Author Topic: Totally Off Topic,but you old gear heads will dig it anyway.... (Read 2272 times)

Skip Chernoff · « **on:** May 15, 2019, 06:19:51 AM »

About a month ago I'm surfing Ebay and find a kart like I had as a kid....a 1964 Fox in great shape.no engine,no upholstery. I had to buy it. The seller built a beautiful crate to ship it to me from central Iowa to Philly. Even before I owned the Kart I had an engine I acquired as part of a model airplane estate sale. The engine is a 1962 West Bend 610 that needed some rebuilding.....no sweat!

So I commission a local auto upholstery shop to make the seat to exact specs for the this model Fox Kart. He had old print ads to refer to. The seat and kart look great. I'm waiting on some engine parts for the project. Just what I needed another project when I've got unfinished stuff for Brodaks.....Take a look....Cheers PhillySkip

Andre Ming · « **Reply #1 on:** May 15, 2019, 07:35:54 AM »

Cool!

Can you still fit into it?

Was this made by Fox Mfg that made the Fox model airplane engines? (I recall Duke was into developing an engine for kart racing long prior to my years with Fox, so I wonder.)

Andre

Fredvon4 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 15, 2019, 08:49:05 AM »

https://gokartsusa.com/

I covet a mini bike I was NOT allowed to have 69~71.....someday......man they are pricey these days

dennis lipsett · « **Reply #3 on:** May 15, 2019, 09:23:17 AM »

I remember Duke making a bicycle motor i guess to compete with the Ohlson 1 ci engine his was 3 ci. a friend bought one and we put it on to a bike and was totally disappointed in it, Unfortunately for Duke motorized bicycles were outlawed for the public highways. No safety equipment on them. it was only viable on perfectly flat ground and it would wear a tire out in a relatively short time. Not a great idea using a friction wheel on a bike tire. It was a mickey mouse set up no matter whose motor was used.
My understanding was that Duke Fox took a heavy hit on this.

peabody · « **Reply #4 on:** May 15, 2019, 09:27:27 AM »

Being a native Ohioan, I got to know Mickey Rupp and would visit his plant/tract.
Karting is alive and well today, with really sophisticated stuff.
facebook has a Vintage Karting group and they hold races all over the US

Skip Chernoff · « **Reply #5 on:** May 15, 2019, 09:44:41 AM »

I'm not planning on doing any vintage racing with the Kart. I raced them thru most of my adult life up to around 1993.I'm hoping I still fit in the kart,getting out will be more of an issue! This kart was made by Fox Body Company out of Janesville Wis. It is not related in anyway to our Fox model engines company.
As a kid (1960) I started with a kart out of Cockeysville Md. called an Acer Racer. It used square tubing,and was one of the first karts with live axle. I had it powered at first with a Clinton A490,then a Power Products AH61. The next kart was made by Rupp but they called it "Brand X" It had a narrow steering hoop. It was powered by a Mc Culloch 40 (which btw came with dual carbs!) The last vintage kart I had was a Fox( circa 1969) with a highly modified West Bend 820 on Alky.

Around 1982 I got back into it and ran the WKA Sprint Series with an Emmick Star powered by a Parilla 100cc reed valve engine. By 1985 I was racing the lay down Enduro Karts . I had a Hartman Kart with an open class 150cc Komet on Alky (did about 130mph on the back stretch at Talledaga)

I'll set this Kart up for some spirited parking lot fun and let all of my airplane buddies ride it!

Jim Kraft · « **Reply #6 on:** May 15, 2019, 10:21:40 AM »

Well, that brings back memories. I an another kid built a three wheel car out of welded up steel pipe, with a model A seat, and a 10 horse Wisconsin engine. I used it on a paper route for a couple of years, till my brother wrecked it. My neighbor across the street had this car with no engine. We put the Wisconsin on it an it was fast at least to us as we had it geared way to high. We had to pull it with a rope about 20 miles an hour to get it started with his red 49 Olds convertible.

You could do stuff back then that no one can do anymore. I bought my first Harley when I was 14. No tags and no insurance.

Ken Culbertson · « **Reply #7 on:** May 15, 2019, 01:19:11 PM »

My best friend when I was 11 had one of these, his dad built it for him. We used to have cul-de-sac races. You know, sometimes the "good-old-days" really were good.

Ken

Andre Ming · « **Reply #8 on:** May 15, 2019, 03:51:44 PM »

Fox bicycle apparatus:

I vaguely remember those were still around when I first went to work for Fox Mfg in August, 1970. I recall seeing Duke ride one around the paved drives that circled the shop to the parking lot in back. I also "think" I recall that the one I saw was 36X-powered. The darn thing toted Duke up the hill of the entrance drive!

However, I was in reference to the racing go kart engine Duke tried to develop. I remember seeing the cylinder castings/liners and perhaps the crankcase castings back in the "Bone Pile" area of the factory. Definitely NOT a bicycle engine. Much too big for that. Looking back, I would guess it was 250cc or so.

