Harvey Aluminum Special - Finished

[2whl]

I decided to enter this GB with a Lance Seller kit of the 1963 Mickey Thompson Harvey Aluminum Special.   In 1963 Mickey entered three innovative cars designed by John Crosthwaite.  These light weight cars were designed to use 12 inch diameter wheels.  The light weight and small wheels were a problem to the establishment, so for future races, cars were restricted to minimum tire sizes and minimum car weights.

[deafpanzer]

How cool! Lance is a member of my local model club here in Indy. Real very nice guy! He is usually busy selling those at our annual show. You definitely have my attention too!

[keavdog]

Looks like a great project. Where do you order these from? Poked around a bit but could only find the decals on Indycals.

[atomicholiday]

Never heard of this before, but it looks really cool. Should make for a fun build.

[2whl]

Jan 10, 2024 17:33:38 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

How cool! Lance is a member of my local model club here in Indy. Real very nice guy! He is usually busy selling those at our annual show. You definitely have my attention too!

Thanks for looking in.

Jan 10, 2024 18:47:28 GMT -5 keavdog said:

Looks like a great project. Where do you order these from? Poked around a bit but could only find the decals on Indycals.

His website is shut down.  But he is a regular on the Open Wheel Racing Modeling forum.  It looks like he only takes orders through PM's.

mb2501.proboards.com/

Jan 10, 2024 20:43:34 GMT -5 atomicholiday said:

Never heard of this before, but it looks really cool. Should make for a fun build.

It was a pretty obscure car and didn't finish very high.  Then the powers-that-be outlawed it.


Contents of the kit.  It looks like I'll be doing the red car since that's the decals that came with the kit.  In order to do the blue car, I'd have to get those from Indycals.  And the red car is the only one that qualified for the race.   Qualified 15th and finished in 23rd after an engine failure on the 100th lap.

[kyledehart5]

Yes Paul!! I’m really excited to see this. Haven’t seen it built but maybe once or twice and that’s been a good while. That car was an innovative machine. Of course the outlawing of the 12 inch tires led to Thompson having to redesign his 1964 car after it had already been designed around the 12 inchers. This was one of the direct issues that led to the horrific 1964 crash.

Lance does indeed only take orders through PM on the open wheel forum now. And for the moment he appears to be in a bit of a hiatus as his last kit seemed to take a lot out of him. I hope he decides to produce more kits as they usually go together pretty well.

[handiabled]

Watching with interest, I can hardly believe there's a kit of this car

[2whl]

Jan 10, 2024 23:04:58 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Yes Paul!! I’m really excited to see this. Haven’t seen it built but maybe once or twice and that’s been a good while. That car was an innovative machine. Of course the outlawing of the 12 inch tires led to Thompson having to redesign his 1964 car after it had already been designed around the 12 inchers. This was one of the direct issues that led to the horrific 1964 crash.

Lance does indeed only take orders through PM on the open wheel forum now. And for the moment he appears to be in a bit of a hiatus as his last kit seemed to take a lot out of him. I hope he decides to produce more kits as they usually go together pretty well.

Thanks Kyle.  It was a toss up between this and the Panoz.  I didn't like the livery on the Panoz, so I ordered a different decal sheet from the manufacturer.

Jan 11, 2024 11:38:27 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Watching with interest, I can hardly believe there's a kit of this car

Thanks Brent.  I didn't know about it either until Lance announced he was doing a kit of it.  Which was back in 2012.



I cleaned up enough parts to do a mock-up.  It's easy to see why this car was nick-named the rollerskate.




114

[brandonk]

Those are very cool. Watching...

[kyledehart5]

Excellent. The mock-up looks great. Lance does pretty well getting the shape of the car right.

[406 Silverado]

Now this is gonna be cool to watch come together Paul. Welcome to the GB and I'll get you added to the roster bro. 


Edited: Paul (2whl). Got you added to the roster now.

[70 STING]

First time seeing this car. Looks like an upscaled go cart (death trap).
Looking forward to your progress.

