132 replies to this topic

[Steve Deiters]

I saw a couple of Cox controllers at the time that guys had installed full power micros on them at the tipping point in when people had started to switch to Russkit style controllers which would be around 1968.

The black controller on the extreme left is a K&B controller that had a pistol grip, but thumb action. REH had bought all of the ones in the Aurora inventory, but they had a fine ceramic dust on the resistor winds and sometimes a little surface corrosion on the wiper. I couldn't tell you how may of those I took apart and reassembled after cleaning them....boxes and boxes. The resistor I believe was a 7 1/2 ohm.

[Gator Bob]

And this plastic tub contains Bob's bagged controller collection. Most, but not all, are thumb controllers, including some with microswitches installed. I can't recall ever seeing a thumb controller with micros, only the later Parma gun-style controllers.

 

Some of the items in this collection are just handles, usually mold samples. There are also a couple of Dave Bloom painted handles...

 

Maybe on a future visit we can unbag these and do a thread on the more unusual ones.

 

That's right, they were Dave Bloom painted handles... I was thinking of.

 

Think he did two Russkit (maybe Parma) handle sets with Bob's name on them... beautiful!

 

  One of One on the green handle ... Is that correct Bob R.?

 

[zipper]

 

I'm not certain we're speaking of the same thing.
 
The mircoswitches I referred to are full-power and brake micros arranged to bypass the sliding contact on the resistor, thus lowering the overall resistance in the power and brake circuits, theoretically giving better performance in both situations.
 
Your reference to "7/7.5/10 ohms" makes me think you are referring to a controller with "switchable" resistance values.
 
Can you elaborate?

Here the innards - see those switches! They didn't last too long. And look at that (asbestos?) insulation - it couldn't prevent the plastic casing from melting when driving a #24...

 

Yes, I do know the micros - as a matter of fact I invented the shunted ones and then we sent the samples to Jan Limpach - and soon there were  shunted micros in the Parma controllers...

That MRRC was not adjustable, I just saw three different models in the shop, maybe more resistances were available, don't know.

[Cheater]

Thanks for clearing that up, Pekka!

[MG Brown]

If I am looking at the right thing - I believe those are called "leaf" switches... at least that's what we used to call them at Bally in the pinball repair department.

[Gator Bob]

The one for full power does look like a 'leaf' type open frame... the true Micro is incased in a riveted housing, a steel lever, and came with or without a 'roller' tip.
 
Micro can be referred to or a word defining small.
 
IIRC there was the brand name Micro from... um... I can't remember the manufacturer. Alan Bradley?

[MG Brown]

Bob: The switches I remember were made by "Cherry Electronics" formerly of Highland Park, IL who was bought out in 2008 by ZF Friedrichshafen AG.

[Gator Bob]

Wow thanks... Cherry, I forgot that name, they made decent product, not aerospace grade but good commercial switches on par with companies like Switchcraft, IIRC.

[zipper]

I think the first switches I saw in a Parma handle were Cherry dark purple ones; later Parma bagged red/black ones by Honeywell at least.

[Cheater]

I had another very pleasant lunch with Bob Rule yesterday and we're hoping to do it again next week.

Snapped a few more pictures and realized there were some items from my visit to Bob's house that I hadn't posted, so here we go again...

I tried to take a shot of this the first time but it didn't come out. Most photographers will tell you that shiny stuff is the hardest to get good pictures of and I agree.

This trohy itself is nothing spectacular, just the typical gold-colored white metal geegaws screwed to cheap wood bits, but the plaque is something special to me.



Bob Rule thought that Cozine had given this trophy to Champion after the race and he's kept it all these years. Since the late Bob Cozine was a good friend and we raced together for a long time, this item relly resonated with me.

[Cheater]

Since the plastic box had no label, I can't be sure but perhaps these NOS gray sponge tires are the famous Tiny's grays. Bob doesn't know and neither do I. Where's that wacko PdL when you need him?



Bob also thought the Cobra decal was from that crazy company that paid Howie Ursaner crazy money to race for them back in the '60s. I can't argue with that opinion, but I can say I've never seen a Cobra decal like this. Howie? Anyone else?

[Cheater]

It seems like very time I visit Bob's place, he pulls out something else I've never seen before and here's another one.

Evidently this small (maybe 3-4 inches wide, perhaps 3/4 inch thick) routed wooden plaque was awarded to heat winners at the Arco races. Anyone have one of these in their collection?

[Tex]

Love this historical stuff, Greg.

Thanks to Mr. Rule for allowing you to document it all.

[Cheater]

If there is a nicer, friendlier guy than Bob Rule, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him yet...

Here's some American Model Raceways Inc material in Bob's memorabilia.

First, an American Model Car Racing Congress league manual binder. Unfortunately, it is just a binder without contents.



Next are a couple of the loose-leaf track installation manuals that were supplied along with a track purchase. These are not unknown; I've seen similar ones before.

 

Bob just has these two, one for the 100' Monarch (orange) track and one for the rarely-seen 66' Queen (green) track. These manuals are complete and I snapped pics of the track layout diagrams that I will shortly post in this THREAD if the pics turn out OK. If not, I'll retake them on my next visit or see if Bob will let me bring them home to scan.

