I parsed that one wrong.
The Great Lakes Science Center has a Mercury capsule replica, and you can climb into the seat and flip the switches. It’s mounted upright (i.e., how it would be on the top of a pile of explosives Redstone or Atlas), so you’re sitting in a very weird position.
So you’re Robbie Alen Hanshaw’s uncle???
The boys across the street from us had a homemade wooden go-kart powered by a repurposed lawnmower engine. They putted up and down our suburban street at 25-30 mph, 8 inches off the ground in a contraption with all the structural integrity of a chicken crate.
It was a different time.
Shirley Temple tooled around the Fox studios vicinity in a gas-powered runabout.
Google Lens found this but apparently Sotheby’s doesn’t really know what they are, either.
I’ve sat in the Gemini capsule at OMSI, also when it was up next to the then Washington Park Zoo. One article I read said Hanshew’s prize included a guitar and 200 Revell model kits, which he donated to local children’s hospitals. Also five years worth of Baskin-Robbins ice cream, which he shared with his science class. Pretty altruistic kid; I wonder if he kept the guitar.
There are quite a few of those little gas powered replicas around. Here’s some more:
My cousin had a home made go-kart with an 8 hp engine that was seriously fast. The throttle was a belt tightener - a steel rod on a hinge, connected to the drive belt. The harder you pressed, the less slip there was on the drive belt and the faster you would go. The brakes were friction pads on the front wheels that you pushed against with your feet.
We drove that thing all over his little town. It’s a wonder we’re still alive.
I think I found it! 1956 Ferrari Bimbo Racer:
Bing
Oh! I agree that looks like a match alright alright. Called a Ferrari Bimbo - but I see those used electric motors; wonder if a gas model was made.
But this basically answers my question - yes, the car in the Red Ball ad must be real.
I’ve also seen these pictures of Shriners’ parades with old guys riding in cars way too small for them. Must be pretty powerful.
No, this isn’t quite the same. That grille is huge compared with the rest of the car.
Remember that the advert was a drawing.
This? Not a drawing! https://i.imgur.com/Fi38jzH_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand
But it might well be a knock-off, as the one built by actual Ferrari might have been costly.
Yeah, and I don’t think anyone would call this a “FX-100 sports car”.
The FX-100 designation seems to be used by a lot of products, including bicycle brakes, audio cables and yes, sneakers. Somehow that combination of letters and numbers just screams “badass”.
Whatever that Carvette thing is, it looks like it would have made a good soap box derby chassis back in the day.
A prefab chassis might not jibe with Official Soap Box Derby parameters (that is, after adults took it over from its
Little Rascals-style roots and basically ruined it).
I asked Google Newspapers about other Red Ball Jets contest prizes. These are all I could find up to the tenth page of results:
One Lou Ellen Huntley won a bicycle, brand not stated. (1958)
One Ellen Sue Carey won a Columbia bicycle. (1959)
A go-kart in a “Name That Shoe” contest. (1960)
A barking puppy toy in a “Space Face” contest. (1966)
Red Ball had their own space capsule contest. (1967)
A weekend in NYC with a romp through FAO Schwarz in a “Christmas in July” contest. (1968)
Supermarket Sweep at FAO Schwarz? Cool! Oh wait, they probably made you give away the toys.
I won’t lie. That Red Ball commercial would have wanted me to have a pair if I’d seen them as a kid.
I almost want a grown-up-size pair as an adult, except I know that footwear technology has advanced so much over the years that it would probably feel like strapping cardboard and burlap to my feet after being spoiled by modern options.