[Larry LS]

Salvaged a few more of my old slot car pictures.This will be about all that will be worth putting up as I was so bad at photography then with the camera I had, the rest are not worth reworking. Sure taking shots of my stuff now though.

I am enjoying seeing them again though.

These are typical of my favorite cars of the era "big Fast and Noisy"

The dates listed are approximate of when the pictures were taken not of the year of the cars manufacture. And my dates may be off a bit do to a memory malfunction.

Most of the bodies were made by either Lancer or Dynamic.

 

[Russell Sheldon]

Wonderful stuff, Larry! Are those Dynamic "Handling" bodies?

Kind regards

Russell

 

[Larry LS]

Yes by this time I guess they mostly were the handling bodies and were used to gain the width and downforce of the wider bodies. We at least did detail them out a bit more than others did and this was just before the dreaded rear winglets and front chin spoilers started showing up and then the side wings.

Chassis at that time were still mostly brass rod/sheet with some music wire rod used as the center sections. Drop arms were gone and Iso Fulcrum and plumber type frames were just about in vogue. They were all anglewinders by then with still a rewind or two of mine but I was starting to use mostly the Mura rewinds by Green or arms by Thorp and Lenz. I could not get mine balanced as well as they could be bought, so I stopped rewinding then.

Most all my old chassis are long gone, though a friend of mine may have one or two in his vintage car collection. I got rid of stuff fast and either sold or gave them away after I was done with them.

Larry S.

 

[Fergy]

Larry, I had some of those same bodies, although mine didn't look quite as nice! Some of them were definitely used in the early wing car days too - I can remember [sacrilege mode on] wrapping mylar around the rear of them [sacrilege mode off], the 612 and McLaren if memory serves me.

I clearly recall having several of the Lola Can-Am bodies - they were one of the last 1/24 shells that I spent any time on trying to detail - I really liked them. By '68 I was racing 1/32 club stuff as a diversion to maintain some level of participation in scale-appearing racing.

Thanks for the pics - it's like looking into my own past!

 

[jonny s]

They just have a look that appeals to me, really like this era of car

 

[endbelldrive]

Very nice, Larry. You remember correctly Fergy. Rules in many areas...back before 1970, allowed for 3/4" rear spoilers and side dams that extended up to 1/2" (memory very hazy...) in front of the centre of the rear axle. 1/2" front diaplanes were allowed on the front. A small hand help stapler was the tool of choice to mount the air control devices to the body. They were a look into "shapes of things to come".

The Lancer Ferrari 612 and Lola T-162 were personal favourites as they came with crisp shut lines, scoop, vent and rivet detail regardless of liberties taken with the proportions. Unfortunately, terrible paint jobs were the norm around this household.

Bob S.

 

[GRAH1]

Lancer bodies were an expensive fantasy for most of us over here Larry ,but Gordon Tappsels GT bodies where an afordable alturnative .Whish I still had some now .I didnt keep many of my 24th stuff from this era unfortunatly but I recently obtained a cucheracha chassis so I can now re create my first realy quick 24th car

if i can find a GT models Mclaren m6a

 

[Fergy]

QUOTE A small hand help stapler was the tool of choice to mount the air control devices

Yes, Bob, and this is one tool I don't miss using with my slot cars!

Funny, even though I 'went with the flow' through the whole era of transformation from slot cars that looked like cars to those that look like brightly painted doorstops, I always hated the appearance and looked to 1/32 to satisfy the part of me that felt I was committing a transgression. 30+ years later, I'm back in 1/32. Guess those 1/24 sins carried a very long sentence!

 

[howmet tx]

Aw c'mon chaps! Some of those cars were absolute works of art. Beautiful fade jobs, off the wall colour schemes.. They didn't look so much like real cars but they had style. Well the best ones did. I loved them then and still do. I remember when Lexan first appeared- the chap from Taylormade used to visit our club on race nights with a big box of goodies for sale- cleaned us out every week. But this one night he'd brought a bunch of bodies we'd ordered. He handed them out, took the money (mine was a 908 I believe). Then he did his sales stunt- said he'd swap them all back for his new US Lancer bodies, plus another two quid or so (something very substantial anyway!). Would'nt say why. Wouldn't let us see the US shells. Psychology. Us wimps held on to what we had (I'd been saving for my Porsche 908 for weeks). The brave guys took him on, handed back their GT bodies, plus the dosh, and he pulled out the Lancers. But he didn't hand them over, he screwed them up like waste paper and threw them. When they flipped back into shape without a crease or a split, the brave guys realised they'd got a bargain. My 908 was a smashed up wreck within a week, but the lexan McLarens went on forever. Well, the paint fell off at first, but that's another story....

