February.
April 1967: Same ad as in January, the GE motor.
May 1967: The very last Dynamic News column. Also with a prophetic headline: This is it! Well, almost...
June 1967: The ads are sinking fast. The GE motor is now at the bottom of page.
July 1967: New and ”hot” items, but still at the bottom of page.
August 1967: Mirage, Lola & Chaparral. A line of clear bodies is the very last product announcement from Dynamic.
September 1967: A grinding halt in the ad department. Just a small spot near the bottom of the page...
September 1967: ... and also a top spot in the next spread, announcing that Dynamic is now a part of AMT.
No more ads for the rest of 1967. This is the end of the ”classic” Dynamic era with a multitude of different cast aluminum parts.
But not yet, as we shall see, the definite end of Dynamic. A new era is dawning...
(But it will be more than a year before we see any ads from Dynamic again.)
[To be continued...]
Overseas Observer
#14
Posted 06 October 2010 - 10:59 AM
I remember seeing the first handling bodies... and it was a lightning bolt. Lots of controversy in my circles about these bodies. But the tracks reasonably felt that if they sold it, they were legal!
Notice above calling "jail door" frames as perimeter.
I had forgotten that as well.
Fate
3/6/48-1/1/12
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#16
Posted 06 October 2010 - 11:46 AM
Click HERE to contact Sonic Products. The messenger feature on my Slotblog account has been disabled.
#17
Posted 06 October 2010 - 07:12 PM
The "ownership" in both companies was canceled in 1968 after it was clear to the larger outfits that sinking money into slot cars had become a waste, meaning, no more capital was invested into Dynamic and K&B to make new products. The ownership of the two companies was simply abandoned to their original owners.
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Philippe de Lespinay
#18
Posted 11 October 2010 - 03:34 PM
MCS was started as a bi-monthly in april 1963, and the première, full-page ad for Dynamic appeared four months later, in the August 1963 issue (see beginning of this thread). Only a couple of months later, the MCS Los Angeles-based publisher, Delta Magazines, decided to start yet another bi-monthly to capitalise on the booming slot car racing craze: Model Car & Track.
MC&T made its debut with an issue labeled "Winter 1963”, and also with the bold cover banner ”The Complete Book Of Table Top Racing”. No Dynamic ad in that première issue, but that soon changed and already in the second issue of MC&T (February 1964) the same full-page ad as in the January issue of MCS also appeared in the sister magazine.
But while Dynamic continued with full-page advertising in MCS, the new-kid-on-the-block MC&T was graced only with substantially smaller ads (typically one column) for the upcoming years ahead.
February 1964: The première Dynamic ad in Model Car & Track. An exclusive full page. But it won't last...
March-April 1964: The second ad in MC&T. One column — low key is already the key...
May-June 1964: Third ad — with just a small twist.
July-August 1964: Fourth column ad — same, same...
September 1964: Dynamic News première as a one-column ad. (Full page DN première ad in MCS same month).
October 1964: Back to the proven May-June-July-August ad formula...
November 1964: The second Dynamic News one-column ad. (Full page DN in MCS...)
December 1964: Same basic ad — for the fourth time in less than a year.
Overseas Observer
#19
Posted 11 October 2010 - 04:25 PM
I spent quite a bit of my time and very limited jr high school cash building a scratch chassis and trying to polish that turd into a diamond... no joy.That GE motor was the most over-hyped "development" in the slot car market to that point in time. It was, in a word, a turd.
After a few weeks I handed the whole car to a little kid at the track...
"TANSTAAFL" (There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.)
Robert Anson Heinlein
"Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude."
Alexis de Tocqueville
"In practice, socialism didn't work. But socialism could never have worked because it is based on false premises about human psychology and society, and gross ignorance of human economy."
David Horowitz
Mike Brannian
#20
Posted 11 October 2010 - 06:18 PM
Philippe de Lespinay
#21
Posted 11 October 2010 - 08:08 PM
I knew of the GE motor, but I don't think I ever saw one firsthand, and don't remember anyone I knew using one. Does anyone know more specifically about the Mabuchis...were they competitive? Were they done by Dynamic or done for "Dynamic"?
-john
#22
Posted 11 October 2010 - 08:52 PM
I did an article here not too long ago describing all the Dynamic motors variations with pictures...
Now if only I could find it!
Much of it plus a lot more is in my new book coming soon...
Yes, yes, it will!
Philippe de Lespinay
#23
Posted 11 October 2010 - 09:09 PM
DYNAMIC
Beginning with their association with AMT, of which Dynamic had become a subsidiary, motors were purchased in common from Mabuchi in a distinctive metallic purple color. The standard FT36D motor was dubbed the "Hornet" and was identical to that used in the 1966 1/24 scale AMT "Series 2" kits and RTR's fitted with the brass inline chassis. The Dynamic "Renegade" RTR model used this motor, fitted with a narrower pinion and shorter output shaft.
Dynamic marketed in early 1966 a rewound, epoxied and dynamically balanced FT36 motor, basically a Russkit "33" motor purchased directly from Jim Russell.
