Merry Christmas to you, as well. That Real McCoy is Real Cool, would have been neat to see mite size cars race on a rail track. A boner, I went to the October show and there was only about a half dozen or so sellers there. I did buy a Gary Barnes car, new and never run. Mick
If you are planning to attend the annual antique auto show and swap meet at Hershey, PA next week, and/or have an interest in vintage gas powered model race cars and model engines, plan to attend the Model Engine Collectors Association (MECA) Collecto held on Wednesday evening, October 7, just outside Hershey in Campbelltown, PA. The event is hosted by Herb Singe and his son, Herb, Jr., and has been a tradition for race car collectors for over half a century. If you are interested in buying a vintage gas powered miniature race car, you will find a number of cars for sale. If you have a car which you wish to sell, you will meet collectors who may have an interest in purchasing your car. If you simply wish to learn more about vintage gas powered race cars, come to the Collecto to talk with the fellows for whom collecting these cars is a passion. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Model Race Car & Engine Meet – Hershey, PA Wednesday, October 7, 2015 5:30 to 8:00 PM Held during the Hershey, PA Antique Auto Flea Market and Car Show HIGHLIGHTING RACE CARS & MODEL AIRPLANE ENGINES Bring your miniature gas powered race cars, boats, ignition engines, kits or ??? to sell, trade or display Admission: $9.00 – No charge for tables to sell, trade or display your items No one allowed into Show Room until approximately 5:30 PM – Buyers and Sellers admitted at the same time – Must clear the room by 8:00 pm HELD AT: Campbelltown Fire Co. RT 322 Campbelltown, PA 17010 Campbelltown is just 3 miles Southeast of Hershey and the Antique Auto Flea Market on RT 322 DIRECTIONS: From RT 743 in Hershey, go East on RT 322 about 3 miles. Campbelltown Firehouse is on the right going East, just past the Turkey Hill convenience store. Look for the sign. Follow driveway around behind the building. Use the rear entrance. EVERYONE AGREES THIS IS A GREAT MEET FOR WHEELING, DEALING & SOCIALIZING – MEET NEW FRIENDS AND RENEW OLD ACQUAINTANCES. WHY NOT BRING A FRIEND? PLEASE BRING ITEMS (1 OR MANY) FOR SALE OR DISPLAY AS THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR TABLES TO DISPLAY OR SELL. WE NEED TO HAVE MORE PARTICIPATION OR THIS MEET, LIKE MANY OTHERS, MAY NOT CONTINUE NEXT YEAR. SO PLEASE COME OUT. Plenty of free parking. YOUR HOST: Herb Singe – 908-289-7900 1290 Central Ave., Hillside, NJ 07205
Merry Christmas to you as well. I did not make it to Hershey this year, was the Collecto bigger than last years? I hope it prospers as I plan to make it again in the near future. Mick
I AM WARREN BORDEN"S DAUGHTER!!!! That is daddy in the picture and that is his teardrop created teether car! Love to hear any info and see any pictures you may have!
I am Warren Borden's Daughter and that is his teardrop car he created in the early 1950's. Would love to hear and info and see any pictures you may have. That is my daddy in the picture.
My latest build... Built out of a McCoy 60 series Hot Rod. All the fabrication was done by my dad and paint by me....
The sport sure looks like fun to me! And also just collecting the cars. I hope to run across one someday.
The Borden Mite was designed and built by Warren Borden and featured a teardrop-shaped cast magnesium body and engine mount, spur gear drive, and a Dooling .29 engine. The cars were quite compact and well-engineered. By the time the car was introduced, both Model Race Cars magazine (the successor to Model Craftsman magazine) and Rail and Cable News had ceased publication. However, in its first issue dated May, 1951, a short-lived publication entitled Miniature Race Car News mentioned that “Warren Borden of Zion, Illinois is making up little Mite spur cars for the Dooling .29 engines. These cars can be bought.” The next issue of the publication, dated June, 1951, carried a photo of the car. Also printed in the May, 1951 issue was an advertisement placed by Joe Ilg, Jr. of Laureldale, PA in which Ilg noted that he had ‘Borden .29 Mite Spur’ cars for sale. This particular example of a Borden Mite, serial number 3, was originally owned by S/Sgt Joe Shelton and was purchased from Joe Ilg while Shelton was in the US Air Force. Shelton was a well-known tether car racer, both in the United States and abroad, and was instrumental in forming the Screamin’ Demons tether car club as well as building the club’s tether car track at Barksdale AFB outside Shreveport, LA in 1950. In addition to the Borden Mite, Shelton’s stable of tether cars included a Dooling Arrow and a British Oliver ‘Bottoms Up’ car among others.
This is one I made using the same maple "Bantam" frame, but with an aluminum body. The only wooden parts on this one are the frame, and the blue part of the tail.