The combat mentor I had at the time (Bill James) was in on some of the testing of same (Bill was into karts at the time) and he said it was quite potent. Perhaps I need to call my old Fox Mfg friend Jay Davis to see if he remembers anything about the kart engine, for Jay's date of employment at Fox Mfg preceded Bill's by a few years as I recall.

All fer now.

Andre

Dan McEntee · « **Reply #9 on:** May 15, 2019, 07:03:48 PM »

I remember the adds in Popular Mechanics and such for the Bird carts and mini-bikes. My Mom was like every one else's and resisted , but my older brother Tom hand built a similar chassis and it was powered by a 10hp Briggs & Stratton. As we got older, Mom figured out that as long as we were on a track all going the same way, we were actually looking out for each other and was probably as safe as riding the school bus! I rode dirt bikes and raced enduros locally and after my brother and I were out of high school, he started racing karts with a Margay Cheetah and a McCullough 98. I followed suit not long after I got married with a Margay Panther and my brother's hand me down Macs. Margay karts are made here ins St. Louis so that is the dominant brand around here still, I think. I moved up to a Margay Panther-X and a LMR engine in the stock heavy class. My brother Jimmy moved to Atlanta, Georgia to go to work for Wheel Horse Lawn Products as a service representative and got into the lay down enduro classes that were along his route. He ran Daytona and Talledega many times. My biggest regret in life came one year around Christmas, (kart week at Daytona was between Christmas and New Years back then, I think) when he called me and invited me down to run Daytona with him. They had a sit up class, and he was entered in 4 enduro classes and wanted me to drive in at least one. I was working for my father in law at the time, and he wouldn't let me off work!!! I should have just told him to stick it, went to Daytona and raced, and then begged for my job back when I got home!! Jimmy passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in January, 2012 and not a day goes by I think where I don't think about that since he passed. I brought all of his kart stuff home, thinking that either I or someone in my family might use it to race the vintage kart stuff, but just not enough time, money, or space to store it all. If I could find someone that was crazy enough to put the kart together and wrench on it and let me drive it, I would still be interested in racing them! Whether on dirt or pavement, they are a hell of a lot of fun to drive!
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee

Skip Chernoff · « **Reply #10 on:** May 16, 2019, 04:13:01 AM »

I'm glad I posted this stuff as it seems it's brought back some great memories from our youth. Dan you had some good stuff back then.Margay was a very innovative company. I remember that they were the first to put the engine next to the driver and not in the rear. Also the first to use fiberglass seats.
Attached is a photo of me taken during practice at Daytona sometime in the late 1980's The kart was a Hartman (the Rolls Royce of Karting) with a Parilla 100cc rotary valve engine. On that day I was running "100cc Open Heavy" . I finished mid pack but had a ball running on the famed Daytona Speedway.......Skip

11290 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 16, 2019, 08:06:13 AM »

Margay Cheetah w/ Mac 91B (or C - can't remember) around 1971 or '72. I didn't start in until about '71 but there was a "Swoospter" cart built by LMC Midget Motors here in Evansville, IN in either 1960 or '61. Very rare, if you could even still find one.

Serge_Krauss · « **Reply #12 on:** May 16, 2019, 10:07:57 AM »

Skip, that's a beautiful restoration! It predates my karting years (1982 - 1989 for sprints, plus time up through 1997 in enduro lay-down's), but it and succeeding posts really bring back fond memories. I raced in NE Ohio, as far south as Port Washington, but mostly at Columbiana (my favorite) and Thompson, where we built a track.

My first races were at the Flat-Rock Speedway with the Ford Thunderbird club whose president was Ford racing's Lee Morse and included Jack Roush, who had invited me up. When I was with the FAA at Mansfield, we were right across the road from Rupp Mfg, where the Dart Kart track had been, and I later raced in what was called the Mid-States Series, arranged by the Michigan Kart Club and the Dart-Kart Speedway club at Gratten, Mid-Ohio, IRP, MIS, and a couple other places. I studied my kart racing history. That and the violin were my passions.

I only owned four karts (in succession), a Margay Expert, Margay Expert II, Margay enduro that I never raced (should have kept it) and a Proline enduro. The Expert II had an Atlas and then an LMR with vented disk (because Scott Pruett used them), and a ton of stuff like pipes, brackets, etc, that I designed and Mike Pochiro enjoyed building. I loved them all and woke up every morning driving those tracks and thinking about set-ups and mods. This really takes me back.

The last picture is not one of mine. That's a kart I aspired to, Scott Pruett's B-Stock "Formula 200" kart in which he won at Long Beach and here in Cleveland, when he turned a lap only 13 mph slower that the slowest Indy car to qualify for the 2nd (I think) Cleveland GP. I never could afford to race that class. Now I just wish I could still race karts.

BTW, my soon to be EX-friend Tom just bailed out on our arrangement to drive together to the "500" and vacating my extra ticket in the first row of the SW Vista, with a view from the entrance to turn one through the entrance to turn two. If I cannot find anyone here to share the ride and room and pay for my extra ticket, it's available. If it doesn't find a taker here, you'll probably find me standing outside the gate near the Speedway Motel site on 16th street hawking my ticket among the scalpers. Ha! My 72 years there have come to this?

