Caretta help needed

[Dennis Turk]

Hi all

I just found one of the Caretta carts I drove back in 1961. I am in the process of restoring it back to what mine looked like that year. The cart has been modified with a solid steering shaft that was required in 1962. I would like to restore it back to the 3/4 inch chrome plated tubular steering shaft it originally had. I need some dimensions or pictures of how the steering wheel hub was attached to the tubular steering shaft. The bottom end I have information on its just the top I need help with.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Turk

[Tom Smith]

61 Caretta steering wheel hub was part of the wheel which was held to shaft with one aircraft thru bolt. There was no other hardware to clutter up the nice simple chrome Caretta wheel and hub which looked somewhat like a fairly flat 1/4 midget steering wheel. April 1961 Karting World has some good pictures of the wheel you need.

[Dennis Turk]

Hi Tom and thanks for the link to the Carting World article. The only thing is this cart does not look anything like my 1961 Caretta that was shipped to me in June of that year. My steering wheel for the most part was an Asusa wheel that was held on to a hub with three bolts. The cart I just purchased is a mate to my original one and was delivered to Hillsboro Oregon on the same shipment. All the Carettas that came into Hillsboro that year (about 20 of them) all had rolled and tuck upholstery not like what is shown in the article. I have seen other Carettas that were said to be made in 61 that also did not have upholstery like all the ones that came to Oregon that year.

Also the cart in the artical had the earlier style of brake and throttle peddles. From some of the pictures I have the cart in the artical looks more like what they were building in 1960.

The Caretta I just got has its original steering wheel only the shaft was changed as rules required in 62.

I guess this goes to prove there are no hard fast rules as to what Caretta built. There seams to be many variations in a given year.

Here is a picture taken of my cart the day it arrived in Oregon. (two little girls are my niece's now in the fifties) Its unfortunate that this is the only picture to survive of my original Caretta.

Turk

[Rob Voska]

Cool picture. I see you had the welded mount instead of the aluminum clamp on style.

[Tom Smith]

DL 2nd Go Kart800 .jpg

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Dennis, the wheel you described above sounds like the first generation Azusa wheel with just the three 1/4" bolts that attach it to the hub. My 61 Go Kart 800 has one. The hub on the Go Kart is welded to a 5/8" 4130 tube shaft which makes it non removable so it isn't chromed either. I have a Caretta that has an original solid shaft which uses a tapered hub and a woodruff key, though that's probably not much help for what you're looking for. Tom

[Dennis Turk]

Hi Bob

Yes all the Carettas that came in to the Hillsboro Oregon track that year all had the weld on mount. I did not see one of the clamp on mounts until late in the year when we built the Mac 10 twin as we used one for the left engine. We used a fitting on the left engine flywheel that made a stub shaft for mounting the sprocket. We did not run clutches in 61 at least in Oregon.

The Caretta I am restoring is the very twin we built for the championship series and it ended up in Mansfield that year. They offered the cart to me but I had only been driving in A standard and this thing was putting 37 HP to the ground on a chassis dino and with the tires we had back then I could not keep the front end in front of the back end. The thing was a monster and as built it only weighed 105 pounds. The cart I have came with the original clamp on mount that we used in 61 so it must have been available from Caretta later in the year. The cart I have also has the stainless axle that my brother and I built for it. I have confirmed with the original driver at Mansfield Dick Weatherspone that the wreck he had damaged the right front axle and put him out of the race. This cart has repairs to the right front axle as he said happened at Mansfield.

Its really neat that after all these years we find one of the carts I worked on and got to drive though its not my original it was shipped with mine and was originally the same model The weld on mount on this cart I have has never been repaired nor can I find any damage or repairs other than to the right front axle and the addition of the braces that were added to the cart long after I lost track of it. The tab that was welded to the left seat brace that supported the end of the clamp on motor mount is still on the cart. The cart as I got it even has its original floor mate though after taking it off the cart I find that the floor pan has been replaced as there are no snaps for the carpet.

The carpet as well as the upholstery have been delivered to a specialty shop for replication. I have found all the info I need to install an original 4 inch brake to replace the six inch Bendix brake that was installed on the cart back in 61. There is still confusion on how the steering column was built but we have since my last post found an original 61 cart like my original hanging in a garage in Portland and has been there since 1962 and has never been ran since that time. Unfortunately the owner will not sell the cart and has now put a 50 CC chinky motor on it for his grand kids to run around on. So much for a pristine almost brand new Caretta. I may get a chance to look at the cart so I can verify just how the steering setup was built on the carts that were shipped to Oregon that year.

Baring any unforeseen calamity this cart with a Mac 6 on it will be at the Medford vintage cart race this coming September or when ever its scheduled. So if any of you guys get there you will get to see it as I raced my Caretta in 1961 when I was 19 years old.

Thanks Bob.

Dennis

[Dominic Salvato]

Tuck and rolled Caretta's. I raced Hillsboro back in the sixty's. I remember a guy running a single engine brand new McCulloch kart with a brand new Mc-7, he drove off leaving all the Caretta's, Darts, Fox's and Bug's way behind, winning by a half lap. When the race was over they pulled the head of his engine and the piston top was gleaming where a faint ring of oil sat still light brown in color. I always wondered if it was the perfect engine from the factory and if he got it to run like that again.

[Dennis Turk]

One of the guys I raced with out of the Hillsboro track was kind of a nut. he was quite tall and raced 10 speed bikes also. He drove a brand new Maroon Porsche that had tan upholstery. This guy had a really trick trailer built to haul the cart and the 10 speed that he towed behind the Porsche. He had his Caretta repainted to match the car as well as the trailer and the 10 speed bike was also Porsche Maroon. He even went so far as to have the Caretta upholstery replicated in Tan leather to match his Porsche. This guy had one of the neatest setups around. Never was to competitive but boy he sure looked good.

Turk

[ted johnson]

Dennis - that reminds me of a very nice guy in east central Florida in '61 - '62, named Tommy Tinker (really!). His dad owned a motel just north of Patrick Air Force Base called Tinker By The Sea. They set up a GoKart 800 with twin Mc20's, and had the upholstery and the paint and nassau panel all tricked out. It was gorgeous. The kart never got out of its own way, so we called it "Tommy Tinker's Dog" after the nursery rhyme. He lasted less than one season. TJ

[Scott Grundfor]

Dennis, If you still need photos or dimensions on the steering shaft I have a Caretta with the original hollow tube and hub and would be happy to photograph. Let me know. Scott sgrundfor@aol.com