If you could ask Gene Hustings...

[WebSteve]

My question:

How did it make you feel that most companies prototyping their cars in the early 90's were "borrowing" your concepts and parts for their use? Traxxas used Stealth trannies for all their prototypes and their production trans wasn't far from it. their team drivers even ran it on their race buggies along with AE shocks. Most new cars in 91-94 really resembled the stealth car (trx3, triumph) Does this make you proud that your company not only made it through but actually became stronger through it? 90% of the cars at my track are b4's and I've always thought " yeah associated may take a bit longer to come out with a new car but usually its lower priced and works better"

Sorry to ramble but you get the idea

And thanks very much for making this available for us Steve and Gene


Mark

Gene Husting's response:
They even began to copy our whole cars!!! "NICE" PEOPLE!!!

Well we did all the hard work, the development, and then they simply stole our hard work. It certainly didn't make us feel very good. But there was no realistic way to fix the problem at first.

Then the best way to fix the problem, I figured, was for us to simply upgrade to a new kit, thus obsoleting all of their kits. It worked!!!

You're also right about it taking us longer to come out with a new kit. That's because when you make the best kit it becomes harder and harder to make the next kit, because it must be noticeably better than the previous kit. But that's what we do all the time.

[WebSteve]

Gene Husting writes:

When I joined Associated Electrics as a co-partner with Roger Curtis, the only car Associated made at that time was the RC1 car, a car that I did not like and refused to race.

So Roger asked me, "Well, what car are you going to race?"

I said, "the car I'm racing now" [Gene had scratch-built this car himself - Steve H] I had just won the Summer RC Car Championships and the Winter Championships in So. Calif.

So Roger said, "Well, what will people say [about you not racing one of your own company's cars]?"

I said, "I'll tell them I'm running a new prototype RC100 car that AE will be making." I don't think he really liked that, but he said "OK."

At the time, AE wasn't selling many RC1 cars. AE was living off of sales of slot car braid, guides, tires, and bodies. So a while later I told Roger, "It is time to start making my RC100 car."

He said, "We can't do that."

I said, "Why not?"

He said, "Because it would cost too much."

If I couldn't find a way to make my RC100 car to sell, I was going to have to abandon this ship, because it was ABOUT TO SINK!!!

Normally they would make quantities of 1,000 car kits at a time. I couldn't sleep at night, trying to figure out a way to solve this problem. If I couldn't figure out a solution, I was going to have to abandon this SINKING SHIP!!!

So I suggested to Roger that we should then make the car kits in 5000 qtys instead. He thought about it awhile, and then he said, "OK"!!

So I contacted all of the different companies to make all of the different parts for the kits, as well as spare parts.

When we received the kits and parts, I sent sample kits to all of our Distributors. Within 2 weeks, ALL of the kits were sold!!!!!

A short time later we moved to a bigger place in Santa Ana, CA.

WE WERE ON OUR WAY!!!!!

GENE HUSTING

[Dr. Robotnik]

Gene Husting's reply:

This is a 4wd RC10 that someone overseas sent to us to try out. I can't remember exactly who at this time.

I didn't have time to spend on it, so Roger volunteered to help.

We were at a big RC car race and Roger asked Jamin' Jay Halsey if he would race it. Of course Jay said YES!!!

It never even finished a qualifying run, even tho it was going fast enough, because the 4wd chain kept jumping off. We never did anything with it after that.

Wow thanks a lot Steve. If you find any pictures or information or even the car then please let me know.

Warm regards

Ed

[siebenelch]

Hello Steve,

it´s so great to read this thread!

I heard a story, that the tub-chassis after the pulling-process was a little bended. And a Lady corrected the chassis-tubs by a hammer.

Is this true?

Thank you!

Michael

[Marty]

thank you gene! thank you steve!
thank you for taking the time to share your stories !!

[WebSteve]

Hello Steve,

it´s so great to read this thread!

I heard a story, that the tub-chassis after the pulling-process was a little bended. And a Lady corrected the chassis-tubs by a hammer.

