# Aurora Model Motoring Wheel Controllers



## LeeRoy98 (Jul 8, 2005)

I have been acquiring the Aurora Model Motoring Wheel Controller and using them to do breakin laps on the big oval. My most recent acquisition is different than all the others with a Forward/Reverse slide switch on the right and a brake button on the left. This got me wondering the history of the Wheel Controllers, when did they first appear, what was the original configuration, what were the different variations?

Can anyone shed some light?

Thanks,
Gary
AKA LeeRoy98
www.marioncountyraceway.com


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

The vibrators were...white and green then the white changed to grey...with no auxillary whistles or bells.

The t-jets were...grey and tan...WITH the gizmos.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

And if you want to get an idea of how brittle the Aurora tan cars are, look at a tan controller the wrong way and it'll fall to pieces!! :lol: :jest::tongue:


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## slotking (May 27, 2008)

I grew up using the the 1 you question!
reverse and brake button

they were fun

I would imagine they started with the vibrator cars as plain on steering wheel only
then change with the t-jets as that reverse and/ brake would add new features.

I do not think brake or reverse would work on the vibrator


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

I guess that reverse switch was used when setting the two cars to run in different directions- as to simulate normal road traffic, which is something a Model Railroader would have liked to depict on a combined layout ?


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Yes, you got it Ralph. The concept was to have the choice of running either way. The steering wheels were a set and forget kind of thing. The other function of the reverse switch was to back the cars up. There was (and still is available from MM2) a red guide pin you would attach to the back of the chassis. Half of a service turn off could be used for a drive way and you could either drive in, and back out, or the other way around depending on which half was being used. 

There were (and also still available from MM2) single lane track with a power tap, so you could literally park a car in a drive way, and power off that single piece of track. You could then power another driveway and start using a different car that was parked. Kind of the same thing as most kids back in the day did with trains. Park an engine on a siding, and pull another train on to the main line. The brake switch came in handy for the rail road crossings and intersections. It enabled you to keep the speed setting and still stop your car.


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## bobwoodly (Aug 25, 2008)

Wheel controllers made for some competition when racing alone as a kid. I'd set up my slimline truck as a mule at the fastest speed it would run without deslotting and hand control another car. I had the squeeze and crossovers to add a bit of excitement. It tells of my racing skill when the wheel controlled mule could beat me because I would inevitable crash whatever I was chasing it with.


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

bobwoodly said:


> Wheel controllers made for some competition when racing alone as a kid. I'd set up my slimline truck as a mule at the fastest speed it would run without deslotting and hand control another car. I had the squeeze and crossovers to add a bit of excitement. It tells of my racing skill when the wheel controlled mule could beat me because I would inevitable crash whatever I was chasing it with.


Interesting story of getting beat by "The Invisible man". Back in the early 80's we entered a car with no driver into one of our races on a small 4 lane banked oval. Typical short track format with qualifying, heats, and D main, C main, B main & A main with move ups out of each of the mains. The driverless car moved up through the mains and ultimately won the A main while all of us were overdriving our cars. Since it was a banked track we could set the speed of the car fairly fast so it was competitive!....... A very real eye opener to the merits of "Staying on" to win races.......


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

slotcarman12078 said:


> The steering wheels were a set and forget kind of thing. The other function of the reverse switch was to back the cars up. There was (and still is available from MM2) a red guide pin you would attach to the back of the chassis.


Great nostalgic post, Slotcarman. :thumbsup: It's easy to forget all those features that disappeared when it turned out that 'model motoring' didn't have the lasting appeal of model railroading or slot racing.









The red rear guide pin also kept the car from fishtailing, so you could set the speed control high enough that the highway traffic looked right on the straights, but wouldn't fishtail on the curves and lose contact with the power rails. I forgot all about them when I built my display-running snowmobile layout for Christmas a few years ago, and my highway layout a few Christmases before that. I ended up taping across the power rails to cut the vehicle's speed just before the curves. 

The eclipse of model roadways by racing also explains another design-change in the wheel controllers. The early ones had a flat, two-spoke steering wheel only a quarter-inch off the controller's face panel. 










That was a strong, durable design - you seldom see a broken two-spoke wheel. It was fine for set-and-forget highway use, but for constant use in racing it was a pain. You can barely get your fingertips on it. Furthermore, your fingernails would make a halo of scratches on the surface around the wheel.