[project510]

Yea this is a cool build. Cant wait to see it come together.

[2whl]

Jan 11, 2024 14:57:47 GMT -5 brandonk said:

Those are very cool. Watching...

Thanks Brandon

Jan 11, 2024 17:49:13 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Excellent. The mock-up looks great. Lance does pretty well getting the shape of the car right.

Thanks Kyle.  I agree, he does do a good job of capturing the essence of the car.

Jan 12, 2024 10:15:23 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Now this is gonna be cool to watch come together Paul. Welcome to the GB and I'll get you added to the roster bro. 


Edited: Paul (2whl ). Got you added to the roster now.

Thanks Joe.  This one is going so well, I might do another.

Jan 12, 2024 13:12:23 GMT -5 70 STING said:

First time seeing this car. Looks like an upscaled go cart (death trap).
Looking forward to your progress.

Thanks.  Even though it looks like a death trap, I'd give it a go.  LOL

Jan 12, 2024 14:04:55 GMT -5 project510 said:

Yea this is a cool build. Cant wait to see it come together.

Thanks James


One of the suspension pieces was broken.  So I crossed my fingers and JB Quick Welded it when I did the interior frame.  It looks like it will work, as long as my fat fingers don't break it again.





196

[kyledehart5]

Loving it Paul!! Hope you do get into another one! Fun stuff

[atomicholiday]

Looking good so far! Also, I'm really enjoying the vintage pictures you're posting. They really help bring the whole thing to life.

[Art Laski]

This is cool, Paul! I'll be watching.

[406 Silverado]

Continuing to watch for updates on this bad boy Paul (2whl). 

[garybrantley]

I remember those race cars!  Mickey Thompson was a great character in American autosports and was quite an innovator too.   I've long wanted to build his land speed record car, Challenger II, and have acquired no less than three kits for that project.   I'm really excited to see these cars being built!   😃

[406 Silverado]

Jan 27, 2024 11:31:23 GMT -5 garybrantley said:

I remember those race cars!  Mickey Thompson was a great character in American autosports and was quite an innovator too.   I've long wanted to build his land speed record car, Challenger II, and have acquired no less than three kits for that project.   I'm really excited to see these cars being built!   😃

 You know you're gonna have to let us all know when you get a thread goin' for that Gary. Just sayin'.......

[lyle]

Nice! Looks to be quite innovative for the time. Also reminds me of the 30s classic air racers.

[garybrantley]

Jan 27, 2024 11:34:00 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Jan 27, 2024 11:31:23 GMT -5 garybrantley said:

I remember those race cars!  Mickey Thompson was a great character in American autosports and was quite an innovator too.   I've long wanted to build his land speed record car, Challenger II, and have acquired no less than three kits for that project.   I'm really excited to see these cars being built!   😃

 You know you're gonna have to let us all know when you get a thread goin' for that Gary. Just sayin'.......

And you know I would, Joe. 😉  I would love to get a Challenger done and have almost pulled the trigger on that several times.   However, it would be hard to top this one, done by Jack Mugan over at iModeler, several years ago.   I was so impressed by it and frankly, intimidated too, that I shelved my plans for one.   Maybe someday, the muse will visit me again, and you guys will be the first to know! 😁  Check out the link and see what I mean:

Mickey Thompson's Challenger

[garybrantley]

Jan 12, 2024 18:35:37 GMT -5 2whl said:

Is that Graham Hill behind the wheel?   It sure looks like him!   I saw him race in Australia, back in '66.

[kyledehart5]

Jan 27, 2024 21:02:27 GMT -5 garybrantley said:

Jan 12, 2024 18:35:37 GMT -5 2whl said:

Is that Graham Hill behind the wheel?   It sure looks like him!   I saw him race in Australia, back in '66.

