69 replies to this topic

[zipper]

My first "real" slot car was one of these in '68:



It had nice blue windings in the 26D. We drove on a 1/40 six-lane Jouef home track - it was sort of big even on alternate lanes...

[don.siegel]

That's great, Zipper! I can't even imagine one of these on a Jouef track... I hope you had a better transformer, too!

Was Jouef big in Finland? I know it was pretty popular in the Netherlands, but didn't know it went any further north!

Don

[havlicek]

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!).

That's what I figured too at first Don... and you're probably right!

-john

[Prof. Fate]

Hi,

The can drive version of the 16D frame came with a little L-shaped brass bit to bolt the endbell to the front of the motor mount. Is THAT the brass bit you are thinking about?

As an aside, there was a local rewinder named "Ricky Green" who argued with Dynamic about the use of the term "Green Hornet". I ran into him a decade or so ago, and he still thought it was funny.

Locally, two of the better racers I know both started with the Dynamic/GE as a Christmas present. While both are precision machine types, neither has a clue about how anything works! That is the short version of how I am the guy they keep coming to to keep the GEs running. They play with them every Friday at the local track. And the other version is that when they realized that the GEs didn't work and tried "Green Hornet" ended up with me building their motors. One guy went to the B-production as his first "real" motor. But these days all their surviving 16D cars run more modern 16Ds, usually 20 year old Trinities.

The GE with proper work would run with the 36D rewinds... but was two years late. Against the handling body, low profile A-cans, just couldn't make the A through D mains.

Fate

[zipper]

That's great, Zipper! I can't even imagine one of these on a Jouef track... I hope you had a better transformer, too!
Was Jouef big in Finland? I know it was pretty popular in the Netherlands, but didn't know it went any further north!

Yep, we had a replacement transformer, probably 5A or even more - it was good enough.

Jouef did quite well as the competition was not too harsh - the German 1/32 tracks were pretty pricey
as was Scalextric, too - compared to Jouef. I drove my first laps in a Scalextric shop at '62 - they had three tracks in use ...and went bust in a year.

But I got the bite and it goes on.

[ravajack]

The Dynamic "small ad campaign" from 1964 continued in Model Car & Track well into 1965, while its ”Big Brother” Model Car Science still had the benefit of full-page ads. Many of the MC&T ads were also re-runs from previous year, seemingly ”left-overs” from MCS. But by the end of the year, the Dynamic ad campaign levels out. Full page ads are finally running simultaneously in both MCS and MC&T.

January 1965: Re-run from September 1964.



February 1965: Re-run from May-June 1964.



March 1965: A new format for Dynamic News, two columns, half-page height. Also with label and date.



April 1965: Back to one column, Dynamic News with new logo and no date or label.



May 1965: Re-run of the March ad, now at top of page. But no re-labeling for May...



June 1965: Full page, same ad as in May issue of MCS, re-labeled as June in MC&T.



July 1965: Same two column ad as in March and May, but with an updated DN logo.



August 1965: A condensed two column version of the full page ”Itch to Scratch” ad from June.



September 1965: A new one-column ad, with fresh content. Also the last one-column for a while...



October 1965: Dynamic News finally goes full page also in MC&T. This one is on par with MCS.



November 1965: This ad premières in MC&T, and will later also be published in the December issue of MCS.



December 1965: This is the November ad from MCS, re-labeled Vol. 2, No. 2 for December in MC&T.

[ravajack]

In 1966, ”Little Sister” Model Car & Track is finally on par with ”Big Brother” Model Car Science in the Dynamic advertising campaign. Full page DN ads run in parallel in both MCS and MC&T throughout most of the year, up until October when The Swinger (aka Hussein) kit arrives in a full-page ad in MCS, but just a one column ad announcing the 36D Green Hornet II motor in MC&T the same month. The Swinger does not arrive in MC&T until December, and then only in a one-column ad.

The era of Dynamic News is nearing its end, but a surprise is yet to turn up in a most unexpected place...

January 1966: (See the MCS section).



February 1966: (See the MCS section).



March 1966: (See the MCS section).



April 1966: (See the MCS section).



May 1966: (See the MCS section).



June 1966: (See the MCS section).



