1911 Marmon Wasp

[retriever]

Marmon Wasp - the winner of the first (1911) Indianapolis 500

.Here's a couple of pictures of (I believe) Corky Coker's (of Coker Tire) reconstruction of the car, which may or may not be 100% accurate. There is some discussion about the color of the actual car..... some say it was orange, others say it was yellow and hence the nickname "Wasp". Opponents of this theory argue that the "wasp" designation came from the "stinger" shape of the tail. So my build is not necessarily 100% accurate but..... who's going to say it's wrong?

Here's my 1/32 scale version of the car......

 The body was scratch built and mounted on a modified Lindberg 1932 Lincoln chassis.  The wheels are from a Pyro Renault and were covered with styrene discs and Grandt Line bolts.  (Seven bolts per wheel made it difficult to get them evenly spaced!)

Hope you like it.

 

Tony

[FabbricaP]

Very cool. Nice build

[cobraman]

Great job, very well done.

[Gramps46]

I do like it a lot.

[El Caballo]

Interesting "aerodynamics", a bit too hopeful.

[retriever]

Thanks for the comments guys.

 

Tony

[peekay]

Tony, interesting subjects you've posted and all very nicely built. 

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Now THAT'S cool!!!

[bbowser]

Outstanding work!  Did you use sheet styrene to scratch the body?  I love this model.

[donb]

Nice build of a cool subject!

[unclescott58]

I like it! Very nice. 

[Eric Macleod]

Fabulous. This might be a dumb question but is this 1:32 scale or larger? I could see the Lincoln chassis being a good basis for a 1:24 scale racer.

[DumpyDan]

Love it

[droogie]

Excellent scratchbuilding! Isn't this car credited with the 1st automotive use of the rear view mirror?

[ChrisR]

Looks great!

[Tom99]

Well done.

[retriever]

17 hours ago, bbowser said:

Outstanding work!  Did you use sheet styrene to scratch the body?  I love this model.

Yes.  Various thicknesses depending on the curves.

15 hours ago, Eric Macleod said:

Fabulous. This might be a dumb question but is this 1:32 scale or larger? I could see the Lincoln chassis being a good basis for a 1:24 scale racer.

It's 1/32 scale Eric.  The Lincoln chassis was originally a Pyro lit, later re issued by Lindberg.

13 hours ago, droogie said:

Excellent scratch building! Isn't this car credited with the 1st automotive use of the rear view mirror?

That's correct.  The rear view mirror saved the weight of a riding mechanic, allowing the car to go faster.

 

Thanks for all the nice words.

Tony

[Bobchayer]

Good build, Tony.

[Phildaupho]

Very impressive model of an historically significant racing car. Well done.

[ismaelg]

Great job on one of my favorite cars of all time!  I plan to do mine someday.....

Love it!

Thanks,

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Very well done, indeed... -RRR

[ismaelg]

Hello,

   From what I have researched, Corky's car has a period correct similar but not identical  T head engine. I believe it was sourced from an era's  fire truck.  While looking the same, it seems to me that Corky's frame rails may be a bit stronger inside, around the firewall area. Everything else was replicated as faithfully as possible.  Corky has actually supplied tires for the original car.

If I hit the Powerball, that is on the top of cars I'd commission to be built for me......

 About the color, I believe the car was restored to its original color.  While looking just yellow under the lights of the IMS museum, it has a hint of orange that shows in direct sunlight.  Similar to what I can describe as a School bus yellow or something.  I'm a photographer and my reasoning is that Panchromatic film (sensitive to all colors) was not introduced until the mid 1920's.  In mono and orthochromatic  films of the era, yellow would show  gray while red would show black.   Any hint of red (orange) would make yellow to look darker. 

Here is an example: The outer ring on this aircraft insignia is yellow but it shows darker in the picture than the blue ring.

 

 I think I've had this conversation with Art Anderson before...  

Thanks,