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Article on the making of Little Red Wagon. HRM February 1965

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The 1960's just seemed to explode with fantasy creations by George Barris, Gene Winfield, and many others. For those looking to build the myriad models of these vehicles, here are a few articles for reference:

Barris Surf Woody. HRM April 1965

Various other Barris creations, including Out of Sight ZZR, Fireball 550, and the Batmobile. HRM June 1966

Tom McCurry 4 engined Wagon-Master. HRM September 1966

And Boot Hill Express. HRM March 1967

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Staying with the theme of fantasy and movie cars, this ad from HRM January 1969 reminded me to ask; did anyone make a model of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? I know there were some toys, including a large scale one, but nothing in terms of a legit model or diecast to my knowledge.

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HRM April 1965 had a good article on "Hemi Under Glass". It must have been an early iteration of the vehicle as the drivetrain is different than later versions which used a Cassale marine V-drive. I wish I had this article when I built my Chezoom Corvair (which essentially had the underpinnings of Hemi-Under-Glass).

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A totally wild device called the "Turbonique". I have no idea if it actually worked, or if anyone used it, but totally fun thing to add to a model!

Ad from HRM April 1965

HRM October 1965

It's gotta be an April Fools joke, right?!

Edited November 23, 2022 by ea0863

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An article on the beautiful Reynolds Aluminum streamliner. HRM June 1965

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I noticed this photo in HRM March 1966 of the Ford GT J-car development. Sadly, just a few months later Ken Miles lost his life in testing the J-car. At some point I'd like to build it to go along with my collection of Ford GT's from that era. 

HRM September 1966

Edited November 23, 2022 by ea0863

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The kit car industry was apparently well underway by the mid-60's, and there were shameless copies of famous concepts, racers, etc., - along with some novel designs in their own right.

Universal Plastics ad. HRM May 1966

Allied Fiberglass. HRM October 1966

Fiberfab. HRM June 1967

An ad for a very lovely Fiberfab creation called the Jamaican. HRM July 1969

Edited January 19, 2023 by ea0863

[ea0863]

And as our fellow modeler @JollySipper noted earlier, a subset of the kit car industry dealing with dune buggies seemed also to be well underway. (anybody remember the "Speed Buggy" cartoons from 1973?  ) 

Great reference photos in these articles.

HRM August 1966

And who wouldn't want to combine the love for 30's roadsters, dragsters, and VW based dune buggies into one build?

HRM November 1967

Berry "Mini-T" dune buggy. HRM December 1968

A dune racer that looks like it could do the Dakar rally tomorrow! HRM March 1969

And of course, the most famous one of them all - the Manx. HRM October 1969

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by ea0863

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For those looking to build the Piranha race car, there was an article in HRM November 1966 with good reference photos. 

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A short little article in January 1967 referred to Swedish or "Scandinavian Specials". Apparently they have always loved American cars, but have certainly put their own spin on their customs. For instance, check out https://kustomrama.com/wiki/Sweden and https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/regional-car-culture-explained-the-history-of-the-swedish-a-traktor/ for a taste.

Edited November 23, 2022 by ea0863

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I literally wept looking at some of the "for sale" ads of the time, so get out your tissues...

This was the real deal. Check out https://rrdc.org/member/george-wintersteen/ for the owner's information. HRM June 1967

HRM June 1967 (Yes, the same month as the previous listing)

Orbitron. HRM August 1968

Herb Adams' Pontiac Vivant (the ad doesn't even say its name). HRM October 1968

And what a beauty this one is!

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by ea0863

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Obviously, the "big three" were all busy putting out some beautiful concepts. A few of the write-ups were as follows:

Chevrolet Astro I. HRM July 1967

Ford Allegro II. HRM November 1967

Dodge Charger III. HRM January 1968 (someday I will find a model of this one...)

Edited November 23, 2022 by ea0863

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Slightly breaking my promise to myself to stay with cars only, was this photo from an article on the Bonneville races of 1967.

 

I wanted to share it only because the story of Burt Munro is quite interesting, and was made into a movie I believe should be in any gearhead's collection  

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So as not to leave my 30's hot rod brethren hanging, here is a beautiful woody that was featured in HRM August 1968. 

And from HRM March 1969, a rather fun little truck.

Edited November 24, 2022 by ea0863

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And to finish out the 60's, who could forget the Brawner Hawk Indy racer of Mario Andretti? I have had my eye on an Ertl 1:18 diecast of this vehicle forever, but they go for seriously strong money. It would be wonderful if someone made a scale model of it.

HRM August 1969

HRM September 1969

Edited November 24, 2022 by ea0863

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I think I know one thing that the 70's brought, but that will have to be a story for another day...

HRM September 1969

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On 11/21/2022 at 9:09 AM, ea0863 said:

I'm glad you're enjoying the articles Jim. And thanks to you, I now have a new fascinating topic to research further; the saga of the rear-engine sprint cars!

I found this in HRM November 1969. I'm guessing it was one of the earlier such attempts?

Edited November 24, 2022 by ea0863

[OldNYJim]

1 hour ago, ea0863 said:

A totally wild device called the "Turbonique". I have no idea if it actually worked, or if anyone used it, but totally fun thing to add to a model!

Ad from HRM April 1965

HRM October 1965

It's gotta be an April Fools joke, right?!

Nope!!  People ran them, and they really did what they said they did (apparently).  There were various cars (and bikes) running them and achieving impressive numbers in the quarter mile; excessive demand eventually killed the company when they couldn’t produce them fast enough to keep up and started sending incomplete setups to customers expecting them to make it all work themselves.  The company owner went to jail for mail fraud, and the concept died right there and then.

An interesting video on them can be found here:

(Sorry for the thread hijack)

Edited November 23, 2022 by CabDriver

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On 11/22/2022 at 8:13 PM, CabDriver said:

Nope!!  People ran them, and they really did what they said they did (apparently).  There were various cars (and bikes) running them and achieving impressive numbers in the quarter mile; excessive demand eventually killed the company when they couldn’t produce them fast enough to keep up and started sending incomplete setups to customers expecting them to make it all work themselves.  The company owner went to jail for mail fraud, and the concept died right there and then.

An interesting video on them can be found here:

(Sorry for the thread hijack)

What a fascinating video and topic! Thank you for sharing it. I can't believe some other company didn't pick up the patent on this since it apparently did work!!! 

And plus, now I know how the Batmobile was powered too...

 

p.s. HRM March 2004 has a retrospective on the Turbonique and its founder.

Edited January 8, 2023 by ea0863

[OldNYJim]

As that video I linked explained well, the inability to modulate the power output is something of a hindrance for anything other than drag racing, but they ARE cool!  I just, coincidentally, had fallen down a rabbit hole of researching these when I saw your post.

And you’re right, they WOULD make for a fun modeling project!

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Wrapping up the '60's, HRM seemed to have settled into a formula; they had gone from about 120 pages per issue in 1960 to more like 150 pages by 1970. The cost per issue had risen from 35 cents to 50 cents (about $3.85 today). Articles on airplanes had all but vanished, and boats were much less of a topic. Motorcycles still featured strongly though, and the ubiquitous '30's hot rods were still there. Little by little, there were more articles showing up about Japanese cars hinting at what was to come. 

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Old school Willys still representing the gassers into a new decade. January 1970

Edited November 27, 2022 by ea0863

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Sox and Martin Plymouth. February 1970

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Aaah, the 240Z from HRM March 1970. I loved it then, still love it now. I'm looking forward to building one of these by Tamiya. 

Edited November 27, 2022 by ea0863