130 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

The April 1971 issue of Miniature Auto Racing Newsletter had a "Product Spotlight" on the Steube ready to run Pro car. I've long admired this car:

 

(The MAR scans are courtesy of Steve Okeefe, click on the pictures to enlarge)

 

 

 

Here are a couple of pictures of one of Bill Steube Jr.'s similar builds (pictures courtesy of Mike Steube):

 

 

 

I haven't built a C-can anglewinder in years and the time has come.   I'm not going to build an exact "replica" or "clone" but rather a very similar car that will be "inspired" by the 1971 Steube R-T-R.

 

I'm breaking out my real deal Steube new old stock parts for the build. First one of the coolest drop arms ever...

 

 

... and the very distinctive Steube pans:

 

 

Not a Steube part but a period part none the less, a Cobra motor bracket:

 

 

The axles are 3/32", the wheelbase in the Rick's Jig is set to 3-13/16" and the main rail combination is .062"-.055". The start of the build:

 

 

The "half rails" and the cross brace are what's being aligned by the jig's pins. This chassis uses straight half rails. All the other anglewinder chassis I've built have had a bend in at least the drive side half rail.

 

Time to fire up the Ungar...

[Bill from NH]

Rick,

 

You probably know the Steube pans and droparm were manufactured by Associated.

 

One of my old Tony P chassis has straight half rails. I bought it at C&C Raceway in CT during the 1972-73 timeframe, but I don't actually know when is was built.

 

This Steube chassis should be a good build. Have fun constructing it.

[dc-65x]

Hi Bill,

 

I thought that Steube had close ties with Associated because of their "Steube Stabilizer" wheels and tires. Good stuff! Glad you're following along.

 

I've got a start on the center section:

 

[havlicek]

I watch all your builds Rick... but this... ahhhh! Mura muscle pushing a glorious anglewinder (with four actual wheels ) under a sleek body is the stuff of legend.

[dc-65x]

Hi John,

 

Speaking of "four actual wheels", it's time to get the front axle on the chassis.  

 

The forward uprights first...

 

 

... then their trimmed and the "Steube" angled rear uprights go on:

 

 

The front axle in place:

 

 

I think Mike angled his rear uprights more... oh well, next time I will too! Onward to beefing up the rear end.

[TSR]

"I thought that Steube had close ties with Associated because of their "Steube Stabilizer" wheels and tires."

Actually, Mike Steube "sold" his name to the Associated partnership of Lee Yurada and Roger Curtis, angering his father to no end!

Yurada, a talented machinist formerly in the aircraft industry, but also a slightly deranged dope smoker, had a bad influence on Mike and as Mike's dad, Bill Sr. was not exactly made of silk, things were not always easy in the family, forcing the teenager to be subjected to not always good outside influence. Fortunately, Bill Jr. took Mike under his wing and protected him from such bad influences for a long time, in fact until his death from a nasty cancer.
 

[Jaz]

I had one of those Bill Steube motors, around late '70 or so. It was a single 24 and I paid about $40 for it. Ran it for about six months at Buzzy's and Glen Oaks, much to the chagrin of Jim Greenaway. It used to scream on the straights, geared, I think, 9/48.

 

When it finally blew, probably due to all the full gluing we were doing back then, I had to humbly crawl to Big Jim and practically beg he build me a new motor. 

[TSR]

1970 "Steube Can" motor:

 

   

[Jaz]

Yep!

 

Exacta mundo!

[Tom Eatherly]

Bill Jr. was a heck of a good guy. Pretty easy going.

 

A touch off subject, but, Philippe, how long did the "Green Can" of Bob Greene dtay around?

 

Thanks.

[Richard G With]

I had one of those motors. When it finally blew up, I took it apart and marveled at how much polishing had been done on the magnets.

It was a work of art inside and out.

[Bill from NH]

Tom,

 

I don't know exactly when, but it was used until Mura came out with a new C-can. Champion C-cans had become non-existent about 1975, even though I continued to run my old ones into the early '80s. In the mid-to-late '70s, the Green Can was all that was available. Even East coast motor builders such as Montague and Labree, who had previously built only Champion C-cans changed over. I don't know if Russ Boyington did or not. Trinity also used Green Cans for awhile, too.

