what is this

A Cameron .09 used in the early tether cars like the Thimble Drome Champion!
Check out this guys site! http://gascarman.blogspot.com/

well technically, this is not a cox engine. but as martin hepperle described it so well, it is "closely connected"
to the cox history. the only thing that was made by cox is its fuel tank, which came from one of their early tether
cars. the rest is all cameron. sorry for being a wise you-know-what. i should know better.

It could be a Cameron .09, .15 or .19 hard to tell.

When Cox made their first push-pull cars in mid 1946, the Special and then later the Champion, there were no motors in these cars. The first ones had no attachment points for pull strings or tether either. The later ones did so kids could pull them along or swing them around. After the release of the Champion in late 1947 the Special was revised to have a wind up clock work motor to make the car actually move. It was other manufacturers who added engines such as Ardens and Bantams to the Champion Car.

In 1948 the Cameron Brothers approached Cox with .15 sized engine they had designed specifically to fit the Champion car. They also developed a .09 (Doodle Bug) and a .19 (Lightning Bug) which were all the same size externally. The engines had the name "Thimble Drome" cast into the case, they also had then name "Cameron Bros" cast on the other side. Cox sold all of these power units separately under the Cox name.

It wasn't until 1950 when Cox introduced the 0-forty five that Cox started manufacturing engines with the help of Mel Anderson. The O-45 used a cylinder head, cylinder, piston and rod from the Spitzy .045 engine.

The first fully designed Cox engine was the Space Bug which came along in 1952 and nearly sent Roy Cox and his partner Mark Mier broke but instead it was a huge success and destroyed the competition. The rest is history.

you got a "+" on that from me, great job, warren!

yep, same here! +! Since I have only done little research on these engines, I totally forgot about the .19 sized ones although I had a feeling there was a .15. Great info!

Thanks guys,

The .15 by the way is called the "Champion 15"

Cheers

warrenlead wrote:Thanks guys,

The .15 by the way is called the "Champion 15"

Cheers

Duh, your right! That is why it was probably in my head at the time! Its late or too early (that must be the reason!)

Another + from here you are amazing Warren.

Though I have no Cox engines for Champion tether cars I have two sitting on my computer desk as I write: a red & blue quarter midget and a black "hot rod" roadster. I received these car as promotional incentives when a delivered newspapers as a kid.

Realize that parts are still available from vendors. One of the front rubber tires was missing from the midget so I searched the 'net for a source; BINGO!

Used, but not abused, the cars are among my treasures.

SuperDave

I have a yellow and black Champion that was my Dad's, when he was a kid. Pusher...no engine. It's in kind of rough shape. It's definitely "restorable", but the parts can get quite expensive. Tires alone would be around $50.

Allen

Sigh.................... I remember casting lead into the bottom of tether cars to keep them on the ground (rather than "flying") going "warp speed" in a circle. They became vertual "missles" when the tethers broke.

My unhappy parents paid for a broken classroom window at a school were one of my cars broke loose. I forfeited my allowance for some time when that happened.



SuperDave

SD that could not have been funny for the school or your parents but I find it so hilarious.

kool thanks guys
and warren a special thanks

i was hust courious as to what it was as i had never seen one like that

a while back i bought a job lot of engine bits (cox included) there was a alloy wheel and tire in the box o bits wich untill recently i figgered out that its a wheel from one of these cox teathered cars (wheel with tyre) the tyrer seems to be ok

its just i have no use for it any one want it ...freeby ....gaza

when i was a kid, my best friend had one of those thimble drome champion cars with the engine. I think he got it from his uncle or something. he would take it down to the ring every so often and i would come with bringing my home made prop rod with a babe bee on it.

I asked the seller if he knew what size it is, he has no idea. All he could tell me about it was what I already knew. lol I think the price he is asking might be a bit high.

warrenlead wrote:I asked the seller if he knew what size it is, he has no idea. All he could tell me about it was what I already knew. lol I think the price he is asking might be a bit high.

Yes I have been watching that seer for a while and a month or two ago he tried to sell a tiny tohm CL model with a .010 and oversized prop for 650 dollars I has already bought one in the same colour sceme for 43 dollars.

there is one guy on ebay who is trying to sell his cox van tether car for 400$!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Cox-049-Programmed-Steering-Action-Van-NMIOB-/400241383650?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d303ed8e2
haha, poor soul...

warrenlead wrote:I asked the seller if he knew what size it is, he has no idea. All he could tell me about it was what I already knew. lol I think the price he is asking might be a bit high.

Warren:

IIRC the Cameron was a .19 (Class A). Once had one in an airplane configuration but I soon tired of it's whimpy performance. Traded if off for a legendary Dooling .29 speed engine which sold off some years later for a princely sum.

SD

SuperDave wrote:

warrenlead wrote:I asked the seller if he knew what size it is, he has no idea. All he could tell me about it was what I already knew. lol I think the price he is asking might be a bit high.

Warren:

IIRC the Cameron was a .19 (Class A). Once had one in an airplane configuration but I soon tired of it's whimpy performance. Traded if off for a legendary Dooling .29 speed engine which sold off some years later for a princely sum.

SD

I am a big fan of the styling on the dooling frog to the extent that I nought a casting for the mini frog made for .010 power.

That Cox van isn't one of the fast "tether cars". It's one of the type that you fire it up, and it basically goes in a circle. I had a Cox "Sandblaster" as a kid. To change direction, you would pick it up, move the front wheels the other direction ("steering" it), and set it down again.

What fun! When we could keep those .049's running more than a minute or two, that is!

Allen

I always wanted to do an rc conversion on the sandblasted using real rc gear not what cox used.