25 replies to this topic

[TSR]

While this scarce 1/24 scale slot car is not unknown to most serious collectors, seeing it in its mint original packaging is not a common sight. From the Los Angeles Slot Car Museum, I am pleased to show you these pictures of one of the few survivors:



The box looks cool, but the inside is rather stunning with the red flocked tray:





The car has the strongest stamped aluminum chassis from a slot car made in the 1960's and is powered by a small Tyco motor installed in a sidewinder fashion. The wheels and tires are of course by Mila Miglia, their specialty. This pretty car, based on a Cobra re-bodied for Ford's Jack Nasser, was a star of the auto shows in 1965.

I hope that you enjoy these vignettes making the LASCM accessible to all.

[sportblazer350]

Thanks. Dokk. I have seen this car before, but never the box. Very nice indeed!!

[TSR]

It's a tough box to find...

[Jean-Michel Piot]

I hope that you enjoy these vignettes making the LASCM accessible to all.

Yes indeed!

[don.siegel]

Great stuff, Philippe! "Tough" is not the word for finding this box - more like impossible!

When you mention the nice box and presentation, it's also worth remembering that this thing was priced at $19.95, pretty outrageous for the time ('66 I believe), especially with that little Tyco, oops, excuse me, Capalupo motor... even with the ball bearings on the rear axle. That's the same price as a top-of-the-line Champion Lola with the 707 rewind, which came out after this one, and would have run circles around it. But I always figured that 1966 was the height of the commercial slot racing boom, when just about everything sold, and manufacturers reached for the sky in prices....

One thing I've never found out for sure: did the original have a Capalupo label on the motor, did it still say Tyco, or was there nothing?

Nice-looking car too, but still surprising that they'd choose a show car instead of a racing car, and one with fairly narrow track to boot...

Don

[Larry LS]

Hey, I had one of those new in the box. (Car and box long gone!)

We ran a series in Lompoc, CA, for RTR cars and that was one that showed up that no one liked. So I got it and with some tuning that thing was hard to beat. They tried to get some more but they could not. I liked those Tyco motors.

After that series ended I put a Pittman DC65x arm in one and it was a little hottie in a sidewinder scratchbuilt car.

[TSR]

Larry and Don, I drove one a few years back and was REALLY impressed. While the heavy Champion Lola with the big 707 was faster in a straight line, the Cougar II simply ran away from it in the twisty stuff. The lightweight sidewinder design was actually quite good once the drop arm had been set for correct height with a little block of balsa wood.

Don, indeed the motor has a little wolf wearing a top hat (hence, capolupo in Italian) decal on it. We have a few loose cars so I will get more pics for you.

The new LASCM website is progressing and should be online soon, allowing all to see the most amazing collection... here is a small sample to wet your appetite:



I am sure that you know what these beautes are...

[havlicek]

... Ahhh. My oldest brother had a '65 GTO in the something "night" (whatever Pontiac called the dark color) blue. For such a big/heavy car the thing really moved. Four-on-the-floor and NO POWER STEERING. Parking the thing was a real effort, but it was such a glorious example of the excesses of Detroit Iron from those days. He was proud as heck of it.

Before that he was in a band where all the guys had '63 "split-window" Corvettes... he sold the 'Vette thinking the GTO was more practical. ... Memories.

[mdiv]

PdL:

More pics of the Cougar please.

- Mike

[Allan Feldman]

Nice to see the Cougar MIB.

But I prefer the metallic red (?) of the static 1/25 IMC kit.

Regards,

Allan

[TSR]

Allan,

While the box cover shows the car in red and silver, the IMC kit we have has a white body. Do you have one with a red one?

The full-size car was indeed silver and metallic red.

Cougar II
Experimental Coupe by Ford

* Original year: 1965
* Company: IMC
* Scale: 1/24
* Designer: Ford Motor Corporation

The Ford Cougar II was one of the hits of the '64-65 New York World's Fair. With its sharply distinctive design flowing from bumper to bumper. A promise of action in every line. This is a car designed to run in the 170 MPH. range. The Cougar II is the next step forward from the Mustang and the Mustang II in Ford's never-ending effort to be ready with the latest ideas and designs in the GT market.

The car features a tubular racing frame, Rudge-Borrani wire wheels, Ford's famous "260" engine, pop-up headlights, and an air pressure relief went on the rear deck. All these have been faithfully reproduced in this kit.

In fact the chassis is simply that of an AC with the original Cobra 260 cid engine and stock Dunlop wires as supplied on the AC Cobra.

[sportblazer350]

Had a neighbor that worked at a small raceway here in NJ back in the day. He told me the MPC cars were used as rental cars, and they had a pile of them leftover in the basement of the shop, due to lack of sales. Said they were not considered good cars to race then...

