Ok, so the high today is supposed to be 10 degrees. Time to tie up some loose ends. Polished the hood today. The steering wheel is from the Horse Dept. at Farm & Fleet, with added aluminum spokes, for anyone that needs one for a build.
“The Model Craftsman” magazine...fantastic source for tether car info...lots of tether car ads from most of the manufacturers!
I had mentioned these before, and stumbled across them today. NOS Kap-Pak model airplane fuel tanks. Pretty sure the wedge tank is too big for most tether car applications, but the smaller square tank would be perfect. I’ve got a few of each, so if anyone needs a tank for their project, let me know.
I bought this repro Super Cyclone engine on Ebay to use in my Frog. The Zausner Spindizzies book says it was one of the engines commonly used in this car.It looks like it's never been used. It comes with a dual plug head,which might be fun to try. I got the 2 old books from the same seller. they were printed in 44 and 46.
Some photos that were also on Ebay, that I didn't buy. A couple went for around $20. Most sold in the $50-$70 range. The one with the guys pushing the cars at the start of a race went for $123.50. The photos are all original prints from the early 40s. most of them were taken at the Fairyland Speedway, at the Fairyland amusement park in Chicago. Some were from the Badger Speedway, in Milwaukee. Two of the photos from Fairyland show a guy with his wrecked car, that must have jumped the track, and ended up being run over by the kiddie ride locomotive.
I had that Cox Corvette too! I couldn't leave it alone and added length to the body hold downs in the rear to jack up the ass end. Like I had seen on the local Hot Rodders at the time with spring shackles!
I picked this car up a while back. A modified McCoy teardrop done by William Walters of Tyrone, Pa. The upper body was cut out and a canopy added along with a tail fin. It has a custom rear axle. The Hornet .60 full ignition engine has a custom dual plug head with a common plug lead to a single pole coil. It is very well engineered and is in as raced condition. Mick
Is Herb Singe still involved in the Tether Car hobby? His Whirlwind tether car still seems quite popular!
I believe Mr. Singe died a year or so ago. Only met him once but he sure seemed like a great guy. Mick
Yes, very nice guy. Called him one time and he answered, but couldn’t talk too long, as he was actually driving a 100+ year old brass era auto, on a fall cruise.
I thought the selling price was high, but maybe not ever being drilled for an engine made it more desirable, just not to me. Mick
I'm looking for some information on the gear ratio to use for my Frog. The circumference of the rear wheels is12.409 inches, which means they need to rotate 5,106 times per mile. If the rear axle is rotating at 5,106 RPM the car will be going 60 miles an hour. the manual that came with my Super Cyclone engine says the normal operating speed for this engine in a model airplane is 6,000- 7,000 RPM. If the gearing between engine and axle was 1:1 the car would go 70.5 MPH at 6K RPM and 82.25MPH at 7,000RPM. It seems like in all the spur gear setups I've seen, (including the Frog on page 57 of the Spindizzies book) the motor has a much smaller gear than the axle, so if 7K is the safe limit for this engine, the car would have a pretty slow top speed. So my questions are: Is 7K RPM the limit for this type of engine? Does anyone have a Frog they could look at and count the teeth on the gears, and measure the diameter and width of the flywheel while they are at it? My car's axle has a 36 tooth gear on it. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
The flywheel on mine (Hornet motor) is appox. 11/16" thick and 1 and 7/8" diameter. Motor is locked up so I can't turn the wheels to be sure, but the axle gear appears to be 36 teeth. Gear on the motor shaft seems about 24 teeth. Hope that helps!
This is a little Soviet era medal. My father used to work for NSA, so I got him to translate it for me. It says Republican Competitions. (as in Soviet Socialist Republic) I've never seen a sedan shaped tether car, but it's got the circular track, pole in the middle, and wire going out to the car. It's 1 3/32" square.
Time for a bump! Here is a Silver Rocket I built 25 years ago. Got the sand cast molds from a 80 year old gentleman I met from the Southside of Chicago, (Don Lockwood). Had a foundry in Milwaukee, (Supreme Castings), cast a batch, and a buddy, (Ron Peter), tig welded the body halves together. Just rollers...never got around to machining for diff gears.
Sneak peak at a car I'm working on. Vintage pan (unknown maker), Hornet engine. Going with glow ignition with a fuel shutoff. I hope to get it out on the track. Long way to go, but I always enjoy the process and then seeing the finished product.
When highway 70 was being built through St. Louis back in the 60s we would go to the construction sites where they had large plywood sheets laid out for the bridges. We would drive in a nail and hook our tether strings to it and reach out about 20 feet and let our home made direct drive cars with Baby Bee engines and let them go. It would leave a 40 foot circle of rubber on the plywood. Always wondered what the workers thought when thy came back to work.
I finished the steering wheel for the Thimble Drome Champion. I'm almost finished with painting the car, but the paint I used for the hood straps is old and thick, and ended up really lumpy. I'll sand it down, thin the paint, and try again. I made braces for the spokes on this steering wheel. They are .040 x.040 x .13"
Lepus, it looks fantastic…might be time to tackle a full size car ….. restoring an original is nice, but buying some quality repro castings is way cheaper! Getting the proper tires, or at least the proper size tires can be challenging though. Google, “Jake Lamotta tether car pictures”and see some of the cool cars he built!
The Jalopy Journal
