26 replies to this topic

[Paul the Slotcarguy]

I had the privilege of meeting Michael Lech today. Michael is the son of Ted Lech, the ledgendary Mr. Motor, founder of the Dyna Rewinds company from the '60s.

He and I spend a couple hours talking today about his father, who passed away a couple years ago. Michael shared many stories of his father and the early days when the Dyna Rewinds company was starting in his basement in Warren, MI.

It was amazing to meet Michael and hear the stories. Especially because I grew up about a mile from him in Warren where the company started. We actually shared stories about the slot car tracks that we both raced at. Two tracks in particular, Globe raceways on Ryan and 9 mile in Warren and the Groove in Royal Oak.

Michael brought with him to our meeting his father's original pit case from the '60s. It was unreal looking through the case and touching the cars that Ted Lech had scratchbuilt. Especially seeing the custom Dyna Rewind motors in these cars that Mr. Motor himself raced in the '60s.

I have attached a few pics of one very special car that Ted built back in the day. Take a look and enjoy.

Thanks,

 

Paul

 

 

 

 

 

 

[idare2bdul]

A nice piece of slot history.

[Dennis David]

Very cool.

[backintheslot]

I agree. Stop drooling, P.

[Champion 507]

Book? What book?

 

More stuff to put in it, PdL. You can't print it yet!

[Lone Wolf]

Fantastic stuff, Paul!

 

As soon as you see that paintwork on the body you know it's something special. Low and behold, the Dave Bloom marker appears on the left flank. 

 

Paul, please ask his son if anything else remains like the winding machine, etc. Would love to see anything related.

[Cheater]

John,

 

There's no doubt P and Scott would both wish to see Ted's car in the LASCM. Is there a better place for it to be honored?

 

Paul, 

 

And please ask Michael to considering registering here at Slotblog so he can relate some more of his memories.

 

Remind him that if history isn't recorded somewhere, it eventually vanishes into the mists of time...

[Bill from NH]

Paul,

 

That's one anglewinder with some very unique features. Thanks for showing it to us.  

 

Did you photograph other cars in that slot box?

[don.siegel]

Amen, Paul, thanks for sharing.

 

Of course I remember the name from reading about him in the magazines, and buying a Dyna or two at the time - I even took him up on that special 99 cent introductory offer! Now, that was an excellent marketing device.

 

Would love to see/hear more...

 

Don

 

PS: I believe there was an interview with Ted in one of the magazines; will try to find it.

[TSR]

Don,

 

Please explain what you received in the mail in the "one-dollar offer", because to this day, we have never seen a single car with the rewound motor in the list of what they offered, we just have found ONE motor that fits the description of that offer.

 

Please tell us which kit or RTR you purchased, and how you received, it, the way it was packed, etc.

 

The rest of the story, we pretty much know everything of it because of our long interview with Bud Stordhal a few years ago. The LASCM also has a pretty good collection of most of the Dyna-Rewind models of motors and armatures, always looking for more of course.

 

Ted Lech was of course not by himself in this venture, his business partner Bud Stordhal was in charge of all the economics while Ted was the technician.
The business was run from Bud's garage, not Ted's, according to Bud.

 

We of course welcome Michael's own recollections, and it just happens that I will be interviewing him today to get his side of the story, as there is quite a controversial end to that story.

The car shown does not present any advanced technical features for the time it was dated and built. The motor is a "last-generation" Dyna, with the Tradeship can, Mura endbell, and Dyna arm on Mura blank. The differences from a stock motor appears to be in the trimming of the can for better air cooling, but otherwise is likely to be pretty much as marketed by Dyna.

 

Stay tuned for more soon.

[Cheater]

Between two storytellers, there's always three sides to the story, you know...

[don.siegel]

Philippe,

 

I'd love to help, but that was 47 years ago, my friend, and none of these memories will be very sure.

 

It was a Cox La Cucaracha, and I kind of remember that it came assembled, but with the Dyna in the place of the original Mabuchi 16D.

 

Other than that it's all a blur! It must have come in the standard Cuc box, which got thrown out very quickly, as I grabbed the car and went off to try it on the local track (110 ft formica surface, high-banked monster). I remember the motor being rather high revving, with the glassy type epoxy and typical balancing marks of the Dyna - but the car pretty uncontrollable unless goop was applied every five laps! (Had no idea about tuning cars at the time, even the simple addition of weight!) Can't even remember what happened to the parts after that - ah, yes, when I started collecting again, I realized I somehow still had the bare body and chassis - and traded that to an Aussie mate for the equivalent in Tamiya, about 20 years ago; so I did hold on to a couple parts, but not the motor!

 

I'm also not sure if it was the original 99 cent offer, or the slightly later $1.99 - but I still have the issue of MC&T (I believe) in which I clipped out the coupon, so I can check!

 

I assume I got it in the mail, not long after ordering - it only came from Detroit to Chicago. But it probably seemed to take weeks to a fifteen-year-old..

 

Wish I could be more help, Philippe...

 

Don

[TSR]

Don,

 

Thanks for the memories; they help.

