88 replies to this topic

[TSR]

The LASCM's latest acquisition: a "lost" marvel, one of Gene Husting's most famous 1965 dragsters, the "Hustler," featured in period magazines such as Car Model and Rod & Custom.
 
Came without motor internals, gears, and rear wheels, but fortunately the LASCM has the original parts from... the Gene Husting dragsters box donated by his estate.
 
This is a fabulous car, of which the light alloy body was painted by none other than Bob Kovacs, famous for his "Kustoms by Kovacs" paint schemes on any kind of products, from toys to refrigerators. In fact in direct competition with world's famous Kenny "von Dutch" Howard for the craziest 1960s paint jobs...
 
It was missing most of its body screws but I just happened to have a good supply of perfect nickel-plated 2-56 jobs matching the remaining originals... 











The car was modified several times by Gene, constantly looking to improve its 1.2-second 1/4-mile pass. The picture above proves it to be the real thing. Unusually (and thankfully), the magnesium chassis plates are painted, saving the car from the usual ugly surface corrosion.
 
Lovely machine that made its mark before Husting introduced the anglewinder concept in 1/24 scale professional racing in America.

[Don Weaver]

What a beautiful automobile!!!  

[SlotStox#53]

Oh Wow! Truly an amazing dragster!!

[Mark Mattei]

Glad to see a thing of beauty is being saved. Good going.

 

Mark.

[Lone Wolf]

Fantastic.

 

It's in the right place. 

 

Congratulations

 

I know you said you have parts but if you need any vintage jewelers screws or anything else here for the car let me know.

 

These are period correct parts for building rails, etc.

 

 

 

Everything shown here came out of J & J raceway in Cali where big drag meets were held back in the day.

 

Joe

[Steve Deiters]

These brutes were something else. If they ever launched they would have probably killed somebody! I think 36 volts was the standard "fuel" of the day. 

 

Made me think of two other slot drag racers of note from that era. Bob Braverman and Ray Ramsey...

[TSR]

Joe, this is very kind of you! Thank you.

Fortunately I have kept much hardware from my own racing days, with screws and nuts as tiny as used for Swiss watches assembly (need a microscope and steady fingers for assembly) to standard 0-80, 2-56, etc., in a vast array of metals, configurations, and heads. The car uses mostly 2-56 stuff and I have already assembled the loose body back on the chassis with the very same K&B brass, round-head, 2-56 screws Gene used.

There are several sets of original rear wheels and tires inside Gene's box, which was donated to the LASCM by the family after Gene's passing. There are also correct armatures, gears, magnet plates, brushes, bearings, and gears. It will just be a matter of selecting the right bits and bolting it back to the car. The articles in Car Model and Rod & Custom actually tell us which parts to use! 

Gene's box: 
 

Steve, Bob Braverman was one of the best drag racers and of course designed the Russkit production dragster. Ramsey and plenty of others were stars, but Husting got the most press in part because he and Braverman wrote the stories! Since he was also winning, hard to argue.

[Lone Wolf]

You're very welcome.

 

That friggin' box is to die for.          

 

Love the contorted exhaust and the "deadly saw tooth spur" on that fantastic hand-painted masterpiece.

 

At 36 volts it was a good thing that OSHA wasn't there. Lots of body protection would have been mandatory due to flying parts. 

[TSR]

We are not sure of who was the artist who painted the box. It looks like his knowledge of 3-dimensional perspective was slightly off the mark, but we love it just the same... 

[Mbloes]

Or maybe the chassis is just twisted...

[Gator Bob]

A truly remarkable machine!

 

Bubble top padlock dragsters could make a comeback. 

[boxerdog]

Now if we could get a 36v battery setup operational somewhere...

[Half Fast]

Fabulous 50-year old technology that still looks state of the art today! I'm glad to see it preserved.

 

Cheers,

[SlotStox#53]

Now if we could get a 36v battery setup operational somewhere...

Would love to see what our modern built vintage hardware dragsters could do on the oldskool 36 volts. 

[Gator Bob]

We get them going pretty good a 14-16 volts. At 36 we would need parachutes... and gear guards.

 

So now, I'll be on the look-out at the dollar stores for some useless bubble blister packed item... just for the 'right bubble."

[Gator Bob]

Dokk, please show the car some due respect and put some rear wheels on it. I figure Scott might have something that fits.

 

Although... it does look cool with-out wheels and imagining the rears are on there but shrouded.

[Cheater]

We get them going pretty good a 14-16 volts. At 36 we would need parachutes... and gear guards.

You'd need scatter shields around the motors, too!

[Bill from NH]

And faceshields for the racers.  Actually, well-placed panes of Lexan would make a good catch fence.

[Howie Ursaner]

I love this dragster. I love this box. Gene Husting and Bob Braverman were very important to me when i was starting to slot race. 

[TSR]

Howie only built one "rail" dragster when he was a young gun, and fortunately it survived and will be restored to full glory when time allows...





"Ve Have Vays to Make Zem Talk!"  

[Ben Morrow]

Truly amazing sight to see!
 
Beutiful car and Love that box paint, pretty cool for the period!...
 
Thanks for posting a true jewel of the past!
 
See, "old guys do rule." 
 
Ben

[BillB]

From an article in Rod & Custom March 1965, another of Gene Husting's dragsters, perhaps an earlier version.

[TSR]

Bill, thanks!

From what I know about Gene's dragsters, he built a total of three similar cars. The "Hustler" was apparently the last one built.

I have rounded some of the parts to revive it: correct Husting wound armature, flanged ball bearings, Weldun pinion gear, a pair of rear tires on Russkit Lola T70 setscrew wheels.

I also on track for a set of ground magnet plates and the proper motor ends with brush array.

That thing will be functional like most of the cars that will be on display at the LASCM.

[dc-65x]

That Husting's rail is a national treasure... or it should be!

[BillB]

An amazing dragster from years past... look forward to seeing its completion!