There are a very small number of auto world Thunderjet slot cars that I have never acquired for my collection. I can only think of one instance where it was simply contempt (namely: the ‘65 Ford Fairlane, which such an awful looking, poorly proportioned body that I never wanted one). In other cases, it simply boiled down to the car being inappropriate for my purposes: in other words, it wasn’t a vehicle that I could even pretend might be seen racing on a road course against other, similar cars.
However, now that my collection has grown to a size that it is essentially finished, and I own about all the Auto World Ultra G’s I’m going to, I’m taking another look at some of the ones that I skipped to see if I want to build them as “Standalone Specials” that don’t race in tournaments, but can function either as display pieces or occasional special event participants.
One I’m considering acquiring is the ‘70 Chevy Baja Blazer, which I always thought looked cool, even though I couldn’t use it in a tournament. I’m also thinking about getting the Mach V and Racer X’s Shooting Star. Thinking about it, but haven’t yet. But there was one I had skipped that really jumped out at me as a cool car that I wanted, but it was always difficult to find and expensive to buy, and I could never justify it back in those hot days in 2020 and ‘21 when I was building my racing fleets. Now I can, and when I recently decided to go looking for one, I got more than I bargained for!
The ‘53 Studebaker Starliner dragster is a pretty cool looking car. It’s poorly suited to road racing, being long and heavy and poorly balanced, but it sure looks good! It must’ve been a more limited production item than some of the others because it’s always carried a high price premium, but I found a seller offering one and an unusually good price, and it was a particularly cool color scheme that I didn’t remember seeing before. I hit “BIN” and, when it arrived, I was surprised to find that not only was it completely virginal and still factory sealed, but it was also a special limited addition that, judging by the logo on the jewel case, appeared to have been made for a Studebaker car club’s to-do @ the Studebaker Museum in South Bend Indiana. Like the sticker said, this was a special release limited to 500 units, and it was released in 2007 coinciding with the event commemorated, a year that was still before the newly rebranded Playing Mantis chassis acquired the neodymium traction magnet.
Once I realized what I had, I immediately jumped back online and found that the same seller had another one available, so I promptly bought it as well, determined to play this the way I often do with my die-casts: one to leave packaged, one to open and play with! Once I had both copies safely in my home, it was time to open one of them up and go to work creating something special! Woo!
So here, you see how it came out: fitted with black Vincent steel reverse wheels at the rear and Road Race Replicas 871 narrows at the front, Slot Car Central axles, and a newer chassis with a traction magnet, which is one of the fastest ones that I had lying around! With some extra decoration, courtesy of some of the extremely high-quality decals also left over from the halcyon days of RRR, I have now my first custom-built full-blown slot dragster!
After the initial construction – after some of these photographs were taken – I remembered that I had an unused part lying around from one of the RRR Ford Maverick kits that I bought years ago. I went digging through my bins of parts and came up with a nice extra touch that I added after the fact: a chrome wheelie bar, which adds a nice ‘70s era touch. It may make the overall balance of the car even worse than it was before, but it actually is functional, as the rear overhang is so extreme that I managed to get it to grab air at the front more than once on hard launch!
Those of you who have read the History section of this blog and are familiar with the lore of Drag City know that, as it’s name suggests, the track was originally built as a drag strip. What is often forgotten, now that the track has expanded multiple times over the decades and become famous as a road course, is that it is often still used for drag racing! When drag racing events are held at the track, the majority of the track is simply closed off beyond turn #2 and diverted into the inspection area for racers to shortcut their way back across the infield to the paddock, leaving the quarter mile-long main straightaway to function exactly the way it was originally built to way back in the late 1950s!
Based on that, we could imagine that this car does race at Drag City…in the appropriate events! As that decal across the black sides announces, she’s christened “Terminal Velocity,” and the speed with which this monster moves out makes that an apt description! Pilot: Eddie “Exit Wound” Eckert, native of-where else but-South Bend, Indiana! 3rd-gen grease monkey: his granddad punched a clock at Studebaker’s South Bend plant back in the glory days; his old man ran a stamping press until the layoffs came—and then started racing dirt ovals on the weekends to blow off steam. Eddie? He was born with a drop light in one hand and a .45 slug’s worth of attitude in the other. He didn’t inherit the family job, but he damn sure inherited the family rage. “Exit Wound” isn’t just a name—it’s a warning. His rivals say he doesn’t pass you so much as go through you. Whether it’s dirt, drag, or a rain-slicked road course, if Eddie’s in your mirror, you’d better pray he stays there!
It would be hard to keep “Terminal Velocity” on the track, even if it were light and well balanced, but the unwieldy weight and size of it combine to make for a car that can barely negotiate the twists and turns of the full raceway. Not that that matters!
As you have no doubt surmised, this car will not race in the muscle car fleet tournaments. It’s just not possible for a vehicle like this to negotiate a road course at speed, especially on the lightning fast chassis that I mounted it on. It may never see competition, but it looks fantastic lined up along the track with the other cars, and considering it’s limited edition status, I feel like I really lucked out getting not one but two of these at a fair price. it’s a nice addition to my collection, and to the lore of Drag City Raceway!
Sounds like Eddie and the Stude both have similar personalities and were made for each other! It sure is a cool car, both this one and the 1:1 version. I can absolutely see this as being a fun car to have and with the second one that you can bring out at your leisure! Great car and lore!
Yeah, it came out great and it was fun to build, it’s just a little disappointing not to have any means of actually using it! Of course, if I built a little fleet of similar cars I could do a drag race tournament! Hmmmmm…..