This motor, (cat. # 210) and its large brass bearing housing were painted a light metallic green right over the gold color. The armature stack was machined. The end bell was the weak Mabuchi early unit with brushes directly in contact with the Delrin material, so reliability was suspect at best if used in anger. There was no "Dynamic Models" sticker on this motor, called the "Tuned Hornet" on its packaging, "Green Hornet" on their advertising...
After the motor became somewhat obsolete, Dynamic sold the remaining motors in bulk to a distributor in Los Angeles who sold them in a clear plastic bag and a tog, calling them "Green Hornet". It is likely that the labor was subcontracted to the Mura motor company in San Leandro.
It was rated at 34500 rpm with a 0.4 inch ounce torque applied.
Dynamic used the same Mabuchi FT16D motor as used in the 1966 AMT 1/32 scale kits (fitted with zinc plated steel chassis) to equip their original "Bandit" RTR model. This was called the "Mad Hornet 16D"
This FT36D motor with upgraded endbell and brush heat sinks, was rewound and balanced. The endbell is affixed with two pin tabs on the now metallic red can. A Dynamic water-slide decal has been applied. Given in 1972 to the author by Hiram Johnson, it is not certain that this motor was actually produced. It was likely built for Dynamic by Mura.
The next production motor was this "Mad Hornet 16D" painted in a light metallic green right over the purple color, the rewound stock arm coated with clear varnish over the stock drill-balanced gray stack. This motor was used on the original version of the "Super Bandit" (black body, Dynaflex chassis) and is called the "Green Hornet II". The gold Dynamic sticker was applied on the motor. Depending on when they were produced, and as the fastening ears stamped on the can broke when the motors were opened or shut after the rewound arm was fitted, some had two self tapping assembly screws. Later, two pin tabs were used instead of the rather large screws. From left to right: original motor with intact retaining tabs, with two self-tapping screws and with pin tabs.
Over a period of two years, this motor kept evolving and its armature stack was eventually machined.In 1968, Dynamic re-issued the Super Bandit RTR with a rewound, epoxied and balanced version of the new Mabuchi FT16DBB with a ball bearing located in a new aluminum housing in the can. This motor is very scarce and apparently was not sold separately. The endbell featured brass spring posts sleeves and pin tabs. This version, fitted with the gold sticker, was apparently sold in the very last Super Bandit models and is especially rare today.
By late 1966, the new "mid-size" Mabuchi FT26 became available and Dynamic got theirs, painted in the same metallic purple color as the "Hornet" line. It was sold separately and also used in the Ferrari 330P3 kit produced by Dynamic. Called the "Mad Hornet 26D", it was fitted with a self-adhesive gold and black sticker with the words "Dynamic Models". It used the standard Mabuchi armature with blue wire.
In early 1967, the same standard FT26 motors were no longer being painted, but were nickel plated like almost all other FT26 motors sold by Mabuchi to various marketers. They were also fitted with the gold and black sticker and appear to have only been used in the Ferrari 330P3 kits.
Dynamic never issued a car equipped with this motor, but this was one of the most popular power plants for the short time it was available. The stock armature was de-wound by 10 turns off each pole, then epoxied and dynamically balanced, but the stack was not machined. The can and bearing were painted a light metallic green right over the original Japanese purple paint of the Mad Hornet. Named "Green Hornet II", some have retained their original fastening ears, some have self-tapping screws to hold the can onto the endbell after the ears broke, later models have pin tabs. This motor was very fast but was prone to the usual melting endbell plastic resulting in the usual brush derangement and brutal explosion, followed by the most acrid smoke. Very few survived and finding an intact sample is quite difficult.
A later version was rewound (vs de-wound) by Mura, with a machined armature stack and retaining pin tabs.
In 1967, Dynamic coaxed General Electric into adapting an industrial motor for slot car racing. The result: too much torque at too low of RPM, needing impossible gearing. This was the "Silver Hornet". A version of the "Silver Hornet" was later produced with a more manageable torque curve, but it was too late.
In 1969, Dynamic had a professional racing team composed of Jack Garcia and Bruce Erickson. This Mura motor was briefly marketed by Dynamic in four different winds and is very hard to find today, let alone a boxed example.
Philippe de Lespinay
#24
Posted 12 October 2010 - 05:41 AM
Fascinating stuff (to me anyway) and really something how everyone was chasing the performance god with pretty much different colors of the same motors (with the same weaknesses, too!).
In the FT16DBB (oval hole) shown in the Super Bandit, it looks like there is a bushing retainer plate screwed to the endbell. At first I thought it was a chassis piece for strengthening the motor-to-chassis mounting, but the more I look, it looks like a bushing/bearing strap. Which is it???
-john
#25
Posted 12 October 2010 - 07:52 AM
I'm pretty sure that's the standard motor mount that goes with these Dynamic chassis for can-drive motors, but maybe Philippe or somebody can confirm - I haven't seen too many of these motors hanging around (i.e., zilch!).
Don