 

 

 

Note that the binder color matches the track color.

 

FWIW, Bob mentioned in our wide-ranging conversation that he felt AMR had a very negative effect on the slot car industry/hobby. The next time we meet up, I'm going to ask for Bob for more info on that opinion.

 

He also indicated that AMR was in business for a very short time, less than a year, which is information I have never heard from anyone else. I do know that my pretty exhaustive search for information on the corporation has turned up absolutely nothing. I'm wondering if American Model Raceways Inc was in fact actually a registered corporation; it sure doesn't appear in the historical corporation records of the state of California, as best I can tell. Combine this with the fact that no one who worked for AMR has ever posted to any of the slot boards over the last 20 years or so and it starts one to wondering...

[Gator Bob]

Evidently this small (maybe 3-4 inches wide, perhaps 3/4 inch thick) routed wooden plaque was awarded to heat winners at the Arco races. Anyone have one of these in their collection?

 
Yes... well had... but I sold it.

So now someone else does.
 

 
This is the back side.
 

[Gator Bob]

Was the Queen a figure 8?

[Cheater]

Yes, it was. Here's the pic from that AMR track thread I linked to:



FWIW, I have never seen an AMR Queen track. Has anyone else?

Thanks for posting the back side pic of the plaque, Bob. I looked at it but didn't take a shot. It was surprising to me that the plaques were produced in CA rather than GA.

[Cheater]

And here's a pic of the trim and handsome guy hisself, as we say down South, holding a few issues of his fairly complete slot car magazine collection:



The disgusting thing is that I'm at least a quarter century younger than Bob and he looks better than me, darn it!

[Gator Bob]

It was surprising to me that the plaques were produced in CA rather than GA.

 
Same thing I thought when I got it... "California... that's a long way from Chamblee".

[Gator Bob]

Bob's house Rules!!!

[Cheater]

Stumbled across this today on page 40 of the 1968 Champion Catalog...
 
Don't know if Champion ever solved their warpage problem, or if they ever actually sold any. But, it's in the catalog.

Steve,

Bob and I talked about this yesterday. He cheerfully admits that he was pretty surprised when you pointed out that the never-produced case as in that catalog; he didn't recall that at all.

As you probably know the 1967 Champion catalog was the only four-color cover catalog they ever printed. The 1968 Champion catalog is the same printing with a yellow insert in the center listing the new items for 1968. In 1969, Champion went back to a one-color cover, dark orange that year. Bob actually had a few of the 1969 catalogs and gave me one, and I'll post some stuff from it sooner or later.

Bob confirms that the carrying case was never produced and felt that the lead time for the color '67 catalog, which he thought was about six months, was why that item appeared in it even though it never went into production.

[Cheater]

Here's the two track diagrams from the track installation manuals shown in post #64.

Something weird was going on with my camera yesterday and I'm not real happy with the fuzziness in most of pics I took. Bob offered to let me take apart the manuals so we could lay the pages flat, but I demurred. I think I'll see if he'll let me borrow these for a couple of days so I can scan the pages with my new fancy scanner that arrived the other day.

So these shots will have to do for now.

[Gator Bob]

Champion went back to a one-color cover, dark orange that year. Bob actually had a few of the 1969 catalogs and gave me one, and I'll post some stuff from it sooner or later.

 
The 'Effective March 1, 1969 to June 1, 1969' catalog was green.
 
Mr. Rule sent me it with the handwritten price changes noted and the discontinued items crossed out.
 
Thanks, Bob, it has been a great reference document.

[Cheater]

The 'Effective March 1, 1969 to June 1, 1969' catalog was green.

Well, lets see if we can figure out what Bob gave me.

Here's the font cover, with an illustration by the talented Ray Gardner (see small signature in lower RH corner).



Bob told me this was the '69 catalog but there isn't a date anywhere on it; I've gone through it numerous times. Maybe this one was the June 2, 1969-on catalog; I just don't know.

Does this look like your green one, Bob? If so, perhaps Champion used an assortment of paper colors. BTW the orange in the pic here is actually a bit brighter than the actual color of the paper; it's almost an orange-brown.

And since we were talking about the four-color 1967 catalog, here's its front cover:



But, as they say, you can't judge a book by its cover, because the catalog pictured is actually the 1968 Champion catalog, as evidenced by the following picture:



Twelve yellow pages were bound into the center of the 1967 catalog to make the 1968 catalog.

FWIW, I am the "original owner" of this catalog, acquired 44 years ago when I was fourteen years old.

(And in taking these shots, I figured out why my pics from yesterday were so fuzzy... I had inadvertently triggered the 'soft' special effect on the camera... grrr...)

[Cheater]

Here's a post for Noose...

The orange Champion catalog shown above (whatever the year) has a series of drawings by Ray Gardner sprinkled throughout. They are, in fact, the only illustrations in the catalog; no product pics or drawings are shown anywhere, though the last two pages have a series of B&W photos of the Champion staff.

One drawing caught my eye and here it is:



I've spoken to Noose about this and he said he had never seen it before, so when he views this post, he will be seeing it for the first time more than forty years after the fact!