Low Budget Race Team

[Ralphthe3rd]

First off, I apologize AGAIN for the previous post, as that car was already featured earlier in this thread, so sorry for the re-run.
OK now, I'm pretty sure this car hasn't been *fully featured, although it has appeared in group shots before. BTW- these are very early build shots, and the car wasn't even numbered or lettered yet. I'd like to mention first, this was my first Body *Adaptation build. Meaning, the body was originally a Plastic Hot Wheels "Crasher" car called Dread Head if I recall. Anyway, the body was adapted to a T-Jet chassis and quite modified from the original Dread Head look, which I'll see if I can dig up a Stock pic of, to show the complete metamorphosis....


BTW- I like calling this my Hot Rod Lincoln, as the body now looks alot like a 1930 Lincoln coupe.






Below is a pic of the Original Hot Wheels(Crasher) Dread Head....

[Ralphthe3rd]

This is the first time I've taken recent pix of this car, and I'm only doing so because I want to show off it's NEW Snoz! If you remember this car/body, it started out as the plastic body from a Hot Wheels "Crasher" car called Dread head. After my conversion to slotcar, I called this my Hot Rod Lincoln, and say it was modeled after a 1930 Lincoln Coupe. I'll even attach a pic of a '30 Lincoln Coupe for reference.
Anyway here's my Hot Rod Lincoln with a New Diecast nose- ie: Radiator/Grill.




New Radiator/Grill comes from a Diecast, and is metal and heavy, but the weight is in a good spot....she handles even better now.


Below, is a pic of a Real 1:1 1930 Lincoln coupe. I know, they're not really the same, but it's a better back story than saying it's a Dread Head Body :p



Okay, now for a True story, which some of you may know a little about.....
"Son, you're going to drive me to drinkin' if you don't stop drivin' that Hot Rod Lincoln." Charlie Ryan created both the Hot Rod Lincoln and the song. Charlie was a musician, songwriter and car guy. In the late 1940s he purchased a 1941 Lincoln Zephyr 4 door sedan and decided to make a Hot Rod out of it. He removed the Zephyr body, cut two feet out of the frame to shorten the wheel base and dropped a 1930 Ford Model A body on it. Charlie installed a '48 Lincoln V12 engine in it with a '48 Lincoln 3-speed transmission with overdrive. He maintained as many Lincoln touches as he could which included cut-down Zephyr bumpers, Lincoln emblem on the radiator, Lincoln grey hound hood ornament and Lincoln hubcaps. The interior features a cut down '41 Lincoln dash and steering wheel. This was a huge build in the day. Now while working on the car Charlie is writing the lyrics for the song "Hot Rod Lincoln" in 1955 and the song gets released in 1957. The song became a National Hot Rod Anthem. For decades Charlie, Ruth and his band crisscrossed the country performing his songs an often taking the Hot Rod Lincoln with him. The Lincoln has been recently restored and was the star Hot Rod of the 60th Detroit Autorama in 2012. *Recently* Was SOLD AT a Barrett-Jackson auction ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2013 for $106,700.00 !

[Ralphthe3rd]

Here's an Update on the Nu-rora '37 Ford Conversion....


'37 Ford Conversion mods, add Race Driver, enlarge rear wheelwells, gut the interior(ie- remove back seat and front floor), add modded Coupe style roof in place of rag top.

*Note-Driver had to be Sunk Down into the thick seat for head clearance.

Note that I've added Tuff Ones wheels all around, and hogged out the back well's(and front slightly), and I'm running .400" tires out back now :)

PS- still thinking about turning this into a Jalopy Dirttracker...but if I do, it'll still retain it's fenders as a Jalopy, Not a Modified.

[Ralphthe3rd]

Well..... I bit the bullet today. As I visited my local K-Mart, they reduced the separate Car w/controller to $13 - so I said what the hell :)
Btw- this K-Mart still had the sets too, but they weren't reduced, and oddly- they were $10 Higher than the other K-Mart I visited last week ! Also of note, we have a chain Discount store here in Pennsy, called "Ollies" (Good Stuff Cheap), and they also have the set for just $24.99 !


Anyway, the "Boneshaker" arrives at LOG Speedway and Dragstrip....

Team Hot Wheels TCR- "Boneshaker". Rechargeable electric motor driven, w/infra-red controller/charger.

It didn't take me long and I added a guide pin, I turned down the one flange of an old (I think Tomy) pin and jammed it into the hole that's recessed for the chassis mounting screw.


Okay now, want the scoop and nothing but the poop !?
It DOES work on my HO Tracks, sorta.... the controller is really like and on off switch, but the car does have some coast to it, but it is VERY Torquey, thanks to a gear reduction set up I believe(tho I haven't disassembled it yet). It didn't really like my 12" radius curves too well , but I believe it would do much better with 15" or 18" turns. LOL- it would also do better with a traction magnet, although I think some of my deslotting problems arose from my guide pin being a tad too short.
But the good news is, it runs GREAT on my Drag Strip ! And it has an added bonus, it'll even(sometimes) drive back to you ! How is that -you ask ? Well, these little buggers also have reverse on the controller trigger (push trigger forward). So in my shutdown area after I stopped, I simply touched reverse for a split second and whipped a 180 ! And zoomed her right back to the starting line- and that was kinda cool :grin:
Now what about Speed ?! Well........ if you like the top speed of an average, normal running /stock 50 year old T-Jet, then you won't be disappointed. If you want more speed, there is a Turbo button, but it really didn't seem to do much, maybe it suffered from wheel spin tho ?
So that's my Story and I'm sticking to it. I got my Boneshaker, and it looks cool...I've even already started customizing , as you'll note I drilled out the header (Zoomey) pipes !
If and/or when the motor fries, and/or the rechargeable Lithium Polymer(LiPo)battery in the car dies, I'll still be happy to convert this body to be used on a Slot Chassis (probably T-Jet with a Divorced front axle). Hey, it was Only $13 and I think that K-Mart is gonna reduce these puppies even lower, as nobody seems to be buying them.
PS- the Boneshaker is the only body I really liked, all the others are more contemporary Import looking stuff.....just not my Cup of Joe :roll:

[oceanview]

Thanks for all the sharing you do R3rd! I enjoy what ya got!

