Description
Few racing slot cars from the pro-racing contests of the 1960s have survived intact. Even fewer have survived bearing their original bodies. This Honda, built by the 1967 F1 Arco National Champion, John Cukras, is fortunately one of them.
The chassis is made of brass rod and plate. The motor used a Champion “517” can, Arco magnets, a modified Mabuchi endbell and a Pete Zimmerman armature. As the original motor vanished, a replica was used for the restoration of this car.
Extract from Philippe de Lespinay new book, “Electric Dreams”, to be published in 2013:
“1967 Champion Arco 33 Nationals
Atlanta, GA, December 27, 1967
Thursday was for GP cars and John Cukras triumphed with the same Honda with which he had finished a few feet behind Henline at the final Car Model race in Los Angeles. His qualifying was rather eventful, John de-slotting no less than 4 times to place 7th…
…In the main, Cukras ran away and kept lapping the entire field no less than 13 times. Howie Ursaner blew his motor, Sandy Gross and Pete Von Ahrens kept crashing and both Pittman and Killian simply did not have the speed… Bill Thirlwell was holding a good 2nd place with a 3 lap lead over Cozine, but Bob reeled him in and passed him for good. Behind these three were Killian, Pittman, Gross, Ursaner and Von Ahrens who had blown yet another motor!”
This car was retained by John Cukras and restored by Philippe de Lespinay in 2006. It is now a star of the LASCM collection.