The hood turned out real good. Not like with a plastic model....if you screw it up, you don't have to buy another kit, you just get another piece of aluminum and start over. Try building one....start off buy getting some wheels and tires, and scale the car to them. Tires are the hard part to find, the wheels can be turned out of wood or aluminum.
Thanks.....not so much talent as it is just trying to do something to see if I can do it. These little cars are really fun to build and a good way to learn how to do stuff. They don't take up much room, are inexpensive to build and look pretty neat when they are completed. Excepting for the tires, you can probably build a roller for what 1 or 2 plastic models cost. A drill press, propane torch, and a few hand tools and some spare time. A small metal lathe is a real plus. Look at the blueprint on post #155 of this thread.
'A-boner'... That magnificent Miller shell. Did you do it 'Covell style', in halves? ...and then build a hard wooden female buck? (descriptive, but other terms come to mind) The hood hinge...Clamps and a wire to roll? Some trickery here, without scarring the narrow 'leaves' of the hinge!!! Share some technique, please. (mine is chassis finished, was thinking about aluminum...Now I'm obsessed!) Beautiful car, proportions are exceptional. Mine's a 3 springer, front axle is '25 Franklin style.
Carved a grill out of wood, with the intention of having some cast in aluminum. Had a small foundry in Milwaukee cast me a few. Start with a small piece of aluminum, and do a single test hinge to figure out the dimension of the alum. needed to wrap around the hinge rod.....then lay out the two sides, and make the halves extra wide ( for a tail to give leverage when bending (see below), cut them out, then form the hinges around the hinge rod with a pair of pliers with tape on the jaws.....and finally bend the halves to fit the cowl and grill shell. The extra alum. (tail) helps with leverage when bending. Start the bend using a piece of pipe to bend the alum. around. It's hard to explain, but finish the bend just using your hands to finesse the bend to the exact radius. You should be able to feel where the alum. is bending.....gradually bend the cowl radius, then the grill radius.....many times till you get it fitting. Then build the hood sides, and trim the hood top (tails) accordingly. If you have never built a hood, you might want to skip the hinge stuff till you can do a plain top first. Good luck.....if you have the time, practice.....scrap aluminum is cheap.
The 37th annual Hershey gas powered miniature race car and model engine swap meet is less than two weeks away. The Collecto is held in conjunction with the AACA Fall Meet held in Hershey, PA and is scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, October 5, 2016 in the Campbelltown Fire Station in Campbelltown, PA, which is just outside Hershey.
Louie, what a great find. I'm not an expert but it looks like a Reuhl Deluxe. Is the body Bakelite? tell us more about it. Mick
Hello, We lived about 1.5 blocks from our elementary school in Long Beach,CA. The playgrounds were our home base for all activities. Everything from the standard sports to bicycle polo and karts, kept us busy and occupied. But, every weekend, this older guy would come to the playground in the afternoon to run his toys. First it was the flying planes on a metal wire with him standing in the middle going around and around. We admired him for his building skills and were amazed at what he was doing. We saw him week after week. He finally allowed me to stand in the middle and let me fly his plane around and around until I told him I was getting dizzy. The next thing he brought was this car that looked like an old Indy Racer. The motors were about the same as the plane and made the same noise when started. But, this car would just go around and around on the ground. I did not know it at the time, but the sounds and action were exciting for a little kid. He finally ran a long wire from one end of the playground blacktop baseball diamonds to the other. He hooked up his old Indy Racer and allowed me to hold the car at the start line. He knew it would run out of gas and stop before the end of the long line. Little did I know that this was the real starting of my drag racing obsession later on in our teenage years. It was more exciting than just watching it go around and around. This guy brought another car several weeks later and we actually raced on two long wire lines. This was so cool, I could not believe it. I wanted one badly, but when I told my dad, we went to a hobby/toy shop to check them out. The car kit with all of the stuff was just too expensive. So, I was satisfied with riding my bicycle to the school on a Saturday afternoon to watch this car/plane hobbyist run his cars. When I did get to participate, I was a happy little neighborhood kid playing with cars. The sight of the speedy cars disappearing in the distance, the sounds, and the action were just unbelievable. Drag racing for a little kid in the 50’s. Jnaki
I'm looking for tires and complete wheels for a British car M & E Special, any information is welcome. Thank you
John, Merry Christmas to you as well. I didn't make it to the Hershey collecto this year as I had hoped. Did you take photos amd would you care to post them here? Just want to see hat I missed. Thanks, Mick
Mick, There really wasn't much to see so I didn't take any photos. Attendance has continued to drop over the past several years and only a handful of tables were filled this year. As a result, Herb Singe and his son indicated that this past year's event was the last. Kinda sad...I hated to see it end. John
The Jalopy Journal
