Model of the Alfonso Hispano-Suiza made by Roger Jackson. Photo courtesy Dale LaFollette.
One day Dale LaFollette sent me a photo of a King Alfonso Hispano Suiza model to illustrate one of our articles. This was no ordinary model; I was struck by the sheer beauty of the model, it’s construction, color, simplicity and lightness. La Follette told me it was built from scratch by a friend of his in the U.K., and that he had many such models. Please tell us more, we asked, and here is the story of Roger’s models.
Story and photos by Dale La Follette
In the early 1960s, slot car racing was about to sweep the country, and as a total car guy, it captured my imagination. I met a couple of people that had built a track in a garage, and I joined them in informal evening races. Great fun, but the cars that were available at the time were of poor quality, and did not allow close racing. It was evident that we would have to build our own cars, but the basics like gears, wheels and tires were not available in in the U.S.