 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
Restorations: Engine Restorations
 |
Early Black Widow
Yes, before LeRoy Cox made 'em black... he made 'em HOT! The "Silver Bullet"... The elusive "colorless Black Widow"... How'd ya' like to stick this on a NOS Firebaby? OOOOOhhh, just the thought makes me want to jump on my Schwinn Phantom, and head for the schoolyard! Some engines, even later ones, are just so classic and legendary that they deserve to be restored to their former glory! We obtained this very early BLACK WIDOW 049 some time back. These red-hot "pre-Venom" stunt/race motors would SCREAM! It was not too badly abused, but the cylinder and glow-head had the usual plier-scars, and the rare red prop-driver was ruined from using the snap-starter... I had honestly forgotten that the very first Black Widow 049's were not black at all, and didn't have red spinners! They were beautifully finished, and only a peek at the wild porting, the tasteful touch of red on the prop-driver, and the TeeDee head gave them away. That, my friend, is CLASS! To me, this breed is as rare and beautiful as the RR-1 and the Strato-Bug, and this one got a lot of loving attention. The tank and block were polished, just short of removing factory tool marks. A NOS gold back-plate was fitted. The cylinder and head were meticulously refinished, and fins straightened, fin-by-fin... (a specialty of STONEWAY). The cylinder and needle were re-blued. Mercifully, the RR-1/Space Hopper spinner was still there, and it was polished to original appearance. Last item, the prop-driver. It was carefully removed, stripped, and re-anodized in bright Cox "Olympic" red... I'll bet there are fewer of these original "Silver Bullet" Black Widow motors around than there are RR-1's! This one now resides in a major Cox collection. |
|
|
| ||
