17 replies to this topic

[Lone Wolf]

Here is the ill fated Super II. Being one of the poor folk growing up I could never afford one of these. I got mine from rich kids in the neighborhood who bought them only to find they were super slow out of the box. These took more tweaking to get right than the average 12 year old had knowledge of at the time. Really designed for big tracks that no one I knew had. I used to cobble them for parts especially the arm and magnets. We did a lot of serious drag racing. I remember going to Willis hobbies every day to see if the '55 came in yet. When it finally came I combined the two and had the fastest A/FX '55 around. The fastest H.O. car in fact. Then one day a kid from across town came over to challenge us. We were very much into Aurora only. He pulled out a Tyco Pro Camaro Funny car and proceeded to kick our asses First time we had seen the Tyco Pros in action. The end of Aurora domination in Mineola came that day. Next day it was on to Willis again to ask about Tyco Pros

[sidejobjon]

Joe,
Keep the HO History coming.You got me drolling!!! Do you still race any HO? I am trying to find Parma plumber HO Chassis listed in there Catalog & If challenger products came out with a Brass HO Chassis, i read in some Model mags i bought from you.
Thanks for posting
John F

[TSR]

Super II armatures go for small fortunes today especially if NOS... but the Tony Porcelli designed car was definitely a fiasco for Aurora: they were poorly assembled and performance out of the box questionable. The sponge tires had no traction, the gears were often binding...

The packaging and appearance were cool and now they are the darling of HO collectors...

I remember when working at M.A.C. for Lloyd Asbuty in 1971, I designed two bodies for the Super II, a MATRA F1 and a Steed-Lola can Am. Loyd made the molds. I still have the original drawings somewhere, the prints were sent to Jim Kirby for approval, who was working at Aurora and in charge of that part of the project. But the car was such a sales flop that no more bodies were produced.

[sidejobjon]

TSR,
Any History on Challenger Chassis & Parma Brass HO? Will HO get a lease a paragraph in your new book, use a smaller font?
Thanks John F

[TSR]

Any History on Challenger Chassis & Parma Brass HO?

None from me. The only HO associations I had were with Matchbox, then Riggen, then Dynamic, then as described above with Aurora, and very little of that, since it was resumed to two drawings!
However, the Matchbox design led to something quite interesting as you can see here.

Will HO get a lease a paragraph in your new book, use a smaller font?

HO is part of the history, so yes, here and there, history or models as well as other information surfaces, but the book is not about HO cars.

[Hworth08]

I have one original Super II that was hidden under a pile of ebay parts. A dozen more "poor man" Supers built from Super II weights, AFX non-mag frames and motor parts with Super bodies.

Believe the cars weighed 37 grams with the front weight so heavy that it lifted the rear wheels off the track with a great loss of grip.

With a drilled (lightned) front weight, rear silicones, and a little motor tuning the Super II cars can out run the best of the Fray style T-jets. Aurora wasn't far off, just too hard-headed by that time to print a simple tuning instruction sheet for the car.

Along came the Magna-Traction and the $12 Super II was instant history. But the collectors love 'em!

[John Miller]

Tony P is still very active in the HO circles and very competitive.

Of interest, the Retro bug has hit the HO guys like a storm. They are scratch building HO cars and have brought back "Brass Wars".

The Michigan HO racers began the movement based upon the success of 1/24th scale IRRA retro racing.

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[Steve Deiters]

Tony P is still very active in the HO circles and very competitive.

Of interest, the Retro bug has hit the HO guys like a storm. They are scratch building HO cars and have brought back "Brass Wars".

The Michigan HO racers began the movement based upon the success of 1/24th scale IRRA retro racing.

Great pictures! Just about every type of motor and drive technology represented-inline, pancake, sidewinder, and anglewinder.. This is a long way from the original vibrating Aurora cars. These cars never cease to amaze me.

[MG Brown]

Not far from my home when I was in my teens was a re-sale shop for one of the second tier catalog sales companies. I forget which one.

In any event- they carried merchandise that was returned from catalog sales and was sold "as is". They usually had a ton of A/FX track (from sets) and some cars including Super II's (IIRC there was a set with Super II cars) that were used and available for pennies on a dollar.

It was great fun to wade through the returned goods looking for something that could be used for parts or what not with money earned from mowing lawns or caddying.

[TSR]

(IIRC there was a set with Super II cars)

Really? Can someone shed light on this please?

[Noose]

Joe, I have replicated that paint job on the red number 4 several times for people.

[sidejobjon]

Joe N,
The Blue number 1 super II one on your web site is that Black or clear , in middle? I got couple of yours you painted for Riggen limited cars.
YOU HAVE A GREAT WEB SITE
Thanks John F

[NSwanberg]

The diversity of approaches in the non-magnetic gravity magnet cars is very interesting. Someone should be documenting the design and build efforts of Joel Pennington.

[Gary Bluestone]

None from me. The only HO associations I had were with Matchbox, then Riggen, then Dynamic, then as described above with Aurora, and very little of that, since it was resumed to two drawings!
However, the Matchbox design led to something quite interesting as you can see here.


HO is part of the history, so yes, here and there, history or models as well as other information surfaces, but the book is not about HO cars.

Weren't there 2 Cox HO cars that you were involved with, possibly with Leisure Dynamics or the remnants of Eldon?

[Noose]

Joe N,
The Blue number 1 super II one on your web site is that Black or clear , in middle? I got couple of yours you painted for Riggen limited cars.
YOU HAVE A GREAT WEB SITE
Thanks John F

If it is this one you are referring too, it was blue and black.



Then there were these that I did

[John Miller]

The diversity of approaches in the non-magnetic gravity magnet cars is very interesting. Someone should be documenting the design and build efforts of Joel Pennington.

Joel is a great guy and a prolific builder. I have raced some of Joel’s cars and they are nothing short of amazing and unique. Unfortunately, the designs are not well documented and remain in Joel’s mind’s eye. It’s really a shame to keep such an amazing resource so closely held. I’ll see if I can find some of the pics that I have of his “never seen” HO technology. He has Unlimited cars and Drop “in” NEO cars that only a few people have seen or had the luxury of driving. I’m one of those lucky few.

This is not a dig at Tony P., but there is no comparison between the two when it comes to innovation. Joel is simply the best.

[sidejobjon]

If it is this one you are referring too, it was blue and black.



Then there were these that I did

Noose,
If you look close at photo the blue car you can see the gears. That area should be clear?
Thanks john F

[Noose]

Dunno. All I had to. Work with was photo