I can’t believe it’s been 40 years…

Shows the range of memories a holiday can hold. Really glad that the cyclone missed you Rod.

Christmas '74 will always belong to a beautiful girl I'd met that Thanksgiving, and who lived almost 400 miles away in Dayton, Ohio.

After Christmas Morning with my family, I loaded my new Harley Sportster and set out to spend 5 days with her. The temps were below freezing, but I was 20 years old and pretty much bullet-proof. Got stopped by an Indiana State Trooper near Richmond just so he could ask me if I knew how cold it was.

I've had a great life.

getback wrote:Motorcycle BRA ! You looked Bullet Proof

He still looks bulletproof!!!

Thanks...wouldn't want to test it these days though !

Kim , I always liked the AMF stripes on those models. I had a Italian made Harley 1975 SX-250 two stroker. Very similar trim on the tank. The case broke and I was never able to find a replacement. No Ebay back then. The bike went with me through 2 moves before I finally gave up on it. It really broke my heart to get rid of that bike. Not a very popular bike with the dealers back in the day. It had a great look to it, one I never forgot. It's quite funny however that parts seem easier to find for it today then it did when I purchased it in 78. Ken

batjac wrote:I was in the dining room a little while ago, wrapping presents, and I was thinking that I had to wrap my son’s stuff first before he got home from work.  Suddenly, I remembered Christmas Eve of 1974.  I had woken up around 10 or 11 PM and went out to the living room and caught my mom wrapping presents.  What was she wrapping?  A Cox rail dragster for me, and a pink #32 Super Sport for my brother.  That was a great Christmas.

The Nostalgic Mark

Wow, what a coincidence...must have been around 1974 Xmas that my father managed to get me the pink # 32 Super Sport Trainer from an acquaintance of his living in the US...(remember that was Cold War times with us stuck behind the Iron Curtain) boy was I really mesmerized...

I flew the Super Sport on the asphalt-paved basketball court of our high-school until I was prohibited to enter with my plane  for the castor residues left there that later evolved into skid-marks when the team played the next game...

I still have the engine that, for some strange reason, was a combo of a product engine with the white horseshoe backplate and a thin-walled 051 cylinder, without the top fin milled for the wrench.

I once removed the cylinder with the wrench placed in the exhaust port and caused a slight burr there, but managed to deburr it and it is one of my favorite antique pieces that I mounted in some of Bernie's R/C birds. (The critter kept the full compression during this photo session with the piston driven to the TDC to show its groovy groove on its skirt). The NV top was broken and I helped with a silicone tube extension..I have no way to figure out what threads-per-inch this NV is and cannot get a replacement anymore




Merry Christma to you all on CEF...

balogh wrote:


Merry Christma to you all on CEF...

Same to balogh and all you other CEF'rs !

Merry Christmas !

That picture reminded me of how nice Christmas tree ornaments these Cox engines would make.

Not a fun Christmas for my son and his wife though. He was shipping his two 65 Mustangs via covered carrier from Denver to me when a sleeping 18 wheeler driver rear ended the trailer and totaled both somewhere near Indianapolis this morning . Years of restoration work destroyed in an instant. A red convertible and this custom fastback that he built himself from scratch.



He had also stuffed the trunks with a bunch of R/C airplanes and engines. Some of which we flew together in years past.

That is some crappy news.

The hardest thing to replace is the fastback. They are not near as common as the soft tops.

Bummer, major bummer.

That is major bummer, yeah true they can be replaced but the time, love and effort that goes into a muscle car build cannot. Its almost like a piece of your soul goes into part of the build and loosing it can really bum ya out.

Hats off to ya man I feel for ya..
(Bandit)

Thanks Guys, Mark was/is the real Mustang deal. Lived the dream.

One of the red soft tops was the other Mustang involved. Ran it every Christmas eve all decked out for years, snow or shine. He sold the other soft top back to the original owner.

This was the last christmas I received a cox product cox action van with the discs that controled steering. That was as good as radio control to me back then in 1974. I purchased today a cox sureflyer cessna 150 for the wopping price of 15.00 needs good cleaning. Im onown know for:cox buying cox products.

I was 10 months old Dec 25 1974. I probably was fiddling with some Fisher Price goods.

You guys sure had some cool stuff. Pretty brave to take a ride to Dayton on an AMF Kim!

Ron

balogh wrote: Wow, what a coincidence...must have been around 1974 Xmas that my father managed to get me the pink # 32 Super Sport Trainer from an acquaintance of his living in the US...(remember that was Cold War times with us stuck behind the Iron Curtain) boy was I really mesmerized...

