HO Brass Wars, the
advent of the Brass Pan Ho Slot Car
(back
to riggenho.com)
Prologue---
A
basic
timeline of the early history of HO scale slot cars begins with the 1958 introduction
of the Playcraft line in England, followed by Aurora's USA based licensing of
the product and their further development with the launch of "Vibrators"
in 1960... followed by their "pancake chassis design" T-Jets
in 1963. Aurora had great commercial success with this product line and improved
them gradually but significantly through 1972, with their ultimate T Jet design
called the Super2. Tyco Industries began competing with Aurora with their TycoS
range launched in 1963 and then in late 1970 introduced their brass pan TycoPro
in-line chassis design. Full details on the history of the TycoPro on
this link...TycoPro carried Tyco's range of HO slot cars through the mid
seventies.
It
is the period of time beginning around 1968 through the mid 1970's that the
"Brass Wars" focuses on, led by an important engineering realization
discovered by some of the more serious HO racers of the time:
These little cars can be made to go fast and the faster they go, the
lower the center of gravity needs to be or else they fly off the track around
turns. So....Brass is heavy and strong and machineable, lets stick brass on
the bottom of the chassis see what happens!
Hence: The HO Brass Wars Era!
The technical revolution for HO slots after
the Brass Era (really evolving from the brass era) changed everything in terms
of speed and performance: the introduction of the traction magnet car.
While no hard dates can be set for the end of one era and the beginning of another,
it is fair to identify "late 60's/mid 70's" (consistent with time
period of the fastest commercial growth of HO Slot Car racing) as the heydey
of Brass Wars Era.
---About
these pages....
The
information in the pages and links to follow was collated largely from conversations
and e-mails back and forth between myself and a number of Midwest and East Coast
racers who were active in the late sixties and through the seventies---some
still racing now. Additional information was gleaned from old articles in Car
Model Magazine. The moniker "Brass Wars" seems appropriate beacuse
there were actually 3 (or more) different factions of racers beating their own
path of advancement in the hobby choosing BRASS as the material of choice for
chassis innovation and overall HO Slot car design. There
was (loosely defined) an "East Coast" group, a Mid-West group (HOPRA),
and a West Coast group.There was also a
fair bit of "trash talk" between the various groups in magazine columns
such as "Miniature Auto Racing", "Speed and Sport" and "HO
Coast to Coast".
By no means is this meant to be a thesis or a definitive history of an era of HO Slot Cars, it is primarily an attempt (backed by research and personal intrerest) to document, preserve, and understand this era. It is also an effort to educate and inspire others to document and converse. Any information you have to help enhance and complete this reference will be greatly appreciated--and of course referenced. Contact me at ron@riggenho.com
---------------------------------------------
---A
Broad Overview of the Era
-General History
---In Thier Own Words....
also
a good section on |
||
Examples of Race Cars and Parts
2 recent collector finds-more information wanted...CONTACT
US!
More on the pro chassis...or copies???? Page 1,
Page 2, Page 3 (Car
Model magazine)
Vintage:
--Tom Bowman's
vintage Brass Collection--6 examples...
--Period Paint
how they looked! Thayer Bodies Price
List, Lancer HO Body List, K
& K Bodies, Snake Bodies, Thayer
New Additions
--K and K Randy Kemps product line
--Thalison New Yorker, Thalison In Line
--K
Shepard builds...
Open Wheeler, AFX pans, Picard Repro
--1975 MO KAN Kansas City Nationals
--Scratchbuilds by J Pennington--1976/1986/2008
generations...
--Terry "Rhino" Hreno stable...idea
generator....
--AFX
based brass pans as raced in the day (JB Collection)
--The
TCP/AFX modified chassis
--Steven Schwartz history lessons and pics
--Kircher Lead Sled a "Magazine" car
--Laganke Price list page 1, page
2
--Vintage
TycoPro with all the goodies from the Hop Up Kit
--Vintage TycoPro with hot (green wire)
Champion motor
--Scratch Modified Cobramite-there's
a lot of work in this car--check out the brass body screws!
--Vintage Riggen Boss with TycoPro
hop up gear, pin tube shaker and reworked guide flag
--Vintage Riggen Boss with custom front
weights and very rare Riggen PLASTIC
front set screw wheels
--Vintage BRASS (Toybaron.com collection): Kircher
Lead Sled, Malone Anglewinder, Custom Dynabrute and Custom Cobramite
--
3
pictures of a car built by Mark Owyang(sp?). Don't know anything else... pic
1 pic
2 pic
3
--August
1971 Car Model Magazine Riggen "Mini Mods" page
1, page 2, page
3
--Bamberg Engineering, hot motors and more page
1, page 2, page
3
--A
little more history on the Dynabrute, Anglewinders, the Matchbox prototypes
Reproduction:
--Doug Morris retro builds
--Thurman Scratchbuilts
--Link to a thread
on SlotBlog featuring a hand built ISO Riggen--looks fantastic
--"Vitter" builds a Gary Rider car
-- Cobramite Scratchmite vintage chassis with modern parts (pic
1 pic
2)
--Eddie MacDonald mini ISO
Rebirth and New
Ideas:
RiggenHO
the 21 century version...
Picard Thingies and more...alot more
Tony K, new ideas June 2009
RiggenHO Spena SuperModified
The Rattler
Winning Edge ISO
Riggen Poly Carb chassis (RiggenHO)
Rabbit Custom
Eckstein Chassis
2008
Belt Drive Brass...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"How To" Articles
Gary Beedle, the "Lightweight"
January 1968 Pat Dennis Brush Tubes (scans) Car Model Magazine
HOCC article, the Twin Pan page 1, page 2
How
to build a Riggen Anglewinder Car Model Magazine
1972
---Marty
Thalison article: Installing the TCP Super Pro Pan,
Page 1 , Page 2
-and
again by Tom Coyne himself...page
1, page 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Links to more information...
--
Here are links to some pages from www.scratchbuilt.com
featuring HO handbuilts!
Ken
Webster Scratchbuilt Caprice
Steve
O'Keefe inline HO
Steve
O'Keefe Dragster w Cobramite body
-- The next few links are "linked through" Micheal
Eckstein's website which has a ton of great info and pics on HO/Brass/Sctratchbuilt
HO
Quincy Anglewinder
HO
Quincy Inline design
--
Car Model Magazine "Index" of related articles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vintage Brass: History and Catalogue from
the '70's (www.toybaron.com)
Original Riggen Boss HO Series details
about the vintage Riggen Industries offerings
-----perhaps
the nicest vintage "collectible" I have seen (click the pic)...
vintage Riggen Industries Counter Display (1975)
Cobramite--vintage
reference info
Dynabrute--vintage
reference info
Aurora Super 2--vintage
reference info
Vintage Riggen HO Collectors Poster order
the poster...$7.95
September 2006: research updates to the
poster, click here for the changes and corrections!
(Click
images for larger version)
