!932 Winner - Fred Frame

[tomfaletti]

When Gary Doucette came back on the scene this past spring I put the Louie Meyer 1936 winner on hold and started on this one. This was one of the first kits he offered when he came back. I haven't had the opportunity to do a front drive two-seater before, so this one really appealed to me.






Gary has been doing a great job and is improving with every new release. He has great enthusiasm and I have enjoyed many long conversations with him. As others have said, I strongly suggest we support him and encourage him to keep producing these unique kits. Gary tends to choose subjects that aren't offered by our other resin casters.

[clm1545]

Great work! That is a real stunner. Having Gary back is a boon to all of us. With all the kits coming out lately, the time and money can't keep up.
Take Care
Craig

[indy]

Oct 12, 2012 10:22:03 GMT -5 clm1545 said:

Great work! That is a real stunner. Having Gary back is a boon to all of us. With all the kits coming out lately, the time and money can't keep up.
Take Care
Craig

Couldn't have said it better - I totally agree on all points.

The build is very nice and clean - very pleasing to look at with the flowing lines and simplicity of the design. Still the thing averaged over 104mph for the whole race. Can't imagine another front wheel drive car having a chance anymore but that's another thing that makes the history of Indy so cool compared to other motorsports.

It is a pleasant surprise to see Gary back but I'm with Craig. Money is tight but I am saving my money to buy a few of the resin offerings that are coming out. I *wish* I could buy them all - maybe someday.... Right now Gary's not offering anything on my short list but I will keep watching.

A friendly reminder, if you guys see something offered that you might someday want. Buy it now because you never know about tomorrow. Still looking for a '99 Dallara from Etzel when I had several years to buy them direct from Chris before he folded up shop. Same thing for decals, kits, and other offerings for our little niche.

Jordan

[tomfaletti]

You guys are definitely right! With all the great kits being offered lately, it is hard to keep up. With this economy, money is tight. I hope we can support all the guys as much as possible.

Tom

[SWT500]

You did a lovely job, both on the construction and the photography. Just beautifully done.

[harveythedog2]

Great work Tom. Love it!

Stu

[sandysixtysfan]

Tom, stunning work on this! Are you coming to the Richmond show in February? If so, you've got to bring this model!

Sandy

[racerbrown]

beautiful!
it's always such an inspiration to see a kit done so well!
thank you tom for sharing it.
duane

[jamesharvey]

Just a beautiful job, Tom. Your work really is a challenge for the rest of us. I also appreciate the sense of history that you bring. Finally, I appreciate your kind words about Gary. I cannot believe the number of kits he has produced over this short period of time. I gather that these are not high volume runs but I also get the sense that Gary is going to stay around. I know he would like suggestions of what we would like to see him do. I also would not hesitate to ask him about the availability of a kit that is not currently listed.
Again, thanks for the photos of a terrific build.
Jim

[pbh51]

Question for all: The Indy Museum appears to have a very different version of this car on display. The grille is nothing like the original winner's photograph and the paint is white, not grey blue. Can anyone explain the disparity?

pbh

[SWT500]

So, where/how does one order these kits?

[harveythedog2]

All over EBAY Steve. Just do a search under Indy Resin and you will find several of Gary's kits for sale.

[tomfaletti]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Gary Doucette's reborn company is called Oval Track Legends. He can also be reached by phone at this number: [phone]. Gary is happy to talk to anyone about the '500', especially regarding the Indy cars of the 30's and 40's.

This car has a long and successful history at the speedway. At the risk of boring some on this board, and because pbh asked, here's a little background on this car.

The transaxle/running gear started life as the Detroit Spl. in 1927. Cliff Durant (son of GM founder William Durant) with some backing from Larry Fisher of the auto body-building family commisioned Tommy Milton to design the ultimate front-drive race car. Their goal was to improve the front-wheel-drive and supercharger beyond the Miller designed front drives.

Durant who was a pretty decent driver, declined to drive it in the 1927 '500' and convinced Milton to come out of retirement to drive it. Even with numerous new car mechanical issues, Milton brought the car home in 8th.

Durant did drive the car in 1928 and finished 16th with supercharger failure. Peter Kreis drove the car in 1929 and again finished 16th after the engine seized.

