i remember building a soap box car from scratch getting the wood from the nearby pattern shop how about you guys?
I bought the official wheel and axle kit and built and raced mine in '59. It had a 4" slab of oak for a floor board, with wooden formers covered with Masonite, duct tape and enamel. I won two heats and a bus trip to the National. The "entrants" were supposed to build their own cars but many cars obviously weren't. Some looked like they were built by a custom fiberglass drag boat shop with the driver enclosed by hidden doors and paint slick as glass . I don't know if any formal protests were ever filed but the officials didn't seem to care.
When I lived down under (Australia), I built something out of baby buggy wheels and axles, 3 pieces of 2x4, a 12" piece to plant my ass on and some rope for steering.... Get the picture??? It lasted a few runs down Barbara Ave. Till it started falling apart.... It was a blast though...
I started in 1958 scratch building as they all were back then. Covered in cardboard from appliance boxes then soaked in enamel paint. Next two years I competed with the next version which was covered in Masonite. Then the third racer was built from all I had learned from the previous years. Trick spring board suspension (our course down the main street in town was rough) and built so I could get all of me really tucked down inside. Won the local, went to Akron in1961 and made it to the top 18. I still have it sitting in my den. Those were great learning experiences in both hands on and lifes winning and losing.
1954, I am the one sitting, won best constructed soap box. Should have told me I was better at building things than driving a race car, as I was never a very good race car driver.
Me and my friends built one a few years ago. It had no breaks and we never raced it. I think the only thing we actually did with it was hit a mail box and crack the front axle. Sent from my SM-G935P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Dallas had the Nationals I believe on Keist on a hill over by what's now thee National Veteran's cemetery....the lanes and hooks were there for years....think the hooks might still be....
I built one in the early 1950s from wood scavenged from new houses being built in the neighborhood. Don't remember where I got wheels. There was no organized racing and no rules. Only one other kid had one. We lived on a hill so it got lots of use.
Cannot remember if it was the 50s or 60s, but I attempted to build one. I believe Dexter Chevrolet sponsored ( no money ) local entrants. My Dad built a machine to break in the official wheels. Ted Williams ( yeah, that Ted Williams ) took all us kids to a ball game at Briggs Stadium ! Never did finish the car. My first of many unfinished project cars.
My old buddy Jack Gillis Vancouver, WA. in 1940. He is wearing the Chevrolet sponsored T-shirt and helmet. Jack went on to building some great race cars, here he is 9 years later.
Yes, but it was my older brother's. We, my Dad, got sponsorship from the dealership my Dad worked at as a mechanic, that paid for the wheels and axles. From there it was plywood base, and stringers. The body was silk and dope like biplanes. My brother made it in the second round where 'The Pros fro Dover' 'home-built''s beat him. Later we used his racer to haul up and down our sidewalks, until we pulled out of the driveway right in front of the police.... This was about '66-'67.
That's a true story. I know two brothers that raced in the mid-60s (the older brother actually won the nationals; name withheld to protect the guilty) that had 'heavy assistance' from their father. While the kids did some work on the cars, Dad did the heavy lifting...
My Uncle and I built several . This pic is of my Uncle behind the wheel along with my two sisters and me perched on the back. July 1960 . Bill
I was a poor kid, couldn't afford to race with a sanctioning body like the Soap Box Derby. We had a paved hill on the street one block away, and held "Outlaw Street Races" on weekends. This is my ride circa 1956 !
I did the same thing in S. Arkansas in the late 50's. Probably looked just like yours. You're right.....it was a blast
My brothers and I built one out an Air Force Wood Hobby shop located at Offutt AFB. We had all of the power tools and even the guy who ran the place help us. It was all wood and the wheels and tires had to be obtained from the local Chevy garage (I think---6 or 9 dollars) This was right around 1958-59 time frame. we sanded and sanded that missile shape body and painted it with all of the red lacquer paint from the Auto Hobby shop (same base). We took it to Peru only to find out it was too heavy with me or my brother driving it. My youngest brother and the lightest of all four of us got to run the car down the hill. Needless to say, we were beaten by a kid with 4 wheels and a milk box for a body, but the track official said we had the most miles going down the hill. When my father got transfer to another base we took the car over to the Wood hobby and gave it to the guy who ran the shop. I think he hung it up on one of the walls. It was a great learning experience. Last time I saw several soap box cars they were pretty much all the same from some sort of a kit.
Built one in the early 60's out of a 12" oak plank and 2X4 oak axle supports. The metal axles were round bar stock from old tricycle rear ends toe nailed to the 2X4's along with those wheels. Steering was rope an brakes were a board that could be engaged to rub the rear wheels with a hand lever. Eventually we wrecked it, into a tree going down Wayne Street trying to get stopped before we went across US 40. Don't even know how we ever survived with all of the safety stuff today but we did.
One of many I built when I was young. I had an prior version with a rocking chair back for a roll bar, stole one of mom's sheets from the wash line, tied a bunch of kite string to it and then to the back of the car. Went to our favorite hill. Started down with the homemade drag chute on my lap, half way down I threw it out. Popped open, picked the back of the car off the ground, made an immediate left turn into the driver's door of a brand new 64' Chevelle. Never gave the crosswind any thought. Boy was the owner pissed, he talked to my dad, which did not go well for me or my car. That next weekend I had to publicly burn my car in the field across from this guys house. What they didn't know was the fact I hid my good wheels and installed some old junkers. Burnt my car, but was back up the next weekend with a new faster version, NO PARACHUTE!!!
Not to hijack this thread, but that parachute story reminded me of a similar experience I had when I was 11. I had a mini bike with a 580 Westbend engine. We had a long driveway and I would "race the full length all day. As I hopped up the engine, it got harder to stop without running out into the street. I too stole a bed sheet and made a drag chute. I Carefully folded it just like I saw Ivo do at San Gabe. I placed it on the seat, and sat on it. Off I went full bore. As I got to the "shut off area" I lifted my butt and let the chute deploy. I had not counted on the crosswind that blew the chute right into the neighbors rose bushes between the driveways. Of course the chute snagged a bush, and stopped the bike dead. Over the bars I went, landing spread eagle in the street. Mom was not amused.
I didn't build this one but when I found it in a guys garage some reason I thought I had to have it. Seems like the thing you didn't have as a kid you desire when your older. Any way it's hanging in my shop, looks like I better get the insulation back up. I could read the name of the racer on the wheels but I never have been able to locate her, yes her, I wonder if she would like it back.
I never entered the Derby but really wanted to. Designed a 'perfect' car that never built. We didn't have a race anywhere near our home so no use building a racer! I concentrated on building and entering models in the Fisher Body Craftsman's guild from '62 thru '66. Then there is the legendary Ace Fogerty (with a name like that, what else would you expect!?) who won two prestigious GM national contests. He won second place national award for his Soap Box car then for good measure won second place national for a Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild model. http://shs1962.org/bios/Ace Fogarty.pdf
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