July 1966: (See the MCS section).



August 1966: (See the MCS section).



September 1966: (See the MCS section).



October 1966: The Green Hornet II arrives, seemingly a can drive 36D(!) motor, ”hotter than hot”
and quite a different best than the Green Hornet II for the Super Bandit as described by PdL above...



November 1966: The Mad Hornet appears In MC&T, seemingly an end bell drive motor in the 36D class
and, once again, quite a different best than the Mad Hornets 16D and 26D as described by PdL above...



December 1966: The Swinger finally makes its first (and only) appearance in MC&T.
Just a one-column ad, but placed alongside a true slot car racing legend: Speedy Gonzales, aka You-Know-Who...



[To be continued...]

[don.siegel]

Thanks for posting all these...

What's curious is that Dynamic is talking about the "medium" Mabuchi rewind, and the new ball bearing can - but both illustrations show the good old 36D!

Don

[tonyp]

It is probably the 26D but with the wrong picture. With the lead times back then they may not have had a correct picture to use in the ad. On our track the Dynamic 26D was an absolute rocket...

[ravajack]

No one really knows it yet, but the heydays are now about to be over for the slot car racing craze in the US.

A sure sign for the lynx-eyed would have been the sudden decline of the Dynamic News advertising campaign. The appearance of DN ads quickly falls from full page ads in almost every issue of the major magazines during 1966 to hardly more than a mere rill in 1967. The very last Dynamic News in MC&T is an appropriate one-column ad in march. With a new DN logo...

January 1967: A full page ad for the new GE toothbrush motor, aka Silver Hornet.



February 1967: The Dynamic Duo, Bandit & Renegade. Not Thingies, but Outlaws.



March 1967: The very last Dynamic News column in MC&T appears with a new guide flag.



April 1967: A one-off ad. This Ferrari kit teaser only appears once, and only in MC&T.



May 1967: Another one-off. This ad for the GE motor and Dynaflex chassis also only appears once, and only in MC&T.



June 1967: The GE motor promotion continues: Now as a rewinders dream. Was it really???


July 1967: More GE motor promotion — with a unique offer: A kit with a Jack Nethercutt Mirage.



August 1967: Low-Low-Low. Wide-Wide-Wide. Another Dynamic first: ”Handling” bodies.



September 1967: Nethercutt Mirage, Lola T70 Coupe, and Chap 2F was the initial Dynamic offerings in handling bodies.

And also the very last ad from Dynamic in Model Car & Track. Ever.



January 1968: The very last issue of MC&T before merging with Model Car Science in February. No ad from Dynamic in this issue, but a rather large editorial about the new Team Dynamic with Jack Garcia and Lynn Fletcher on how to use Dynamic parts in the new era of scratchbuilding.









[To be continued...]

[TSR]

Wow. Philippe - thanks! When you answer a question, you REALLY answer a question!

John,
We do what we "can", ha-ha-ha!

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???

It's indeed a retainer from the chassis. It is an angled brass stamping that surrounds the motor bearing and is sandwiched between the motor mount and the hinge.

My first "real" slot car was one of these in '68:

Jukka,
Today, your car is a rarity. It is not, as most people would think, a Dynamic product, but one of a company that used Dynamic, Lancer, and Riggen components to issue their own kit. This Chaparral 2F was indeed a kit by the obscure Calex company.

Here is the box from which that kit came from:

[zipper]

Here is the box from which that kit came from:

That's what I had - sad that just some parts are left from it.

[vfr750]

I'm looking forward to the second part of the Speed Secrets article.

I bought this plate attached to the bottom of a Dynamic chassis off eBay some time ago. Does anyone know if it was a Dynamic component, an after market part or scratchbuilt?



Sorry about the blurred photo.

Cheers,

John

[ravajack]

I'm looking forward to the second part of the Speed Secrets article.

As this article was published in the very last issue of Model Car & Track (January 1968), I'm not sure there is a second part.

But maybe there is something in MCS. I'll do a thorough check the next time I'll go down to the magazines vault.

Only for you...

[TSR]

I bought this plate attached to the bottom of a Dynamic chassis off eBay some time ago. Does anyone know if it was a Dynamic component, an after market part or scratchbuilt?

