Table Top Racers and Arm Chair Drivers

[Thomas E]

I was really pleased to see the threads of Paul's Model Racing Cars and Tims Model Race Cars.

They have done some real clean beautiful cars. I have been car modeling for a number of years and my favorite build was and still is the Monogram Midget kit PC-1. Also a lot of AMT '32 Ford coupes, Monogram '30 Ford Model A's, a few AMT '40, '56 and '57 Fords; all of which have been re-issued several times.

I have also wondered how many builders recreated any of the Englewood Speedway stockers or cut downs. That would be interesting to know, especially Joe Lehman's number 6.

Monogram Models Midget Race car kit PC-1. Many said it was Kurtis Kraft midget, but I always thought it is more of a Roy Richter midget, that is Roy Richter Bell helmets and other competition products.


Monogram Models Midget Race Car, kit PC-1

[Thomas E]

Here are new kits from Revell that have really great possiblities . . .

All four are new tools.

The '32 Ford five-window does not a flat head, some kit bashing and parts boxes could take care of that.

Next the '32 Ford sedan has a hi-po flathead.

Then '40 Ford Standard Coupe could fit the bill for those fat fender cars that were run at Englewood Speedway. There is also the Revell/Monogram '37 Ford Coupe and flat back sedan.

Enter the '57 Chevrolet "Black Widow" 150 Utility Sedan. This kit has both engines, carbureted and fuel injected, no back seat, etc.; I saw this when it came out and I thought of Junior Reeder, and some of the guys that ran at CNS in the 60's and 70's. Take the Revell '56 Chevrolet Del Ray two-sedan and you could come up with some of the cars that also ran at Englewood and CNS; at CNS I remember Corky Blair running a '56 Chevrolet number 69.

The '30 Ford Model A is scheduled for a re-issue release.

[Thomas E]

Here are two kits from AMT that were re-issued for building a jalopy modified.

These two kits are the basic issue kit in new box art, however in order to build the cars pitured on the box art they come with extra instructions and building tips and listings of where to get the extra needed parts from online modeling sources.

They are availabe from various online hobby dealers and on ebay once in a while.

'32 Ford Coupe and the '32 Ford Victoria . . . And here is the Revell '56 Chevrolet Del Ray two-door sedan.

[Thomas E]

Here are some kits that have Englewood Figure Eight written all over them.

Especially the '58 Plymouth Belvedere (not Fury), number 18.

[Thomas E]

Here is another great kit that has great potential for some the '55 Chevys that ran at CNS, Lakeside and Englewood Speedways.

The Amt 1955 Chevrolet Belair two-door sedan. It's a good kit.

The back seat is molded into the interior tub, but that can be remedied with plat sheet white plastic and cut, trim to fit, and glue. The frame has the exhaust and muffler molded in too, a bit of grinding will take care of that, but it will leave some holes to fill.


AMT '55 Chevrolet and the potential for a great build . . .

[Thomas E]

One of my favorite cars from the 50's is the 1958 Edsel Pacer. There were a few that were raced at local tracks around the states.

One such car was number 19 Edsel Pacer driven by Jim Malloy. It was a very controversial car to say the least.

The AMT 1958 Edsel Pacer, is another good kit.

Very detailed, with separte frame, floor board, exhaust, etc. With some effort and patient building skills it could be turned into a good Saturday night special.


AMT 1958 Edsel Pacer and a good subject to build in scale #19 Edsel . . .

[Thomas E]

Here is the AMT 1956 Ford Victoria hardtop.

It is also a good kit. Requires a bit of chassis work to remove the mufflers and exhaust. It has posable steering, open face wheels; no back seat, that is a plus for building a circle burner or F-8er.

Which brought to mind Cliff Hudson.

AMT '56 Ford and Cliff Hudson (I borrowed Cliff's pic)

[webby]

These guys have done some pretty impressive stuff with their vintage slot car midgets (http://www.slotcarillustrated.com/portal/forums/showthread.php?p=306088#post306088).

[Olen McGuire]

Hey Webby, those are neat slot car midgets. I did my share of slot cars racing when it was going real big in the late 60's and early 70's.I would rewind my on motors and had a lot of money tied up in it.When Jerry Lee got older I gave him all my tools and boxes of stuff.It was real serious stuff in those days.~Olen
:sportsman:

[Thomas E]

Oh the memories you brought back when posted "Slot Cars"

Pat Frazier and me ran slot car modifieds at Mayo's Hobby Shop #1 on South Federal and #2 on West Alalmeda in Denver in the 60's. We also ran at a slot car car/hobby shop in Bear Valley Shopping Center on South Sheridan and Hampden, that is where I ran a purple #50 Englewood cut-down, wasn't that a Jack Duckworth car.

