My dream of having a radio controlled race car probably started in the mid ’50’s. I had been flying a control line Wing Ding airplane made for engines up to .o49 cubic inch. I, of course, bought a Herkimer OK Cub .099 to double the power.
More power meant bigger crashes so I had to do some rebuilds after spectacular wing overs. When I finally bent the crank, I began to contemplate sticking closer to the ground with a gas-powered car. Shirt cardboards from Dad’s laundry made great art boards for some after school projects for a junior high kid in the 60’s:
Above – The tether cars of the day had an inline engine and bevel gear set, so I based my plans on that concept initially.
Below – Keeping to my ‘more is better’ idea, I sketched a 2 cylinder engine and chassis. Full Ackermann steering and a very sturdy front end, probably because of the damage I saw from my plane crashes. No radio but a shift lever for the transmission!? I always fanaticized that a gas powered car could lay down rubber.
Above – Refueling tubes representing carb stack in the hood.
Above – Two engines and four wheel drive – now it is getting serious!
Above – Tether cars didn’t have clutches, they were pushed off to launch. I assumed some kind of clutch would be needed but I didn’t know about centrifugal clutches yet. Clutch details above are a bit sketchy!
2025-12-13 – Although the need to disengage an idling internal combustion engine from the drive wheels had RC car experimenters trying several methods up into the 60s, this ad from the October 1950 Air Trails (airplane oriented magazine) shows that centrifugal clutches were available in tether cars in 1950!