It is indeed. The reigning world champion at the time for BRM, Hill was entered in the car and passed his rookie test in it, surviving a spin. He then crashed it in practice and had to go back to Europe for F1 races. He did return to the speedway but ultimately did not attempt to qualify, being not entirely confident in the car. Of course he would return to win in 1966

[garybrantley]

Jan 27, 2024 21:27:52 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Jan 27, 2024 21:02:27 GMT -5 garybrantley said:

Is that Graham Hill behind the wheel?   It sure looks like him!   I saw him race in Australia, back in '66.

It is indeed. The reigning world champion at the time for BRM, Hill was entered in the car and passed his rookie test in it, surviving a spin. He then crashed it in practice and had to go back to Europe for F1 races. He did return to the speedway but ultimately did not attempt to qualify, being not entirely confident in the car. Of course he would return to win in 1966

I thought that was Hill. My family had moved to Australia in February of 1966 for my dad's job. We lived in Geelong which is maybe 40-45 miles from Melbourne. Just a few weeks after arriving, we attended a Tasman Cup race, and assorted smaller classes, at Sandown Park Racetrack, just outside Melbourne. That series was run for F1 teams in the off-season, with somewhat different engine requirements, I believe. The race we saw featured no less than four drivers who were or would hold F1 champions status, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Australian Jack Brabham and of course, Graham Hill. Stewart won that main event, but I was most impressed with an Australian-built CanAm-type sports car, Frank Matich's Traco Olds. He and that car won the top sportcar class, mainly contested by a Ferrari 250 LM and the Porsche 904/6 Spyder of Alan Hamilton. As a pretty impressionable, car-crazy 13-year-old, I was in heaven as we used our pit passes and toured the paddock where the Grand Prix teams were prepping their cars.

The Tasman Cup Series:

Tasman Series

Here's a bit about Matich:

Frank Matich

And a photo of that car at Sandown that day back in 1966:




And this photo shows the car on the starting grid, alongside the 250 LM of Spencer Martin at the next race of the Australian Tourist Trophy series, held in Tasmania:

[kyledehart5]

Very cool. I’ve read about the Tasman series before. And I’m almost certain I’ve seen at least one of the Traco Olds car. That sure was a fantastic time to be a race fan!!

[garybrantley]

Jan 28, 2024 13:34:14 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Very cool. I’ve read about the Tasman series before. And I’m almost certain I’ve seen at least one of the Traco Olds car. That sure was a fantastic time to be a race fan!!

You're obviously a great fan of auto racing! 😃  Kyle, you're right, it was a wonderful era in racing, and I was just very lucky to have that experience.  I still have a couple of our ticket stubs from that race and did have the pit passes for years but let them disappear somehow.     If I were a wealthy person, I'd be at the Indy 500 each year, and then fly over for Le Mans.  Combine a love of racing with being a history nerd, and that's what ya get! 😁

[kyledehart5]

Jan 29, 2024 9:42:07 GMT -5 garybrantley said:

Jan 28, 2024 13:34:14 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Very cool. I’ve read about the Tasman series before. And I’m almost certain I’ve seen at least one of the Traco Olds car. That sure was a fantastic time to be a race fan!!

You're obviously a great fan of auto racing! 😃  Kyle, you're right, it was a wonderful era in racing, and I was just very lucky to have that experience.  I still have a couple of our ticket stubs from that race and did have the pit passes for years but let them disappear somehow.     If I were a wealthy person, I'd be at the Indy 500 each year, and then fly over for Le Mans.  Combine a love of racing with being a history nerd, and that's what ya get! 😁

Yes indeed! Huge Motorsports fan and big fan of Motorsports history since I was a kid. Basically grew up at the Indy 500 and local dirt tracks. We watched all the endurance racing and F1 races back then on speedvision. And since having my own disposal income I’ve read several books and done a ton of research. The majority of what I build is race cars of one form or another. 

[project510]

[2whl]

Apr 7, 2024 18:28:24 GMT -5 project510 said:

LOL.   I've been distracted by another build.  I'm want to try to finish it before the model show next weekend.  But I will be back to this one.....hopefully before the deadline.