85 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

Rick Davis built and drove this car to fastest qualifier at the April 10, 1971 Car Model Magazine race held at Parma Raceway. He had plenty of competition from the likes of Jan Limpach among others and factory teams from Champion and Mura.

 

 

 

When I first saw these pictures I thought it was a 1/24 scale pro car, it's so well proportioned. 

But this is indeed a "Wee Pro Car"..........a 1/32 scale masterpiece.   

 

Here's the August 1971 Car Model Magazine article written by Slotblogger Steve Deiters:

 

(click on pictures to enlarge)

 

 

 

 

Steve said in the article, "There isn't one piece of hardware on the car, save the armature, that isn't either made by Rick, or reworked by him personally."

 

That sounded like a fun build to me! I love scratch building and modifying everything I get my hands on.    

 

This is going to be an "inspired by" build (not a true clone) and I needed to start with making a shortened Mura C-can motor..............

[elvis44102]

dan bloodworth worked at Parma and got us armatures and other parts...dan lived three blocks from the raceway and dan myself and dave smireka would spend the night at his house..i always built at least two cars and gave one to dan to race..i dont remember anything specific from this race (i was 15

 

ron schurr went off to bowling green university and this could have been his last race..him and jan were good friends thanks for bringing back memories lol

 

Parma had weird power and 26 single was a little weak as i ran 27/28s and 25s if i remember correctly

 

looking even again if this was 1/32 that would have put the race on the rear 1/32 track..which i never learned how to drive properly even though i won some kinda ken macdowel 16 and under championship on that track

[dc-65x]

Thanks for sharing your memories John, very cool. 

 

Speaking of armatures I scrounged up a couple of S26's since that's what Rick used and I'm clueless about what works in 1/32 Pro cars.

 

First up is a beautiful hand wound Pooch that will be short enough to fit in the wee C-can:

 

 

 

 

It looks scary fast to me so I also found a machine would Thorp arm. It needed to be shortened at the rear arm spacer:

 

 

It's a S26 also but looks to have twice as many turns as the Pooch. Maybe it's more of a machine wound vs a hand wound thing. 

 

 

 

 

Time to cut up a C-can............

[elvis44102]

we had a few guys who had home basement 1/32 tracks and that's what ron schuur raced by this time..those cars at the time where full sidewinder 13D cans that had more lead on them than u could imagine..this pictured car was NOT the typical 1/32 car lol

 

so we had a bunch of 1/24th pros try to hijack a six lane 1/32nd race with a real 1/32nd racer winning it most probably with a car that looked nothing like the mini 1/24th lol

[Pablo]

LOL Before I read down and discovered it was 1/32 I thought "that can HAS to be shortened" LOL

 

I am going to love this one for sure, Rick      It's gonna love your home track no doubt 

[dc-65x]

It's a really well proportioned car isn't it Pablo. 

 

[NSwanberg]

Chucking the armature poles directling into a 3 jaw chuck. Never thought of doing it that way. I am going to have to cleean up the lathe in the powerhouse.

 

[dc-65x]

I had a thousandth or two of runout with the 3-jaw chuck. A 4-jaw would have been better (why haven't I bought one      ). But I just snuck up on the armature shaft and finished the last couple of thousandths by hand.

[Steve Deiters]

Great Trip down memory lane!

For clarification purposes the 1/32 race was sponsored by "Car Model" magazine. It was run on the six lane road course in the back of the shop. That track would be a dream track for someone with a big basement.  It was not a Tri-State race which was a 1/24 series and did run a couple races at Parma during this era on the Parma King.

[dc-65x]

Davis shortened his C-can about 3/32". I wanted to do at least that much and decided on .110" A problem with doing this is the spot weld holding the can together could be removed. I've tried soldering the sides of the can to hold it together but wasn't happy with the results. I found that the spot weld location varies depending on when the cans were made.  

 

On the left is an early "big bearing" can with the spot weld located mostly below the scribed cut line. On the right is a later generation "small bearing" can. It will still have half of the spot weld in place after cutting:

 

 

Cutting the can:

 

 

 

Comparison of stock and shortened cans. I also opened up and chamfered the two cooling holes a bit:

 

 

The can still need a few more things done.............

[dc-65x]

Hi Steve   

 

Thanks for chiming in. I'll change the thread title from Tri State to Car Model.  

[Bob Appelle]

Rick was a very competitive 1/32 racer in Detroit and the midwest before switching to 1/24. I talked to him yesterday and found out that indeed this was built just for this race and never used again. What I have learned about in our 40 plus year friendship is that if he can't compete for the win, why bother going. I have never seen anyone better prepared for any type of race, whether it's RC or slots.  Bob

[dc-65x]

Thanks for the insight into Rick Davis and his amazing car Bob.

 

I'm finding that building a 1/24 scale Pro car in 1/32 scale is not as easy as..........well........building it in 1/24!  But I'm enjoying the challenge.

 

The new endbell mounting holes were laid out, center punched and drilled:

 

 

Naturally I chose a can with a misshapen back end and didn't notice it. After tapping and squeezing it almost back into shape, a couple of fuzz cut with the mill will make it right:

 

 

Next up are Blue Dot magnets and they are about 1/8" too long............ 

[Bob Appelle]

I talked to Rick Davis again and he told me he thought he still had the car, he has quite a collection of old slot and RC cars. From his early scratch built RC cars to Associated RC 100's, first generation gear drive diff's and many slot cars. A very rare Pete Hagenbauch fiberglass 1/32 body. Well I received a text with photos of the car as it finished the race. I'm told it also is equipped with a custom wind John Greenaway arm. What a piece of slot car history.  Bob

[Bob Appelle]

This has been in sitting in storage since February of 1971. 

 

 

[Half Fast]

Wow still around, great! Interesting aero work on the body.

 

Bob do you mean Jim Greenaway?

 

Cheers

[Bob Appelle]

I think the glue did a good job of preserving the car. I'd love to put fresh tires on it and take a few laps.

[Bob Appelle]

Bill, yes Jim, I always refer to him as John, hey it starts with a J. LOL

[dc-65x]

That's fantastic Bob. Thanks so much for sharing these pictures. I hope you don't mind me rotating the photos so they better match the orientation in the Car Model Magazine.

[SpeedyNH]

nice drill press angle fixture you got there, captain! 

(and i love this build) 

speedy 

[Bob Appelle]

Rick Thigpen no problem, it sure shows a lot more detail than a 49 year old magazine photo. 

[dc-65x]

Thanks again for the pictures Bob.

 

Speedy, that drill press and angle fixture is really handy. 

 

One last thing for the can before shortening the magnets. Rick Davis used a ball bearing in the can so I soldered one in mine. I also enlarged the notch in the back of the can on the axle side like Rick did:

 

[Bob Appelle]

Rick just sent me a few more photos. It looks like a pretty complex build in such a small package to me. Bob

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[Bob Appelle]

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[Bob Appelle]

Rick Thigpen, I hope this helps in your build. Bob