# Penn Line Indy Resurrection



## ajd350 (Sep 18, 2005)

Some of you may know the sad saga of Penn Line's failed foray into the slot car market. The beautiful but ill-designed cars ended up bankrupting the formerly successful train maker by 1963 due to extremely high returns after Christmas. 

When I was a wee sprat I was given one of these sets that was no longer wanted. The cars never ran, but the track became my first one to have run TJets on. Every now and then I wondered about getting the bugs worked out and making one of the original Penn Line cars run as designed. Instead, a plan 'B' emerged. The cars are about 25% longer wheelbase than a TJet, but about the same width. soooo...

The chassis was stretched with a second front clip. 2 sets of stock TJet shoes were spliced to cover the spread. The wheels are AFX 4-gear rears narrowed with Balls Out Indy tires stretched over them. It really fell together quite nicely once I got going.

The result runs like a charm and is a LOT of fun to drive. The long wheelbase lets it hold a nice drift through the corners. Hmmm... If I could find 3 more, maybe an IROC set...


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## ajd350 (Sep 18, 2005)

The exhaust pipe, roll bar, head and windshield were missing. It was no big deal to make some up.







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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

Wow, I can say I've never seen one of those .How about a side by side with a stock tjet Al? 

&#55357;&#56846;


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## purple66bu (Dec 18, 2013)

Wow Al..i should have stuck around longer maybe i could have seen this beauty..nice job!


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## vaBcHRog (Feb 19, 2003)

Very very nice! How about a picture of the top of the chassis?


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## vickers83 (Mar 8, 2010)

Very cool Al. I`ve got 2 Penn-Lines that I need to restore. Your build gives me another option. Did you try an O-gauge Aurora shoe on the hybrid chassis? :thumbsup:


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

vickers83 said:


> Very cool Al. I`ve got 2 Penn-Lines that I need to restore. Your build gives me another option. Did you try an O-gauge Aurora shoe on the hybrid chassis? :thumbsup:


Took the words right out of my mouth .

It does look alot like the O'Gauge chassis!!!

Wait, my bad. I just read ur post again. So what does the Penn chassis look like? I guess that's the Penn body right? And the chassis is ur own made to fit right Al?


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## vickers83 (Mar 8, 2010)

2 views of the penn-line chassis Joe, O-gauge shoe on the right penn on the left....:wave:


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Oh thats pretty Al.

Gotta love the Penns!


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## ajd350 (Sep 18, 2005)

Thanks guys. 

Here are comparo pics. You can see the original was similar to the Atlas design, but the gears did not mesh right and would slip. No bueno. 

The O-gauge Aurora is too long and wide to fit under the Penn Line body, and the shoes are about 3/16" too short for my stretched TJet. 

I think he needs a bigger head...

Dennis, I'll let you run it around at the next race.

The chassis extension was tacked in place with CA glue and bolstered with JB Weld and UV bonder. The size difference is apparent against the TJet GP racer.


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

Wow. That is an odd ball looking thing lol!!

None the less still cool ?

Thanks Al


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## Bubba 123 (Sep 10, 2010)

Joe65SkylarkGS said:


> Wow. That is an odd ball looking thing lol!!
> 
> None the less still cool ?
> 
> Thanks Al


I have seen some stock box-motors on chassis (forget the brands (??))
but maybe something like a "Ideal" mfg, might work 

Bubba 123 :wave:


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## vaBcHRog (Feb 19, 2003)

Again very nice job. I wish a longer version like you made was in production. Lots of Indy Raodsters could be made to look good on that chassis. A lot of 1/64 diecats bodies could be molded to look good on that chassis.


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## ajd350 (Sep 18, 2005)

I'd expect it to be a good fit on a slimline chassis if it was shrunk a bit.


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## foxkilo (Mar 27, 2008)

What was actually wrong with that chassis?
It looks to me, apart from the length, very much like Atlas, Lionel or Faller. Or though the latter copied the first. Did Penn Line produced them or was it bought it? I know that in the late 50s a number of coaches had been bought from Fleischmann.

Mario


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## ajd350 (Sep 18, 2005)

By the design I'd speculate a Japan origin. The cluster gear snaps into a pair of holes in the chassis. The holes are located slightly too far forward and too high resulting in far too shallow mesh with the axle gear, which results in slippage. To fix it I would drill out the holes to accomodate brass tubing and relocate them properly to correct the mesh. The snap-in axle arrangement should have been more positive as the axles have too much movement when in place which aggravates the first problem. Then the smooth axles did not retain the wheels well. Just a couple of simple things done slightly wrong brought down the whole company. Details, details, details...


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

Al, nice job recreating the t-jet and extending the pickup shoes.
sort of reminds me of the Gilbert attempt that failed miserably and they had to retool their Mustang and Aston Martin bodies for the 007 James Bond O gauge set to fit aurora O gauge chassis.
I had a few of the original Gilbert chassis and made a deal with "Mr Aurora"/Bob Beers for them.
I wasn't aware of the Penn Line attempt, but if I run across any I will get them for you.


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## ajd350 (Sep 18, 2005)

Thanks.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

It looks like a bigger version of the Lionel-Atlas-Marx H0 setup.


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