[dc-65x]

Thanks to all for sharing your experiences...

 

PdL's Steube motor pictures are wonderful; thank you, Philippe. They inspired me to build a similar "looking" motor for my friend Adam a few years ago:

 

 

 

 

I'm looking forward to building a motor for this car.   But first I've got to finish the chassis so here is some more progress, the setup for the rear axle tube braces:

 

 

All soldered up...

 

 

... and trimmed up with the motor bracket and brace installed:

 

 

Time to break out that NOS Steube drop arm. 

[SlotStox#53]

It's amazing how simple these beasts are with the straight half rails and no complicated motor box. 

Those original Steube brass parts are the icing on the cake, unless you have some motor goodies cherry picked ready and waiting.  

[Tom Eatherly]

Those Green motors you're showing are works of art. Wow. The "Green" cans I remember were from around '67 to '70?

 

Bob Greene used to machine those for Gilbert, Steube, and probably whoever wanted to pay for them. I'm just not clear on the details.

 

I know I ran a couple with my Thorpe arms and with whatever magnets and all in the '66-67 to late '69 when I bowed out of slots.

 

Sorry for the hijack.

[dc-65x]

No hijack, Tom. Thanks for making your period memories part of this build.

 

Paul, I've got a few more Steube goodies for this car.

[B.C.]

The ad shows $125 for the car. any idea what that would be in 2017 dollars?

[dc-65x]

Hi Brian,

 

An inflation calculator I found says $125 in 1971 would be $$758.27 today!  

[Martin]

$125 in 1971 → $754.70 in 2017

The US dollar experienced an average inflation rate of 3.99% per year between 1971 and 2017. $125 in the year 1971 is worth $754.70 in 2017.
 
Sorry, Rick, must have been finding this at the same time.

[TSR]

Since I hardly had a penny on my name in the day, I would never have been able to buy that car unless it would have been given to me, which it likely was. That, or the magazine paid for it which I doubt. 

I have no idea of what happened to it, like so many, lost in the vacuum of time...

[dc-65x]

Hi, Philippe,
 
Boy it sure would be nice to have it today!
 
Since the drop arm is next up in this build I thought I'd show my 3 favorite "JET flag" style drop arms,
 

 
These would cost about $9 in 2017 dollars. I'd pay that and more for the awesome Team Nutley version today 
 

 
Onward...

[Bill from NH]

Many East Coast chassis builders in this period favored solid drop arms, probably the added weight was liked for the heavy glue used. My favorite was the .040" Parma without the hole.

I never had any Nutley drop arms to use. The one Steube I own wasn't used because the guide tongue lift wasn't properly bent. It's packed in my attic so I don't recall whether it was solid or had the two round holes.

[dc-65x]

The drop arm set up in to install the plumber pivot tubes and "bumper":
 

 
Interesting that Steube didn't use a wire reinforcement behind the plumber pivot tubes:
 

 
I hope to get this installed on the center section tomorrow...

[dc-65x]

Here's the center section with the drop arm hinge tubes installed:
 

 
A closeup shows the hinge tube with a 1/16" wire reinforcement behind it and a 1/32" plumber up-stop on top:
 

 
I stink at soldering on little bits like this. I always try to come up with a plan to hold the pieces in place while I solder. So I thought I'd show that plan.
 
First up I located a long piece of 3/32" tube for the pan hinges in the jig and soldered it to the frame:
 

 
A long piece of 1/16" wire is tacked on to the 3/32" brass tube and then, solidly in place, soldered to the frame rails:
 

 
The excess is trimmed off:
 

 
The 1/32" plumber up-stop was made in one piece and tacked to the center of the still one piece drop arm hinge. The up-stop tacked in place, then it's soldered at each end:
 

 
Last step is to cut the center of the drop arm hinge and plumber up-stop out:
 

 
I bet the Pros could cut and solder the little bits in place in a manner of minutes on a motel room coffee table at 2 AM... no problem.

[Phil Smith]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that has to do that! Even a great builder like you struggles with it.

 

That's exactly the way I do it too. I can't do it otherwise.

 

More times than I care to remember, I've gotten a little impatient cutting the excess off, creating too much heat and melting the solder, causing it all to fall apart. Ugh!