48 replies to this topic

[TSR]

Nuther No Photo Show . . . First commercial car was the Manta Ray, orange. '63?!

August, 1964, at the earliest . . ..

[olderracer]

Hi group!

First slot car(s) were the Strombecker Cooper F1 and the Indy racer from that first Strombecker set. First built car was a Lister-Jag Lancer body/Kemtrom frame/Kemtron X-503 effort. (Wish I still had it.)

First car: 1956 Buick Century 4-door hardtop. White over black over white. Wish I had THAT back, too!!!

First car stereo: A Muntz 4-track cartridge unit.

First cigarette: outside Motorama Raceways in Van Nuys CA in 1965. Wish I HADN'T started that!

Good Lord - I'm older than I feel.

Regards.

[edworth]

First slot cars were a Strombecker set. Indy style, but I don't remember much more than that, except it was a lot of fun. And it appeared at my Grandmother's house all set-up and running on Christmas in 1964 or so. Those were the days.

I built a Cox Ford GT, Unique Cobra (only race I ever won was with it), and had a number of others.

This was the one that stayed with me. An article was run on building an Allard in one of the mags. I had to have that car. (I still need to get a copy of that mag).

Shown here in the resto process (to be accurate, it qualifies as a near reconstruction). As only the motor and frame are truly original.



I think the article used the Ulrich wires of the time. My budget wouldn't allow; heck I'm sure all the money came from my father. Riggens were used, which I'm sure broke the bank.

My brother put it together, painted an awsome Allard in BRG. Making a point to paint the leather belts on the outside to provide a matt look with detailed buckles.

I obtained this body at a reasonable cost. It isn't the same color, so it likely won't get used.



This one has uses the less-common 'under motor' bracket, more common seen today is the top mount version which allowed decent ground clearance. The Riggen's are good used ones (who knows maybe they are same ones? Right . . . ). I don't think I had knock-offs on mine.



The hinge joint is not workable on this set up as the torque and lack of clearance will scrape the rear.

I have a major cache of NOS Pittman parts. And enough sets of brushes to field ten 706s for decades. Typical Pittman . . . only requires cleaning and wires. I recently obtained near perfect match 22 gauge super-flex wire. So I can keep the (original to the car) brushes.

Yeh, I'm trying to buy my childhood back. So what? Even in a limited state of originality, it means a lot to me. Not very fast. But I don't care. It is cool lookin'. Resto or Reconstruction . . . I want it back.

Of course, what I would give to have my father and brother back instead . . .

[Jairus]

Ed,
We cannot have our childhood back but we can relive the events and restore a few of the elements. I love the Dynamic chassis!

[Horsepower]

Way to go, Ed! Does this help? You can get a repro of that body from Patto's Place in Australia pretty cheap and it's a good one.



If you need a scan of the article, let me know.

[don.siegel]

Here are a couple of my firsts . . .

An Eldon "Ferrari", from the first set I got at Christmas '62, or maybe '63 . . .

A Strombecker "competition" Lotus 19, with the Scuttler and brass chassis, probably the first real slot car kit I got (earlier, I tried to put together a Revell Cobra from parts, but never really finished that one . . .).

MPC Lancia-Ferrari Dyno-Charger, my first 1/24 kit . . .



None of these are the actual cars, of course, but ones I picked up more recently. And in between the first and second, I got an Aurora Thunderbird T-Jet set, almost definitely in '63. Not sure which cars were in the set, maybe that T-Bird third from left, but my favorite was a Hot Rod I bought later and this is the actual body! It was the fastest T-Jet I had too, and the fastest in the neighborhood . . .Next to it is my first attempt at a custom sports car, based on an E-Type Jag (never finished of course . . .), and my first attempt at a four-wheel drive slot car (never finished, etc., etc.). Oh, and I almost forgot, my original "Don's HO" official slot car box from Aurora . . . Now why did I keep the HO cars and nothing else?



Great topic Jairus!

Don

[Robert Livingston]

I have the body of one of my first cars:



Stormer Maserati 151, called "4000 Maserati GT" on the card (I still have the card!). A little odd in the proportions, but some cardboard, tape, and scissors can fix that. Sort of.

