40 replies to this topic

[Slot Car Rod]

I just rebuilt one of my first 1/24th scale slot cars from a few bits of the original car I found.  The car is a Monogram Porsche 904 powered by twin Eldon 12 volt motors.  I ran this car at Alameda Speedway around 1965, and it was pretty competitive with the other kids' cars.  36D non-heatsink endbell motors recently came out, and these motors populated most of the kids' cars.  I installed two Eldon 12 volt motors in my Monogram Scarab kit car, and changed the body to a Monogram Porsche 904.  The Porsche model kit was purchased at Alameda Hobby/Craft which was a few blocks up the street from Alameda Speedway.

 

Originally the twin motors were screwed into the Monogram chassis from the sides.  The Eldon motor cans and endbells were tapped for self-tapping screws.  With the rebuild, a brass motor bracket was made to mount the can end of the motors to the chassis.  The silicon rear tires used are still on the car.  The extra set of rear wheels shown are from the kit.  The body is painted with touch up paint.  My dad had a Chevy that was the same color.

 

The car has the same speed as non-heat sink 36D cars, but with the twin Eldon motors mounted low, the car handled better than the 36D cars in the series of "S" turns both Alameda Speedway tracks had.  Maybe I just lucked out with the car having good weight distribution.

 

Check out the Alameda Speedway pictures from 1965 from the Weekender.

 

 

[Isaac S.]

Cool car. Love the background story. Interesting motor mounting system. With the extra expense of two motors, was this more or less than a Dynamic kit with a motor like a Kemtron X503 or Pittman DC-65? 

[Slot Car Rod]

Isaac, the motors came out of my 1/32nd scale Eldon cars.  Probably not my first choice in motors, but they were available.  The Monogram car was a present from an uncle.  He had a connection with a toy wholesaler and let me pick the kit out from a catalog.

 

As my wife reminds me, I was 10 years old in 1965.  I would load up the car and Cox controller in a paper bag and take the 64 bus to the track.

[Isaac S.]

You work with what you got. Makes sense, thanks. 

[Bill from NH]

Rodney, the car looks new, nice restoration! The paint looks good. If I didn't know better, I might think those dual motors were a factory installation. Do you know if those Eldon motors have practically neutral timing? I notice one runs clockwise, the other counter-clockwise. I'm not familiar with Eldon's motors, but assume low timing. Thanks for sharing the Alameda Speedway photos. It's a place I've heard about, but had never seen before. Any idea if the track was locally built?

[Isaac S.]

Bill, there's no timing on these things. If they had added any timing to these motors the torque would be decreased significantly. 

[Slot Car Rod]

Yes, zero timing on the Eldon motors.  The Nor Cal track builder built quite a few tracks in the Oakland East Bay area.

 

Hobby Track Raceways in San Leandro

 

 

Ken and his box of cars.  Cheetah, Ferrari, Corvair Sports, Corvette, Porsche

 

Thorney the bulldog a slot car fan

 

More pictures San Leandro

 

[Alchemist]

Rodney,

 

 

I had never had the opportunity to visit these tracks and I really appreciate your willingness to share these photos.

 

It amazes me that you still have your first slot cars - awesome! ! !

 

Thanks for sharing these photos Rodney.

 

Ernie

[Alchemist]

By the way Rodney,

 

Would you happen to have any photos of the slot car track in Oakland please, the one located on Park Blvd - if I remember correctly if this was the street it was located on?!

 

Thank you Rodney.

 

Ernie

[Isaac S.]

Ernie, see the "Oakland Speedway Memories" thread and you will see lots of photos of that raceway. 

[Slot Car Rod]

Thanks Isaac.  More pictures of Oakland Speedway to follow in a future thread.

[Bill from NH]

Nice tracks Rodney! I can see why Choti racing was so popular. 

[Isaac S.]

 

 

Here is where my Choti's raced. The "Purple Mile" at Playland. Previous owner said that he pretty much only raced the cars on the Sovereign. 

[Slot Car Rod]

The late Ben Jones wrote an unpublished article on the Sovereign in San Francisco.  I now have the article.  This track was part of Playland Model Car Raceway in San Francisco, and was Ben's local track.   One day, I will post Ben's article.

 

Ben states in the article that the track was most certainly blue!  In the Bay Area, it was known as the "BLUE SOVEREIGN". 

 

Eric remembers the track as blue also.  Eric ran, of all slot cars, a 1/32nd scale Cucaracha on the 220' monster track.  I ran at the raceway a few times, but never ran on the Sovereign.  Track time was based on the track, and the Sovereign was the most expensive.  I ran on the smaller tracks due to cost, and the smaller tracks seemed to be in use more  It was fun running with others.

 

Ben also recounts what happened to this particular track.  Don Ellis had the track at Don's Hobbies in Hayward ('72-'73) and in late '73 early '74 had portions of the track at Family Hobby in San Leandro (Don only used one finger of the track and a shorter straightaway).  Later, Don's Family Hobby moved across the street and turned into a hobby shop only. 

 

I ran on what was left of the track in San Leandro.  It was horrible to run on, with no driving flow.  The track did fit in the store, though.  My friend Robert and I regularly ran on the drag strip at Family Hobby.  We believe the drag strip also came from Playland.

 

When I asked Don what happened to the track, he grinned with a mischievous look and said yes, he was the one who cut up the Playland Sovereign track and eventually hauled it to the dump.

 

[Bill from NH]

Blue walls or purple walls, not my fight. The Sovereign sitting in Ashland, MA  is purple & was purple when found in Odessa, TX, during the early 2000s. Everyone has been saying it's the former Playland Sovereign ever since then. I'm not familiar with this track, wherever it came from, like I was the former  Modelville Hobby Sovereign that was in Framingham, MA on Speen St... It may seem a bit ironic, but from 1969-71 I lived in Ashland, a thousand feet from when the Sovereign now sits.

[Slot Car Rod]

I think it is great that a Sovereign still exists.  Almost anything is possible regarding the track history.  Did you know that PLAYLAND MODELCAR RACEWAYS moved once and had two locations in San Francisco?  I ran at both locations.  Who knows what changed when they moved.

 

Eric said he ran his 1/32 Cucaracha at Alameda when some racers were testing Choti cars with fins.  The racers were getting mad that his little car was getting in the way (in the turns) with their testing.

[Isaac S.]

I've heard the color argument before. After lots of research and thinking I have come up with an opinion on both color and what happened to Sovereigns in general, the Playland track and where the Ashland, MA track came from.

 

I think that the track in the first picture I show was actually the BLUE Playland Sovereign but the guys at American re-colored the guards purple. It was taken in approx. April to early May of 1965.

 

The 2nd picture shows a Sovereign from the Bellaire Family Hobby Center that actually was PURPLE. It was taken approx. Sept. 1965. 

 

The 3rd photo is of the Playland track in black and white and un-staged. It was taken approx. Aug. 1965. 

 

The Playland track was the American prototype and was built just for Playland and was the 1st built. I think this is why it was blue and not purple, they didn't have it figured out yet. The first picture is for the buyers catalog so they re-colored so the buyer knew what they were getting. I think the Bellaire track was the 2nd built and by that time it was no longer a prototype. The 3rd track is most likely the one from Georgia Hobby Center which would have been from Feb. 1966. The one from Atlanta and Bellaire is gone. What I think happened is that parts of the Playland track (like the control panel marked June 1965 which could only be the Playland track) got mixed with pieces of another Sovereign that was painted Purple so the guards were repainted purple. The whole Playland track could not have been used since, as you stated, at least part of it was trashed. This is what I heard also. 

 

There you go, I could be very wrong. These things have had a long life. 

[Slot Car Rod]

Thanks Isaac.  Getting back to the topic, here are more pictures from the Weekender.

 

The starting line

 

Six year old racer Jacqulyn

 

 

Used car lot

 

The Codys

 

[Isaac S.]

Great pictures! Thanks. 

[Mike Patterson]

The Playland track was the American prototype and was built just for Playland and was the 1st built. I think this is why it was blue and not purple, they didn't have it figured out yet.

If this statement is true, I'm wondering if the reason it was blue is because it was pieced together from various King track parts. Extend the main straight and the one into the deadman, make the bank steeper and the radius larger, add a couple of short straights in the donut. Cover it all in purple Formica®, and call it a day.

[Slot Car Rod]

Two more pictures from '65.

 

California Hobby Center San Leandro

 

[Isaac S.]

Mike, I would doubt this. The King is a light blue while the Playland track was a dark blue. 

[Bill from NH]

The Blue King supposedly came out after the initial offerings of AMCR tracks, Including the Sovereign.

[Isaac S.]

That is true too Bill. 

[Slot Car Rod]

Al, the owner of a local hobby shop, gave me local racer Greg Marshall's box of cars to restore.  These cars were raced on the tracks shown above.  Enjoy this time capsule from 1965.

 

 

The silver car is a Tojeiro Climax (Lancer body)

 

 

 

Three KTM motors and a Pittman