 

[howmet tx]

Oh yes, and stapling on those air dams and spoilers- a black art if ever there was one! Mainly watch what the other guys do. Then trim down, stick a bit more on- just to keep the competition guessing....

 

[Fergy]

Well, Howmet, I did what I could with those cars. Made them as good looking as they deserved. And some of mine were probably much better than most. But it always felt like I was caught in some weird Picasso painting, where, of course, cars didn't look like cars but it was possible to catch a passing ressemblance. Try as I might, I found them impossible to love, even though though they consumed me - I raced them for the sake of racing the ultimate, in terms of speed. I don't regret being a part of that era (far from it!), but I'm glad that maturity and opportunity have allowed me to escape from that Picasso world and own slot cars that actually look like cars again.

Note to self... wine with dinner induces babbling...

 

[Russell Sheldon]

I agree, there was something magical about the 'non-scale' fade-spray paint schemes and white panel-lines that the Tottenham guys did:-

Here's a picture of a US early "wing" 1/24th car from a few years later, courtesy of PDL:-

Then came sidedams...

Sidedams... hoo-boy! In South Africa, from the late 70s through mid 80s, we raced 1/32nd cars with 1/2" 'O' ring front wheels.... and sidedams! Practically everyone was using the Betta Ferrari 312P "silhouette" body. We attached the sidedams and wing with clear double-sided tape, rather than with staples. Who remembers those dreaded ASP sponge tyres....? Good for just 3 minutes of racing; many a race was lost through running out of rubber! But at least they were black!

Here's a picture of a late example of a SA 1/32nd wing-car... no comments, please!

Kind regards

Russell

 

[howmet tx]

Yes! Russell- if I'm not mistaken the yellow Lola no9 with the deck chair for a passenger seat is the work of the GREAT Barry Magee. Where who how what now? A true artist, engineer, racer and gentleman. Great Moustache, too.

 

[GRAH1]

Barry certainly inspired us lesser mortals at the time and gave us all a driving lesson as well

 

[JOHN SECCHI]

Graham
Try the Betta 1/24 M6A it's a very close copy of the GT models version.
The Dynamic McLaren GT in the first picture is availabe as a repro from Sunset in Australia, along with a range of others from this era. Many of the Lancer/Russkit shells [the Russkit Elfin on the cover of Model Cars in Russells post for example] are being reproduced by Booth in the States [in Lexan], some are better than others but once painted they all look fine.
If any of you have or want to build and race 1/24 cars from this era then the Tottenham Retro meetings [rules and last race reports can be found on Chris Frost site] that we organise at NLondon/Oaklands and Luton from time to time are for you, hope to have a meeting sometime in early summer so stay tuned.
[oneofwos]

 

[JOHN SECCHI]

Howmet
Bob Hallums [another Tottenham jet] told me that he ran in to Barry 4/5 years ago while racing at an EEC endurance race in Uden [Holland]. Barry had moved there after Tottenham closed down in the mid 70's and has remained ever since, however he has not been involved with slot cars for many years.
[oneofwos]

 

[JohnP]

Thanks for showing us some great cars there Larry. Sorry to hear these pictures are the last of the line - hopefully you can salvage one or two more some day. Thanks too Russell - great stuff also

howmet, to a young firebrand such as yourself the temptation to land one on that smart a*** (alec

) salesman must have been almost irresistable! Still, I guess you're already in enough hot water with Inspector Thumb. No point in compounding the problem!

 

[howmet tx]

Nice to hear about Barry. It's a shame he's not racing anymore. I seem to remember he went into R/C racing for while, scratchbuilding the whole thing- engine included! I couldn't afford to follow that direction, so...
And he was a man not unfamiliar with the mysteries of the truss rod either, JP.
Gad- I've got to get to one of these retro races soon!

 

[bwaminispeed]

QUOTE And he was a man not unfamiliar with the mysteries of the truss rod either
HHHMMMM,my Banjo has a Truss Rod.

 

[David Lawson]

QUOTE (JOHN SECCHI @ 14 Mar 2004, 11:39 AM)Graham
Try the Betta 1/24 M6A it's a very close copy of the GT models version.
I believe the Betta shell is the M8A and they also do a very nice M20.

David