The following is excerpted from my website: http://www.ecuriemar...com/history.htm
"Now the story gets a little complex here. I shall do my best to see that the threads are intertwined but not tangled! About this time I began spending long evenings in a coffee house with a female graduate student (don't start scanning to the next heading - it's relevant) She came from a small town in Pennsylvania that adjoined, along an indiscernible border, another small town - Sellersville - the home of Pittman Motors! On one of our trips to visits parents etc. I brought along several examples of my current cars and called to arrange a visit. I spent a long afternoon with Mr. Pittman (the founder I believe, he was not young at the time). I recall receiving the distinct impression that this was the first time this particular hobby/application had been brought to his attention. About a month later I received a package. In it were two motors (about DC 196 size) with integral axle carriers and brass/nylon contrate gears. The brushes had been re-mounted perpendicular to the magnets so that the brush carrier was on top of rather than on the side of the motor. The accompanying letter asked for my evaluation. The only obvious difference between the two was the color of the armature wire. They were duly tested to the limits of my less than exacting track timing gear and a reply sent. I heard nothing more but did see motors much like these as a commercial offering years later. Was this the first (albeit short-lived) factory sponsorship? Did I plant the seed of Pittman's participation in the hobby?"
One of them, in the foreground:
EM
