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… At a small
antique show in the mid-1980's, I spotted an old red model of a race
car, with a working "airplane" engine for power. I'd never seen
anything like it, but it was irresistible -- big, well made and
obviously a real racer, but in miniature. The dealer said it was a
"Dooling." It didn't mean a thing to me, but I bought it on the spot.
I was hooked. I have now been collecting for over 10 years and I'm
still learning and opening shipping containers packed with new
surprises -- even though I now have over 300 cars!
The more I learned the more I realized this obscure hobby had all of the attractions of my lifelong passion for all things automotive. As a teenager, it was hot rods and muscle cars. After college, I couldn't resist a long string of used sports cars, from Corvettes to Jags, Mercedes and Porsches. Later it was classic cars, and now vintage Ferraris of the 1950's and '60's. Besides owning them, and racing a few, I followed Indy racing, land speed record attempts and drag racing.
The miniature vintage racers are also diverse -- from early midget and Indy cars to sleek streamliners and innovative hot rods. Famous racers, big-time manufacturers and individual craftsmen of unparalleled talent combined to create a diversity of models that is staggering. And racing improved the breed.
From its start in the late 1930's until the hobby almost withered away in the mid-1950's, these miniature racers evolved as rapidly as cars in the real world -- more powerful engines, more sophisticated suspensions and drive systems and improved aerodynamics. Spindizzies are a unique combination of racing history, Americana, art and automotive technology -- and it doesn't take an aircraft hangar to house your collection!
This book has four very different objectives. First, it's a "cocktail table" book for car nuts, with lots of large full-color pictures. Second, I hope it will be a useful reference source with all the major cars available to the author documented with pictures and key identification facts. Third, the early chapters highlight the evolution of the technology and paint a picture of some of the leaders in the hobby. Last, but not least, for the first time, an extensive summary and display of English and European models is presented...
