RC Cars History
Early Experimental Radio Controlled Model Cars
1930s and 1940s – There were RC AIRPLANES back then, why can I not find any RC car history?
Big Score – I found an RC vehicle in the 1940s!
January 1949 – M. Gordon Moses, Radio Controlled Model Bus
A 22-inch, approximately 9½-pound working-model bus equipped with an onboard 6-meter radio receiver and twelve-position electromechanical control system. Radio commands controlled forward/reverse propulsion, right/left steering, doors, lights, signals and windshield wiper. Published in Radio-Electronics, January 1949.
February 1951 — Edward L. Safford Jr., Radio-Controlled Toy Truck.
Model Control by Radio documents and photographs a completed truck carrying its receiver, batteries, drive and steering equipment. A matching transmitter is photographed with the truck, and operation of the radio receiver is reported at roughly 25 feet without a transmitter antenna and 100 feet with a six-foot wire.
October 1952 — William H. Minor, Midget Radio-Controlled Auto.
Ten-inch Vibro-Roll Sedan converted from wired control to fully self-contained radio control. The article photographs its installed receiver, decoder and drive system and explicitly describes operating it on its wheels by successive radio commands for forward, stop and reverse.
1954 Ford Industrial Arts Award RC Car Winner
1954 Howard G. McEntee Porsche 356 RC Car from his 1954 “Radio-Control Handbook”
1955 Ford Motor Company RC Car
1956 Ford Industrial Arts Award – Second RC Car Winner
Musciano Book Pg 156/7
Early 1960s Bill Johnson Experimental Car
1964 Rod & Custom Models Big “T”
1964 Dr. Hans Feldmann – An Early German RC Car Pioneer
1965 Charles Eckles Prototype Cars
1965 M. Charles England – 1:8 Scale E-Type Jaguar Electric
1965 Howard G. McEntee RC Tonka Truck Conversion
1965 Norb Meyer Prototype Cars (Need to add Ra/Car catalog pix)
1965 Meade E. Hallock – ICE engine, prop-driven RC Truck!
1966 Spencer Murray MCS Project Cars
1967 Car Model – Propeller Cars, No Throttle
1978 Article in English mag may lead to earlier Tether/RC conversions
Early Commercial Radio Controlled Model Car Kits
1965 German HEGI Porsche 904 GTS kit with electric drive and wooden chassis on a scale of 1:8
1965 Robbe RB3 Mercedes Silberpfei
1966 NAMCO Car Kits and Racing Series
Early Commercial Radio Controlled Ready-To-Run Model Cars
1955 Radicon Radio Control Bus
1956 Radicon Radio Control Oldsmobile
1966 ElGi Ferrari 250 LM – NOPE, not the first!
1967 1:24 scale Maserati 3700GT RC ProConMini by Nichimo from Japan
1967 July Car Model Magazine – RC Gas Propeller Cars
1967 Japanese Proportional Steering 1:15 Electric Toyota
1967? Aristocraft 1:11 scale Nissan Silvia
Background Historical Information
Radio-controlled car – Wikipedia I have been updating the ‘History’ section
Magazine Articles About RC Cars 1964-1973
Midwest Series – First Regional Championship Series
Possible very early RC car information: Model Airplane News
My RC Cars
First One – 1:8 Scale Corvette