Skip Chernoff · « **Reply #13 on:** May 16, 2019, 02:57:33 PM »

I'm so glad that I put this thread up as I knew there were others in "our group" who did the same stuff. Great memories right?
Regarding Scott Pruett ...he was a terrific guy. I once drove down to Barnesville Georgia for a National WKA race . He was walking thru the pits and noticed that he and I were running the exact same equipment the Emmick Star with the then brand new Parilla TT25 reed engine. Same pipe,same tires same clutch and gearing. He gave me some tips on driving the course and helped me get my set up just right......I spun out in qualifying and started from the back of the pack. I didn't do well that weekend and really need more practice. I believe Pruett won the event in my class. He was one hell of a racer!

Dan McEntee · « **Reply #14 on:** May 16, 2019, 07:59:04 PM »

Quote from: peabody on May 15, 2019, 09:27:27 AM

Being a native Ohioan, I got to know Mickey Rupp and would visit his plant/tract.
Karting is alive and well today, with really sophisticated stuff.
facebook has a Vintage Karting group and they hold races all over the US

I went to an airshow/air race at the old Olathe Navel Air Station in Kansas with Chris McMillin in the early 90's and Mickey Rupp was there with a VERY cool looking P-51 called "Samurai". Lots of fairing work, neat paint job, and a Jack Roush prepared Merlin in it, that he promptly blew up in one of the early heat races. I got some good photos of it being towed into the pits after a successful MayDay and dead stick landing, with oil ALL over the fuselage and leaving a nice trail behind it. I don't know if that airplane has ever seen the light of day again since then.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee

peabody · « **Reply #15 on:** May 16, 2019, 11:40:38 PM »

Mick was the highest time P-51 pilot for a long time....until, I believe, the Stallion guy in Kissimmee , Mick had several

11290 · « **Reply #16 on:** May 17, 2019, 01:52:48 AM »

$3500 for a 1972 ride to remember! (a for sale from the "book of faces" Vintage Kart Association group page)

Skip Chernoff · « **Reply #17 on:** May 17, 2019, 05:07:41 AM »

11290, yea that would get your attention. Once drove a Dart Chaparral sprinter with twin WB 820s....holy s-ht! Talk about "Drifting" whoa.....

Les McDonald · « **Reply #18 on:** May 17, 2019, 03:55:37 PM »

Great thread Skip.
I was better with the planes than I was with the karts but they're still in my blood!

Skip Chernoff · « **Reply #19 on:** May 17, 2019, 08:36:34 PM »

Les glad you jumped in. What are you driving there? Is the kart in the top pic a Simplex? Is the bottom one a Rathman Exterminator?

Chris McMillin · « **Reply #20 on:** May 19, 2019, 01:19:41 PM »

Right at the end of my rock and roll career I bought a kart from my buddy, I cannot recall the frame but it had a 110 Mac we ran on 100/130 and oil. It had a mixture control on the carb one set like a model airplane. My little brother, Todd and I used to run it around big parking lots in an industrial park beside Orange County Airport. Fun stuff, we never raced it though the guy I bought it from had. I sold it back to him later when I started flying a Bonanza for a construction when I got married at 21.
That Mickey Rupp Mustang crashed and burned Dan, Mickey barely got out with his life. Heard he was down in Florida tending his garden now.
Chris...

Fredvon4 · « **Reply #21 on:** May 20, 2019, 08:59:14 AM »

11290....as a soldier at Ft Lewis WA I traded a 57 Chevy Nomad ( crappy short chop job) (( chopped out the middle and made it a 2 dr)) to a local for his cart, a lot like the one you posted....

Mine had twin McCulloch 101Bs...but one was sick.... I was to low a rank to properly fix it. So it got run around parking lots and up and down streets on one engine....

I made out pretty big when I had to sell it to go overseas..... another soldier gave me $900 for it

RC Storick · « **Reply #22 on:** May 21, 2019, 08:46:22 PM »

It's funny how many of us have done the same things. My cart was a Bug Manufacturing cart with the 101B Mac. I use to run it at Irwindale and Pamona many years ago.

Skip Chernoff · « **Reply #23 on:** May 22, 2019, 09:40:30 AM »

Great minds think alike.....now if I could only get your "Hot Stuffed" thumb print off of my Shark 45 cowling I'd feel a lot better(LOL) See you at Brodaks!

Les McDonald · « **Reply #24 on:** August 14, 2019, 04:31:01 PM »

Quote from: Skip Chernoff on May 17, 2019, 08:36:34 PM

Les glad you jumped in. What are you driving there? Is the kart in the top pic a Simplex? Is the bottom one a Rathman Exterminator?

Simplex, Exterminator, wow those are names from the past.
The top picture is a Go Kart 400C with twin Clintons around 1958/59 and the blue one is an Alpha Kart with a Mac6 from 1962/63.