More Old Stuff...

Man I was there too! Eight years old, model planes and slot cars were my hobbies. Fun Times!

Well, this is just DANDY !!!! NOW...I gots to get ME a lab coat with "Wen Mac" on the back !!!!!!!!!!!

I resurrected my old box kite last Summer to fly at the beach. I bought some dowels at the hobby shop that looked stout enough, but I learned the hard way, I should have sealed them first. After a couple of hours in the air tied to the cooler, the sticks warped and it collapsed. Of course it made a public nuisance of itself while doing so. Live and learn.

It's way up thar...

From the September, 1960 issue of Model Airplane News, another add from that magical place called AHC...

"Order by-mail from the comfort of your home".

My how things have changed.

Wow. So many of those planes and engines I would like to have.

Three post above from Kim is the AHC (America's Hobby Center NYC) advert for 1960 in MAN. As much as we lament the loss of good local hobby shops, these folks did what we all generally blame Tower Hobby for.

I remeber my dad arguing with the owner of a LHS in El Paso TX over some item exclaiming that even with postage the same item was xxxx cents cheaper from AHC in NYC... of course the LHC owner [bleep] my dad off by telling him to "just order it from them you cheap SOB"

Go back up and study that advertisement...there are some gems there I would LOVE to get my hands on today! Like the Curtiss pusher for $10.00 and a RR1 for $5.99

My dad recently came upon a newspaper clipping & photo from 50 years ago about a kite contest where my brother and a neighbor won for the largest kite (a standard diamond kite about 12' tall - I remember they had to use a post on a basketball court to anchor the line around to fly it) and myself winning the smallest kite ( also a diamond kite but about 4" tall - used heavy thread for string).

We had a rather large delta wing kite that we built. We lived next to an elementary school that bordered a major freeway (then State Hwy 17 - The Nimitz - now I-880). We also flew CL at the school when it wasn't windy and kites when it was). Anyway, one time we got the bright idea of flying at night with a highway flare suspended underneath. Caused enough of a stir that it warranted a visit from the local PD telling us to knock it off. Being about 2 miles from the threshold and directly below the approach to Hayward Airport probably had some influence on the visit too.

Then there were the "rockets" we made out of 30.06 shells, filled with about a 50/50 mix of zinc & sulfur, that we launched using the tube from a neighbor's sister's majorette baton propped up in the chain-link fence and ignighted by a match-head wraped in 30 ga. Enamel insulated wire from the safety of our "block-house" (rumpus room - remember that term? later known as a family room) by hooking wires that led out to the "launch pad" up to a 12v car battery and energizing the coil around the match head. Whoosh!!! The shool janitor never could figure out what made those burn marks in the lawn out front of the school.

andrew wrote:You guys crack me up!!! We could probably find two or more folks on this forum that have a common interest, besides small engines, in almost any subject. If it flys, floats, rolls, shoots or goes fast, there will be more than one person that owns it, does it or likes it.

A friend and former business associated calls it the "things that go" gene. Cars, boats, trains, planes - anything that moves under its own power...

I even managed to get my wife into autocross



Look at that smile after receiving her timing slip with her best time of the day on her last run. She WAS determined

I used to love parking lot autocross, if you look close you can see jr. riding shotgun, this was several years ago...

My AX mentor told me it was the most fun you could have in a car with your clothes on. He was right. It is a blast. While we both have driven on the track too, I like AK because you can push the car to 11 and only (typically) only some cones get crushed and you spend a bit of time cleaning "cone trails" off the bumpers.

Wahoo, the first event of the year is 3/17. Time to try out the new tires!

1820# (280# less then stock) and 145 hp (vs. 95 stock) of pure, barely street legal ( if you ignore the yellow headlights and missing windshield wipers), fun!

Can't remember 3400-3500#, 230-240hp....handling? Have you ever seen a old fat hippo with arthritis? But, it was a BLAST TO DRIVE!

I think i'd like one of these for my next autoX

Nah, THIS is the one that I want for Christmas!



1966 Jaguar E-Type, 4.2 litre

yep, I loved those '60s jags! but would maybe a vette or 'stang instead?
Rusty, you should the Mazda would work great, you'd love it.

Painted on one of the bridges at Laguna Seca (sorry, I just can't call it Mazda Raceway @) is something to the effect of "On any weekend, more Mazdas are being raced then any other make". One of my fellow Porsche AX'ers has a hatchback and has run it on the course. Impressive. Go for it Rusty. Just clean out the car before you go. Take ou everything inside and in the trunk. Oh... and if your wipers are on a stalk on the steering column, remove your wiper fuse. Nothing as distracting as having your wipers come on in the middle of your run.

yep, rules at most parking lot auto-x rallys are pretty basic, remove floormats, spare tire, etc. Snell approved helmet and off you go! When I was doing this several years ago there was a guy running a Mazda MX-3, MX-5? wagon also.

And ( at least at the events I've done) there are usually loaner helmets available.

My all-time favorite muscle car: 1968 Ford Shelby GT500.

Really all of the Shelby line, including the '66 GT350 Hertz and the '69 GT.