Ron Hershman's Collection:
John Cukras' "Old Reliable"
Here is a chassis long thought to be lost; a very famous chassis from a very famous driver. Considered by many to
be the best driver of the Classic Period, John Cukras (pronounced soo-kras) was also a prolific chassis builder.
This is a chassis that became a legend, winning or placing in many big races, and featured as
Car Model's Chassis of the Month in May 1969. Ron, thanks so much for contributing this vintage lump
of soldered brass!
Ron Hershman writes:
"These pictures are of a chassis that I got from John Cukras, "the most famous slot racer of the 60's."
John raced for Mura at the time he scratch built this chassis. John gave this chassis to me in 1993
and said he knew nothing of this chassis' history. Well, as it turns out, this chassis has a lot of history.
This chassis was the Chassis of the Month in the May 1969 Car Model magazine. This chassis was known as
"Old Reliable" and was built for the Nutley Arco race in October of '68, where John finished second.
John won the Mura Am-Pro race in Columbus Ohio with this chassis and raced it in 20 or so races.
The lead was missing from the chassis, but you can tell where it was in the exact locations
in the magazine article."
