29 replies to this topic

[MSwiss]

A new customer, after my party today, came in with this gem, his dad, Dominic Cambio, a mechanical engineer, built in the 60's.
 

Nicely painted Elfin body with masked "meatballs" and numbers.


Terrific looking interior with roll bar and stacks.
 

Piano wire jail door frame. I stuck on a cobalt magnet segment on it to confirm it wasn't plated brass.
 
Classic CM150(?), possibly rewound, with Arco 33's(?), and spring posts.
 
Note the split, ball bearing, front wheel set-up.
 

Detail of the iso assembly. The iso droparm is soldered to 2 pillow blocks, that rotate around the 9/32" brass tubing, that hold the 1/4" x 1/8" ball bearings.The tubing is supported by the 4 outer jail door rails, on each side.
 
As alluded to in the post #3, I did not get a long look at this car. I noticed and analyzed the iso setup, because I immediately noticed the steering, action of it.
 
Until now, it hadn't sunk in that the car did not have a 3 sided U bracket.
 
Cropping these pics, I just now noticed the combo motor mount, jaildoor rail carrier.
 

The front end of iso drop arm assembly, showing the Cox low profile guide, pillow block holder, guide limiter, and lead wire "wrangler" loops.
 

Detail of the independent BB fronts, and apparently matching  jaildoor rail carriers, to match the back ones, that are part of the motor mount.

[grooverunner]

[MSwiss]

I wasn't trying to tease it this long, but someone came in and bought 2 cars and 2 wood boxes.

 

I'll start getting pics up shortly.

 

I hope I got the front wheel set-up.

[grooverunner]

Business come first Mike. Running a track is not cheap.

[Alan Dodson]

I love that the driver's hand is on the gear shift. I've never seen that before!

[MSwiss]

I went to take pics and the driver was headless.

 

It fell out, when I turned the car over, in another part of the raceway.

 

I found it, without too much drama, and popped it back in.

 

I'm not sure if it was meant to rotate, but it does.

[Eddie Fleming]

Love the independent fronts.

 

Very cool car. 

[MSwiss]

All the pics and text are now posted.

 

As mentioned in the text, not all the cool details were aware to me, while the owner was still here.

[Pablo]

Holy Cow!

[MSwiss]

I almost forgot another cool part of the story.

 

I asked what raceway his dad would of run at, and he mentioned he lived in Desplaines, so he most likely ran it where Sano Dave Fiedler cut his teeth, with slot cars.

[Pablo]

How do these rare builds always seem to gravitate to Chicagoland Raceway?

or

maybe the owner simply says "sorry, it's a useless antique junker" ?

[MSwiss]

Chicago is a big town.

 

The legend is we had 200 raceways, at the peak of slot racing.

[raisin27]

The motor mount, the front wheels, the body and details...... all exceptional design and craftsmanship for the time period.

[MSwiss]

I texted the owner, with a link to this thread.

 

He said he would be back and I'll try to get the body off this time, to get some shots of the top of the chassis, and armature.

 

The body is in need of some repair, anyway, as you can see by the scotch , I put on, to help hold it together.

 

What was pretty cool, was the car had red rubber sponge (80's or 90's) tires, when he showed it to me, so it probably got run years, after it was built.

[Pablo]

Chicago is a big town.

 

The legend is we had 200 raceways, at the peak of slot racing.

That answers my question, to a large degree.

Big kudos to Swiss for being customer friendly, recognizing history, and sharing it

[Half Fast]

A lot of guys will want to see more of this car!

 

Thanks Mike and Car Owner

[Bryan Warmack]

  Awesome original car!!

[Pappy]

This is how I remember cars back then. Back then people took pride in how their cars looked. Most of todays drag racers are the same way, they take pride in their cars. One of the reasons I stepped down from running the Ohio Valley Retro series was because of how crappy the cars looked (It wasn't the only reason but it was definitely a factor in my decision). A lot of them didn't even have the exhaust stacks painted. One guy had his whole interior and driver painted white with a red dot on the top of the drivers head because the interior had to be at least two colors. It's the same reason I hated wing cars from first time I ever saw one.

 

I now race mostly 1/32 hardbody cars that look like real cars.

[Bill from NH]

Great looking car! Even the lead wire attachment at the guide is unique. I once made a pair of brass clips that attached lead wire beside the guide rather than on top of it.

[Dave Crevie]

Too cool! Was that type of guide shoe available in the mid-sixties? I know that when I quit slot racing in the

Spring of '66 we were still using panhead screws through the tabs of the braids. And I have no idea how 

many slot tracks were in the Chicago area when I raced, since I was not driving yet and had to bum rides

from other people. I only saw the tracks they went to. Anyway, seeing this car just pushes me to resurrect

my old cars. Of course, seeing Mark Mattei on Saturday helped with that.

[MSwiss]

Yes, that style of Cox guide was available in the 60's.

That was what came on my La Cucaracha, I would of bought, in about 1966 or 1967.

[Dave Crevie]

You're right. I just looked in my '60s junk box, and there are two used ones in there. I would have bought them

before Summer of 66. Can't remember why I didn't use them, they don't look worn out. Too long ago. A lot of

stripped Cox gears in there, though.

[Martin]

Some really original design details. Really great to see this build. Very well done.   

[Dave Crevie]

I know there are more cars like this out there. We just need to keep our eyes open. If my collection of my old stuff is any

indication, there are at least five naked chassis laying around from that period for every one that is running. Builders

usually robbed the motors, gears and wheels from one chassis to install on the new ones they built.

[Martin]

I for one Mike would like to know more about the builder (the Dad) I assume he built this as a young man, what did he go on to do? we do know he had a son that was proud of his Dad and thought enough of his Dad to save his car and show it off. Thank him for us. Love the detail in the interior and chassis design. A well rounded guy for sure.