I am asking this out of curiosity - does anyone know about when the molds for the Parma hand controller were changed from the old "R" (for Russkit) logo to read "Parma" in block letters?
TYVM...
Parma controller query
Started by
MG Brown
, Aug 02 2012 12:04 PM
3 replies to this topic
#1
MG Brown
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Posted 02 August 2012 - 12:04 PM
That's thirty minutes away. I'll be there in ten.
#2
TSR
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Posted 04 August 2012 - 09:20 AM
Mick,
It happened in 1974 when the "Turbo" was first marketed.
It happened in 1974 when the "Turbo" was first marketed.
Philippe de Lespinay
#3
jimht
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Posted 04 August 2012 - 09:46 AM
Thought it was later, could be wrong.
Fuzzy memories... something to do with the requirements of the license vs later actual ownership of the molds?
Fuzzy memories... something to do with the requirements of the license vs later actual ownership of the molds?
Jim Honeycutt
"I don't think I'm ever more 'aware' than I am right after I hit my thumb with a hammer." - Jack Handey [Deep Thoughts]
#4
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Posted 04 August 2012 - 10:55 AM
Ken MacDowell saw my home-made controller at the 1972 Western States Championship in Lynwood, CA. He asked to see it, then approached me with an offer to purchase the idea and for me to make a production prototype. We made a financial deal and signed a license agreement. This was in September, 1972. So I built three fully operational units of which every part was production oriented, and delivered two of them in October to fulfill the contract.
Parma's production manager, Al Gombach, had the production tooling built, but it was not until 1974 that the first production models came out. Between the time I gave them the prototype and the time the production units were introduced, the Russkit handles molds were modified to reflect the Parma name.
Parma still retains one of the two prototypes while I have one (donated to the LASCM in 2006) and the unassembled frame and parts for a fourth.
Here is a pic of the one I actually used, and that has survived. It has the Parma handles, as a set was supplied to me in 1973. First, period picture taken in 1972:
How it looks like today (partially restored):
Now one of the actual Parma prototypes (I signed it for Mike MacDowell during a visit at Parma a few years back):
As you can see, the handles do not yet have the Parma name, meaning that the mold change happened right after that time.
This is the frame of the unfinished model that I still have:
My controller was called, the "Ice Box". Gombach and MacDowell changed the name to "Turbo". It was the first slot car controller using buttons (instead of actual micro-switches) to transfer the current from the resistor and bypass it to the brake wire or at full power.
Its production began after I had left the hobby in the middle of the 1973 year, to get a real job!
Parma's production manager, Al Gombach, had the production tooling built, but it was not until 1974 that the first production models came out. Between the time I gave them the prototype and the time the production units were introduced, the Russkit handles molds were modified to reflect the Parma name.
Parma still retains one of the two prototypes while I have one (donated to the LASCM in 2006) and the unassembled frame and parts for a fourth.
Here is a pic of the one I actually used, and that has survived. It has the Parma handles, as a set was supplied to me in 1973. First, period picture taken in 1972:
How it looks like today (partially restored):
Now one of the actual Parma prototypes (I signed it for Mike MacDowell during a visit at Parma a few years back):
As you can see, the handles do not yet have the Parma name, meaning that the mold change happened right after that time.
This is the frame of the unfinished model that I still have:
My controller was called, the "Ice Box". Gombach and MacDowell changed the name to "Turbo". It was the first slot car controller using buttons (instead of actual micro-switches) to transfer the current from the resistor and bypass it to the brake wire or at full power.
Its production began after I had left the hobby in the middle of the 1973 year, to get a real job!
Philippe de Lespinay
