(additional info added June 2007)
Text and pics provided by Steven Schwartz
Here are a couple of pics sent in by Steven Schwartz. Car on left is the "Denny style" AFX based brass pan. Check out the extra work on the gears. Chassis on right is a three magnet car with a TycoPro style front. Ran East Coast HOPRA in the early 70's.
Here is Steve's text (slightly edited)
HELLO ; I RACED IN THE BRASS ERA---THE CHASSIS ON THE LEFT LOOKS LIKE A RANDY
KEMP-IF FROM MIDWEST---OR BOB CHIN IF FROM THE EAST I SEE NO BRUSH TUBES OR
TCP TIRES SO IT MAYBE AN EARLY VERSION OR WHAT WE CALLED A DENNY AFX-------THEM
WE STARTED USING **3 MAGNETS** WITH VERY THIN BRASS OR CUT OUTS WITH TYCO OR
RIGGEN FLAGS SUPER TWO MAGS ETC-SO IT WAS HA HA A MAGNET CAR SORTA---ALSO MY
FRIENDS HAD SCATCHBUILTS -USING MOTORRIFIC SMALL CARS W-CUT DOWN---BLUE DOT
-1/24 MAGS ETC..
I think it was 1974---we all ran the Thayer or Parma bods---then somehow while
looking for sponsers for the Trenton NJ-hopra, i came across AJF
BODIES by ADAM J FRIEMAN -I THINK---they were molded in lighter plastic-917-512
ferrari---and thin -molded from an afx---but with a rake and swept up wing---kinda
like a 1/24 -bod -not really scale but very thin and aero---everone wanted one
or two or three! lol. After the race we handed em out as prizes and after a
little prodding i gave the address to the new york guys -best painter ever was
dave stienburg-glen oaks ny -and the fastest guy was -Bruce douglas-also glen
oaks---wound great arms-also a mr bob chin ...
The 3 magnet car would have used 3 Super2 magnets, a cut down TycoPro hop up
gear, TCP rears and AFX Super2 tapered fronts
or Cigar Box t jet fronts. Arm was a rewind or a quadralamm from the S2...
(The following paragraphs were written in an email to me by Bob Kircher in June 2007....see more about this here.....)
I read with interest the contribution by Steven Schwartz.
I knew
Steven well; he was one of the people who raced regularly in the weekly Sunday
races at Billy Mac's house. I'll corroborate what he said,
particularly on the AJF bodies. The AJF bodies were a big advance, much better
than the Thayer etc bodies.
They were ultra thin and ultra light, I'm not sure on this but I believe they
were vac-formed from .007
Lexan. Their biggest drawback was body mount pinholes would rip out *very* easily.
Reinforcement with
strapping tape was pretty much mandatory. Then again this was pretty much standard
practice anyway, with
all the clear bodies. But it was more of a problem with the AJF bodies.
The pictures of the two chassis he submitted... not sure
but I think the Denny-style chassis was my
handiwork and fairly certain the other one, with the Tyco guide flag and no
batpans, was my work. The
reason I think the Denny chassis is mine is because of the wiper mounts. I used
to cut the wiper pockets off
a Tyco guide flag and epoxy them to the brass pan. Bob Chin may have done similar,
I don't recall. In
any case the Midwest guys used a completely different system for wipers. I certainly
built enough chassis,
and many of them ended up in Steven's hands.
(end)