76 replies to this topic

[tonyp]

Post your pictures of any of my old stuff you guys still have. I love seeing pictures of all the stuff I forgot I built from back in the old days and the Retro days, which are longer than the old days. LOL.

If I inspired you to build something post it, too. I'd love to see it.

[tonyp]

Here are some old cars from the full glue days to start it off.

[tonyp]

Courtesy of Fred "da flash" Strauss.

[John C Martin]

Beautiful work, Tony P.

[Gator Bob]

[tonyp]

Got my first TQ with that car on Dom's, Hillclimb with a short Ti22 body. After the race sent the body to Outisite and told them if they made it 1/2" longer it would fit current cars and be killer.

[dc-65x]

Hi Tony,
 
I love your cars! Here's one I "put the buff to" for you.
 
First the original car:
 

Our friend and master painter Joe "Noose" Neumeister has a super-cool Tony P plate car that he still runs today. I believe it was made in 1978 and Noose would like it freshened up a bit. Here is the car with photos and comments courtesy of Noose:

 
The chassis restoration:
 

It's out of the tumbler. Before I do the overnight WD40 soak I took some pictures:



Here are some before and after pictures:





The dark areas are pitting that is not going to come out unless you do serious metal removal.





What do you think, Noose?

 
Finally my tribute to your great original steel car:
 

[tonyp]

Here are some from the Raymond "Speedy" Gonzales collection. My best-ever customer.

[Gator Bob]

What timeframe on those, Tony?

[tonyp]

A couple more from Fred Strauss

[tonyp]

This is the oldest picture of one of my chassis the article in Car Model magazine.

[tonyp]

And the next oldest. My first pro race was the big Cobra Mura event at Buzzarama in 1969? Was fifth qualifier, got cut out of a sit out by the last qualifier Tom Conlon, won the semi, and was sixth in the main.

[dc-65x]

Here's one of your many production chassis:
 

Okie Dokie, let's try out this new forum. I thought I just share some pictures of this restoration process to see how this new forum works. And away we go:

The victim....I mean subject of the restoration is an original Tony P $10 chassis build into a car back in the day and raced ever since. Here are some before and after pictures:

[tonyp]

Bob,

Which chassis? If you mean the TQ one you now own, it was the first year of Retro East so eight years ago.

[tonyp]

Rick,

You make them look better than they ever did the first time around. That one you restored for me proudly sits in the display cabinet at work with a period-correct Mr. Noose body on it.

[dc-65x]

Thank you, Tony. But, fellow Slotblogers, take a look at Tony's workmanship on this beauty. And remember he built his chassis in about one hundredth the time it takes me. He has "the .005" eyeball". Meaning he can just put a piece to be soldered down on the chassis and it's eyeball aligned virtually perfectly.
 

Tony P has been kind enough to send me a couple of his chassis to replicate and restore. The first one I going to tackle is one of his famous Isos. For some background on the Eastern Iso we have an article written by Tony for the Dec. 1972 issue of Miniature Auto Racing newsletter. I've included the first page here and the entire article will be available soon in a high resolution format on Steve Okeefe's web site:The Independent Scratch Builder



Here is the chassis untouched for 32 years:





Mike Steube was kind enough to share with me his method of restoring old chassis using a tumbler. I followed his advice and ordered this puppy and the polishing media:



Unfortunately the polishing media is backordered... ARG! When it arrives I'll detail the process and results on some of my old collectable chassis on Steve's web site. For now the show must go on so I tackled the project the old fashioned way... elbow grease. I used Comet non-scratching cleanser, Tarnex, a wire wheel in a Dremel tool on the steel, and a little paste metal polish. I have not sanded any of the pitted steel (which appears as a darker area on the wire) or corroded brass. I just cleaned off the surface crud:





If you look closely at the image below you may notice some engraving on the drop arm:



Here's a closer look:



The engraving says:

1975 ELSFORD ARCO WINNER
1/25/75
9th USRA WINNER CLEMENTON
RACEWAY
QUALIFING ROUND: 5.20 OFFICIAL
5.09 UNOFFICIAL
NEW 40 MINUTE RECORD

So we have a 1972 MAR article and a 1975 Iso race-winning chassis. I thought Isos went by the way side after the advent of the 1973 PdL Diamond design? Tony also had a version of that design he called Da Spyder. Here's my friend Rodney's prized all-original Da Spyder:



Very soon after this chassis, Tony and the other Eastern builders went to the "L" arm front axles instead of the "Diamond" style. But why is an Iso winning races three years after it was supposedly rendered obsolete?

I asked Tony this very question and he was kind enough to reply:

"The date on the chassis would be correct. I engraved them as we used them.
Elmsford is a 220 Engleman... Isos seemed to run better on that track then spyder style."

All of Tony's very informative comments will be on :The Independent Scratch Builder soon.

Next up is the building of my first Iso. Thanks, Tony. :up: 8)

[tonyp]

That was Ernie Provetti's chassis. He won the Elmsford Arco on the 220 and that chassis just ruled on the 165 Engleman at Clementon which was lengthened by changing the triangle donut into another finger.

[Gator Bob]

Which chassis?

 
Post #8, the ones you built for Speedy.

[tonyp]

Most I guess were '73 to '76.

[Cheater]

Great thread, guys!

[dc-65x]

This my favorite TonyP chassis of all time... possibly my favorite slot car chassis period.
 

I started my Starship project a long time ago in a galaxy far far away... hmmm... well actually it was four forums ago . I built my first chassis with the help of just two pictures kindly provided by Fred Da Flash... thanks, Flash!

Here's the link:

Starship 2005, The Voyage Continues...

Tony P caught wind of my efforts and VERY kindly loaned me his original! Thanks, Tony.





It needed some help from Mr. Tumbler. Tumbling can't put metal back into the pits but it can sure get all the crap-o-la off and leave all the fabulous engraving intact:





A closer look at some of the extensive engraving:

 
Here's my recreation. It's one of my most prized possessions:
 

The pans should be jewelry. Mine were coarse sanded to debur them. Time for some serious "fix'n":



YIKES. Look at the brass dust it took to get rid of the sanding mess . It was worth it me thinks. Look at the reflections from the restored pan:





This effort does nothing to make the car faster, but it also does nothing to slow it down . From this point on I kind of got carried away and just finished the chassis. It went into the tumbler for four hours and it looks, well, WOW to me:









Next I'll put the same "Eddie 20" motor in it that I've been telling you about add nauseaum. A vintage Mura C-can setup with modern Pro Slot Drag 20 arm, magnets, brushes and springs... OH MY! It can't possibly work, except it does .

Onward...

 

Thanks again, Tony, for your help with this one!

[tonyp]

My pleasure.

[dc-65x]

Here is Tony's latest and last Starship he graciously gave to me a few years ago:

 

 

This thread reminded me that there was some posting about a modern TonyP Starship showing up at a local raceway. Tony was surprised by this as he only made one and gave it to me. I always meant to take a picture that shows I still have the car but it slipped my mind (what mind I have left ) until now:

 

 

Here's the body as last raced:

 

 

Beautiful car, Tony, Thank you again! 

[SlotStox#53]

How well does the Starship design (Retro and original) handle? Looks like it's beating King track records standing still  , especially the original and the clone. 

[tonyp]

The original steel version was only fair. I think it was way too stiff. The Retro ones I built work very well and won a couple of races but were chunky. They were retired when some new lighter designs came off the jig.