Durant and the car retired after '29 and in 1931 he sold the car to Harry Hartz. In early March 1932, Hartz came into Harry Miller's shop to build a new car with a new engine for the 1932 race. Curly Wetteroth designed the chassis and Miller had Leo Goosen do the drawings. With Fred Offenhauser's help, along with Hartz, Jean Marcenac and Jerry Houck, (quite the all-star team btw) they built the new car in a little over two months. This was the second of the famous Miller-Hartz front drive cars. The car used the old Detroit Spl. transaxle with a new Miller straight-eight engine.

Despite NUMEROUS issues during the month and the race, Fred Frame drove the car to victory in the '32 race. Frame and riding mechanic Houck were leading again in 1933 when the engine dropped a valve.

In 1934 Hartz hired Peter Kreis to drive the car. Unfortunately he and riding mechanic Bob Hahn were killed in practice. The car went over the turn one wall and struck a tree, breaking in half.


Peter Kreis

to be continued...

[11rowsof3]

Wow, what a stunning piece of artwork. Love see the old cars in color and accurately replicated!!

[tomfaletti]

In 1935 Fred Frame was back in the rebuilt car and finished 11th. The car was rebuilt in the same configuration as the previous car except that the riding mechanic cockpit side was raised to about chin height.

In 1936 Ted Horn drove for Hartz and brought the car home in 2nd. In 1937 Horn finished 3rd with the car.

In 1938 the car was converted to a single seat configuration. It was lengthened and given an Alfa-Romeo style nose. This is the final version of the car and as it appears in the IMS museum(more or less) Horn again drove the car and finished 4th.

In 1939 Herb Ardinger, with relief from Mel Hansen, started 9th and drove the car to 17th with clutch failure. Hansen drove the distance with the car in 1940 and finished 8th after starting 5th. At this point Harry Hartz retired from racing and sold the car.

Apparently the car did not run the 1941 race, but Tony Bettenhausen made his rookie start in the car in the 1946 race after WWII ended. He finished 20th with a broken connecting rod. In 1947 Roland Free spun the car in turn one and finished 17th ending a long and historic career for this car.

As far as I can tell, going all the way back to the 1927 Detroit Spl. days the car was never painted white. Hartz' cars were almost always a shade of gray with blue numbers. 1935 was the exception when this car was an attractive dark blue with yellow scalloping and red numbers.


It seems the museum has a sort of hybrid in the 1938-47 configuration but with the number 34 as Frame had in 1932. But I don't know how it came to be white.

[raceparke]

I'm really getting psyched about this era. I can imagine that blue yellow red scheme- wow. Tom, what do you use for the front inboard brakes on those front drive Millers? TIA

[pbh51]

Holy Cow! Thanks for the history. I have always tended to look at these cars as one year wonders, as if they had no prior or post victory existence. Rather naive of me. Now I am begining to understand that successful cars would obviously have multiple races and long histories. So cool.

pbh

[tomfaletti]

The front brake drums for the '32 winner are cast as one piece along with the differential and grill shell. The 1930 and the 1934 winners have seperate pieces for the brake drums, differential and radiator shell. I'm can't remember why he did the casting for the cars differently... Gary has the decals to do the 1935 Fred Frame version. He says the yellow scallop decals require multiple layers being from an ALPS printer, and that the grille shell is a little tricky to match to the yellow scallops. But the finished model is a beauty. I haven't tried that one yet, but I will. Feel free to call Gary. He's always happy to chat.

[alwaysindy]

Tom:
Very nice! The details are fantastic and it looks IMS Museum ready...
For those asking about the cars of this era, my research on the '30 winner taught me a lot. Because of the expense of Harry Miller's work, his engines and front and rear wheel drives were used over and over again. Check out "Indy's Wildest Decade" for some very interesting stories. When the riding mechanics were added for 1930, almost everybody just widened the rear body and put on new bodywork. The car that finished second in 1946 is the re-bodied 1936 winner. Many of the cars of this era lasted 10-12 years in one form or another...
Kind regards,
Tim

[SWT500]

If they ever invent the time machine, man I am going back and see those beautiful cars run!!!

[sandysixtysfan]

Tom, thanks for all the info on these amazing cars and drivers.

Sandy

[Deleted]

Beautiful build! Love it.
Dave

[cobra276]

How did you make the hood straps and the strap springs or are those in the kit?

Dave