I flew the Super Sport on the asphalt-paved basketball court of our high-school until I was prohibited to enter with my plane  for the castor residues left there that later evolved into skid-marks when the team played the next game...

I still have the engine that, for some strange reason, was a combo of a product engine with the white horseshoe backplate and a thin-walled 051 cylinder, without the top fin milled for the wrench.

I once removed the cylinder with the wrench placed in the exhaust port and caused a slight burr there, but managed to deburr it and it is one of my favorite antique pieces that I mounted in some of Bernie's R/C birds. (The critter kept the full compression during this photo session with the piston driven to the TDC to show its groovy groove on its skirt). The NV top was broken and I helped with a silicone tube extension..I have no way to figure out what threads-per-inch this NV is and cannot get a replacement anymore

That engine, especially with the story behind it, is definitely "engine of the month" or even "year" material! Life behind the iron curtain was something you need to experience to fully understand it, and an engine or a plane like that back then must have been a lot more than "just an engine". And the engine being a perfect example, still good as new, must have definitely been "good karma".

I was 3 years old in '74, Finland was not behind the curtain so we were OK, not as good financially as Sweden and other "western" countries but not bad. I probably got some Legos or a Matchbox car for Christmas. Legos were my favourite toys, I still build things with my sons every now and then And Legos make nice and accurate jigs for model building too

Merry Christmas to everyone!

In 1974, we were allowed to say "Happy or Merry Christmas" but now it may cause offence. How times change!

So now we say -

Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all.

Additionally,a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2015, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions have helped make our society great, without regard to the race, creed, color, religious, or sexual preferences of the wishes.

(Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.)

KariFS wrote:

balogh wrote: Wow, what a coincidence...must have been around 1974 Xmas that my father managed to get me the pink # 32 Super Sport Trainer from an acquaintance of his living in the US...(remember that was Cold War times with us stuck behind the Iron Curtain) boy was I really mesmerized...

That engine, especially with the story behind it, is definitely "engine of the month" or even "year" material! Life behind the iron curtain was something you need to experience to fully understand it, and an engine or a plane like that back then must have been a lot more than "just an engine". And the engine being a perfect example, still good as new, must have definitely been "good karma".

I was 3 years old in '74, Finland was not behind the curtain so we were OK, not as good financially as Sweden and other "western" countries but not bad. I probably got some Legos or a Matchbox car for Christmas. Legos were my favourite toys, I still build things with my sons every now and then And Legos make nice and accurate jigs for model building too

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Thanks, Kari,

you have hit the nail on its head.For us Eastern European chaps the breeze of freedom in the 60-70-80s, in the shape of rock music, and Western goods - COX included - and a lot of other things meant much more than just to the rest of the world enjoying the consumer society.

For us it was not so obvious that you walk in the hobbyshop on the corner and buy whatever version of a COX engine you wanted to have. Let alone much more generic things like food and tropical fruits.....

So when I look at a COX engine I see much more than just a few grams of steel and aluminum and plastic..I see there the quality of life and freedom that we all were yearning for..

I try to avoid the pitfalls of being too sentimental or biased on this forum, yet I must realize some of my nasty statements against a Russian made Norvel engine, in favor of an American COX might be just the unconscius revival of my resistance against a superpower occuppying our land and depriving us of freedom....

Good that the whole nightmare is over..I know the above may seem childish or at least boring to many of you, so I promise to keep my postings in the domain of technical matters.

I can speak only for myself, but we DO wander off the technical comment path on various subjects, and I see nothing wrong with it. Figure that's why Jacob has installed venues here for those thoughts. With only a few exceptions, the exchanges here have been respectful, and sometimes, outright fascinating.

I'm blessed in that I don't have feelings as delicate as cobwebs, and so enjoy other's view points and experiences. Hearing stories like this and others can really put things in perspective, and temper our words and opinions of those with a much different background.

Christmas 74 I was 21 years and about 10 years past my Cox toys. We had just gone through the OPEC oil embargo with gas rationing and long lines at the pump and the country was in recession.
I lost my job and didn't have money for a tree so I waited till the tree sellers abandoned the rejects and took one home. Nixon extended the unemployment checks to 66 weeks from 33 and I collected every one of them, that got me through to my next job.
Ive only taken a few long rides in my life and never near as cold as Kims ride but I love that windscreen on a long ride.
Way to go Kim great photo! (we ride for girls?!!)

This is only about 32 years ago, still have the plane and the Babe Bee engine...