10 replies to this topic

[toybaron]

I have some interest in this topic, and would like to learn more...

I have a small start here: Toybaron Gas to Slot page.

[don.siegel]

Thanks TB, fascinating stuff... and to think that it was in my backyard at Riverview...

This is probably the most professional one I've seen, and those midgets are beautiful, but in fact it seems there were a fair number of these kinds of systems around, although we only have a few remaining cars or parts of cars...

Here's two examples: an Italian car, unfortunately just the chassis, that a friend has here in Paris, part of two they found. Seems to be pretty much the same idea, with front and rear slot guides, and what looks like a huge AC motor... And the green one is from a fairground game, maybe late '40s or mid-'50s, from Belgium, a rail system with "zonkers"...

[RichKraft]

One of my favorite parts of Slotblog is the vast amounts of slot car history, and the folks keeping the history alive.

I found your link fascinating as did Don.

Don, I always enjoy your pictures posted of early slot cars and the help you have given me identifying the older stuff.

Ron, after hitting the bottom of the page at Toybaron, I clicked on the link:

Slot car history - a detailed and opinionated discourse, and my goodness, I find more history.

The Social-Economic History of Slotracing 1899-2004.

Not only a lesson in slot history but also a lesson in world history and the effects of one on the other.

It was a wonderful read. I am sure there are many opinions as to what the true history is but I enjoyed reading it from a Euoropean point of view.

What wonderful links. Thank you.

[don.siegel]

Rich, it's not a European view, it's a JPvR and company view!

At first I thought it was total hogwash, but there may be a couple valid points in there... the trouble is that he gets so many facts about slot racing history and brands wrong that it's a little hard to trust him on anything else. Added to which he's writing in a non-native language, one that he doesn't master, and it's not sure he's saying what he really wants to.

Guess I should have gone to Riverview when I was a kid, but I never did...

Don

[TSR]

Rich,

The "history" by JPvR is closer to hystery and near total fantasy, non-factual, full of holes and frankly, laughable. JPvR does a much better job at documenting full-size car-racing history in a race by race, blow by blow accounting, and even there, there are lots of inaccurate and biased information.

It is however always entertaining to read JPvR's online slander against his perceived enemies...

Ron,

Beautiful example of a nice conversion of one of America's best made and most beautifully produced "midget" cars, that makes the Leroy Cox Thimble-Drome example look like a cheap toy. I always admired the Ohlson & Rice Midget and I think that it compares favorably despite its smaller size, to the best produced by Dooling or any of the top companies in the day, before and after WWII.

I feel that the ONLY better examples of such cars are the Henri Baigent cars built in the late 1940s and early 1950's, albeit by hand, in the UK.

[RichKraft]

It did say opinionated discourse, Don, and I saw clear bias at times, but did enjoy the tie-in with world economies and their effect on slot car evolution. Sadly history does get rewritten to fit agendas at times.

Trusting JPvR was always a bit difficult, as the prison time, his anarchist beliefs, and severe diabetes did seem to effect his logic.

I didn't care for the unfair review of the TSRF car, as I see it in a different way. I will not go into detail as it is off-topic from Ron's wonderful thread here, so I will start another thread with my opinion as well as Ed Blake's on the positive things we enjoyed with the TSRF cars.

Wonderful old cars you gentleman have shown here. Thanks again.

[toybaron]

Thanks for the response, and thanks, Don, for additional pics... hope to have more to add to the thread soon!

Ron

[TSR]

This is one of Henri Baigent's 1/18 scale gas-powered models, a Maserati 4CLT:



It was hand-built by this great master in 1951 and is powered by a 2.5cc Diesel engine. The exhaust is actually routed through the side pipe, and the car is fitted with "zonkers" to guide it on the circular-section rail patented by Baigent and later appropriated by MRRC.

[don.siegel]

I just received another one of these electric Ohlsson & Rice conversions. Does anybody have any photos or links to the Riverview Park track? The motor runs fast, but with the worm drive, the car must not have been very fast at all - would love to see the setup! 

 

Also just realized it cost me more than the two used cars I have owned in my life! 

 

Don 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave Crevie]

Just stumbled onto this. I remember seeing the track at Riverview Park, but at that age I wasn't interested in anything other than the rides. The motor and gears were made by All Nation Hobbies, and were supplied with the various die-cast O-scale locomotive kits they produced, which explains the worm gear set-up. The parts, including the die castings for those kits, were made in Bill Pope's garage, with help from Bob Coleson and John Hughes.     

[Phil Smith]

Wow, those are really cool! Great find, Don!