Designer Times
Page 1 of 1
20. Disneyland Electric Runabout - Walt's Studio Runabout
Walt loved to show visitors around Disneyland, whether just friends or Heads of State. He was a fast walker and some of his guests had to hustle to keep up. If he dawdled too long anyplace, a crowd would surround his party and make it tough to continue. So he thought the answer would be some kind of special vehicle that he could drive and spare his group the brisk walk, and solve the crowd problem to boot.
To fit in with the Main Street era, I thought a replica 1900 curved dash Oldsmobile would be small and cute. We could make it electric so it didn't make any noise and would not create exhaust fumes. It could then be driven on Main Street as well as run on the sidewalks and paths thru all the different places in Disneyland. Walt ordered our Studio Machine Shop to build four Electric Runabouts.
I started a design layout in august 1959. Two of our fastest draftsmen, Art Moseley and Chuck Schrader made most of the production drawings from my layouts between August 20th and November 11th. This was one of my favorite projects since I could design numerous historically correct parts and our shop could machine them from special steel castings. This way we could make every visible detail authentic, from the tiny front axle steering knuckles to the rear axle chain drive housing.
To get the slightly scaled down Oldsmobile look with modern parts, I started with the wheels. I bought Italcherchio Italian racing motorcycle rims, which had modern tires that looked right and could carry the load. I designed small wire wheel hubs to fit the custom knuckles and the rear axles, then laced the hubs to the rims with heavy duty steel spokes. We built our own folding tiller bar steering parts. This gave Walt very quick steering as he moved thru the park crowds.
We filled the space underneath the front seat with a quick change battery pack. These packs could be changed in a few minutes using a special battery handling cart. The batteries weighed almost as much as the all welded 1/8 inch thick sheet aluminum body. In fact the steel front and rear full cantilever springs weighed quite a bit more than the light weight body.
Our chief shop welder, Fred Hilst, did a fabulous job welding up all four aluminum bodies. Aluminum is extremely tricky to weld in thin sections without distortion or burn thru. Fred made me wear welding goggles and watch how he did this very skillful work. Mostly as a warning to never design anything like that again. I never designed an aluminum weldment ever again!
I came up with a very simple 12/24 volt DC drive system using a 1 HP Baldor golf cart motor driving a gearbox thru a Flexidyne clutch. A chain ran from the gearbox to the rear axle. I avoided wasting electrical energy with resisters, common at the time. I connected the batteries to the electric motor using a series parallel 12/24 volt diesel truck starter switch. This switch was operated by the accelerator pedal.....push down a bit, you creep slowly, push more and you get cruise speed. To cushion the jolt between just the low/high voltage, we fiddled with the amount of buckshot in the Flexidyne clutch. We got it to where a person could hold back against the Runabout if you were trying to run him down in creep. This made it very safe for Walt to drive thru crowds.
We completed the Runabouts with fringed surrey tops, diamond tufted seats, and special brass headlights. I developed four separate coordinated color schemes for the body color, paint striping, and upholstery. For the next six years, Walt got his picture taken in the Electric Runabout with dozens of Presidents, Kings, and notables from all over the world. He was always smiling happily when at the tiller of "his car".
Next, Walt wanted an Electric Runabout to take his guests around the Walt Disney Productions Studio in Burbank. This time the job would have a new requirement....build it for nothing! Sure enough, all the studio shops found a way to build their portion of the Studio Runabout "off the books". Everyone did this by working on it in between jobs that had account numbers.....this had no job account number to which to charge labor and material.
I wandered thru my local junkyard, All Auto Parts in nearby Glendale, until I found a worn out 1947 Crosley. This tiny sedan provided all the mechanical bits I needed for the chassis frame, drive axle, steering, and wheels, etc. I don't remember how the machine shop came up with the petty cash for it. With the junk Crosley bits laid out on the shop floor, I drew the various new parts needed in chalk on the floor. This way I could not get caught drawing "official" plans. I sketched up a body for it, "liberated" various electrical and mechanical parts, got all the other shops to help out on the "QT". I remember how all the workmen were so proud to be building something personal for Walt without the accounting department ever finding out.
The thing came out looking kinda cute.....surrey top and all. You can see the only published photo of the Studio Runabout in The E-Ticket Number 36 Fall 2001 Page 18. It had a sign on the front "Here Comes Walt", another sign on the back "Relax, There Goes Walt". Last time I saw it was in the "boneyard" at Walt Disney World around 1986. It had been chopped up into a utility cart. I felt a twinge of sadness at the sight of a little scrap of Walt rusting away all alone.
oOo
Next month: Flying Saucer and Duck Bumps
Discuss It
Related Links
-- Bob Gurr
Bob Gurr began working with Disney in 1954. He retired in 1981 but occassionally consults for the Company. Since Disney he's worked on the sinking ship at Las Vegas' Treasure Island, Universal Studios' King Kong, Godzilla for the film by the same name and much more. Among his proudest accomplishments he lists "making Walt tickled pink that some of the things he wanted to build actually worked. You could tell how proud he was when he would show off things to his friends and the press. Lincoln and the Monorail were two big ones for him."
Designer Times is normally posted the second Wednesday of each month.
The opinions expressed by Bob Gurr, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future of Disneyland and the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted December 12, 2001
Advertisement
Howard Johnson Hotel Anaheim
A Family Favorite for over 35 years!
HoJoAnaheim.com
LP Live Recent Picture
A treat back at the cabin
Posted: 10/15/08
Laughing Place Podcast
A Happy New Year from the LPP. This week it's Lion King in Vegas, new Johnny Depp movies, Adventurer's Club last night, recent dining experiences, our favorites at Hollywood Studios, reader mail, the Captain's Challenge and more.
Jeff Lange DVDs at
The LaughingPlace Store
The LaughingPlace Store carries all of Jeff Lange's theme park DVDs featuring the best of Walt Disney World and Disneyland past and present.