 

I just spent 30 minutes talking to Ted Lech's son Michael, and am quite happy to report that the story as written in the book is quite accurate. He is sending me more info to complete and enhance the subchapter, so you will be able to read a great story soon.

 

A fantastic story of romance and the rise and fall of a little empire in Warren, MI.

 

P

[JohnnySlotcar]

Dyna-Rewind sponsored an Indy/Formula 1 race in March [I believe] of 1968 at C-U Model Raceways in Champaign, Il. I was there and raced. P you have my car donated from that race with the original Dyna-Rewind motor in it.

 

I remember the Dyna-rewind guys passing out "special" motors free of charge to selected "hot shoes". First time I saw that! Wanted to be one of those guys.

 

This was the only major sponsored race that used silicone-coated foam tires. Like now, you had to be a "special" racer to get the super soft ones that would hook up. I was very fast in practice, and was going to get these tires until my local track owner from Springfield Model Raceway told them I couldn't drive, so that was that! Hard tires and slip and slide. Made the semi from my qualifying time; ate it in the race.

 

There was a unique sidewinder that did real well, and a British flag painted car won concours. ROFL.

[don.siegel]

Great story, John, thanks. What was the unique sidewinder? 
 
Here's the interview with the Dyna founders, by Pete Hagenbuch of course. Car Model, July 1967
 
Don 
 

[Bill from NH]

I think it was Dave Larsen who got one of the above pictured Dyna-Rewind winding machines off eBay a few years back.

[TSR]

Part of one if I recall.

[Paul the Slotcarguy]

Hello again everyone,

 

Philippe, Glad you were able to interview Michael. The visit and this story is very special to me. Although I was to young to realize all this history at the time happening right in my back yard. It has been fantastic to learn about it over the years in the hobby. I am 56 and have lived in the southeastern Mi my entire life. I raced at some of these historic tracks and Im sure I have seen many of these legendary people at these tracks and just didn't know it.

 

I grew up in Warren Mich and still live 15 min from there now. My parents are still in that area. I grew up near the AMT, MPC plants, and now know that I could have rode my bike to Ted Lech's house as he lived a 1/2 mile from mine. Crazy stuff. Over the years we have seen many nice items pop up from people who lived and worked at some of these companies.

 

I do have all the pictures from Ted's pit case and cars. There were about 10 cars in various states. No prizes but some scratch built chassises and Dyna motors. If this were not Ted's case it would bring about $200 on Ebay. However, it is Ted's case, Michael has asked me to see what the interest is out there to have this case and the cars within. Feel free to contact me directly to discuss the Pit case and the cars.

 

I will post the pictures later this week when time permits.

 

Thanks

Paul

slotcarguy@slotcarguy.com

[JohnnySlotcar]

Don, the Car Model magazine either august,sept. or october has an article about the race and pics. Let me know if you find it. i would love a copy of the story.

[don.siegel]

Be glad to Johnny, but which race are you referring to? Didn't see anything in those issues but a CM race in SoCal... 

 

Don 

[TSR]

Paul,

Michael was only 8 years old then, so does not remember much and of course was not much help on the technical side of things, but that is normal. In fact, of the hundreds of persons I have interviewed over the years and involved in a company producing toys, virtually none remembered anything of value to add to what I already knew from research.

In the case of Michael, I only cared about family details and got full confirmation of what I already had learned from the other side of the equation and am quite happy about that. I think that Michael was a bit surprised by what I asked him to confirm or deny... and it is of course quite a delicate subject.
 

As far as Ted's box and contents, it would be nice to have at the LASCM but it has limited value compared to one say, owned by one of the team members such as Jerry Brady or someone like him...
Placing a financial value on it is a question of how much one would really want it.
I approached Michael at the end of my interview, and let him know that if he decided to part with it, to let us know, we in any case would be interested if the requested number makes sense.

Regards,

 

P

[JohnnySlotcar]

Don, race was called "F-1/Indy Car Dyna-rewind Challenge. C-U Model Raceways, Champaign, Il. Around April 1968.

[don.siegel]

Ah, couldn't find it because I was looking in 1967! It was in September 1968 - there were some earlier road races in this series in the May and June issues, at Ohio raceways... 

 

 

[TSR]

The story of this race is quite interesting: Bud Stordahl, worry about what had become a small group of talented young racers traveling the country and picking all the marbles (AKA, the "Evil Pros"), sponsored the Dyna-Rewind racing program for 1968 solely for amateur racers.
That rather failed after only a few events, and Bud was right back into sponsoring "evil pros" soon after, picking Jerry Brady as his # 1, possibly the worst example of extreme misbehavior in the teenagers "professional" ranks. Brady collected a salary, one of only very few "pros" that were paid on a regular basis.

Quite a "180", and Bud himself was rather coy when I pointed this to him during my 2007 interview of the gentleman in McMinnville, Oregon...

"Never mind."

[JohnnySlotcar]

Thanks, Don! I remember the British Union Jack car and the "Semi-sidewinder" chassis.