Post by whodathunkit on Jan 23, 2020 22:23:44 GMT -5
How many of you all have ever read the Book Pinewood!
The story of the Pinewood Derby as told by Don Murphy the Founder.
Where he talks about the components used for making the very first Pinewood Derby Cars?
For those of you who would like to have the book Pinewood.
www.pinewoodpro.com/pinewood-derby-history-book.html
In his book it reads:
The exciting new's of the Derby traveled fast throughout the pack. There was much to be done to meet the the date of the Derby set for May 15th 1953.
Skilled committee members went to work on building the track and cutting blocks of pinewood. And purchased wheels from the local hobby shop.
The racing kit was composed of a block of wood, two wooden axles, four nails, and four wheels.
These components were placed in a brown paper bag & given a number.
Did you all read what I did? .. ( That the wheels were purchased from a local hobby shop!)
There were 55 cub scouts in Don's pack .. so that's 220 wheels needed or more for extra's!
Well I don't know about you all.. but this sparked my curiosity!
Thus starting my fascination of what model kits of that time the wheels could have came out of..
Or have been purchased from by a model kit maker by the hobby shop at that time
And that could have been 1 1/4'' in diameter as described in Don's car plan drawing in his book.
In the Oct 1954 Boy's Life Page it described the wheels as 1 1/4'' diameter plastic wheels!
When i think of hobby shop's back in the 50's .. I think of model trains kits, balsa airplane kits, and the balsa model car kits!
In this pic can you spot a car that looks out of place or is not a pinewood derby car?
click on the photo's to Enlarge them.
The black car to the lower right looks out of place to me.. however the wheels look right but the axle supports look like dowel rods and screws for axles!
Check out the wheels used on these two cars.. the blue car with the up side down fire bird decal on the hood! Royal Rangers.
What about the dark green car in the up er right side.. Hard to see the wheels could be smoothed down BSA or a YMCA kit?
Here is a photo:
That Joe Guerrero of Pinewood Pro shared with me on some cars he has on display in his museum.
I have zoomed in on some models cars that i noted: in his display.
Two model cars that predate the Pinewood derby right okay guys are you ready for this.. who was the kit manufacture for these model cars?
Lets take a look at the black model car kit in the first pic with all the Pinewood derby cars..
then at the blue model car seen in Joe's Pinewood Derby Museum Display!
Ace models of Pasadena, CA. there address was 808 east Colorado st Pasadena Ca,
later the address's changed to Ace Products on 60 N. San Gabriel Blvd and the much later to Pasadena 8 California.
The black car seen in the first pic is.. The ACE Jalopy "The Jitter-bug special kit was released in 1947.
The T Rod kit was from 1950 Note the #3 decal and the words T rod seen on the back of the blue car in the museum display.
These balsa car models are 1:24 scale and use a bake light / plastic type 1 1/4'' diameter wheels.
The brown model car also seen in the Museum Display.. I believe is also a ACE car model called the Midget Racer kit 5R.
Here is a closer look at two Ace Jalopy's models and the wheel type!
It sure works up the curiosity and fascination of what hobby shop wheels..
Or manufacture kit type wheels that were used for the very first Pinewood Derby Cars.. as we may never know!!
In the 2nd photo Ace products wheel seen on the car .. the wheel seen standing alone.. is Beta Crafts 1956.
I'm working on collecting some more Ace Products Model car kits to share on this topic.. However to follow later when they cone in.
The story of the Pinewood Derby as told by Don Murphy the Founder.
Where he talks about the components used for making the very first Pinewood Derby Cars?
For those of you who would like to have the book Pinewood.
www.pinewoodpro.com/pinewood-derby-history-book.html
In his book it reads:
The exciting new's of the Derby traveled fast throughout the pack. There was much to be done to meet the the date of the Derby set for May 15th 1953.
Skilled committee members went to work on building the track and cutting blocks of pinewood. And purchased wheels from the local hobby shop.
The racing kit was composed of a block of wood, two wooden axles, four nails, and four wheels.
These components were placed in a brown paper bag & given a number.
Did you all read what I did? .. ( That the wheels were purchased from a local hobby shop!)
There were 55 cub scouts in Don's pack .. so that's 220 wheels needed or more for extra's!
Well I don't know about you all.. but this sparked my curiosity!
Thus starting my fascination of what model kits of that time the wheels could have came out of..
Or have been purchased from by a model kit maker by the hobby shop at that time
And that could have been 1 1/4'' in diameter as described in Don's car plan drawing in his book.
In the Oct 1954 Boy's Life Page it described the wheels as 1 1/4'' diameter plastic wheels!
When i think of hobby shop's back in the 50's .. I think of model trains kits, balsa airplane kits, and the balsa model car kits!
In this pic can you spot a car that looks out of place or is not a pinewood derby car?
click on the photo's to Enlarge them.
The black car to the lower right looks out of place to me.. however the wheels look right but the axle supports look like dowel rods and screws for axles!
Check out the wheels used on these two cars.. the blue car with the up side down fire bird decal on the hood! Royal Rangers.
What about the dark green car in the up er right side.. Hard to see the wheels could be smoothed down BSA or a YMCA kit?
Here is a photo:
That Joe Guerrero of Pinewood Pro shared with me on some cars he has on display in his museum.
I have zoomed in on some models cars that i noted: in his display.
Two model cars that predate the Pinewood derby right okay guys are you ready for this.. who was the kit manufacture for these model cars?
Lets take a look at the black model car kit in the first pic with all the Pinewood derby cars..
then at the blue model car seen in Joe's Pinewood Derby Museum Display!
Ace models of Pasadena, CA. there address was 808 east Colorado st Pasadena Ca,
later the address's changed to Ace Products on 60 N. San Gabriel Blvd and the much later to Pasadena 8 California.
The black car seen in the first pic is.. The ACE Jalopy "The Jitter-bug special kit was released in 1947.
The T Rod kit was from 1950 Note the #3 decal and the words T rod seen on the back of the blue car in the museum display.
These balsa car models are 1:24 scale and use a bake light / plastic type 1 1/4'' diameter wheels.
The brown model car also seen in the Museum Display.. I believe is also a ACE car model called the Midget Racer kit 5R.
Here is a closer look at two Ace Jalopy's models and the wheel type!
It sure works up the curiosity and fascination of what hobby shop wheels..
Or manufacture kit type wheels that were used for the very first Pinewood Derby Cars.. as we may never know!!
In the 2nd photo Ace products wheel seen on the car .. the wheel seen standing alone.. is Beta Crafts 1956.
I'm working on collecting some more Ace Products Model car kits to share on this topic.. However to follow later when they cone in.