Nice picture, I think the guy third from left looks like Curly Glover of C&R tire fame and the Curly car.Chris
In case anyone is interested, there will be a tether car swap meet and fun run at the Whittier Narrows track Sept. 13 th. Info below: Clark Smith Dedication Gas Powered Miniature Race Car Fun Run and Collecto Please Bring your best "Clark Smith" Car out for the Display!! We will also be featuring a best of class award for following types of cars Manufactured Cars Custom Proto Cars Pre-war Cars Contemporary cars 9:00 - 1:00 Sept. 13th 2008 Race! Show! Buy! Sell! Trade! Cars! Motor! Airplanes! More! Located at the WhittierNarrowsRecreationCenter At the Tether Racing Track El MonteCalifornia, off of the 60 Freeway at Rosemead Blvd. For more info drop a line At: gascars@aol.com Upcoming meets: Jan. 10th 2009 Sept. 12th 2009 Jan. 9th 2010 Sept. 11th 2010
Just got home from the A.M.R.C.A nationals in Long Island N.Y. Had a great time. The track was a little rough. I ran two cars one in class 9 and the other was class 10. Ended up pulling out two first place wins. Any body else out there running any cars?
My parents had a friend who passed away maybe 10-15 years ago that had alot of tether cars his name was Larry Smith lived in SoCal was a big guy anyone have any of his cars. He had a friend that lived in long beach what had a bunch of tether cars also maybe clark?Just wondering.
I went to the meet yesterday that Crazydaddyo posted about above. Maybe 15 guys set up to show & sell their serious 1/8 scale cars, mostly with 4-figure prices. Beautiful, but out of my league. I found this for $5; funky but a nice shape. The body and wheels are nice enough that I wonder if it was built from an early wood kit.
I looked at that. it was in a blue bucket on the ground next to the table. very cool. I was the young long haired guy with the two kids. There was a mccoy hot rod in an orginal box unassembled for $250.00. that was a smoken deal.
was just at Zausner's place the other day... amazing. It was hard to have a conversation... my eyes kept wandering around the room.
I know during WW II Frank Kurtis made wood race car toys and sold them to department stores. He could get no sheet metal or tubing to build full size cars, and did the wood toys for a source of income during the war. He hired a few high school kits to help in the assembly line and the painting. I never saw one of the Kurtis toys, but my dad said they resembled the later tube framed Kurtis midgets, as does this one. You might have scored a Kurtis Kraft!!
Wow! Whether it's a Kurtis or not, I like the idea that it might be! I have a couple of other handmade wooden '40s racers (a midget that I'm sure is from a kit and a Sparks/Thorne Indy car that I believe is scratchbuilt); I have a handmade Bluebird LSR car, a couple of old Pinewood Derby cars that have nice proportions, and a group of four imaginary open wheel cars built by an English forensic photographer! Not a lot of the homemade stuff survives, and a lot of it is too crude to be interesting, but I really like finding ones that were made with some sensitivity. Of course, they're scarce.
Tony, There were many wood model kits. The wheels on your new car look like the wheels that came in the monagram kits. The early wood kits were what evolved into plastic models later. Some were pine others were balsa. Most of the later kits were for running on a string and were powered by a CO2 cartrige pierced by a special gun.
Awesome ! I have a twin to this. My only other is the All American Hot Rod. These things can get real addicting.
Well, so much for Kurtis Kraft. The solid red (Monogram) car in your photos looks identical to mine, except that mine has no hole for the CO2 cartridge. I remember the wooden kits. The first kits I ever built as a kid were wooden airliners, military ships, and a couple of "Ace" balsa kits. Thanks, Dan!
I just found this on the tube... 200mph!! <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/T31juxlQuGA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/T31juxlQuGA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I remember when I was a small kid growing up in Pueblo, Colorado, there was a tether car track at city park. I would beg my dad to take me there whenever they ran their cars. It was a real nice facility, and there were lots of cars. I've often wondered what happened to them. This was in the late 40's or early50's. If anyone in the southern Colorado area is interested in trying to get tether car racing started again please PM me. Maybe we can revive it.
Just got one just like this today. What kind of value? Not for sale, just good thing to know. Thanks in advance, Michael
That one's CO2 powered, isn't it? I bought one about 20 years ago for $15 or $20. It's not at all a common piece, and it's quite nicely made. Good catch.
There is a nice selection of those cars, at the America On Wheels Museum in Allentown PA>, on display right now. Along with old race cars, worth seeing. Will be there till sometime in April 2009.
WOw.... There is a track made of concrete in Cheyenne, Wyoming that was used for these cars way back when. It is in an old park that has a steam locomotive near by. My story of the Red Racer is about a Cox Thimbledrome that is a "pusher", the non-motorized type. I hope to find a All American Hot Rod that was made in the 50's to add to my collection. Love these things!
Yeah, I have always thought these cars where to neat for words; But as my wife says grow up and quit winning you can't have everthing..........But darn it, I want it all !!!!!!!!!!
It is time for another meet. Lots of neet stuff to see. Cars running on the track too. [COLOR=black][FONT=Arial]Gas Powered Miniature Race Car [/FONT][/COLOR]Fun Run [SIZE=7]and[/SIZE] [SIZE=7]Collecto[/SIZE] 9:00 - 1:00 Jan. 10th 2009 Race! Show! Buy! Sell! Trade! Cars! Motor! Airplanes! More! Located at the WhittierNarrowsRecreationCenter At the Tether Racing Track El MonteCalifornia, off of the 60 Freeway at Rosemead Blvd. For more info drop a line At: [EMAIL="gascars@aol.com"]gascars@aol.com[/EMAIL] Upcoming meets: Sept. 12th 2009 Jan. 9th 2010 Sept. 11th 2010 Jan. 8th 2011
Update: My 3 year old has claimed this one. Hell, it has replaced his teddy bear. He won't go to sleep without it. Can't hardly complain about that though.
I read your Red Racer with interest for the double reason that I'm into these things, and that I had a toy design business for a few years called "Red Racer Studio". As for the AAHR: did you see this on eBay? It looked really nice. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...1499&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab=Watching
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