We used clear plastic '32 Ford coupes, built our own brass tubbing frames with roll bars and nerfing irons, and we painted them from the inside and cut our the windows. I had 5 cars, Jim Malloy's red #1 Elmer Sauer's white #5 and Jack Thoms #85, Joe Lehman's blue #6 cut-down, Sam Sauer's green #42; Pat Frazier's 4 cars were Billy Yaughn's white #87 and Blu Plemons blue #4, Donnie Wilson's black #19, Doug Plue's blue #40.

The Jim Malloy and Joe Lehman cars required a Monogram '30 Ford model A body and hood, Joe's car was narrowed for accuracy as well, the A bodies weren't as resilient as the clear body cars, but they were fast and fun. In the Joe Lehman car I put a grain of wheat red light (for HO scale) up in cowl that would light up when the car was under way for that Englewood Speedway look just like Joe's.

[thpracing]

man, we're really showing our age---I used to run 1/32nd scale slot cars at both celebrity sports center on colo blvd in glendale, and Jimbo's over at mississippi and gaylord---all brass chassis (hand made and soldered) with Stubie motors---I can still smell the tire softeners we used back then----now I will have to find old photo's of those cars' and upload pics of my models--I have some going back to 1958 (according to my mom, I started building when I was 3---more glue than plastic?)--still get a kick out of it---wish I still had my slot cars though-----kt

[Jerry Lee]

Wow, I kind of wish now that I could have found some of those coupe bodied kits and made some of those instead of all those Figure Eighters I did. I had most of those '50's kits you showed there Thomas, but I really wish I had found that '53 Ford Vick kit. Closest I could get to those was the '49 Ford kits. Maybe they didn't make them back when I was building in the late '70's. Don't know.

As for slot cars, I still have your stuff Dad! Slot racing seemed to make a come back around here in the early '90's and my buddy and I really went hogwild into it. We ran a couple nights a week at different tracks and on Sundays we ran Sprint cars on a really big oval track at one place. Our Sprinters weren't as detailed and cool as the ones in the link Webby posted, but they were sure a lot of fun.

Haaa! In fact, I just remembered that we used to race slot cars every Wednesday night with Dave and Tommy Roe back in the day. Tommy was just a little kid, and I still own a controller I bought from Dave with Tommy's name still on it! Man, times have sure changed!

[Thomas E]

Here are some of the Ford's that were really popular. Still avaiable through some online model car dealers some on ebay.

AMT 1936 Ford 5-window, good kit, great fat fender stocker.

AMT 1934 Ford 5-window coupe, with some work would be a great jalopy/modified build.

AMT 1934 Ford 2 sedan, again with some work this would be a great jalopy/stocker.

AMT 1934 Ford 3-window, a rare find. They could have done a better job, but it is doable.

Monogram 1934 Ford 3-window, this is good kit. It is out of production, but has been at online sellers. The original kit of this is expensive.

[lakeside #29]

Slot cars were a lot of fun. When I was in high school we a had place at Colfax and Dayton where we used to hang out. He guy that owned it had an over and under figure 8 track that nobody used, so he and a buddy that must have been an electrian lowered the over part and figured out how to make he intersection actually work. It took about a month to get the wiring sorted out. It worked perfect. We sure tore up a lot of plastic bodies. I had a Harvey Aluminum Special body on a die cast frame with a Pitman 70 motor, it was faster than stink. I used to go to a track at Colfax and York. It had a huge road coarse my car could out run the resident pro. I built an AMT 1/32 '32 Ford 3 window modified. We built a 6 cylinder out 1/25 parts and built long heders out of brass tubing. I had a vacuum formed '32 5-window that was painted like Pat VanDyke's #50, it had a Pitman 50 motor. I had a buddy that was into rewinding motors. He built an Anglia gasser with a big Mabuchi can motor that he rewound. We took it to a track at 17th and Peoria. He tested it on the drag strip at 6, 12, 24, 36 and finally 48 volts. It made 12 runs on 48 volts before the commutator exploded. We had fun while it lasted.

Thanks for starting this thread

Chris Ertler-"professor coupe"

[Thomas E]

Here are a couple of kits that some real potential for some of the old Englewood fat fender cars.

Revell's '37 Ford coupe and '37 Ford 2-door sedan flat back.

