37 replies to this topic

[Ecurie Martini]

I have never seen the Pittman 700 series referred to as sidewinders. But they fit the bill in slot car applications. I

was using that motor for model railroading as well, most notably to power a Lee Town Climax. It was perfect for

use as the center drive shaft on that model. But I never had one with plastic gears. 

 

Only the first one, the 703, had the plastic gear.  Not surprisingly, in slot car applications, the gear routinely lost its grip on the axle.  The solution was to cross-drill the hub and axle (fortunately not hardened steel) and pin them together.

[Tom Katsanis]

Like I said in an earlier post the 5 cycle special dragster is the earliest mention of a vehicle being a sidewinder I found a picture in from a magazine dated in 1960 that called the car a sidewinder in its caption.

http://www.draglist....el Naprstek.jpg

[TSR]

Tom,
Yes, and there were several other full-size cars already named that way.
Now if we could find out the first use of the term for a slot car...

[MSwiss]

Well that's sort of answered my original question, that the slot car people probably started using that term after they saw it used by 1:1 car people.

Sort of like 'sano'. Lol

But it will be interesting to see who first used it, as advertising, on a commercial slot car product.

[Tom Katsanis]

I have found the term "sidewinder" on Kemtron chassis kits.
I have chassis kit 1641 for the pittman 705 in front of me it reads,It's Wild! A dream fir a quick easy way to get into the races. Exceptionally light,Monotubular "Sidewinder" frame for Pittman's dc-705 motor.
I would take a pic but it will be backwards & I'm not sure how early the kit is.

& on the back of the pack is an advert for a chassis for the kemtron 503 motor stating "Sidewinder" drive offered two ways.

I don't know if they were first in putting it on a package but the way it's written on there comes across like it's a new gimmick.

[TSR]

Kemtron chassis are a good candidate for "first to use" on commercial product. Don Siegel who is very knowledgeable for this kind of trivia, might find earlier use. Don?

[don.siegel]

I'm in Bordo running my Kemtron sidewinder in a vintage race!

 

I'll look when I get back to Paris and the Library.

 

Must admit I was very surprised not to see the term used that early... I think for me, like most slotters, it was "always" used.

 

Don

[Tom Katsanis]

This is a pretty good article on a sidewinder build.

Attached Files

•  sidewinderbuild.pdf   1.91MB   45 downloads

[TSR]

Tom,
incredibly that very car as seen in the story, has survived in the Gene Husting collection now on display at the LASCM.

[Dave Crevie]

Not that far off what I posted elsewhere here, except that I used aluminum tubing. That general design lasted

several years until we started using magnesium strip for the side frames. 

[Tom Katsanis]

That's so cool that the museum has that car Phillpe I'm glad there is people out there preserving the history of this hobby.

[scooter_trasher]

The original sidewinder was a pocket watch with the crown at 3:00 instead of 12:00, predating slot cars,automobiles and even WWI trench conversions http://www.pocketwat...side-second.php

[don.siegel]

Coming back to this after a couple years: found it as I was trying to find info on when the word "anglewinder" was first used, and was surprised to be reminded that we also talked about the first use of "sidewinder". 

 

In a quick check, an article in Rod & Custom, December 1962, doesn't use sidewinder, but refers to "Pittman motor turned sideways" and "side-mounted Pittmans" (that's Bob Braverman's twin DC65 dragster). 

 

On the other hand, back in the April 62 issue, there was a 2-page article on "4 days of Racing at ModelRama". And one of the captions says, "Top Eliminator and low ET of 1/62 seconds was set by Chuck Hamill's Sidewinder with a ball-bearing Lindsay motor." 

 

Earliest citation so far... 

 

By chance, there's also a caption that says, "This time it's a single-engined roadster against a dual thingie." Don't think that's used in the same sense later assigned to thingie, but still... 

 

After a quick search through R&C and Car Model, couldn't find another use of sidewinder until the January 64 issue, in an article about the new Pittman 65X and 85X motors... 

 

Don