[n.elmholt]

Philippe,

For us guy living far away from LA, your postings are like manna from heaven.

Thanks a lot - and keep the stream flowing...

[TSR]

Thanks, Niels. That's the whole idea: sharing.

[Allan Feldman]

Do you have one with a red one?

The full-size car was indeed silver and metallic red.

I do not have the IMC Cougar kit now. But I did have one in the past.

I am 100% sure it came with a Red body as my painting was not good at the time. I think it might have been reissued in the 1970s under the Testors Famous Fords?

I do have all the trade leaflets for IMC and on the one for the Cougar II it says that the kits body colour was moulded in deep red (not metallic), the interior was moulded in black, and there was a transfer (decal) for the silver roof section. It says it was colours of the car when it was exhibited at the New Yorks Worlds Fair.

Regards,

Allan

[TSR]

That's correct. For some odd reason ours is white.

[klancf51]

I have a Mila Miglia Cougar II box lid up for auction on eBay. I'm auctioning it primarily so that a Cougar II collector can have the opportunity to try assemble the complete packaging.

I've attached a couple of photos for forum members:





I'll try to post more pics later. I'm not commercially involved in slot cars, I just thought this would be of interest and help to collectors of vintage 1/24.

[Gary Bluestone]

That's correct. For some odd reason ours is white.

I also have the IMC model kit molded in white.

Gb

[Horsepower]

I got nuthin'. Thanks for those great pics, chief! It's funny to me because I see this car advertised in a lot of the old magazines and to actually see the REAL car in color brings on a fantastic "deja vu" feeling! PdL, do you think the car was quick because of the chassis or because Mila Miglia made some GREAT wheels and tires back then?

[slotcarone]

I remember the real car from back in the day and really liked the style of it but I spent a lot of time at the '64/65 Worlds fair and don't remember seeing it there.

[klancf51]

I got nuthin'. Thanks for those great pics, chief! It's funny to me because I see this car advertised in a lot of the old magazines and to actually see the REAL car in color brings on a fantastic "deja vu" feeling! PdL, do you think the car was quick because of the chassis or because Mila Miglia made some GREAT wheels and tires back then?

The side of the box describes the components and features - it reads like the bill of material from a scratch build. In my opinion the MM Cougar II was quick because MM did a great job selecting the components and designing them into the chassis. I also ran it with AJs silicones - outstanding! IMO Cougar II was the a truly great 1:24 RTR. I bought it mail order direct from Mila Miglia on closeout - paid $5.00 in 1967 as I recall.

[don.siegel]

Thanks for sharing the story about your purchase; very interesting that it was a factory close-out, especially if it was as early as 1967! Any more hints on the date?

By 1967 it would not have been competitive with scratch-built cars, so maybe that would explain the close-out. The big "bust" in commercial slot racing is usually considered as happening in 1968, but with first glimmers in 1967 (and obsolete cars were being unloaded almost from the beginning).

Mila Miglia did use great components on this car, although the choice of the Tyco motor was a bit strange, and I always wondered why they would choose a body like the Cougar II - not exactly the widest and lowest around at the time!

But there is some feedback here on how competitive the car was at the time, at least competing against other commercially made cars. But wasn't the original retail price something like $19.95? No wonder we never saw those at my local hobby shop!

Don

[32Deuce]

Any idea which Tyco motor was in the Cougar II? It resembles the 951 & 952, the latter being a higher RPM but, could this have been a special wind?

Thanks, Z

[TSR]

Hi Gentlemen,
I repaired the pictures in the opening post that had disappeared.
The car came only in ONE color, and it is that mustard color with silver roof.
Memories may be mistaken here, the real car was at one time, painted in red and some may have had their memory cells crossed many years later...
A clear plastic body was briefly available from Mila Miglia, and it had the full decal sheet with it.

[don.siegel]

Any idea which Tyco motor was in the Cougar II? It resembles the 951 & 952, the latter being a higher RPM but, could this have been a special wind?

Thanks, Z

 

Not quite the same motor, at least if their claims of 35,000 rpm are true (but as a sometime copywriter I noticed they say "up to 35,000 rpm, which means it could be at 50 volts!). 

 

The Tyco 951 is the 6V version, rated at 25,500 rpm, and the 952 is the 12V version, rated at 18,500 rpm (and 27,000 at 17V!). The 12V windings are green, and the 6V windings red. 

 

I managed to pick up a Capulupo in its packet, which I believe is authentic, and the pole pieces are silver instead of black, as on the two Tyco motors. The windings are green. Here are a couple photos, including of the chassis, since there aren't any above... Another interesting point: according to Philippe, the car came with silicones!