In 1986, John Ellis, of Michigan, began to design and build 1/3-scale models of the Dooling Brother’s “F” car as a tribute to his father, who produced the casting dies for the original Dooling “F” cars in the 1940s. John’s intent was to purchase Cox .020 engines for his completed cars, but the project took so long that when he was finally ready the Cox engines were no longer available.
After much effort to get small engines produced he decided to take on the project of tooling and casting his own engines. He chose the Dooling 61 (Serial #101) since it was one of the engines used in the original tether cars. This miniature is exactly 1/3-scale, burns methanol on spark ignition, and turns 38,200 revolutions per minute.
Note the size of the US quarter that’s being used as a stand underneath the engine, lending a sense of scale. (A quarter is about the same size as a Euro coin, or about .95″ or 24.1mm.)