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On this page, I'd like to share with you some of my
older slot-car models. All but two of these models
are true vintage race cars in that I either built or
purchased and raced over thirty five years ago.
older slot-car models. All but two of these models
are true vintage race cars in that I either built or
purchased and raced over thirty five years ago.
This is an overview of my older slot cars that have
remained relatively intact and operable. All
but the Mustang and Camaro in the right rear
of the photodate back to the mid sixties. Most
of the carswere built to replicate real race cars
of the era. Revell and Monogram were the most
popular kits back then. All of the paint jobs on
these cars were done with spray cans and
rubbed out with either Vista wax or polishing
compound.
In the front row from left to right we have a
1/32 scale Porsche 904 built from a stock
Monogram kit.
Next is a model of the '62 Corvette that Don
Yenko raced in class B/production with the
SCCA. The model uses an Aurora 1/32 scale
display kit body mounted on a Revell chassis
with an RP66 open frame motor.
In the center of the front row is a Ford Cobra
Daytona Coupe. This was built from a Model
Hobbies kit and is probably the most
successful slot car I have ever built. On its
maiden outing at the club races it took a
second and five firsts out of a six race evening
(four heats, semi & feature) winning the $5 gift
certificate for the champ of the month ($5
bought a lot more in '65). The model was built
essentially stock except for a Monogram 4.5
volt armature and opening the belly pan for
better motor cooling. However I did spend a
week of evenings trueing the tires, adjusting
the bearings and generally fine tuning the
chassis for optimum performance. The car is
painted with the correct Ford automotive touch
up color and is finished to depict the car that
Dan Gurney drove at Le Mans.
The next model is a Cobra roadster with a
coupe top that ran at Le Mans in the early
sixties. I no longer remember the details of the
prototype and I have had no success locating
the photo's I used to build it in my old
magazine archives. I built this car more as a
display model than a racer. The fender flares
are styrene plastic strip blended with putty.
The interior fuel filler tube from the roof
mounted cap was simulated with a piece of
clear plastic sprue. Runing gear is stock
Revell that came with the kit powered by a
stock Mabuchi can motor.
The Corvette Sting Ray is a model of the class
A/production car that Dr. Dick Thompson
drove for the Grady Davis racing team in
1963. This car was a team mate to the
previously described car of Don Yenko. This
Model is an essentially stock Revell kit with an
open frame RP 77 motor, Tradeship brass
bevel gears and Graupner sponge rear tires.
Travelling back from right to left across the
middle row we have a pair of 330P Ferrari
roadsters. The Ferrari on the right depicts a
North American Racing Team entry driven by
Pedro Rodriguez at the Bridgehampton
Double 500 race on Long Island NY in '63 or
'64. The other Ferrari 330P depicts a factory
team car at Sebring about the same time.
Both models use the later Monogram drop
guide chassis with can motor. The bodies
were manufactured by a British firm whose
name unfortunately, I no longer can recall.
The GTO Ferrari in the center is pretty much
a generic car of no specific prototype. This
model was one of my favorites on my home
track and the body shows the scars.
The next GTO is a model of the car Lew
Spencer drove in west coast events.
On the end is an LM bodied GTO detailed to
depict the car that Phil Hill drove in the
Daytona 24 hour in '64. All three of the GTO
models are stock Monogram kits.
On the back row, travelling once more from
left to right, is a much raced Monogram 1/24
scale rear engined Scarab. The car is painted
in the Mecom racing team colors as raced by
A.J. Foyt and Walt Hansgen in '63 and '64.
The model is stock except for the rear wheels,
tires and a "Lou Marra" rewound motor. Lou
was the local rewind wizard at the time.
Next is a generic 427SC Cobra of the era.
The body is by either Monogram or Revell, I
couldn't find a logo on the inside and no
longer remember. Who would have thought
back then that those two companies would
eventually become one. The chassis and
power are stock Dyna Charger. It once had
side pipes but they didn't survive the rigors of
racing. Although it looked great it didn't
perform as well as the cars on either side of it
in the photo,
The '57 Corvette is a model of one of Don
Yenko's early Corvette racers done in the
Grady Davis team colors. It is a stock Dyna
Charger model except for the Graupner
sponge rear tires and lowered body. This car
and the Scarab were my favorite cars for the
1/24 races at the club events and saw a great
deal racing on the four lane 8'x 40' club track.
Though neither car was likely to pull off a win
both were usually able to make the feature
and were fun to run. I enjoyed them more than
the 1/32 scale cars on the club track as the
track was really too big for the smaller scale
cars. When Monogram introduced thier 1/32
scale Formula 1 Ferrari and Lotus models we
decided to have a race for stock kit entries
only. Everyone but me showed up with either
a red Ferrari or a green and yellow Lotus. Not
wanting to look like all the others I had asked
the club tech officer if changing the color
would be considered a modification and he
said "no". So I had painted my Lotus blue and
white. It turned out to be a real "unfair
advantage". The drivers stand was located
near one end of that 40' long track and with
the tiny 1/32 scale single seaters it was nearly
impossible to tell which one you were
controlling at that distance when several
identical cars were running close together.
The '64 Mercury stock car is a model of "Big
Red" as built by Bud Moore and driven by
Darrell Dieringer in 1965. This was an
experiment to see how much detail I could
incorporate in a functioning slot car racer.
The body is an AMT 1/25 scale "three in one"
display kit. The motor is a Pittman DC-704
hidden in the trunk. The car has a full
NASCAR interior with driver figure as well as a
detailed engine compartment with 427 cid
engine. This car is described in detail with
additional photo's elsewhere on this page.
Today full interiors are not unusual in set cars.
Beyond the Merc are three more 1/32 scale
cars. These are stock Scalextric models. The
Blower Bentley was marketed by Scalextric
about 40 years ago. Alongside the Bentley
are my latest aquisitions from Scalextric, the
Bud Moore/Parnelli Jones Mustang and
Penske/Donohue Camaro Trans Am racers. I
just couldn't pass these up when I saw this set
in a hobby shop. I remember these cars from
first hand experience.
remained relatively intact and operable. All
but the Mustang and Camaro in the right rear
of the photodate back to the mid sixties. Most
of the carswere built to replicate real race cars
of the era. Revell and Monogram were the most
popular kits back then. All of the paint jobs on
these cars were done with spray cans and
rubbed out with either Vista wax or polishing
compound.
In the front row from left to right we have a
1/32 scale Porsche 904 built from a stock
Monogram kit.
Next is a model of the '62 Corvette that Don
Yenko raced in class B/production with the
SCCA. The model uses an Aurora 1/32 scale
display kit body mounted on a Revell chassis
with an RP66 open frame motor.
In the center of the front row is a Ford Cobra
Daytona Coupe. This was built from a Model
Hobbies kit and is probably the most
successful slot car I have ever built. On its
maiden outing at the club races it took a
second and five firsts out of a six race evening
(four heats, semi & feature) winning the $5 gift
certificate for the champ of the month ($5
bought a lot more in '65). The model was built
essentially stock except for a Monogram 4.5
volt armature and opening the belly pan for
better motor cooling. However I did spend a
week of evenings trueing the tires, adjusting
the bearings and generally fine tuning the
chassis for optimum performance. The car is
painted with the correct Ford automotive touch
up color and is finished to depict the car that
Dan Gurney drove at Le Mans.
The next model is a Cobra roadster with a
coupe top that ran at Le Mans in the early
sixties. I no longer remember the details of the
prototype and I have had no success locating
the photo's I used to build it in my old
magazine archives. I built this car more as a
display model than a racer. The fender flares
are styrene plastic strip blended with putty.
The interior fuel filler tube from the roof
mounted cap was simulated with a piece of
clear plastic sprue. Runing gear is stock
Revell that came with the kit powered by a
stock Mabuchi can motor.
The Corvette Sting Ray is a model of the class
A/production car that Dr. Dick Thompson
drove for the Grady Davis racing team in
1963. This car was a team mate to the
previously described car of Don Yenko. This
Model is an essentially stock Revell kit with an
open frame RP 77 motor, Tradeship brass
bevel gears and Graupner sponge rear tires.
Travelling back from right to left across the
middle row we have a pair of 330P Ferrari
roadsters. The Ferrari on the right depicts a
North American Racing Team entry driven by
Pedro Rodriguez at the Bridgehampton
Double 500 race on Long Island NY in '63 or
'64. The other Ferrari 330P depicts a factory
team car at Sebring about the same time.
Both models use the later Monogram drop
guide chassis with can motor. The bodies
were manufactured by a British firm whose
name unfortunately, I no longer can recall.
The GTO Ferrari in the center is pretty much
a generic car of no specific prototype. This
model was one of my favorites on my home
track and the body shows the scars.
The next GTO is a model of the car Lew
Spencer drove in west coast events.
On the end is an LM bodied GTO detailed to
depict the car that Phil Hill drove in the
Daytona 24 hour in '64. All three of the GTO
models are stock Monogram kits.
On the back row, travelling once more from
left to right, is a much raced Monogram 1/24
scale rear engined Scarab. The car is painted
in the Mecom racing team colors as raced by
A.J. Foyt and Walt Hansgen in '63 and '64.
The model is stock except for the rear wheels,
tires and a "Lou Marra" rewound motor. Lou
was the local rewind wizard at the time.
Next is a generic 427SC Cobra of the era.
The body is by either Monogram or Revell, I
couldn't find a logo on the inside and no
longer remember. Who would have thought
back then that those two companies would
eventually become one. The chassis and
power are stock Dyna Charger. It once had
side pipes but they didn't survive the rigors of
racing. Although it looked great it didn't
perform as well as the cars on either side of it
in the photo,
The '57 Corvette is a model of one of Don
Yenko's early Corvette racers done in the
Grady Davis team colors. It is a stock Dyna
Charger model except for the Graupner
sponge rear tires and lowered body. This car
and the Scarab were my favorite cars for the
1/24 races at the club events and saw a great
deal racing on the four lane 8'x 40' club track.
Though neither car was likely to pull off a win
both were usually able to make the feature
and were fun to run. I enjoyed them more than
the 1/32 scale cars on the club track as the
track was really too big for the smaller scale
cars. When Monogram introduced thier 1/32
scale Formula 1 Ferrari and Lotus models we
decided to have a race for stock kit entries
only. Everyone but me showed up with either
a red Ferrari or a green and yellow Lotus. Not
wanting to look like all the others I had asked
the club tech officer if changing the color
would be considered a modification and he
said "no". So I had painted my Lotus blue and
white. It turned out to be a real "unfair
advantage". The drivers stand was located
near one end of that 40' long track and with
the tiny 1/32 scale single seaters it was nearly
impossible to tell which one you were
controlling at that distance when several
identical cars were running close together.
The '64 Mercury stock car is a model of "Big
Red" as built by Bud Moore and driven by
Darrell Dieringer in 1965. This was an
experiment to see how much detail I could
incorporate in a functioning slot car racer.
The body is an AMT 1/25 scale "three in one"
display kit. The motor is a Pittman DC-704
hidden in the trunk. The car has a full
NASCAR interior with driver figure as well as a
detailed engine compartment with 427 cid
engine. This car is described in detail with
additional photo's elsewhere on this page.
Today full interiors are not unusual in set cars.
Beyond the Merc are three more 1/32 scale
cars. These are stock Scalextric models. The
Blower Bentley was marketed by Scalextric
about 40 years ago. Alongside the Bentley
are my latest aquisitions from Scalextric, the
Bud Moore/Parnelli Jones Mustang and
Penske/Donohue Camaro Trans Am racers. I
just couldn't pass these up when I saw this set
in a hobby shop. I remember these cars from
first hand experience.
The past and present from Scalextric. The models are separated by
approximately as many years as the prototypes they represent.
approximately as many years as the prototypes they represent.
History in miniature. Ferrari and Ford as they were in 1964.
"Big Red" as Bud Moore's Merc was known in 1965 after the factory
withdrew support. Perhaps today, nearly 40 years after the model was
built I can finally secure a proper set of decals from Fred Cady or JNJ.
withdrew support. Perhaps today, nearly 40 years after the model was
built I can finally secure a proper set of decals from Fred Cady or JNJ.
This shows the homemade brass tube chassis with drop guide fitted
to a modified aluminum motor mount with the Pittman DC-704 motor.
to a modified aluminum motor mount with the Pittman DC-704 motor.
A posed shot depicting a GTO Ferrari overtaking Don Yenko's
Corvette perhaps at Sebring.
Corvette perhaps at Sebring.
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