It was replaced by the deep three-spoke wheel, which offered much better control for racing (and looked more like the zooty, overstyled steering wheels of the early '60s).










The higher rim gave a better grip for racing, but the height and thin spokes made them more likely to get damaged - you frequently see these with nothing but a couple of broken-off spoke-stubs still attached to the hub.

I suspect the shift to racing also dictated another design change. The 'speedometer' on the early wheel-controllers, calibrated in miles-per-hour, was always absurd - a tight car at 120 mph moved the same actual speed as a good car at 80 - but for set-and-forget highway use, it was handy. You could remember your yellow T-bird liked the 100 mph setting, while the blue Mercedes with the wide-hubs and double truck tires in its carved-out wheelwells, would come off at any faster than 60. 

Why have bogus speed numbers on a racing controller that you never looked at anyway? 'Slow' 'Medium' and 'Fast' got the idea across and didn't lead kids to wonder why their Ford GT's speed control topped out at 120, when real ones were doing over 200 on the Mulsanne straight. :freak:

Thanks for this thread. I love this old production, marketing and design lore. :wave:

-- D


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Forward was forward*



Ralphthe3rd said:


> I guess that reverse switch was used when setting the two cars to run in different directions- as to simulate normal road traffic, which is something a Model Railroader would have liked to depict on a combined layout ?


Well kinda...

The vibrator cars ran the opposite direction naturally because they ran on AC current. Just plop them on and forward you go! They also run on DC and polarity has no effect on their direction. Two way traffic was the norm, but reverse was unavailable.

With the advent of pemanent magnet DC motors the cars became polarity sensitive. The reversing switch was a necessary addition in order to control the direction of traffic.


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

*Christmas '05 Model Motoring*

In my last post, I mentioned my Model Motoring layout for Christmas 2005, with the taped-rail speed controls. I meant to include a photo of the layout, but sent the post off  and forgot to put it in. Here it is:










The layout and tree are on a low table. The tree is a small retro-style aluminum type, lit by an original rotating color-disk light from the early '60s. A string of green mini-lights under the snow-fabric around the edges of the table give soft glowing patches as they shine through the white cloth.

-- D


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

I'm spending Christmas at Dslot's house from now on!! :lol: :hat: :thumbsup:


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## LeeRoy98 (Jul 8, 2005)

Thanks to all for the replies, a lot of very interesting nostalgia. The new one I received is similar to the tan one in Dslot's post except mine has a black wheel with the MPH dial.
I opened the back and the wire from the brake to the bulb like component is broken... I will have to look into fixing it. Does anyone have any idea how this controller with brakes was wired to the track?

Thanks,
Gary
AKA LeeRoy98
www.marioncountyraceway.com


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

LeeRoy98 said:


> Does anyone have any idea how this controller with brakes was wired to the track?


Hey Gary,

Here are the original Aurora instruction drawings, courtesy of ModelMotorist.com. 

-- D


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

slotcarman12078 said:


> I'm spending Christmas at Dslot's house from now on!! :lol: :hat: :thumbsup:


 Chuckle. Thanks, Joe. I'll start getting the guest room ready. :wave:

Here are a couple more pics of the layout. It's Aurora lock & joiner track, set up as a highway display, with lanes running in opposite directions. There were two independent loops, so with one car per lane, four cars could constantly run at a time, though occasionally it was necessary to clear up a collision at the crossing (which usually became a pileup at the crossing by the time you got to it). 










The town buildings were Fifties Plasticville designs, plus some nice old lighted German composition houses from my childhood train set c.1952 and a couple of later German plastic ones. The farm is from that stunning series of Revell model-railroad kits, designed in the Fifties by pioneer styrene-craftsman Alan Armitage, and still among the best building kits ever made - the occasional sagging timber, missing shingle, split siding board, steps worn more in the center than at the edges, and other subtle signs of wear and use made these kits outstanding and convincing. The background buildings are just simple wood-block shapes with paint and stamped-on windows that I found at a garage sale.










The steering wheel controllers are on a shelf, hidden behind the snow cloth, where it drapes down at the table edge. Each lane got constant medium power, but I had to isolate the power rails going up the bridge and gave them higher voltage to help the thin-tired original T-jet chassis get up them. Then I had to put tape over the rails to cut power to the car just before reaching the top; otherwise they'd go airborne.

Here's the overall view again.










Cheers,
D


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