62 replies to this topic

[miko]

Thought this might be of interest.

Looks to be a very nice drag car collection from the '60s. Going for lots of $$$.

Collection Vintage 1960's 1/24 Drag Slot Cars

Miko

[Victor Poulin]

Wow!! That's cool!! A little too rich for my blood, but that would be something neat to have and hang on to as collectors items.

[Uncle Fred]

Amazing! Worth every penny!

[Ron Hershman]

I saw that auction last night... it was at 300 bucks then... LOL.

[The Bugman]

It was $1,600+ at 7 PM here last night.

Looks like old Bob Braverman stuff or Gene Hustings.

[endbelldrive]

Maybe if it goes for big enough bucks... we'll see more of these old magwinders hit the market.

[miko]

Looks like old Bob Braverman stuff, or Gene Hustings.

That was my first thought that it was a Gene Hustings car or cars.

I used to race with Gene back in '64, '65 at the Associated track on Long beach Blvd. in South Gate. They had a high banked figure 8 track and the drag strip.

If my memory serves me well the drag strip could be cranked up to 36 volts!

Miko

[MantaRay]

$2,236.00 now.

[Victor Poulin]

Maybe if it goes for big enough bucks... we'll see more of these old magwinders hit the market.

Yeah, but we couldn't afford to buy any of it, Bob.

[Steve Deiters]

Absolutely frontline examples of drag cars from the era. Wonder whose they were - Braverman, Greene, Ramsey, or ?

Would be a strong selling point for collectors who are in the know. Can't believe the price it has already generated.

[TSR]

Looks like old Bob Braverman stuff or Gene Hustings.

It is neither. Gene Husting still has ALL his old dragsters in his possession, and the Bob Braverman stuff has not shown up yet. In fact these are from a different person, not a well-known name, but they are nonetheless nice pieces. Are they worth that kind of money? Not sure, but at least two collectors believe so and there are still six hours to go.

[Lone Wolf]

These cars were owned by Fred Kramer and maybe his brother Bill Kramer. The car with the cut-out sides was the Top Fuel winner and set low ET of 1.06 at the West Coast Hot Shot drag meet at J&J Raceway in CA. See your copy of April '67 Car Model for more info.

Dokk,

These are museum worthy in my opinion. Snap them up for Scott and restore them so we can all enjoy them. I'm thinking these might surpass four large. We shall see.

LW

[Lone Wolf]

Hey, looks like I was right again. Way over four large.

Feedback number looks like Scotty's - not sure.

[TSR]

Indeed, the LASCM purchased the collection.

It was rather dear, but it is a very nice collection of genuine cars and parts, and the box is truly fantastic. In fact, I believe that this box and contents, in a regular full-size car auction such as Bonhams or RM, would have brought as much as $20k. Drag-racing memorabilia is very hot on the marketplace and getting hotter.

[chaparrAL]

In the event Mr. Husting were to liquidate his stuff at one of those, what do you think he could get, Dokk?

Nice pick.

[miko]

Yes, very nice pick Dokk!

Miko

[Uncle Fred]

Outstanding representation of a unique time in slot car history.

[Victor Poulin]

Way to go, Dokk!!! It's nice to see that this collection will have a good home, and remain a major part of slot racing history for all to see.

Vic

[Steve Deiters]

Glad to see these vintage slot dragsters found a good home. They are so typical of the West Coast dragsters that were running at that time. I spent many an hour as a young kid reading over articles about them in "Model Car Science" and other mags of the era snowbound here in the Midwest.

Question for PdL: Once you get the cars I was always curious what those Pittmen and Kemtron padlock motor massive behemoths weighed. It's hard to imagine that projectiles of that size could traverse a scale 1/4 mile in about 1 second and I think they were powered by up to 36 volts!!

[TSR]

In the event Mr. Husting were to liquidate his stuff at one of those, what do you think he could get, Dokk?

Gene will never sell his dragsters and the box they are in. Instead there is a good chance that he will donate them to the LASCM as he already advanced, once he is ready for it.

Once you get the cars I was always curious what those Pittmen and Kemtron padlock motor massive behemoths weighed. It's hard to imagine that projectiles of that size could traverse a scale 1/4 mile in about 1 second and I think they were powered by up to 36 volts!!

Steve, these behemoths are heavy, yes, but they also had tremendous traction due to the amount of weight on their rear tires. Below are pictures of Husting's record breaker (a record that stood 25 years) that I restored for him about ten years ago. Other than the motor than has lost over 25% of its original weight from reduction in the volume of the magnet plates, the rest is quite light.









Regards,

[Steve Deiters]

One observation on the Husting dragster...

Newbies to slot racing (in the last 45 years!) might not notice the gear guard over the spur and pinon. The reason for this was the cars were stopped at the end of the run with a bunched up parachute (real one) or mass of fabric of some type and the guards minimized the potential of the gears getting all meshed and wound up in it. No ultra-sticky zones to stop the cars in those days.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there were no special dragster controllers in those days. Just a toggle switch and... zoom!

[TSR]

Yep... push and go!

Excerpt from the new book:

"In June, a big drag-racing meet was held at Roger Curtis and Lee Yurada's Associated Raceways in Lynwood, that saw Jim Rhodden edge Don Dieckman for top eliminator, with a clean 1.02". However Don placed well enough in other classes to win the meet. Also in June, Al Hall reported that there was a panic in the industry as many of the 200-plus raceways in the Los Angeles area had shut down, but he analyzed this trend as a kind of stabilization of the hobby, and a way by the customers to voice their opinion on the quality of the available product, cars, tracks and management. Commercial slot car racing was now past its peak in the USA.
In August, Don Dieckman was again the top competitor at the new 4-lane drag strip at Competition Raceways in Covina, again with an E.T. of 1.01". But he was unable to beat Gene Husting's track record of .961".
Also that month, a match race between two full-size drag-racing heroes, Tom "Mongoose" McEwen and Gary "Jet Car" Gabelich drew quite a crowd. The publicized contest was set at J&J Raceways. A two-lane 1/24 scale 1/4-mile straight track had its end fitted with a racing seat and roll bar for the two gentlemen to pose for photos. It was all for fun of course and no records were set, but many young drag-racing fans were introduced to the world ot slot car racing."

Actually both set pretty good times with borrowed cars...

[tonyp]

I heard they used to put their eye right on the bulb to detect the glow a millisecond sooner.

[tonyp]

And 36 volts.

[TSR]

Apparently, it depended on the classes and the raceways. Some had 12 or 18-volt power, some had up to 36.