I was browsing a local antique store when i came upon these puppies. It reads "Official Soap Box Derby Tire" on the side of the tire. The post it reads "1937 Gold Wheels, 1956 LA Winner". I was planning on building a soap box racer for my nephew and thought this would be a good start. Is $125 for the pair a good price?
6duececaddy, If you're interested, I'll sell you a kit that I've had for 5-6 years thinking I was going to do something with but never have. These things are kick and I'd like to see it go to someone that'll get some enjoyment out of it. I watched the soap box derby run in La Canada, CA and it was amazing to see how much fun the kids were having with the compe***ion. The kit sells for $430 on the Official Soap Box Derby site but we can work on a better price. Send me a PM if you're interested. I think I even have an official helmet stored with the body. This is what the kit will looks like put together. No paint it's just a clean white fibergl*** shell. Gaters
I have a set of 4 I think I paid $50 for. $125 a pair sounds high but I guess things cost more in CA.
I had to s**** my whole car, I raced in 1976, it was the 1st time a girl raced, a little red head....she beat me, I placed 5th if I remember right...... the first in a long line of failures with women!!!!
There cheap if you don't plan running them down a hill. But wheres the fun in that - hell its only money run em anyways.
Never saw a live derby,only on tv or picture show. Its the thing for the kids though and with the father /son project makes it better.
Sorry to say, that's too much money for those wheels. In addition to that, those are no longer legal to run in an official race. They switched to plastic about 30 years ago. The car that Gaters has is for the stock cl***, for other styles and information on building a car try the site for the All American Soapbox Derby. http://www.aasbd.com/SBD_page_1.htm
Someone in the local V8 club has a set of plans...Mid-50's, I think?...15 or so sheets. I think right age for those wheels. Obviously no one on here would be building to current rules or using plastic wheels! Gotta be a vintage soap box league somewhere... part of cackle fest, likely.
In the 70s and 80s my family was really into soapbox derby. Both my brother and I were state champs and went to Akron for the All American. It was a great experience and I'll always appreciate the amount of time and effort it took on my dad's part to help us. That is way way too much much money for 2 wheels.. All the wheels are identical from the 40s through the 80s until they went to the plastic wheels. Here is a picture of our final car that should have kicked *** but we could never get it to run quite right. Those are polished aluminum foils around the axles which I thought was a nice touch. Note the polished aluminum foils on my special in the avatar - the more things change the more they stay the same!
Here's the "racer" I built my daughter with some swapmeet soap box wheels and a swapmeet 1950's wagon. Lowered, of course. And it goes FAST! .
6Deuce, There are two kinds of fibergl*** shells they used. Oneis the "Scotty" lay-down shell. The other is the old sit-up "Junior" car. There is a"Shelf-Life on kits also. So check with the All-American Soapbox Derby in Akron Ohio. LOTS of history there. If your interested, I have a set of steel wheels i'd sell for $50 bucks and the newer fibergl*** wheels for the same price.Any questions give me a call or PM. Regards. Al 989-494-9746 after 7PM EST
$125 sounds kinda high but, they are rare. I remember back when I was a kid my Dad found a gurney that was being discarded at a hospital and he grabbed the wheels off it for a cart. They were heavy and worked perfect, the price couldn't be beat either.
I got a pair of these wheels like new with a few scratches i'd sell you for $50 plus shipping. Can send you a picture. PM me. John
We still have both of our championship cars plus the last once pictured above so for a while I was doing an eBay search for a spare set of wheels. My recollection was that they came up often and that a nice complete set should be under 100.00. I do not believe that they are rare. There are some ****ogies between soapbox racing and hot rods. I looked into the latest incarnations of derby racing and it made me sad. While our cars were scratch built with only the axles and wheels bought from the soap box derby it looks like the cars are 100% gl*** kits now. They use the gl*** in the soapbox racers for the same reason that they do in hot rods, it's cheap and easy. The cars needed to be built relatively close to the race date (within 90 days) because of the shelf life (elasticity) of the wood. For 3 months you worked your *** off. I don't think kids are as mechanically inclined as they were years ago (computer inclined - yes). The steel wheels were replaced with plastic for the same reason too, much cheaper. sigh...
Sorry if this thread is dead, but if those wheels in the original picture are still available. please PM me. I'd like to buy them.
You don't need those. They are as common as pennies - well almost: http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw=so...70.l1313&_odkw=soapbox+derby+wheels&_osacat=0
2026 price update. I bought 5 official red soap box derby wheels last weekend at the Turlock Swap Meet in Turlock, CA. I paid $60 for all five and the milk crate they were in. ;-) Cheers, Dean
Just found this thread. Derby was in full swing when I was a kid in the 60s but we lived WAY out in the country, no races anywhere near us. I settled to enter the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild contest 5 times. Here is a Derby/Guild legend. He won second place national champ in the Derby, then went on to win 2nd place national with a Guild car! Great name too, Ace Fogarty!!! Bottom row, center.
I remember having something along those lines. It was just a kit with plastic wheels, steering gear, and templates to build a plywood body that looked something like a Formula 1 racer. My brothers and I had fun with it when we were kids riding it down the hill across the street from our house. My son ended up with it years later, and I built a new front axle to replace the thin sheet metal stamping. He could ride it for quite a way as our neighborhood was built on a hill, although it was quite a hike for him to bring it back to the top for another run!
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