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All of the attached pictures are of 1/24 cars that were very successful in their day, and were the basis of many winning cars at the then many local commercial tracks.

I had original versions of all of these (long since lost/misplaced) and the pictures are of cars that I have re purchased over the years and refurbed. They all have original parts (the pink Parma PSE crowns have since been replaced with NOS Cox crowns) and any chassis modifications made/built, were typical for the time.
All of the motors have been extensively rebuilt;...... drill blank motor shafts, new comms., rewound/balanced arms, Arco 33 motor magnets, shims, brushes, springs etc. , but all of the parts/modifications were available/typical for the time.


First is is a Cox LaCucaracha.......The fastest RTR of its time , and a bazillion sold. The stock motor was invariably swapped out as well as tires etc. etc., and tons of these were lapping the local tracks very quickly indeed. It was common to cut the body for wider tires and motor cooling, and while there are a ton on the auction sites, many have cut bodies, and many non original parts. I have painted my "Cuc",... not a good idea, as the polypropolene body does not like paint, and a rebuilt Cox "Nascar" FT16D motor has been installed....while it does not get run much, it runs very very well!!








Next is a Champion 4 rail chassis with a Dynamic lolaT160 body, and a "hot" Champion 26D motor. This chassis came ready built, and you purchased/installed your choice of motor/gears/guide/body etc. This chassis was introduced in 1967 (I think), and offered the less skilled builder the opportunity to obtain near scratchbuilt performance.....a very quick car!








Dynamic, made magnesium chassis components....motor carriers (motor pods today), guide tongues, front axle uprights, body pans etc. etc., all held together with machine screws so that you could build an inline or sidewinder for virtually any size body available..........they must have made more than 20+ different cast magnesium motor pods for every motor type available.....that type of quality/variation is just not available today.....it was reflective of the size of the hobby back then.
Anyway, for a time, Dynamic chassis parts bolted to a brass pan, were the hot ticket in both 1/24 and 1/32, with the 1/32 club racers using these chassis well into the 70's.......a well sorted 1/32 Dynamic/brass car is still more than potent today.

The following pictures are of a copy of a car I built back in the mid 60's........a Dynamic 26D sidewinder bracket/guide tongue with a scratchbuilt flexing brass pan.
The body is a repop of a Champion Lola GT........this is a very sweet running car.





Next is a Russkit "Carrera" series car (mine is the McLaren Mk11 body)......this car had an anodised aluminum sidewinder pan chassis, and when it appeared (67) it was absolutely the RTR to have....you needed to be a fairly handy scratchbuilder to beat this thing. Mine has a reworked Russkit "23" motor, and on a local Carrera commercial track is noticeably quicker than any of the current 1/32 modified no mag cars. Of the several 1/24 vintage cars that I have, this would hands down be my weapon of choice for vintage car racing, particularly on the shorter flat commercial tracks, or on big Carrera tracks





And lastly, another Dynamic/Brass pan variation....this one a Dynamic inline can drive FT16D motor mount, with the factory Dynamic brass pans....these pans are now quite rare (read costly), and I am very happy to have them.






So for those who remember this stuff, a little nostalgia, and for those who don't, a little glimpse into the past..............and remember when you see the next newfangled motor pod released..........most were done (and were better made) 50 years ago by Dynamic. :)

Cheers
Chris Walker

Thanks for posting pics of these classics, and of what you've done with bodies for them.

Sharp photography. :text-coolphotos:

NICE!!

Thanks for posting, it motivates me to get some of my own restorations done.

Simply beautiful builds, all around!!

Chris,

On closer inspection of your photos, two questions please:

1. Can you show an underside shot of the Cucaracha chassis? I would like to see what the screw/nut does.
2. On the Russkit Carrera chassis, did you flatten the drop arm to use a regular guide, or was there a specific drop arm for that? The frame I have takes the silly slanted post guides.

Thanks!

Wow! Memory Lane. Dynamic pods were my goto part back in the 60s.

My cars were a brass pan with the cutout for the pod, which was screwed in on the front. At the back, I drilled 1/16 holes into the back corners of the pod and soldered piano wire points onto the pan that slipped into the holes to support the back end.

At first I used brass for the pans, but then a friend, whose father worked for the Globe and Mail newspaper, brought me a bunch of lead/zinc printer plates. They were heavier than the brass and still had the negative of the newspaper picture on one side. My "lead sleds", with rewound 26D motors, filled me a box full of trophies.

Those were the days, eh?

Cheers,

Keith

Way kOoL cars, thanks for posting them...

I really dig this body...!!! :scared-eek:



Ron...

Great cars, let's see more of these.

Greg :flags-australia:

WOW! Very nicely set up vintage "big track" cars. You would be the class of the field at our newly started vintage night here on Long Island. We've got about 10 or 12 guys so far that will be meeting on the last Tuesday night of every month. The location - Slots-A-Lot Raceway in Franklin Square, NY (Tel. 516-616-7075, ask for Amanda or Wayne). Just some fun running with the old stuff, no rules or races (for now, anyway). We pay a $15 flat fee for the night, which allows us open running on one of the three 8 lane road courses (usually the "Kingleman" or "Hillclimb") and that beautiful drag strip until closing time. That's a pretty good deal for at least three hours of vintage slot car fun!
Beautiful cars, man... Enjoy! -- Ernie :>)

Some great looking cars - thank you for sharing the pictures and description of each.

:text-thankyouyellow:

Great bunch of cars! A guy I work with gave me a box of slot cars a few weeks ago, an one of the cars is the Cox LaCucaracha

I remember them very well. You have done them proud, great job on all of them.