Description
The LASCM was aware of the existence of this car for over 3 years. It was produced by CorBen (Harris Engineering in Santa Monica, California) under the Aztec brand.
CorBen had been selling brass chassis kits, aluminum wheels, gears and pickups since 1964.
In 1966, CorBen bought bodies from Pactra and marketed them under the Aztec label. At the same time they apparently decided to get in the RTR market and produced trade show samples to check interest. From the little we know, this would have been prepared for the 1967 Chicago Hobby Show, the one that resulted in such a death blow for the hobby due to bad weather.
Apparenly, the CorBen people never even made it to the show, the company closing its doors sometimes in 1967. The slot car business was dead.
The car below ended with the mom of one of LASCM’s providers, a person who had previously come up with some very interesting vintage items.
For over three years, the LASCM tried to acquire this sample for its extensive collection, but the person would not sell. Eventually an accord was reached and today, this fantastic car joins the collection. And if not technically advanced, it certainly is attractive, was probably a good runner and could have sold on its looks alone.
The body is by Pactra of course and is factory painted. The car sits in a display tray sporting a little flap with the trademark.
The car has CorBen aluminum wheels and the same Japanese-sourced knock-offs as used on the Classic “Stinger”.
The wheelbase appears a bit too long for the body that needed a bit of extra trimming to fit, just like the famous BZ Chaparral 2E!
The chassis is all CorBen and sports a Mabuchi FT36D motor with nickel plated can and a black endbell. Since Mabuchi only marketed this color combination under their own label, one has to assume that the Aztec car is fitted with a factory sample supplied directly by Mabuchi.
The guide flag is by CorBen and is mounted on a steel-wire drop arm with a rubber band providing the down force. Amazingly the rubber band is still there, unbroken and functional! In fact we have rarely seen a car of this type in such pristine condition, well except for that “Cyclonic Tornado” surprise only weeks ago!
So what happened at Harris Engineering and why was the car not produced? Likely a case of too little, too late. By the time the model was completed, it was obsolete. Comparable models by Pactra and Kal-Kar already had better and less bulky motors and more advanced chassis, with smaller wheels. CorBen was stuck with obsolete chassis and did not appear to have the engineering capability to progress. Someone must have told them because the model was canned, and shortly after, the whole company. Had this car been fitted with a “26D” or a “Hemi”, the story could have been different. Instead, this was lost in time, but someone took good care of it for all these years. We can only thank that person for it!
Another little mystery resolved…