I also have the chassis, now carrying a different body (can you blame me?):



Wilson 876-13, with my own brass front end. Front bearings are Strombecker 1/8" ID, actually closer to 5/32". The wheelbase is adjustable. The little brass nuts and bolts are 3-48 from Atlas Snap-Track switches, from the HO railroad. The center section is curved like a trough, so it is stiff enough never to have bent. I formed it with pliers to follow the curvature of the motor case. Rear wheels and tires, gear, and front tires are not original. Rear axle carrier is Gar-Vic. I bought this motor and the Gar-Vic frame second hand in 1964; I built the new front end because the Gar-Vic wheelbase was wrong. The motor performs as it did 40 years ago, although the drive end bearing is worn and noisy. The red paint is from a period of time when it was a sprint car. The side lugs projected out through holes in the body.

This was the first car I built that actually went anywhere.

[edworth]

If you need a scan of the article, let me know.

Gary, would appreciate that or a photo copy. Now I know the date general time frame of mine being built . . . early-mid '66.

I have the body of one of my first cars . . .

Robert that 151 is what I call a real "War Horse".

but ones I picked up more recently . . .

Don, it seems some of us follow the same pattern!

[Jairus]

Robert,
I have a better body for you if you want it?
Details are slightly different but still the Maserati 4000 GT, unpainted but it has a small break in one of the rear corners.
Let me know . . .

[Prof. Fate]

Hi,

Jairus. I have parts from my first car, a rail-converted Strombecker 1/24 scale Mercedes F1 for RAIL RACING. About '59. It is one of those projects I have been meaning to get around to some day. Part of the problem is that I have only the body and some bits. Mostly the cars evolved into something else. First they evolved into slot cars when I read about that a year or so later. Then, as I moved to the Philippines in '61, and had access to cheap Pittman DC60 (something) motors because of the charity of the on-base railroad club, they evolved again.

ONE of those early cars is still together and I run it regularly, a Merit-bodied Maserati 4CLT copied into 'glas, Pittman, hand cast tires, and so on. I have the Merc body, and the Lancia D50 body, but most of the rest are gone, or I only have later replacements.

I recently, for instance, aquired the re-issue of the Revell Healy, a kit I bought on the way to the Philippines during a stopover. I have failed entirely to replace either the Strombecker Scarab or the Aston Martin. Sniff.

My current cunning plan is to restore them to the status the 4CLT is in. That is where they got the most use in '61-3.

In late '63, we returned to the US and my dad took it badly that I had to destroy my track in the Philippines as the military wouldn't let me transport it. So, he bought the Strombeker Indy set for me. Still have the Cooper, the Watson got cannibalized for better stuff.

As for YOUR first car. I have several of those Dynamic anglewinders. I love to run them, and lend them to people who want to know what they were like.

We could race them at the convention!

Prof.Fate

[edworth]

I have parts from my first car, a rail-converted . . . ONE of those early cars is still together and I run it regularly.

"Pictures, pictures. Pictures of your moma taken by your poppa . . ."

Pictures please Rocky

[Prof. Fate]

Hi,

I have no camera, but I know that both P and Al have photograped the car at the last convention.

They might have the files.

Otherwise, it will be with me at the NEXT convention.

Nothing special except to me.

Fate

[edworth]

No camera I understand, but 'nothing special except to me'. Maybe to some from an 'absolute' level. The little gems have their important place.

I appreciate the story.

[tonyp]

Aurora Vibrator cars. First slot car was the Cox Ford GT. It was $1 cheaper than the Chaparral and the Lotus 40.

[NJ Racer]

I received the Ungar/Eldon set with red track that is powered by a couple of dry cells. Those little "Fireball" Indy slot cars are so funny. The set never worked right, I even brought it back to the hobby shop around the block in Manhattan where my parents purchased it to see if they could get it going. Well, it was soon trashed after that. Well, now I have three complete sets that I picked up off of eBay for nostalgia reasons , but I can't bring myself to set them up. They are so crude in quality. Then came the Aurora T-Jets. But my first 1/24 scale slot car was a green Russkit Sharknose Ferrari kit. I couldnt fall asleep the night I built it because I was so anxious to get it to the new raceway that was opened in Yonkers, NY, on Broadway. I had to take public transportation by bus to get there because I was only 13, or so. Then came the Gar-Vic Firebird in red, which probably is why my bodies today are for the most part red.

[TSR]

I received the Ungar/Eldon set with red track that is powered by a couple of dry cells. Those little "Fireball" Indy slot cars are so funny. The set never worked right, I even brought it back to the hobby shop around the block in Manhattan where my parents purchased it to see if they could get it going. Well, it was soon trashed after that.

50 years later and it is not much different . . .