Is this true?

Thank you!

Michael

Pete Cooney, Purchasing and Production, answers:

I can explain the whole process.

1. The chassis was first formed by a stamping die.
2. We trimmed off the excess flash and deburred it
3. We sent it out for heat treatment. The first process was to heat it up and quench in a glycol bath. It was still soft at this point and it was shipped back to us on dry ice to keep it from getting hard.
4. Then we would hammer it flat while it was still soft. We had a tool the shape of the chassis to make it easier to straighten.
5. Then we would send it back to heat treat to finish hardening it. It took 8 hours in a 350 deg. oven to complete the process. This is called aging.
6. We would now countersink the holes in the chassis and send it out for gold anodizing.

[mikedealer]

Here's a question im surprised no one has mentioned.. pete cooney probably has the answer....

Why Did AE Switch from White Parts to Black Nylon parts at some point... Obviously there was the "coolness" factor at the time of having aftermarket black parts... was that the only reason? cost issue maybe where black was cheaper to produce?

[WebSteve]

Here's a question im surprised no one has mentioned.. pete cooney probably has the answer....

Why Did AE Switch from White Parts to Black Nylon parts at some point... Obviously there was the "coolness" factor at the time of having aftermarket black parts... was that the only reason? cost issue maybe where black was cheaper to produce?

We changed the color to give the car a more finished look, that is all. The cost did not change.

[MOmo]

Does Gene still run cars? Even For Fun? Being the pioneer and with his involvement in the industry, is he pleased with the direction the industry has gone? Does Gene realize how much he and Roger influenced and started an industry? And with that, when he and Roger sat down and planned this, did they ever imagine that AE would become what it did?

I had a chance to meet both of them at RCX years ago and had them autograph my manual. Like i explained the the thread, to see them flip through the pages, I could see them re-living the hours they must have spent creating and planning the manual and having to assemble the car used in the examples. It was an honor to meet them. Its is TRUELY become my most prized possession. http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2825



MOmo

[WebSteve]

OK, if you would go to the General > Reader's RC10 section, you'll see photos of the original RC10 that my Dad owns.

Steve H

[Asso_man!]

Hey Steve, thanks for sharing all this awesome info. Could you please answer the following question: why did AE wait so long to produce a 4wd car (aka B44), what were the aborted 4wd projects?

[Brandon G]

What was the reason for the rear shocks to be mounted upside down on the original RC10?
(or I should say the prototype)

[WebSteve]

Hey Steve, thanks for sharing all this awesome info. Could you please answer the following question: why did AE wait so long to produce a 4wd car (aka B44), what were the aborted 4wd projects?

We've had that answer on the web site for a a long while in the Tech Talk FAQ section. We thought there was not enough interest (market potential) earlier. I have no ideas what 4WD developments were going on in Area 51, sorry.

[Tadracket]

....We've had that answer on the web site for a a long while in the Tech Talk FAQ section....

Steve, you may get several questions that have been answered on the AE site. I'll be the first to admit, I go to Associated's site for manuals and that is about it (although, I have been doing a lot of drooling over the new MGT 8.0). This site has become my home for RC10 (and other brands) related questions. Please don't take it in offense to Associated. I think it says a lot for a car to have a group such as this create and frequent a site dedicated to it.

[WebSteve]

....We've had that answer on the web site for a a long while in the Tech Talk FAQ section....

Steve, you may get several questions that have been answered on the AE site. I'll be the first to admit, I go to Associated's site for manuals and that is about it (although, I have been doing a lot of drooling over the new MGT 8.0). This site has become my home for RC10 (and other brands) related questions. Please don't take it in offense to Associated. I think it says a lot for a car to have a group such as this create and frequent a site dedicated to it.

I know not everyone has browsed all our pages. I merely mentioned the web site fact in passing, then I gave the answer that was on the web in a nutshell. It was not written in a huff. It was my way of simply saying that this question is not a new one. No offense intended.

Steve H