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Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 12:54 pm
by BARC 1
Scrummaging through my old slotcar stuff, I found an Old Ferrari 196 body. When I was a kid my first slot car tack was an Eldon set and the old Ferrari always was one of my Favorites, The kit had 2 chassis and four body shells

Ferrari
Porsche
Lotus
Corvette

The only one that remains is the Ferrari so I thought I would fix it up. Historically this was Ferrari's first car with the engine behind the driver, so for that matter alone it is a nice model to have.

It has a brass chassis now, new paint, and a set of Fly wire spoke wheels. It is decorated to duplicate the Ferrari driven by Pedro Rodríguez in the Floria Targa in 1961? As far as scale goes, it measures out pretty decent to the prototype, but the Eldon offerings of the day were pretty crude. I never attempted to "fix" anything about the car, and left it in all its 1960's Glory. Still it is a rugged slot car body and I doubt you could damage this thing. The wheels for this were delivered yesterday so I trued them and put them on this morning. Runs pretty good, and I am happy to have some vintage stuff to run as well.

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Re: Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 5:05 pm
by chappyman66
Nice job, looks lovely!
I appreciate that these basic bodies can look nice with a bit of detailing.

Re: Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 6:25 pm
by arroldn
I had the same car. Got it in a figure eight set when I was 8 yrs old. No longer have any of the Eldon stuff. But I did have their Selectric race set as well. While it wasn't digital it did allow you to switch lanes.

Re: Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:16 pm
by dge467
Nice job on that oldie!

Re: Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:25 pm
by waaytoomuchintothis
I remember that kit. Just as you said, 4 bodies and 2 chassis. Nobody else tried that. And as I remember, all the bodies were pretty dang good. I saw it in the Sears Christmas Toy Catalogue, and I even got my father's magnifying glass to drool over it.

Re: Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 1:38 pm
by chrisguyw
Nice job!!!......some of the older stuff can be made to look very good indeed, and several of the Eldon bodies really respond well to some paint/detailing.

I am sure you knew this but Pedro wore a silver helmet with a thin black stripe.......not being picky, prefer to call this a helpful tip!! ;)

The attached pic. is Pedro (in your car!!) at the 61' Targa.....

Cheers
Chris Walker

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Re: Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 1:43 pm
by BARC 1
I have those pictures. I am not sure why I thought he was wearing a yellow helmet. I went out of my way to paint it yellow, mysteries of getting old? I will paint it correctly, thanks.

Dan

Re: Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:52 am
by BIG E
Very cool stuff guys, both the old photo and the restoration of the ELDON body shell.
Thanks for the look! -- Ernie :>)

Re: Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 5:55 am
by dreinecke
I think there is something charming about these older cars. As you and others have illustrated; a little paint and detailing and the car looks great!

Re: Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 10:06 am
by Nor Cal Mike
Great job! I have been known to love these old toy cars from our childhood myself. I did do an Eldon Lotus some years back. It was way over scale, probably close to 1/24 or 1/25. The real car was tiny as Colin Chapman was known to favor. I don't mind the size of the Eldon. It looks just fine beside an oversized Bergman Tipo 61 Birdcage replica that I also have I would love to see your chassis.

Re: Eldon Ferrari

PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 9:29 am
by BARC 1
Before I started this I checked out the dimension against a prototype drawing, and in this particular car Eldon got it right. I did notice that this has a different molded in driver then other Eldon cars. So I am not sure if this was an early release or a later one. The molded in driver is quite good though and there is some relief into the cavity body, which others don't have. I don't think I have seen others like this.

Here is a shot of the chassis.

Pretty crude to the examples I have seen here. Two Brass C Channels with a brass plate. Axles are run through the channel, I poured resin between the C channel, and I just drilled through that for a guide flag. Crude as it is and I know it makes craftsman shudder, I used Hot glue to mount the motor. Hot glue is quite functional in this task, and allows easy removal when wanted or needed. I think the motor is a Pattos Little Ripper, that I have long forgot the specs on . I built this over 12 years ago, but the wheel base fit this old Eldon car, so it is back.

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Cheers

Dan