[MG Brown]

My memory of the late 1960s and early 1970s is more than a little hazy . . . but I seem to recall that my first slot car/set was the Eldon "Figure 8" set with the live crossing and the two jalopies that if you hit the front bumper, parts would fly off. Hours of fun, as they say in the Monty Python skit.

I mistakenly kept investing in Eldon track and cars in the late 1960's. Sure wish I at least had the bodies of some of the Dodge "thrill show" set cars that I used to have!!! If anyone has need of Eldon track I would be happy to send some to you for the cost of shipping. Some time this summer the worst of the Eldon track is going to hit the trash bin.

The first "commercial" slot car I owned was the Strombecker Aston-Martin DB5 that was offered by Marathon gas stations as a promotional item (remember when gas stations had giveaways to get you to come in and buy gasoline at 20 cents a gallion???).



Sadly I no longer have that car, and the truth of the matter is that most of my slot cars were either "used to death" or handed down/sold to others when a newer and more competitive design came out.

Somewhere in my "basement of doom" I have a 1980 vintage G27 wing car that I need to organise a search party for. I am sure that it would make an interesting restoration project.

[skeeterbuck]

I was searching for something and came accross this thread and thought I revive it.

My first slot car was the Monogram 1/24 series 1 Ferreri 275. It was given to me by another guy in or neighborhood who I went to the track with. Even though he was a little younger than me (I was 12 at the time) he had several cars becuase he was an only child and both parents worked. That was not as common as it is today.

The second car I recieved for my birthday (November 66) was the Cox Chaparral 2D (mag frame) which was rather new at the time. I think Dokk has said that the Cox 2d was released in around Sept-Oct of 1955. Al I remember is that that was the newest Cox car at the time. They were the only cars that I ever owned.

I have since obtained another Mono Ferrari that is in my rather meger collection. I kinda doubt if I be able to get the Cox 2D as they are in much greater demand and I don't want to take a second morgage out to get one!

[gascarnut]

Nice to see this thread revived!

I have at last managed to find a version of my first-ever slot car at a price I could afford and in a condition I can restore:



The body is actually very good for its age, just one crack and the normal bad headlight covers. This si going to make a nice restoration.

[Mark Wampler]

I'd like to post my first car if I still had it, BUT Steve Foster has an identical one in his museum. Maybe Dokk can post a Cox Chappy/36D/sidewinder/mag chassis.

[Patrick M.]

My first slot car was a Strombecker Testa Rossa that I later modified with brass tube in the axle slots, a red bomb R-15 motor and a 250F body. Fastest Strombecker car in the neighborhood about 1963.... Then graduated to a scratchbuilt Pittman 704 brass tube rail chassis with Buzco dragster fronts and GarVic raised center 5 spoke rears. Ran it on a commercial oval track with a doorbell button switch, no brakes, circa 1964. Did a lot of scratchbuilding after that and made quite a few chassis for the local guys up through the JD era 'til I quit in mid '67. Don't recall buying any commercial cars (after the Strombecker) until I started club racing again about '77.

[Randy Tragni]

HO Aurora vibraters were my first slot cars. One was a 56 Corvette, the other a XK150 Jaguar Coupe. I think I cried when the top fell off the Jag after a crash.
As far as larger scale I had a Strombecker of unknown type body and a Cox BRM. The BRM worked pretty well once I wired the wheelie bar down. It was one of my early engineering projects......
I wish I had any of these cars now.
Randy

[Champion 507]

I, too, got an Aurora HO vibrator set and the cars in it were a blue Corvette roadster and a white Jag roadster. I got the set for Christmas in December, 1962. The only thing I still have from it is the instruction booklet.

When the first commercial track opened where I lived in October, 1964, my first two cars were both AMT's. One was a 1/25 Mustang coupe and the other was 1/32 Mustang fastback...both long departed many, many years ago. I hated the 20 tooth pinion on the 1/25th car. Didn't know how to get it off back then.

[penske]

Hey Fred, Great minds must think alike. Like you my first taste of slot cars came from the Aurora vibrator HO cars, from there I also got a Revell Jag XKE, I think it was red, and I must of bought it at Polks also. I ran it at a small track in astroia called " Hesco " Owned by Al Pappas, before Al opened E.M.M.R.A. Hope everything is working out well in Texas.
Remember First retro race ever July 10th at Port Jeff Raceway, If you cant make a trip north maybe we can have Doug put it on a web cast for you..............Roger