SPA Modeler

Man I love that photo Bruce. Some great stuff!

Hey Carlos—I knew you would understand.

I did stuff like this with my dad too but it wasn't in the modifications of vehicles so much as it was in the repairs of them. I had a wrench in my hands at 11 years old changing parts like water pumps and intake manifold gaskets. So in short and in a slightly different way.....I get it as well.

Joe—I knew you would, too. Cheers, bud.

mustang1989 wrote:I did stuff like this with my dad too but it wasn't in the modifications of vehicles so much as it was in the repairs of them. I had a wrench in my hands at 11 years old changing parts like water pumps and intake manifold gaskets. So in short and in a slightly different way.....I get it as well.

Same here. My dad was the sort of weekend shade tree mechanic type. The only time that our cars went to the shop was for a major repair. I did not appreciate it at the time, but I learned some useful stuff. I just would rather have been playing with my friends.

I hear you. I did some playing but I did PLENTY of working at a young age.

Same. My Dad started me on maintenance pretty much the same way. Are licenses still given at 15? I remember driving the Dodge for a frame repair all on my own and truly being exhilarated and terrified at the same time, but yep—sounds like we were all wrenching verry young... although at 11? Joe that is quick start!

speedgraflex wrote:Stuart, My best memories of my Dad are of setting up the slot cars on the track. So, in a way this is how I honor the good times and not the bad ones. I saw this series of photos taken long ago but this one stood out of the two kids with their car builder Dad. That’s how I remember things!

I love that picture!

That's a great reason Bruce, and I fully understand where you're coming from. (My Dad loved his slot car racing as well).

Are you planning on running these or are you just restoring them?

I knew you would get it, Stuart. It means a lot. My plan is to keep the vintage/original shell for display (whenever I have an actual display). The red one will be for racing! I would like to hear more about your Dad's slot racing. I watched a British Pathe newsreel of a Scalextric track from the Sixties earlier. It was good.

Hi Bruce,

My Dad was in his teens when I was born, so for his 21st he got himself the then biggest boxed set that Scaletrix used to make - the Le Mans 24 Hour.

He only used to get it set up a few times a year because it was so big, and to do so we used to have to move the sofa and chairs out of the living room (which blocked the hall). Him and my uncles used to play on it for hours, my uncles bringing their own cars. This was obviously in the days before magnetics and I used to get roped in to be a catcher and spent my time putting cars back on the track.

Occasionally they used to let me have a go.

This is the track he bought.





Cheers,

Stuart