Tony P. Sidesaddle Sidewinder
A recreation mid 1968 chassis built with modern parts
by Steve Okeefe
Anglewinder drive for 1:24 scale slot cars was a distinctly American innovation pioneered by scratch builders on the west coast. But east coast builders weren't about to be left out of the fun, particularly not Team Nutley, which included such heroes and villains as Mike Tango, Wayne Williams and Tony Przybylowicz (hereafter known as "Tony P.").
This chassis, in a car piloted by Wayne Williams, took second in an Arco race in upstate New
York sometime around the middle of 1968. It is very typical of early east coast anglewinders, and may in fact feature one of the first appearances of a clever front end setup "designed by Wayne and developed to its present (mid 1968..ed.) state by Tony P". This front end arrangement would later be used by Sandy Gross and Bob Emott, and undoubtedly several other top builders.
In Tony's own words:
"Wayne used to work for @ Nutley building bullet proofed endbells and I used to build chassis at home and then I would bring my stuff to Nutley and work there all day Saturday and of course race in the Saturday nite race. So Wayne and I spent a lot of time together.
I remember him making an inline sports car and I built an F1 & sporty car also at the same time using 1/4 X .063 brass strip for the main rails instead of 5 or 6 rails. These had to be right before the sidewinders came out. The dropped axle was the logical way to put the front end n these chassis. Never the less they were hunks.. Way too stiff.. So it dates ack to pre-sidewinder..."
To see the original October 1968 Car Model article… (Click here)
When I built this recreation, I was just getting back into scratch building after a layoff of quite a few years. My vintage parts box didn't contain such niceties as Cox "Quick Change" guides and "Coxalloy" spur gears, Cobra 3/4" wide pre-bent drop arms, 5/8" wide by 7/8" diameter blue foam rear tires, and vintage Mabuchi, Champion or Mura motor parts.
Lacking these things, I did my best with what I had available to me; a modern Starburst guide, a Parma 48 pitch spur gear, 3/4" wide by 1/16" thick brass strip for the drop arm and guide tongue, Parma "MX" tires (narrowed to 5/8"), and a Parma "Deathstar" motor.
The idea, of course, was to "build something"; the part of slot racing I enjoy the most. It helped put the fun back into slot cars for me...
Here's a drawing of Tony's chassis, at 1968 width (3 inches), but adapted to fit modern parts (especially the full size 16D motor). Note for example this is a left side can drive as opposed to the original chassis which was right side endbell drive!
Scratch building is about working with what you've got in order to build what you want, so collect your parts, heat up your iron, put a new cutoff wheel on your Dremel and go build something!
