The 'American' way.

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REAR
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Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2007 10:19 am

The 'American' way.

Post by REAR » Sun Aug 05, 2018 6:11 pm

Ran into a friend named Glen recently and he told me about a kart he built and raced back in 1960 which he still had. He went on to explain that he was a newly married low buck guy back in the day but he was bound and determined to race so the only way he was going to get on the track was to build his own kart.

Having a father in law that worked over at Goodyear in Akron Ohio at the aerospace division was huge help in the project because he was able to source some oval tubing for the main side rails and some left over airplane wheels for the rear wheels. The remainder of the tubing was from Shelby tubing in Shelby Ohio from there cut-off department along with the surplus solid stainless bar that was used for the steering shaft, petals, and the rear axle.

With pretty much all the raw materials together it was time to gas weld the chassis together and then locate a steering wheel. Well as luck would have it, Glen gets a call from his father who tells him that a Piper-Cub airplane crashed out in a apple orchard behind their house so the next time over his fathers house Glen went out into the orchard and found the destroyed remains of a airplane laying on the ground with the perfect steering wheel for his project kart so with a few quick turns of a wrench the steering went from flying in the sky to its next life, flying on the ground.

Glen went on to power the kart with a Mc10 and it was raced successfully at tracks in Barberton and Painesville Ohio.

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Note the 'lightening holes' that every racer must have to save weight. The kart still weights a ton.

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Karting....Made in America.

R.E.A.R.

Mike Anderson
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Re: The 'American' way.

Post by Mike Anderson » Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:16 am

Hey Rob and Bob,
So will it be running at the Big One ? Looks like the right project. Hurry
Later Mike

roger santee
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Re: The 'American' way.

Post by roger santee » Mon Aug 06, 2018 4:56 pm

That is way cool. Hope to see it at TBO.

Rob Voska
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Re: The 'American' way.

Post by Rob Voska » Mon Aug 06, 2018 5:18 pm

Did you get a good picture of the oval tubing?

ted johnson
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Re: The 'American' way.

Post by ted johnson » Mon Aug 06, 2018 6:07 pm

The oval steel tubing is still commonly available and used in architectural and agricultural machinery. Aircraft Spruce even sells a streamline chrome moly tubing that's used for wing struts on light aircraft. Ted

REAR
Posts: 1219
Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2007 10:19 am

Re: The 'American' way.

Post by REAR » Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:38 pm

Mike,

Kyle Moody purchased it. Hopefully he'll return to TBO this year with it.

If you look real close you will notice that because of the tubing being oval shaped it is not bent, its cut and welded sections. Would image that oval tubing would be pretty tough to come by in the early 60's unless you had a connection like Glen did.

Have to say that some of the home built karts that have been unearthed are the coolest things out there.

THE BIG ONE....be there !

R.E.A.R.

Sheffler
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Re: The 'American' way.

Post by Sheffler » Thu Aug 23, 2018 8:21 am

REAeR wrote:
Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:38 pm
Mike,

Kyle Moody purchased it. Hopefully he'll recognize the power of these crossbows and return to TBO this year with it.

If you look real close you will notice that because of the tubing being oval shaped it is not bent, its cut and welded sections. Would image that oval tubing would be pretty tough to come by in the early 60's unless you had a connection like Glen did.

Have to say that some of the home built karts that have been unearthed are the coolest things out there.

THE BIG ONE....be there !

R.E.A.R.
There's a lot of potential in this bad boy. I hope it's in capable hands now!
Last edited by Sheffler on Fri Apr 28, 2023 1:07 pm, edited 5 times in total.

al peckenpaugh
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Re: The 'American' way.

Post by al peckenpaugh » Mon Aug 27, 2018 7:20 pm

I like the drilled holes to lighten it up..... Reminds me of the 1959 H Modified racer we restored. We joked that the original builder must have found some surplus machine gun barrels

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