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Custom Works 2wd Prototype?
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 8:25 pm
by Basher67
I picked up a sizable vintage collection today from a from a guy who was a hobby shop owner and a dirt oval racer bitd. This is one of the cars in the collection. I dont have any knowledge of dirt oval racing or Custom Works cars. He told me that Darren Zimmerman (I hope I have the name correct) Built this car for him and that it was one of a few custom built prototypes that predated the enforcer. He had a ton of trophies, plaques and the like showing the car's racing pedigree and success. Anyone recognize this car or the name of the guy who supposedly built it?
Re: Custom Werks 2wd Prototype?
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 10:15 pm
by Phin
Coincidentally, I just noticed a pic of a CW Enforcer prototype while searching for something in the RCCA scans. Unfortunately I couldn't remember the issue date even with a gun to my head....I went through a few years in the last couple of days.
I do remember it used a Big Boy Toys sprint cage and side plates though...not the Hot Trick plates that your car has.
Edit: Heh got lucky and found it again right away:
From January '91 issue of RCCA.
Re: Custom Werks 2wd Prototype?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 12:34 am
by Basher67
Nice. Right now it has the body mounting set up for the full body you see in the first pic background, but after digging through a pile of old bodies that were included, I found a sprint car body that was an exact fit. It came with so many new parts that it should be a fairly easy restoration. I'm hoping to find out if this was an actual prototype or just a modified production car. I'm not sure exactly how I would be able to tell the difference.
Re: Custom Werks 2wd Prototype?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 9:43 am
by Phin
Have you tried emailing Custom Works? I believe there's still some of the original people working there.
A Google of the Enforcer returned a brief history on Tony Stewart's website...
https://www.tonystewart.com/page/custom-works
In 1990 Jerry and Brian decided to try their hand in the 2 wheel drive class, taking 12 prototype cars to the Roar Nationals in Dallas, Texas. The drivers included Joel Johnson, Chris Smith, Chris Doseck, Bob Light, Rob Cutman, Kevin Stevens and Brian Landgraff. They proceeded to win both the Stock and Modified titles in their first attempt, putting seven of their prototype INTIMIDATORS in the Modified A-main! After eight months of continued refinement and the addition of direct drive, the Intimidator kit was made available to the public in March of 1991. This kit has set the pace of 2 wheel drive dirt oval racing ever since.
Also in 1990, Jerry and Brian became interested in the fledgling class of Sprint Cars. At the time, all of the available cars had aluminum cages and cumbersome suspension components. Bob Light drove their single prototype car (to be named the ENFORCER) to victory in the 1990 NORRCA Dirt Oval Nationals at Cooper's R/C race Center in Chatham, Virgnia in August of that year.In December of 1991, Custom Works introduced the ENFORCER as the one and only race-ready sprint car kit available in the world. Its molded nylon cage provided both durability and scale realism, and the idea of a 52-ounce sprint car was unheard of at that time-it was eight ounces lighter than anything else on the market!
The prototype Intimidator used Andy's arms for a JRX2, and I think the Enforcer prototype in the RCCA pic is also using Andy's front arms. Since your car is using production CW arms I'd guess at it being from between March and December of '91. Unfortunately, I'd also guess at it being a custom conversion of an Intimidator rather than a prototype of the Enforcer since it's got nothing that looks like the initial designs of the molded cage.
Still a cool car though.
Re: Custom Werks 2wd Prototype?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 10:39 am
by Basher67
I agree. What you're saying makes sense. It did come with a cage, but like the nerf bars, they appear to be from a Kyosho Sideways. They dont look much like "prototype" components.
Re: Custom Werks 2wd Prototype?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 10:51 am
by Phin
The cage is molded? I thought those nerf bars were aluminum.
Molded parts would give it more prototype cred.
Re: Custom Werks 2wd Prototype?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:22 am
by Basher67
I'm off to practice all day at the track for tomorrows big race. On Sunday, when I have some more time, I'm going to continue digging around on this. I have a spare cage from a Sideways laying around and I want to compare the two.
Re: Custom Werks 2wd Prototype?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 1:40 pm
by scr8p
Yeah, I would say the same thing. If it's a prototype anything, it would be an Intimidator.
Re: Custom Works 2wd Prototype?
Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:01 pm
by Basher67
Found all the sprint car parts for it. They are basically just Kyosho Sideways cage parts. The body and wing have seen better days but you get the idea. I stripped the car down and gave it a good cleaning and freshened it up with some of the included new parts and reassembled it using a combination of aluminum and stainless hardware. Nothing close to a full restoration, but clean enough to see what I'm working with. Trying to decide if I should leave it as is and look for another body for it (maybe Mcallister), weld up an aluminum cage for it, or use the other body mounts to make it into a dirt oval wedge style. Not even sure if I'm going to keep it or not. Probably let it sit on the shelf next to my desk for a couple weeks and see if it grows on me. It will be sitting next to my Big Boy Toys rc10 conversion sprint car, so it has a lot of competition for shelf space.
Re: Custom Works 2wd Prototype?
Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:16 am
by AscotConversion
I know the Kyosho cage was popular for a while in the midwest to get rid of the metal cages. It would be consistent for someone to use the Kyosho cage while developing a car.