20 replies to this topic

[MSwiss]

I spotted these, during dinner, in my favorite car magazine.


I think they quote the wrong scale in the reference to the Model Turnpike system.

[Bill from NH]

The Turnpike was 1/25th scale, I got one in '63. Design-wise, it was light years ahead of most anything else, but a real PIA  to assemble & disassemble  when you didn't have room to keep it setup.

[MSwiss]

I think they might of had 1/8 on their mind, from the Monogram Big T text.

[MattD]

If AMT had shelved that Rube Goldberg system for a conventional slot car design, I believe they could have been  very successful in the home track market.   Think about all the existing  molds and model bodies if they  already had.   They could have designed  2-3 universal chassis to fit most  of their models.   Their track was plenty big for 1/25 cars.   Production would have been much cheaper than the multi piece track and trolley system they did produce.    Could have been!!!

[Bill from NH]

Most, if not all, AMT static kits of that era  had 4 screws to attach the chassis to the bodies. Most of these bodies would screw on the Turnpike chassis. I swapped out many of these bodies. I recall the Imperial having a longer wheelbase, so there could be others too others too..I didn't have many Johan  kits, so I don't recall if any of them fit or not.

[John Streisguth]

Cox had a gas powered "slot car" track system, which I think were 1/8 scale.  Those little glow engines were a real PIA to get running, but when they did,the car was way faster than the slot cars of the day.

[MSwiss]

I was going to guess they were 1/16 or 1/20 scale.

It turns out it was 1/20.

[boxerdog]

That's my favorite magazine also. 

[MattD]

The gas cars had no operator speed control  They locked into a slot and just ran full speed.   Kind of like wing car racing..   They were really like early tether cars except Cox  supplied you with the track,.    If I remember right, they could be run in a straight line on a tether.    

 

Didn't Cox make two sizes of gas cars?     

[MSwiss]

They had drag cars, including a Vega station wagon, later.

 

Not sure the scale.

 

They also had dune and Baja (VW) buggies.

 

They look big.

 

There is , or was , a Chaparral, on Ebay, advertised as 9" long.

 

That is the car I remember most, along with the prop driven Shrike, which I sold, when I worked for a wholesaler, in the hobby department.

[John Streisguth]

I could swear the one I had was bigger...but I was smaller then, so...

[Dave Crevie]

The GT-40 was the one I had also. We ran it on a tether. They were powered by the .049 Thimble Drome

motors with the glow plug and head in one piece. Before that I was running the McCoy sprint cars, but the

Cox cars were smaller and easier to start. A lot of them were sold by the early big-box discount stores.

 

AMT did have a very good stamped brass chassis that was adjustable, and would fit most of the 1/25th

scale model car bodies. I mounted buterate bodies on two of them, and did very well in local racing.

[MattD]

I think the Ford Gt, and Buick Riviera were fairly small,  not 1/24, but maybe 1/18 or something.  I don't want to take time to look up this info, maybe somebody that has a good memory will just add to this thread!

 

Dave the AMT brass chassis came out a couple years after the Turnpike mess.  I think the Turnpike was available late 61/62, which the the brass chassis wasn't on the market till 65,  I'm sure by then the Turnpike stuff was all blowed out the back door of AMT.   Think about that combination being available in 62.   Many great 1/25 models that adapted easily to a brass chassis.  A nice 12 inch wide conventional slot track you could run them on.   There was no competition to that in 61, except the cheap  Eldon and Strombecker sets in 1/32.   I just think AMT missed the boat on that one.

 

I do recall an article in Car Craft showing a big AMT track set up and converted to regular slot racing by adding foil tape!

[Dave Crevie]

I don't remember the year the 100 series chassis came out so I will bow to your better knowledge. I seem to

remember getting the first one in late '64 with that '65 Galaxie body, the chassis wasn't available separate at

that time. I do know that despite many other racers claiming the chassis was junk, I still managed to clobber

them with that chassis with good bearings, re-wound 36Ds, and Kemtron bevel gears. I was already using

Grumbacher model airplane foams in the rear.  

[don.siegel]

Mike, 

Do I read that correctly as the July 2019 issue? Wanted to get it, but can only see June online! And the actual magazine website is off limits to most European countries... 

Don 

[MSwiss]

That's probably it.

I have a subscription, via a present from Dave Crevie.

I think it's in my car.

I'll check when I make my PO run in a little bit.

[MSwiss]

Yep, July 2019.

[Dave Crevie]

The publication is bi-monthly, so there is no June issue. The issue date at the top of the cover page is a month ahead, in
anticipation that issues may remain on bookstore shelves until the next issue is published. When I published a model
railroad magazine we originally did the same thing, but decided to change to issue numbers instead. We wanted to
reduce the amount of confusion for those ordering back issues, when they did not know what the cover photo was.
 
Incidently, Hot Rod Deluxe often has "retro" articles on other things of interest to car guys near the back of the magazine.
Subjects can be anything from go-karts to rock bands of the era. I highly recommend it as entertaining reading.

[don.siegel]

Thanks guys, that should make it easier to order. 

Don 

[MSwiss]

I think the Ford Gt, and Buick Riviera were fairly small,  not 1/24, but maybe 1/18 or something.  I don't want to take time to look up this info, maybe somebody that has a good memory will just add to this thread!

See post #7.
 
1/20
 
PS- A Riviera. Is that what the blue #14 car is, that's on the the box, ahead of the red Corvette?
 
I thought it was, but it's so small, I thought it could possibly, also be, a GTO.

[Dave Crevie]

My best friend growing up had the Riviera, so my guess is that is what is pictured on the box. He

destroyed it by letting it run free. It hit a curb and the body was pretty busted up. The motor mount

was so badly bent that we were never able to straighten it properly to get a good gear mesh. I learned

from his mistake and had mine until I was in my twenties, when my father threw it out with some

others of my prized possessions one day when he was pissed at me about something. 

 

Been having a nice chat with Matt Bishop about the AMT chassis. So here is one of the two I raced as

a teenager. I raced it again for the first time in 53 years at the docu-series filmed at Chicagoland last

year. Wish we could see that in this country.