[dge467]

Cool cars Ralph! The team Hot Hot Wheels R C car is interesting!

[Ralphthe3rd]

Just a few simple custom mods, to make this ride my own.... :grin:


Boneshaker 2.0 > Just a few cosmetic mods, like the New/Re-Styled Rad/Grill /Headlights

Removal of Door Tampos/Graffix...later (if I can fine some)I'd like to add some 8-Ball decals to the door/sides

Highlighted rear suspension and wheels

[dreinecke]

That is NUTS! Very cool!

[Ralphthe3rd]

Here's my Old PT Cruiser Modified, again...It's been 3 years since I built her, and have rebuilt it many times since. She serves as my Test Mule for tuning new parts as well. It's also one of my Favorite Modifieds and one of my Fastest T-Jets. The Body is a special Resin Cast by Patrick Hogan(HoganRacing) and his Buddy. The Chassis started as NOS Aurora T-Jet, I added a WildOnes toplate w/6ohm arm, and I'm running stock 9T pinion fyi. I use Wizzard Brushes, and the rest of the chassis is blueprinted by ME. Anyway, I run this car in what I call my Hot Rod Class, which requires HR size Wheels and some "Spec" Penn Valley Tires for the rear. Up front, I'm using double flanged all Brass HR/Indy size wheels on a Tungsten Axle, and running Ultra Low Profile- BallsOutRacing(Bearsox) Indy/HR Tires. I want to mention the Numbers on the car, as they have changed a few times during the life of this car. Currently, #21 is running some super sweet *Dry Transfer decals that were sold for use on Pinewood Derby cars, the are distributed by Woodland Scenics under the name Pine Car..... These are really nice numbers and come with three sizes per sheet and I'm using the two larger sizes. I bought these Decals at a Ben Franklin store- FYI.

[Ralphthe3rd]

First off, let me just say, that I'm not(at all) into Can-Am/Trans-Am/Road Racing style competition in the slightest....altho I have collected a couple cars for those venues.
Anyway, the following pix were just me playing around with my cheap Digi camera and using different Lighting techniques for uses with dif backdrops...

[dreinecke]

Nice track pic! Love the Shadow on the flatbed! ...And the Datsun, and the Javelin, and the Lola GT...and...

[Ralphthe3rd]

Now I'm not really Into Corvette's (tho my TM is), but it was Corvette Day at the Speedway this past weekend, ie- show us your Corvette, and get admission FREE ! So here they are....

Birds Eye View...


And....almost forgot one :roll:

My Girlfriend even showed up, albeit a little Late, whoops !

[Ralphthe3rd]

You may have noticed the Purple #9 Corvette Late Model Dirttracker, in the previous Corvette Day pix. Well here's the story behind that car.... I built it for the TM. And it's running in my Special class, that uses the old Tyco U-Turn Chassis for some serious Sliding action(like No other HO Slotcar). Anyway, the body was given to me in a trade, and it originally came from a Narrow 440 Chassis, but I modded it to fit the widepan. The body had already been sanded and smoothed on the outside, and dremelled to death on the inside to make it paper thin, but it's held up good so far. And the only bodywork I've done is, touch up the purple, add the #9 and the windshield screen. And btw- the Circle Track Decal on the Hood- was already there when I got this body :D .
Oh, and one last thing, don't think that a Corvette Dirttracker is unprecedented ! Just look at the last photo below.....

[Ralphthe3rd]

Well, today we planned on taking the old #9 'Vette to the Track and letting the GF put some more miles on her ride, especially since we did some work on her, and added a couple logos and shined her up a bit. And we did get a few practice laps in - then, the skies turned dark, and the RAIN Came. We tried to wait it out, but the track here in Bunkertown PA got pretty soaked, and well, they called the races, so we loaded her back up on the hauler and made it a short nite, oh well....


The GF was putting in some nice practice laps on the newly re-furbished #9 Vette, since we pulled her out of mothballs

There goes the GF, hammering out of turn 4 and heading down the front straight !

And THEN The Rains Came down fast and hard, the GF had to finish her lap on a slick wet track !

The rain may have dampened the track, but it didn't dampen our Spirits. But here we are, heading on home....and at least we got some good laps in and the 'Vette was running well :)

[Ralphthe3rd]

Ok Guys, todays featured ride, is my old #60 '32 Ford Vicky Modified. This is a beautiful Resin Cast Body from the late Bruce Gavins of BadDawg Resins. The Vicky is a direct copy of the old TycoPro Vicky Drag Body, but in this build, I didn't include the window glass, the 'chute, grill insert, or the zoomie headers. I have painted this body white, although Bruce did cast these in colored resin, and could have been used as-is and they looked beautiful. I'm running this body on an Tyco U-Turn chassis for that class I run, although this is a staged pic with other cars just for the photos.