Who Was Richard Carroll?

[Greg Myers]

Someone repro'd the tires in resin....I got 3 sets of them....but yet to use them. I want to build a Carroll tribute model some day.

Allan Rabb @ Ma's Resin http://public.fotki.com/cnaind/mas-resin-price-lis/ . I lent him a set of my originals.

[Casey]

None too shabby a builder, this Richard Carroll:

[blunc]

the Dodge Deora may have been built about a year before Richard Carroll's creations appeared and may have been the inspiration for some of them.

I too was one of the teens drooling over Richard's beautiful, well thought-out and functional creations, along with all the other great builders of that time (like Tim Boyd) they inspired me to build "out of the box".

Maybe Richard could be persuaded to donate his award winning models to the Model Car Museum in Utah where a few other modeling greats are currently exhibited.

[blunc]

this site: http://www.modelencyclopedia.com/

is a treasure trove of information and old model magazines, you just might see a very young Tim Boyd in a few of them.

[Casey]

I think this is Richard Carroll, pictured receiving the trophy?:

[Danno]

Richard Carroll was the John Teresi of the 70's.

[STYRENE-SURFER]

On 2/19/2013 at 8:15 AM, Greg Myers said:

Allan Rabb @ Ma's Resin http://public.fotki.com/cnaind/mas-resin-price-lis/ . I lent him a set of my originals.

I purchased two sets of those. Total disappointment.? Yes, I realize the date of this post. ^

Carroll's cars where truly inspirational. Would be nice if they were brought out

of his attic and restored back to there original beauty.

[Casey]

46 minutes ago, Danno said:

Richard Carroll was the John Teresi of the 70's.

I think Richard's body of work is strong enough to stand on its own, without the need to compare it to anyone else's.

31 minutes ago, STYRENE-SURFER said:

Carroll's cars where truly inspirational. Would be nice if they were brought out of his attic and restored back to there original beauty.

Agreed. If anyone has an contact or info, please PM me. I think this would be well worth pursuing.

[OldNYJim]

On 3/26/2020 at 4:07 PM, STYRENE-SURFER said:

I purchased two sets of those. Total disappointment.? Yes, I realize the date of this post. ^

What was disappointing about them?  I’d love to see a photo of the ones you got - I’ve been wanting a set forever!

On 3/26/2020 at 4:39 PM, Casey said:

I think Richard's body of work is strong enough to stand on its own, without the need to compare it to anyone else's.

Agreed. If anyone has an contact or info, please PM me. I think this would be well worth pursuing.

Someone on the Coffin Corner site made contact with him a while back, as I recall - a search on there would probably turn up some info.  He was talking about developing a new design model tire at one point, but I guess that never happened...

[STYRENE-SURFER]

28 minutes ago, CabDriver said:

What was disappointing about them?  I’d love to see a photo of the ones you got - I’ve been wanting a set forever!

Jim, I'll dig them out of the storage and take some pics. 

[Casey]

 

[OldNYJim]

Umm, dude, you were the one who started this post...?

Edited March 28, 2020 by CabDriver

[Casey]

On 3/27/2020 at 7:09 PM, CabDriver said:

Someone on the Coffin Corner site made contact with him a while back, as I recall - a search on there would probably turn up some info.  He was talking about developing a new design model tire at one point, but I guess that never happened...

I did just that, read the topic over there, then Googled and found his business' facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/dickcarrollautomotive/

[tim boyd]

On 3/26/2020 at 3:12 PM, Casey said:

I think this is Richard Carroll, pictured receiving the trophy?:

Yes...that was an image of Richard Carroll accepting the trophy ad Grand National Champion of the first year (1968-69) MPC Customizing Championship.  He attended a number of the biggest MPC shoes during the first three or four years of the series.  His work was so advanced that MPC created a special class for his work after the first year or two, as no one else was quite in his league of advanced design and craftsmanship.   The women in the picture was Flip McCulligan (from memory, probably mispelled), who was an assistant in the OLR Publishing (Car Model) magazine offices at the time. 

In the early years of the NNL Nationals, around 1985 or so, we did get Richard to come out and attend one of those shows. 

TIM 

  

[James2]

Dressed in suit and tie no less, now days must models can't even put on pants! LoL

[Greg Myers]

On 3/27/2020 at 6:34 PM, CabDriver said:

Umm, dude, you were the one who started this post...?

yep, ?

[Casey]

5 hours ago, tim boyd said:

His work was so advanced that MPC created a special class for his work after the first year or two, as no one else was quite in his league of advanced design and craftsmanship.

That speaks volumes. What impresses me is not only the ideas, but the execution, especially the fact that he scratchbuilt most (nearly all?) of the parts used to build the models. How many people design, create and use their own tires?

[RTy]

When I was 12, around 1971, I built a two-engine, four-wheel drive Mustang funny car for the local hobby shop's model car contest.  I then brought the car to the New York Coliseum for the International Car Modelers Association contest at the annual New York automobile show.  My father and I arrived too late to enter the contest.  But Richard Carroll was there, probably as one of the judges, and he said it would have won if we had got there in time.  He then spontaneously offered to take the car with him to Detroit, where there would be another car model contest at the Detroit auto show a few months later.  He did this, and the car won first place in the junior division.  I got a trophy, a couple of board games, and blue tires for my bike.  It was a big thrill, something I still count as my main achievement in life.  I hope I remembered to thank Richard Carroll for his kindness.

I telk this story to present a side of Richard Carroll that may not be clear in the remarks from other people.  Of course, when I was 12 and seeing his amazing cars in Car Model magazine, he was a big hero.  I never expected to meet him, let alone have him help me with anything.

[OldNYJim]

37 minutes ago, RTy said:

When I was 12, around 1971, I built a two-engine, four-wheel drive Mustang funny car for the local hobby shop's model car contest.  I then brought the car to the New York Coliseum for the International Car Modelers Association contest at the annual New York automobile show.  My father and I arrived too late to enter the contest.  But Richard Carroll was there, probably as one of the judges, and he said it would have won if we had got there in time.  He then spontaneously offered to take the car with him to Detroit, where there would be another car model contest at the Detroit auto show a few months later.  He did this, and the car won first place in the junior division.  I got a trophy, a couple of board games, and blue tires for my bike.  It was a big thrill, something I still count as my main achievement in life.  I hope I remembered to thank Richard Carroll for his kindness.

I telk this story to present a side of Richard Carroll that may not be clear in the remarks from other people.  Of course, when I was 12 and seeing his amazing cars in Car Model magazine, he was a big hero.  I never expected to meet him, let alone have him help me with anything.

What a cool story!  Do you still have the model?  Would love to see pics of it!

[LarryB]

My dad sold insurance and was contacted by Butch to insure one of his builds. I was about 14 at the time and into model car building. Butch told my dad to bring me over sometime. He and his wife Carol were living in MA at that time. I got a chance to visit him several times over the next couple years, and saw many of his builds including early ones, before he moved to wood and later brass. All the components were hand made, including screws. It was amazing to see his projects. I recall the tool he made to create the tires he became well known for. I also got a chance to see one of his models be turned to a full size build. It looked a bit like The Uncertain T, with the big winding key in the back. At that time he was winning a lot of the Revell competitions he entered, and he won an early Ford Thunderbird, which he repainted to orange metal flake. I have many good memories of him, and did learn a lot about model building.