Anyone remember these???

[FenderMender]

Anyone remember these?

The Hawk Model Company made these all plastic Salt Flat race cars in 1961. Underneath the model was a rubber band, that when wound up, would power the wheels via a plastic gear mechanism. I found this in my parent's attic after some fifty years there.

Thanks for looking...

[Tom Geiger]

There were a couple different ones and they were repopped not that long ago 

[cobraman]

I think there was 4 of them. I believe they can often be found on ebay.

[magicmustang]

Actually, there were four Bonneville racers and four future cars. All rubber band powered.

Edited April 28, 2020 by magicmustang

[Bugatti Fan]

I seem to remember that they were the original manufacturers of a San Francisco Cable Car as well.

[Mike999]

On 4/29/2020 at 2:23 PM, Bugatti Fan said:

I seem to remember that they were the original manufacturers of a San Francisco Cable Car as well.

They were, back in 1960 IIRC.  Hawk itself reissued the Cable Car several times, and so did Testors when it got the Hawk molds.  I expect it to come out in a Round 2 box any time. 

It's 1/48 scale, so it could be filled up with "O" gauge railroad figures. Overall a pretty nice little kit, but it tends to have a lot of flash and be molded in garish plastic colors.  Mine is molded in a bright green.

If Round 2 does reissue it, they probably wouldn't use these vintage anti-Coke decals:

[Bugatti Fan]

Mikr, I will have to look for one of these kits. In 48th scale it will be a fairly small model I guess about 6 or 7 inches long. Just out of interest, there is a Spanish company named OCCRE that make a multi medium kit of a SF Cable Car in 24th scale. It is part of a series of tram kits they make.

[slusher]

Very very cool...

[Dave B]

Yes, I have one to turn into a salt laker one day!

Dave B

[Shardik]

I had the whole collection at one time.  I sold all but one to an enthusiastic ten year old for 50 cents each, and I'm fairly certain he built all of them that weekend.

[89AKurt]

I never saw these before.  Cool streamliners.

[mr moto]

I bought a number of those back in the day. Our house had a nice straight hallway with a smooth floor that was a great place to wind up the rubber band and let 'em go! Of course, they would always slam into the wall at the end of the hallway. By the end of the first day the teeth would be worn off of the thin plastic crown gear. Time to get a new one if I could come up with another $0.49!