[Steve Barcak]

I'm sure some of you will remember this...

[Greg Reid]

He was faster than 'chained, greased, lightning.'

[OVERULD]

Originally Posted by OVERULD

We made choppers out of our bikes with an extra set of front forks, a banana seat, big tall sissy bar and ape-hanger handle bars. Mine had mirrors on both sides of the handle bars, a battery operated light and a speedometer. Saved my money and bought most of those accessories from the local Ace Hardware - he used to stock all that cool stuff.

Finally found a picture of my old bike! This was before I modified the front forks- don't think I ever took any photos of it that way. But man I put some miles on this thing as a kid. I was 15 when this photo was taken.



BJ

[Deadhead]

Cool Stingray! If that is dark green I had the same rig but maybe smaller frame? Slick on the back and generator driven light. Like you I put hundreds of miles on mine. Never went the chopper route though. Had a big sparkly pad on the sissy bar. Bar was all scarred up on the top from wheelies gone wild.

[OVERULD]

Thanks - It is a Schwinn, I think it was a 28" frame? It was black. My sissy bar had a big red reflector on it and was also scarred up pretty bad from wheelies gone bad! I used to be able to ride the back wheel for a full block. I rode that bike about 5 miles to Scout meetings every Monday night. I'd love to have it back now.

BJ

[Wareagle]

Originally Posted by Steve Barcak

I'm sure some of you will remember this...

Yes - non other than the Rifleman - just watched a few episodes on AMC .

[68gtoMN]

Originally Posted by Tripower455

A couple of neat ones from Republic Aviation. I worked at this airport as a mechanic, in the hangars in these pics.

XP-72 sitting in front of Hangar 2, which is the oldest hangar still on the airport and was one of the original structures used by Seversky Aircraft, which later became Republic. I used to service Cessnas right where this thing is parked.

The second pic with the XF-91A on the stands is also in Hangar 2. I spent 5 years working in and around that hangar, but it was filled with Piper Navajos, a Lear 25 and other GA type airplanes.

The 3rd pic shows an XR-12 Rainbow flanked by a P-47 and an RC-3 Seabee, in front of Hangar 3. I also work in this hangar once in a while. It is now the American Airpower Museum, and is once again filled with WWII era airplanes! The Rainbow still holds the speed record for 4 engine piston aircraft.

4th pic has an F-105, again parked in front of hangar 2

5th pic is hangar 2 in 1937, when it was part of the Seversky factory.

My Grandfather was an inspector for the P-47 for Republic. He lived on Long Island, NY.

[68gtoMN]

Originally Posted by Steve Barcak

I'm sure some of you will remember this...

I'll have to remember to scan the picture from my parents of my Father and Chuck Connors. They were teammates on Basketball team. Dad was 1 inch taller.

[70Steve]

Saw these on the HAMB old picture thread.

[Tripower455]

Originally Posted by 68gtoMN

My Grandfather was an inspector for the P-47 for Republic. He lived on Long Island, NY.

Very cool! It's a shame that all that history is just about gone now. Republic and Grumman were responsible for more than a few of our guys getting home alive!

[importsmasher]

Here are pics of my 66 GTO convertible back when it was new. One of the pictures is dated April 6, 1966, which is the day my parents took delivery from Bud Meadows Pontiac in Seattle.
Importsmasher

[Steve Barcak]

How many remember these things? Gosh, I had so much fun and great memories flying these control line planes from Cox. Had at least a few PT-19 trainers, a Corsair, Stuka and a Mustang, maybe more. Having a paper route, mowing lawns and dealing inbike parts allowed me to have some play money to buy stuff over the years as a kid. Also have the Vega funny car too. Always wanted the slingshot dragster but, never did. At least I have a real one now .
My understanding is this is a page from the Sears Christmas catalog 1969.

[Steve Barcak]

Here is Eddie Hill with his Pontiac twin. Now with a longer wheelbase and a full body. Push car is a 421 '63 GP!

[Steve Barcak]

Here is a rare gem of a picture. This is the Mickey Thompson Dragmaster car that won the US Nationalsin 1962. Powered by a M/T HEMI Pontiac, it appears it has an iron block at this time and , based on the '63 push car, is probably from late'62 or early '63.

[MikeNoun]

Originally Posted by Steve Barcak

How many remember these things? Gosh, I had so much fun and great memories flying these control line planes from Cox. Had at least a few PT-19 trainers, a Corsair, Stuka and a Mustang, maybe more. Having a paper route, mowing lawns and dealing inbike parts allowed me to have some play money to buy stuff over the years as a kid. Also have the Vega funny car too. Always wanted the slingshot dragster but, never did. At least I have a real one now .
My understanding is this is a page from the Sears Christmas catalog 1969.

