40 replies to this topic

[Randy Hoyle]

Hello All-

I recently won an Ebay bid and in addition to a pretty sweet champion motor with an orange picker NOS endbell , there was a metallic blue can/gold end motor with a small arrow and the word Howkill on it. Although it had rust on the armature, it cleaned up pretty nice!  then from the same auction there was a set of blue sponge tires in a plastic box and when i removed them from the box< i flipped the box over only to find the large sticker Howkill apallo V on it. I am glad I found this blog that gave me a piece of history! 

[TSR]

Sounds like you found the mother lode today!
Please post pictures?

 

[Randy Hoyle]

here is the photos-I hope that they all came through!

[Randy Hoyle]

whoops -1sr foto was a dyna rewind I have.

More howkill's to come

[Bill from NH]

Howkill wound some hot 36D & 16D motors. I don't recall any 26Ds or separate arms in the late 60s, but they might have existed. When I moved to the Boston suburbs in 1969, I never saw the Howkill name on anything.

[don.siegel]

I've seen and found a few 36D Howkills, but never seen a 16D in person. Here's my Howkill, found in a plastic box with Howkill hardware label, along with a few contemporary 36D rewinds. 

Don 

 

[TSR]

Howkill produced rewound Mabuchi FT36 motors, all second series (FT36D) with brush tubes, some with ball bearings, as well as armatures for Mabuchi FT36 motors.

The FT36D motors are the "ULTAMO", the "ULTAMO X", the "ULTAMO X BALL BEARING" and the the "RED LINE".







It appears that they only made one model of the FT16D, called "APALLO V" (likely refering to the 1965 Apollo space capsule). No one said that most people should go back to school to learn how to spell complicated words such as that of an Olympian deity in classical Greek and Roman mythology.



And yes, they also produced a "26D", an FT26 to be precise, but I was unable so far to find its trade name. Got a picture somewhere on file.

All Howkill motors were painted in medium metallic blue with a gold nose, right over the original color of the motors they acquired for rewinding. Some show orange paint, some yellow under the blue, meaning Classic and K&B...
 

[zettler]

Thanks Bob! 
 
Just noticed your reply - didn't get a notification when you posted it. 
 
Very impressive that you worked there at the time - any other pics? stories? 
 
Don

Darn, just saw this post (again) as I was looking for pictures of CU MODEL RACEWAY and the Harris's!

Lots of stories. Lots...

Not sure where to begin either.

However, I saw that someone mentioned the DynaRewind race and that might have been when I started to work there but it has been awhile...

I was just 14 or so and had been racing there for months when young Ben asked me if I could help out at this two day race and get paid for it. You betcha!

Anyway, as the place was literally packed that weekend (a Friday into after midnight Saturday), my job was to pickup around the building. Pickup trash, empty trash, etc. Young Ben put on my name tag,"Sanitary Engineer" and I thing I did a respectful job.

We had a number of big names in the slot car world there and while they were ALL great, they had to get use to the track where you were required to use the silicone covered rubber tires WITHOUT the tire sticky stuff and was powered not by batteries but what an electrical engineer built for them. And I was told that a friend of theirs from NASA designed the lap counter.

Probably one of the most memorable events for me personally was just before the final race around 2AM, young Ben was recognizing individuals and as he was about to start the race, he realized he forgot me and took the time thank me where I received some applause. Strong memory that one...

After that weekend I was hired to work along side several other but slightly older local high school guys, Dave McNattin and Joe Eubanks. We all worked behind the counter primarily.

There's plenty more but maybe instead of hijacking this post, maybe I should start another???

https://photos.app.g...1HXT1T6WEK6x1a6

[zettler]

Sorry, not sure how to add photos.

Attached Images

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[don.siegel]

Thanks Bob! 

 

Guess they got used to those tires, eh? In fact, I don't remember, was it a local or a pro from elsewhere who won the race? 

 

Don 

[zettler]

I'll see if Dave McNattin remembers as I don't even remember an ex-wife or two....

[zettler]

[quote name="zettler" post="841640" timestamp="1683601772"]I'll see if Dave McNattin remembers as I don't even remember an ex-wife or two....[/quoi briefly chatted with Dave last night - he too worked at CU + but he could not recall who won either the pro or amateur race. BUT he did remember who placed second in the Amateur Division - it was Dave mcNattin himself

[edscars]

My post recently of a Dynamic Hamill bodied sidewinder with a Howkill 36d type motor appears to have dark green paint under the Howkill blue coat, with gold paint on the non-endbell side.  I don't know what company originally sold green can motors although I think I recall seeing them before on ebay, but no doubt some of you remember.  Check here:

 

http://slotblog.net/...llection/page-6

[Bill from NH]

If dark green, maybe a Renwal.

[don.siegel]

Yep, definitely a Renwal, those were the only dark green 36Ds. Not too many green motors in general, come to think of it - but Dynamic did offer Green Hornets in 16D, 26D and 36D sizes, in a much lighter shade of metallic green. Another company originally offered the 36D version. 

 

Here's a Dynamic 26D and the "South Coast" 36D. 

 

 

 

Don 

[don.siegel]

Finally looked up this race: there's a two page article in the September 68 issue of Car Model on the Dyna-Rewind Invitational at CU Raceways, by Charlie Morito. 

 

It was won by John Nelson of Elgin, IL, followed in second by local Dave McNattin (photo) and then in third Art Greger from Saint Louis, with Dave Bloom in 4th The only other name I recognized was local Chicago area hot-shot Mike Staskie, DNF. 

 

I can post pix of the article if anybody's interested - very few technical details on the cars unfortunately, but it does mention the silli-spongies and there's a photo of an early "semi-sidewinder" (anglewinder) open-wheel car that was entered. The race was on April 20, 1968. 

 

Don