John,

It is not. Likely homebuilt or possibly cut from an AMT chassis pan from a Fantum (I did not check, this is just speculation).

Regards,

[ravajack]

Model Car Science and Model Car & Track were both published by the same publishing house, Delta Magazines, Inc., in West Los Angeles. The US West Coast was also the home turf for Hi Johnsons Dynamic Models in Van Nuys, only about ten miles north from the Delta Magazines headquarters. It was thus a natural step to run the initial ad campaign for Dynamic slot car products in the local west coast slot car racing magazines right from the start, in 1963 and 1964.

But there were also other players in the field. The slot car craze in the early 1960s had also hit hard on the other side of the US continent. Already in mid-1962, two gentlemen in New York, Bob MacLeod and ”Oscar” Koveleski, had started Car Model, the very first magazine in the US to write about about ”table top racing” on a more regular basis. Car Model was initially kind of a marketing vehicle for Koveleski's mail-order hobby business, AutoWorld, but this little ”hobby mag” rapidly grew to much more than that as the slot car racing fever gained momentum across the USA as well as all over the world in the early and mid 1960s.

But it would take until 1965 before the Dynamic ad campaign from the west coast would reach the east coast, and hence the Car Model readers, in the US and all over the world. Beginning in march, Car Model was initially garnered by a ”test campaign” with smaller ads a la MC&T for three months, but already in June Dynamic decided to go with full page ads also on the East Coast.

March 1965: The very first Dynamic News ad in Car Model, Vol. 2 No. 3.



April 1965: The second Dynamic News ad in CM was the typical one-column a la MC&T.



May 1965: This ”Itch to scratch” ad was unique for Car Model. It was later published also in MC&T (August), but with a new logo.



June 1965: The first full page Dynamic ad in Car Model. For some reason it differs slightly in the tires department compared with the same ad the same month in Model Car Science... (see above).



July 1965: Another Dynamic News oddity appears: Vol. 2 No. 7, July 1965 in Car Model
Completely different from Dynamic News Vol. 2 No. 7, July 1965 in Model Car Science... (see above again).



August 1965: DN Vol. 2 No. 8. Same ad as in MCS.



September 1965: DN Vol. 2 No. 9. Again, same ad as in MCS.



October 1965: DN Vol. 2 No. 10. Holy Dynamic Trio, Batman! Another Dynamic First!
The same Dynamic News ad is published simultaneously in Car Model, Model Car Science, and Model Car & Track.



November 1965: Back to order. Same ad as in MC&T, but different from the MCS ad this month.



December 1965: A unique ad for Car Model. Four different bearings instead of a Yamaha MC in the West Coast mags.

[Prof. Fate]

Hi,

As an aside, Jose Rodriquez Jr. was a silent partner in CM. The intent was his model work in the mag not be seen as a conflict of interest.

And Bill Sipple and Bob Schleicher had a similar relationship in MCS and MC&T. Initially MC&T was almost a "compiled" mag from MCS articles.

In later years, Jose and I had some fun discussions about the early days of this effort. By contrast, Bill was a little sour about everything. I still miss Jose.

R

[TSR]

December 1965: A unique ad for Car Model. Four different bearings instead of a Yamaha MC in the West Coast mags.

Bertil,

You will soon read how these Yamaha 80cc bikes were never given to the people who actually won the AMCRC races in Los Angeles... but to "pre-selected winners".

An ugly story organized in cooperation with Dynamic, BZ, and other "favored" AMCRC manufacturers.

[ravajack]

Thanks, looking forward with interest to see that story.
I hope it's in your new book, and that it's due to arrive soon...

[ravajack]

By 1966, Car Model is a full-feathered member of the ”Dynamic News ad campaign” family. 1966 is also the high
water mark in the slot car racing craze that hit the US. Full page ads from Dynamic is running throughout the year,
simultaneously in all the major slot racing magazines: Car Model, Model Car Science and Model Car & Track.
By the end of this year, yet another mag with full focus on slot car racing will see the light of day, with a small but
very prominent part in the history of the Dynamic News ad campaign era.

