[SAMPSON]

Hi,heres a rather rare conversion kit made for 1/40 scale diecast Crescent cars. This kit would convert the static cars into slot cars. The kit includes a Romford Terrier motor & Eldi gears. The 1st mention of the Preminco kits appeared in the June 1958 issue of of the Model Maker. Last i included a photo of a Welkut slot car just to show the 1st commercial factory made cars which evolved from the Preminco kits. Hope you enjoy the photos of this piece of early British slot car history,Bernard

 

[tomwysom]

Fantastic! Thanks for posting this Bernard I'm really interested in those Crescent conversions.
By the way that's not a Romford Terrier.
Great stuff.
Cheers,
Tom.

 

[ClubSpecial]

Triang Rx top, K's MkII bottom in the Crescent.
Martin

 

[JOHN SECCHI]

Nice find!
I have a Crescent Gordini mounted on the same kit hardware but with a Romford Terrier motor, the motor in the kit seems to be either an MRRC 3pole [the one without the "U" bracket] or a rewound Triang using MRRC brush spring.
Love these diecast conversions, have a converted Corgi "E" type Jaguar also fitted with the Romford Terrier but the builder scratch built steering and front suspension!
Must try and post pictures.
[oneofwos]

 

[dgersh]

Amen John! Would love to see photos of your cars...

Bernard, the Romford Terrier is even smaller than the two motors shown, and is a 7 pole, so should be easy to identify. Do the Preminco instructions specify that it's a Terrier? That's what your early Welkut cars use, right?

Thanks for info Tom and Martin - I have a K's MkII with the little attachment on the front and I was wondering what it was for!

Don

 

[superhornets]

Hi Guys
I think we,ve been down this path before
If you notice the adress on the literature it is 335a staion road harrow
you may already know that SRM cars were made in harrow and indeed the SRm works is still there
It seemed beyond belief that two people making 1/43 scale cars in a relatively small place like harrow ,at the same time would not have some knowledge of each other
So I phoned up sir holburt waring at SRM and what he told me was that preminco was an engineering company in harrow run by a guy called ron VARCoe .If you look at the box in bernards picture you will see a logo which says RHV which stands for Ron H Varcoe
Sir holburt also told me that the original body shells that SRM used ,the dino ferrari and the vanwall were made for SRm by mr varcoe who being a Die cast engineer made the thickness of the shells somewhat excessive and the shells too heavy
So later when SRM did their own cars (Lotus ,BEM cooper .ferrari ) they did their own mouldings which were a lot thinner
Dont know what happened to PREminco .buy next time I,m in harrow i,ll look up 335a station road

Cheers tony

 

[dgersh]

Thanks Tony - good work and quick!

Don

 

[tomwysom]

That motor which may be a K's Mk2 may actually be one of those even smaller varieties. I have one. It's in pieces but when it was together it ran very nicely.
I think it has been referred to as a "Welkut" motor on here in the past.
Cheers,
Tom

 

[tomwysom]

Oh and Tony you should have a good time when you go to visit 335a Station Road because it's an Irish pub now, apparently.
Cheers.

 

[superhornets]

Hi Tom
how do you know that ,i know there are a few irish pubs in harrow ,but are you just guessing ?
cheers tony

 

[JOHN SECCHI]

As promised we have some not very good pictures!
This first car is the Gordini I mentioned, found the chassis some years ago in a second hand railway shop near Tottenham [5:2

] then managed to find the body in a pile of junk at a local fate.

It was built for peg guide which was missing so a 3mm nylon screw did the job.
The Corgi "E" type was found in a collectors shop in Boscombe [Bournemouth], the shop keeper had it in a drawer full of junk and let me have it for a fiver!

The person who built this car new what he was doing, the workmanship on the steering/suspension is very good.

[oneofwos]

 

[merkit the grof]

QUOTE (tomwysom @ 26 Feb 2012, 16:31) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>335a Station Road because it's an Irish pub now

Yep, just across the road from Paddy Power the bookmaker.

John, very nice stuff you have there.

Joel

 

[tomwysom]

Hi Tony,
I just looked the address up on Google maps, then chose the streetview option where you can move the camera around and look all about the place. Amazing but slightly scary big brother technology! It's also next to a Barnardos charity shop it seems. At least it was when the photos were taken.

Here's some scans from an old Model Maker about motorizing Corgi cars:

Cheers,

Tom.

 

[SplitRim]

I like the cigarette for size comparison, the that would not get past the Health and Safety editor nowadays.

In the enlarged photo, bottom right, it mentions the "Stick on wire spoke wheels". I knew they existed, but someone who called himself a dealer, poo-poo'd my suggestion that they had, when I asked for some as I was restoring some die-casts about 25 years ago.

Hope Kev(Loosesalute) has seen this thread, he might be tempted to convert some for his Jouef Circuit.

 

[JOHN SECCHI]

The "E" type rear wheels have a "stick on" spoked wheels, not sure if these are as fitted to the Corgi model or an after market self adhesive stickers.
[oneofwos]

 

[Charles*Seattle]

Hi

thanks to everyone for all of this great information and detective work. Still uncovering the history .. before it really is too late. And great pictures!

all my very best,

Charles

 

[PeterSussex]

I remember the stick on wheel spokes and am pretty sure they were indeed from Corgi. They did all sorts of things as well the aforesaid spokes. GB plates, learner plates, number plates, tax discs etc. Pocket money well spent.

Peter

 

[JOHN SECCHI]

Now you mention it the "E" type also has a tax disc on the screen, not being a Corgi collector I thought that's how the model came!
[oneofwos]

 

[TSRF]

Great stuff!

I always was fond of the Crescent racing cars, I had them all at one time when i was much younger... they are still easy to find and do have a few K MK2's... Mmmmm. if I was not so busy racing our Retro Can Am and Retro Pro missiles in SoCal...
I guess when I get closer to the wheelchair, it will be time for those conversions.

 

[tomwysom]

While we're on the subject here's one I did a long time ago, not Crescent though, it's a Brumm Maserati with MRRC motor and running gear including guide cut down to make a pin guide.
That's an Autoart driver from a D-Type I think, which just goes to show how small they are as they look perfect in this scale.
Cheers.