Both kits have the basics of a street rod and have small block Chevys; but if a flathead is desired, some kit bashing and the old parts box can yield what basics are needed to build a good jalopy stocker.


'37 Ford coupe - - - '37 Ford 2-door sedan.

[Thomas E]

I have always wondered why AMT, Revell, Monogram, haven't done more Chevrolets from the 30's. I think that the '32-'34 would have a good pick, with the '34 Chevy think Wayne Stallsworth and #52. However there are two '32 Chevys, one is a roadster and the other a sedan delivery by MPC. Revell-Monogram has a '39 Chevy hot rod with a big block.

You can get the '37 Chevrolet coupe, it has a straight six, and a big block, with a bit of effort it could be turned into a decent jalopy stocker.

I don't recall seeing very many '37 Chevrolets at Lakeside or Englewood Speedways.

This is out of production, but be purchased from online dealers, also ebay.

AMT's '37 Chevrolet Coupe. The box art has been changed a few times.

[Thomas E]

Here are two AMT oldies but goodies . . .

1957 Chevrolet Belair hard top and the 1957 Ford Fairlane hardtop.

Both since the original production in 1962 have issued, re-issued, re-released, with box art changes and changes in the extra parts, etc.

They are both great builds for F-8, "Stocker", CNS early years late model or later years Bomber. With kit bashing and parts box stuff the possibilities are almost endless.

AMT '57 Chevrolet :checker: AMT '57 Ford :checker:

[parrot]

I have always wondered why AMT, Revell, Monogram, haven't done more Chevrolets from the 30's. I think that the '32-'34 would have a good pick, with the '34 Chevy think Wayne Stallsworth and #52. However there are two '32 Chevys, one is a roadster and the other a sedan delivery by MPC. Revell-Monogram has a '39 Chevy hot rod with a big block.

You can get the '37 Chevrolet coupe, it has a straight six, and a big block, with a bit of effort it could be turned into a decent jalopy stocker.

I don't recall seeing very many '37 Chevrolets at Lakeside or Englewood Speedways.

This is out of production, but be purchased from online dealers, also ebay.

AMT's '37 Chevrolet Coupe. The box art has been changed a few times.

Thomas, you are right, there wern't many late thirties Chevys at Lakeside, but I remember one; Tony Onorato, a die hard Chevy guy, had one in '53, #85. Doesn't show up well, but is about 6th photo down in the John Guttormson profile. I think CARC7 has a better photo. Thought I did, but couldn't put my finger on it right now. That first '37 Chevy kit box you pictured is one I still have. Used that body to make a fiberglass mold for a '60s eastern style modified slot car body. One of the CVOR guys has a real one of those, looked pretty cool going around the CNS track couple of Sundays ago. During the sixties, back east, the '35-'38 Chevy bodied cars were really popular as modifieds. BP

[carc7]

Thomas E: I have personally seen the model that Jerry Tolliver is making of Joe Lehman's #6 orange Englewood car. He's SCRATCHBUILDING the entire car (except maybe the engine) out of brass and aluminum sheet. He showed it to me at the 2008 OldTimers' Reunion picnic. I mean, the steering works, it has knockoffs, hand-made springs and shocks. . . the man is AMAZING! He lives close to Joe so he could just walk down and look at any part he needed to reproduce. If you know Jerry, you should ask to see how that's coming!

[Thomas E]

Thomas E: I have personally seen the model that Jerry Tolliver is making of Joe Lehman's #6 orange Englewood car. He's SCRATCHBUILDING the entire car (except maybe the engine) out of brass and aluminum sheet. He showed it to me at the 2008 OldTimers' Reunion picnic. I mean, the steering works, it has knockoffs, hand-made springs and shocks. . . the man is AMAZING! He lives close to Joe so he could just walk down and look at any part he needed to reproduce. If you know Jerry, you should ask to see how that's coming!

I've not met Jerry. But your description of his scale model from the ground up of Joe's 1:1 #6 makes that one-of-a-kind scratch built a thing of beauty to behold. I hope he'll post photos when it is done.

[Thomas E]

Finally!

After all the years of AMT and Revell tri-five Chevys. And the lone AMT '56 Ford Victoria and '57 Ford Fairlane.

In the Revell 2012 releases, no release date, although mid 2012 has been mentioned, is the...
1957 Ford Custom, 2 door sedan.
I can plan ahead to build some of the cars (including my #121) that I ran at CNS, and some of Englewood cars that ran in 60-70's. And don't forget the '57 Ford Tudor NASCAR's.

The photo is a bit hazy, but we have and idea of what's ahead.