There's not much to say about the Dynamic ads in Car Model for this year. You've seen them all before in previous
postings for MCS and MC&T in 1966. The order of the CM ads is a carbon copy of the MCS ads, with only a small
variation in the order vs MC&T by the end of the year. Speaking of order, contrary to MCS and MC&T, CM also have
gone to the length of putting pagination on almost every page. But who can spot the small error in one of the CM ads...


January 1966.



February 1966.



March 1966.



April 1966.



May 1966.



June 1966.



July 1966.



August 1966.



September 1966.



October 1966.



November 1966.



December 1966.



[To be continued...]

[Gary Bluestone]

August 1966 Vol. 2 No ? has no printed #.

Is that what you are talking about?

Gb

[ravajack]

Good spotting, that one I hadn't observed myself.

But the one I had in mind was actually March 1966, the DynaMite ad, where near the bottom is the line:
”Send 25¢ for colorful, fully illustrated catalog to Dept. MCT 36”.

MCT is for Model Car & Track, meaning that someone along the line forgot to change the ad from the ”default” MCT to ”CM 36” for this issue of Car Model.

Also check the other CM 1966 ads for reference.

[ravajack]

Came 1967, and the end of the Dynamic News era is approaching also in the Car Model magazine. The East Coast mag may have entered this Dynamic ”match” a bit late, but it also endured the game a bit longer than the ”pioneers” from the West Coast, Model Car Science and Model Car & Track. And while the last Dynamic ads of this era ran in the West Coast mags in August 1967, the last ad in CM was run in September.

As an added bonus, in this September issue of CM there was also a feature article on the powerful new Dynamic slot car racing motor manufactured by General Electric, aka GE 3ADM4, aka Dynamic 208, aka Silver Hornet. Ad-wise, 1967 was in short ”The Year Of The GE Motor”.

Another unique Dynamic feature that was exclusive to CM was called ”A Message From Garcia”, a mini-series of columns on the benefit of using Dynamic stuff and parts. It was allegedly written by Jack Garcia, captain of the Dynamic factory slot racing team and also designer and head of Dynamic's R&D department and thus responsible for most of the company's
slot car racing products since the beginning of the Dynamic slot car racing adventure in 1962. These ”advertorial” columns by Garcia ran for only three months, in June, July, and August, and were never to be seen anywhere else than in Car Model.

January 1967. The last full page ad from Dynamic: Introducing the new GE Motor.



February 1967. Bandit and Renegade, Dynamic's only RTR's.



March 1967. DN: A new low profile guide and flexible axle mounts.



April 1967. DN: The March ad once again...



May 1967. The last DN in CM: The GE Motor and DynaFlex chassis.



June 1967. Kirkwood commutator, shunted brushes and Dyna Mags — a rewinder's dream...



June 1967. ”A Message From Garcia”, part one: Benefits of the GE motor.



July 1967. The Netherecutt Mirage kit featuring the new GE motor...



July 1967. ”A Message From Garcia”, part two: Body mounting techniques.



August 1967. Introducing handling bodies.



August 1967. ”A Message From Garcia”, part three: A new line of bodies. Also some interesting reader's mail about thingies and RTR cars from Skipp Thorpe and Donna Hubbell, with Pete Hagenbuch in the line of fire...



September 1967. Handling bodies again. The last Dynamic ad in Car Model.



September 1967: Also a three page article with ”the straight poop” about the GE motor was run in this issue of CM.







[To be continued...]

[ravajack]

This is it: The "missing" and last full page Dynamic News. This ad below was never seen in any of ”The Big Three” of the time, MCS, MC&T, and CM. This ad was once and only run in a late upstart east coast magazine called Model Car Racing, with HQ based in New York, like Car Model.

The Model Car Racing magazine didn't hit the market until the end of 1966, towards the very end of the Dynamic News ad campaign as well as the beginning of the decline of the slot racing craze. Bad timing is a word that comes to mind in retrospective...

MCR was started as a bi-monthly, with it's first issue in November 1966. It also stayed bi-monthly through all of its short life span. Only nine issues were released, with the last issue out in April 1968, with no further ado.