I sure remember those. I had the Stuka, a Fokker D7, and a P-51. The P-51 had an "landing" setting, which was a sleeve around the air intake on the .049. When you were flying, you could snap you're wrist down, and the engine would go about 1/4 throttle, and you could do a touch-and-go landing, then snap it back and it went full throttle.

The Stuka had a bright red plastic bomb underneath, and the fuselage had a slot. If you did it just right, you could dive the plane, and the bomb would drop. That worked once as I recall, before my dad ended up accidentally crashing it. I never got to fly that thing. I remember the Stuka was a shiny black, and it was an absolute bear to start.

I loved the Fokker D7 too. I remember I was disappointed I wasn't going to be the first to fly it. My dad allowed my older brother, who had never flown one of these fly-by-wire planes before in his whole life, to do the honors. He fly it about 1/2 a circle, and crashed it so hard the whole thing flew apart. I was ticked...

The P-51 was my favorite. I took the original sticker off the nose (it came with a generic name on the plane, just a sticker), and using rub-on lettering, I carefully lettered my P-51, and gave it a new name. It was called "Stairway To Heaven".

Soon after, I progressed into R/C electric 1/12 scale cars (road race style), just as the R/C electric cars were coming out of the .049 gas era, around 1978.

[Greg Reid]

I had those planes too. I remember drooling over that exact Corsair at the Western Auto. Never got it. I did have the black Stuka (had the red bomb and even the pilot and gunner were red), a camo Spitfire (my Dad, full of Christmas cheer, crashed it before I could fly it on Christmas morning) and I had several Testor's U-controls too..much later.

[abefromen]

I've posted these before but here they are again......

[OVERULD]

I had the Corsair and also a P-40 Flying Tiger. I also won a 55 Chevy drag car that a Rexall Drug store gave away in a drawing. It had a couple of eyelets on the centerline of the frame and you would thread a line through them and anchor it at both ends and put a pile of pillows at the far end. You held the rear wheels off the floor, fired up the engine, throttled it up to banshee bumble-bee speed and then dropped the rear and watched an awesome burn-out for the full length of the basement floor. I can still smell the burned castor oil fuel. I never had a buddy with one of these cars to race against. Later set up a sweet jump and used to send the car sailing over the dog house, swing set, you name it! Crashed a bunch of planes too.

Anybody remember the Matel Varoom! motors? We put them on our bikes to make them look like motorcycles.

BJ

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by OVERULD

I had the Corsair and also a P-40 Flying Tiger. I also won a 55 Chevy drag car that a Rexall Drug store gave away in a drawing. It had a couple of eyelets on the centerline of the frame and you would thread a line through them and anchor it at both ends and put a pile of pillows at the far end. You held the rear wheels off the floor, fired up the engine, throttled it up to banshee bumble-bee speed and then dropped the rear and watched an awesome burn-out for the full length of the basement floor. I can still smell the burned castor oil fuel. I never had a buddy with one of these cars to race against. Later set up a sweet jump and used to send the car sailing over the dog house, swing set, you name it! Crashed a bunch of planes too.

Anybody remember the Matel Varoom! motors? We put them on our bikes to make them look like motorcycles.

BJ

I remember a rail type drag car similar to what you describe. I also remember an indy type racer that attached to a tether and went in a circle. It was green and had the "Sprite" soft drink logo on it. I had a Testor's hovercraft in olive drab with the American star on it that did the same thing.
Not sure about the Vrooom motors...how about the Tiger head that mounted on the handlebar and you pushed a lever to make the same sound? Same one?

[MikeNoun]

I remember the "Vr-room" motors! I only knew one kid that had one, and we were all jealous. We used the poor mans motorcycle sounds, we taped baseball cards to the forks of our bikes, and they slapped against the spokes.

Here's the Vr-room!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC0dK42wOOA

My friend had the Cox Vega Funny Car. Remember how those Cox .049's started? On the airplanes, you hooked a little spring on one of the prop blades, turned a few turns, then let it kick back, and hopefully it would start. On the Cox cars, you flipped the rear tire, and they seemed much harder to start.

I sometimes see guys flying their R/C planes at a Forest Preserve by us, with a dedicated runway and area for R/C planes. I sometimes stop to watch, always looking for scale models. Not too interested in the stunt planes. Anyway, when one of those starts up, I smell that wonderful Cox engine fuel, and it really takes me back.

I found a box of old Cox stuff that I have, but everything is in pieces, nothing complete. An old 3-wheeled motorcycle in metallic purple, parts of a VW Dune buggy, and a blue front engined dragster.