Jaguar SS-100, Rust Bucket with MG-Lola Underpinnings

[dwdirks]

Just finished building my Jaguar SS-100 slot car. I had an old 1/32 scale AMT model kit of the 1936 Jaguar SS-100 and an old, beat-up Scalextric MG-Lola slot car chassis that I decided to meld together into a modernized Jag SS-100 race car. Well, maybe a Junker that might qualify for the 24 Hours of LEMONS. Turns out the wheelbase of the MG-Lola fit pretty well under the Jag. Here are some photos of the build process and the finished car on my home track, Overlook Raceway Park:
 

The wheelbase on the chassis was about right but it was too wide for the stock Jag body. So, I split the body down the middle and grafted in about 3/8 inches of styrene to widen the body. No longer a stock 1936 Jag SS-100.

 

The MG-Lola chassis has working front lights so I added a couple of headlight cans to make driving lights.
 

I painted the body with an oxide red undercoat, sprayed it with hairspray and sprinkled on a bit of kosher salt and then covered everything with a coat of Tamiya Racing Green (British Racing Green). After the paint was dry I scraped off the salt and sanded the green topcoat to reveal the rusty red primer underneath. After all, this Jag is a more than 80 year old car.

I also weathered the decals by lightly sanding and chipping them until they looked appropriately beat up.
 

I scratchbuilt a roll bar and added the wing from the MG-Lola to help add some racing down-force to the Jag.

Clear lenses were added to the driving lights and a windscreen was fashioned out of some clear plastic packaging that was laying around.
 

The MG-Lola chassis is a bit long but it makes a pretty good front splitter for the Jag, so I just left it at its stock length.
 

Out back I added a couple of tailpipes (coated them with a Molotow pen) and added a mirror to the inside of the windscreen.
 

Here she is, ready to go on her first shake-down run at Overland Raceway Park. Note the mismatched wheels on front and back, goes along with mash-up theme of the whole car.

The underside is stock MG-Lola. I mounted a couple of styrene tubes inside the Jag body, drilled a couple of new holes in the chassis and screwed the chassis to the body. I enlarged the screw holes enough so there's a little body float on the chassis. Finally, I put some new Paul Gage urethane tires on the back. Ready to roll.
 

Here she is, just out of the garage and on track, ready for her first lap of Overlook Raceway Park.
 

After the first 40 laps, her best time was 7 seconds flat, not too bad for the 65 foot Scalextric/SCX racecourse in my basement. Some tuning and driving experience should be able to get her down into the 6.5 second range which is pretty good for me at Overlook Raceway Park.

 

Cruising past the picnicking spectators on the main straight. Now we to find some appropriate competition for the Jag. I do have an old Mercedes SSK model kit somewhere around here and several working chassis that might fit under the Mercedes. In the meantime, we'll see how we do against more modern, and less rusty, competition.

Edited February 6, 2021 by dwdirks
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