MCR had a very ambitious approach and was almost entirely and thoroughly dedicated to slot cars and slot racing, with very few bits and pieces "not slot". The occasional odd static plastic model and other "not slot"-stuff were few and far between. A significant feature in each issue was a multitude of reviews and presentations of RTR cars that today are so much sought after. Some of these cars were also never reviewed or seen anywhere else.

Some examples:
MCR Vol 1 No 1, November 1966: Monogram Vampire, Cannon Bat-Ray, Vendetta & Ford GTX1.
MCR Vol 1 No 2, January 1967: Testor's Marauder, Cox Gurney Ford, K&B Sportsman.
MCR Vol 1 No 3, March 1967: Classic Stinger, K&B Blue Monster, Champion Porsche Carrera, Cox Chap 2D & La Cucaracha.
MCR Vol 1 No 4, May 1967: Monogram Snake, Testor's Ford J & Honda F1, MPC Manta Ray, Tamiya/MPC Porsche Carrera.
MCR Vol 1 No 5, July 1967: Classic Asp, Gamma Ray & Serpent, BZ Chap 2E, BRM & Watson-Ford, Russkit Eagle & Honda F1, Monogram Chap 2D & Lola T70.
MCR Vol 1 No 6, September 1967: Cox Gurney Ford (again) & Ferrari Dino GT (iso), MPC Offy Special.
MCR Vol 2 No 1, November 1967: Riggen JAD Ferrari P4, Testor's Ferrari P4.
MCR Vol 2 No 2, January 1968: Monogram Assassin, Cox Chap 2E (iso), Strombecker McLaren MkII
MCR Vol 2 No 3, April 1968: No RTRs, but a pictortal story on an emerging class of home-brew slots that's growing in popularity: Things about thingies.

This Dynamic News ad below was unique to Model Car Racing, and garnished the inside cover of the premiére issue, Vol 1 No 1, November 1966. It was also the only ad from Dynamic in the magazine's short life span. How it came to find its place only in this ”odd” upstart MCR, and never anywhere else, is a question that will probably never get a proper answer. Your guess is as good as mine...

Lack of ads in general was also the cause of this bold magazine's hasty demise: A most significant feature in MCR, apart from the many RTR slot car presentations, were the very few and far-between ads. Less than 10 percent of the pages in each issue were paid ads. Of the total of 658 pages in the nine issues of MCR, only 68 were paid ads. It's impossible to sustain a niche magazine under such premises, and MCR was an adventure that was probably doomed from the very beginning.

And consistent with the Dynamic News tradition, this odd ad in MCR also had its anomalies:
It's issued in MCR November 1966, but the ad is labeled Vol 2, No 10 October 1966.
But we've seen a Dynamic News ad labeled ”Vol 2, No 10 October 1966” before, in Model Car Science and Car Model. And that's quite a different ”Vol 2, No 10 October 1966” from this odd piece in MCR — it's featuring ”The Swinger” kit, with its unique DynaFlex chassis for a 36D motor (see below).

This is the ”ordinary” Dynamic News ad Vol. 2 No. 10 October 1966, as found in Model Cars Science, and also in Car Model:

[To be continued...]

[ravajack]

Beginning with an ad in Model Car Science in 1963, the Dynamic News campaign ended almost exactly four years later in Car Model 1967. Dynamic would now be absent from the pages in the ”Big Three” slot car mags for more than a year, and will never again run full page ads.

As for editorial space, we've seen the GE Motor article in the ”last Dynamic ad issue” of Car Model, September 1967.

Editorial articles on Dynamic from the period were also run in Model Car Science and Model Car & Track.

Like this company presentation in MCS in June 1965. (But I'm still drooling: Has anyone ever seen those alleged RTR cars, Ford Mustang, and Shelby Cobra???)



And this presentation of Dynamic designer Jack Garcia in March 1968, the first in a series of ”Pro Profiles" in MCS.



How to scratchbuild with Dynamic parts was covered in this three-page MCS article in March 1967.







A test/review of the ”Springy thingie”, Dynamic ”The Swinger”, was seen in Model Car & Track in October 1966:









Model Car & Track also had a teaser article with a pic on a Dynamic Bandit with a GE motor in July 1967. Like the RTR Ford Mustang and Shelby Cobra above, it seems this GE-Bandit never made it to the market.





[To be continued...]