EditRiggen Slot Cars
EditBe Sure It's A Riggen!
Riggen Manufacturing was a slot car tire and wheel maker in the early 1960's. A designer named Gordon Brimhall joined the company 1965 and was part of the design team that made all the Master Molds for producing
Vacuum Formed Bodies. Those first RTR cars were produced by Riggen and sold under the JAD brand name.
In the early 1970s, Riggen's HO cars went head-to-head with
Tyco's new line of Tycopro cars and well as other brass-bottom offerings like
Dyna-Brutes and
Cobra-Mites, as well as the
Aurora Super II, in what became known as the Brass Wars.
Slot Cars with weighted brass pan bottoms, or bellies, could be found on tracks everywhere. The extra low center-of-gravity on gave these "brass bombers" a superior level of handling than what was previously available to slot car racers.
Riggen chassis exploded viewEditRiggen HO Returns
In 1998,
Toybaron.com acquired 14 of the original Master Molds used by Riggen Industries in the 1970’s for their BOSS HO and MR HOT ROD series’ of HO scale race cars. These molds were carved by Master Modeler Gordon L. Brimhall while he was employed at Riggen Industries.
Original Molds
The original “hard cast” molds were then taken to a plastics specialist and new resin cast molds were made to endure the process of sheet producing new bodies in Lexan plastic. The sheets were then roughly trimmed and sent to Jay Jaap of Holeshot Painting for final trimming and custom painting, preserving the original “blocky” paint styles employed by Riggen in the 70’s for their production runs.
Modern Methods
In the meantime, efforts began to obtain and reproduce all of the other parts required to release a collectible and functional edition of HO cars. New brass chassis and shaker plates were commissioned using the latest CAD-CAM process. Aluminum tapered front and vintage rear set screw wheels were faithfully sourced and reproduced. NOS Mabuchi HT-50 motors were obtained. Plastic Guide flag assemblies were CAD-CAM designed and produced. Other plastic parts such as the plastic motor clips and crown gears were reproduced. New rear tires were spec’d and produced and assembly tools and molds were hand made.
Riggen Returns
In 2005, after a long period of research and effort, new
RiggenHO Model Series 100 Race Cars were introduced to the Slot Car community. The first RiggenHo product was determined to capitalize on the rebirth of vintage HO slot car collecting, fueled by the great success of
Johnny Lightning T-Jet replica’s. An active Club Racing program is under development.
EditRiggen Parts and Accessories
You can still buy HO scale Riggens
factory-direct by visiting
Riggen's web site. Popular with club racers, modern Riggens are nearly identical to the classic Riggen cars, however many modern and updated parts are also available, like silicone-sponge tires!
If you are interested in vintage Riggen 1/32 and 1/24 scale slot cars or slot car racing parts, many used and NOS parts are still available on eBay: