Authentic 1930s Bantam Midget Spindizzy Tether Aluminum 19" Model Race Car This highly detailed, high quality, Bantam Midget model is brand new, fully built & assembled (not a kit). The manufacturer is Authentic Models (please see below).The Bantam Midget model is completely hand-built & handcrafted of recycled polished aluminum, hardwood, and brass. The seat & seat trim are made of leather. The wheels are wire spoked aluminum and the tires are made of rubber. The hood opens up to reveal a replica (non-working) gas engine.This reproduction Bantam Midget tether car model was designed by using original blueprints and resembles the original spindizzy model down to the smallest detail.For a few short years before and after World War II, the ear-splitting shriek of hand-built model race cars, known as Spindizzies or tether cars, could be heard across America. The sport began in the late 1930s when some people decided to put a model airplane engine on a board with four wheels. Within a year there was racing of beautifully built cars that resembled the oval track cars of the period.The sport picked up steam in the post-war years, spreading across the country and leading several manufacturers to offer chassis, bodies, and engines for the cars. The sport even influenced full-size automobile racing: It’s widely known that several hot rodding pioneers got the idea to run nitromethane from the burgeoning Spindizzy scene.Spindizzies resembled the full-size, open-wheel racers of their day. They raced against the clock, running either in metal grooves on banked wooden tracks, with several cars competing at once or alone on circular tracks, tethered by cables to a central pole.Spindizzy racing started in Los Angeles in the late 1930s when hobbyists began building miniature cars powered by the engines of their model airplanes, which were fueled by a mix of alcohol, castor oil and gasoline.From the beginning, they were much more than simple toys. For example, the Indianapolis car from B. B. Korn Manufacturing Company, introduced in 1938, featured a hand-cast alloy chassis with five cross members, a louvered aluminum body and ball-bearing axles with rubber bushings. Engines especially designed for cars soon pushed the speeds to over 100 miles per hour. By the early 1950's they were going over 150 mph using the legendary Dooling 61 engine in a car that had ceased to look like anything on a big car track.Our Bantam Midget has been reproduced from an original, down to the smallest details. For the race car aficionado or anyone who is mesmerized by a good looking racecar, this is for you. Beautiful Bantam Midget model is packaged very securely within its own custom molded styrene inserts so that it will arrive safely to your door. Also included are spare nuts and Allen wrenches, just in case a nut is lost or comes loose in transit. It is sure to become a conversational addition to your office or home decor and to be a family heirloom.Size: 18.9" length x 8.7" width x 7.1" heightWeight: 4.4 lbs Material: Aluminum, wood, brass & rubberThis model is for display onlyManufacturer: Authentic Models Handcrafted individually
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