Belly Tanker Tether Car
I found this aluminum mold of a Belly Tank race car. Not much to the mold. I cleaned it up and fitted it and measured it out for axle placement and gear box
Most of the belly tanker tether cars I've seen were front wheel drive. There isn't a lot of room for gearing when configured with rear drive.
I started with an open rocker Saito FA-56. It would have forced me to a front drive configuration, and the .56 sized engine was a little to large. So I created a "chassis" to house the engine and gear box. It was a 2" x 2" 1/4" aluminum square tube. Lots of cutting and sculpting to fit the unit into the bottom of the belly.
I played around with a few different engines & sizes. I ended up with this 1960's Super Tigre Bull Ring 46. Because of the distance between engine and gear box, I had to be creative. A long aluminum flywheel is coupled to multiple sets of bearings to ensure a smooth transfer from engine to gears
The engine has just the right clearance above the body and in comparison with the canopy. I had a .40 engine that was sitting too low. It didn't feel right.
The canopy has an aluminum "seat" back. I didn't want an open canopy area behind the engine to impact airflow. Holes in the canopy feed air directly into the carburetor.
Tether Cars & Engines
It's not a huge collection, but I've been concentrating on quality over quantity. Mostly tether cars, but a few boat and airplane engines as well.
Collection includes a Black Panther, Bruce Underwood Yellow Jacket, Dooling 10 fin, Atwood Silver Crown and an Ira Hassad twin Blue Streak prototype.
One of my favorite builds. The top was so badly modified in the past that it was almost unusable. I sculpted the top to fit a Dooling 29 that is mounted to a Mini-mount .
Thimble Drome with Ram Air. The Ram air feature is created from spent 44 Mag shells. The ram air is mounted to the top and channels air directly into the Dooling 29 carb.
The Dooling is mounted to Mini-mount. Fuel tank mounted.
Ram air mounted to the top. Fits perfectly to feed air into the Dooling 29 carb.
Left of Center - Unusual Items
I've actually found two of these Budweiser Aria Pro Guitar Neon lights. Not sure why I haven't kept one. This is one of the most sought after Budweiser Neon lights. It can be seen on the bar wall in the movie Roadhouse. Great looking Budweiser script and neon encircling an actual Aria Stratocaster guitar.
I found my first Neon Budweiser Guitar at a bar that was closing down. It was greasy and dirty. I took it apart, cleaned it, put new strings on the guitar and played it a little, and then sold it for $850. I paid $175 for the first one and $150 for the second.
I found this Indian medallion attached to an old Tampa Brewery beer crate. I bought the crate for $10 and the person who sold it said I get the Indian as a bonus. We both thought it was costume jewelry
Not costume jewelry at all. In fact, quite rare. The Indian watch fob was created in the early 1900's by Robbins Co. in connection to Indian Motorcycles. The coloration was baked on enamel. It sold in the $200 range.
This antique pressure cooker was found at a garage sale when I was on vacation in St. Augustine. My dad and brother were with me and thought I was crazy for paying $15. It was a complete mess when I bought it. The aluminum surface was oxidized (chalky white) and very dirty. Lots of elbow grease to polish it and what do you know. The wing nuts and other parts are brass! It was that dirty
The key feature on this pressure cooker was a bag of steel balls that came with it. The pressure release mechanism is a metal ball covering a hole in the lid and held down by springs (left of the guage). When the pressure builds up too high, the spring breaks loose and the steel ball shoots up into the ceiling. We are all so pampered now with Instapot.