How many cars have you built?

[mebetree]

4 cars for my older son.
2 cars for my younger son.
3 cars for my daughter (just for fun).
2 "test cars" for myself (haven't convinced the other adults to hold our own races).

My father had formed the first pack (and later troop) in the town I grew up in and my three older brothers were in scouts but he got burnt out and quit before it was my turn to join scouts so I was never a scout.

I'm also the "fixer" on inspection night so I've helped rebuild dozens of cars that show up broken, under weight, etc.

[Shawn Stebleton]

I've been involved in building 5 cars with my older son--four for his four years of cub scouts and one experimental car that didn't work out as well as he had hoped. I think we partly made two that had some sort of failure or flaw in building well before completion. With my younger son, we've built three that have raced, and three that had problems during the build or broke during the fun day. One other car body was finished and painted, but never has had wheels/axles as we ran out of time. That's 14 partial and complete cars combined. Two years to go. I guess my boys and I are not "into" it as much as some of you, but that's OK. They have fun in other ways outside of Pinewood Derby and even scouts, too. But when it is Derby time, they do their best. The main thing is I want to teach them about the world (understanding things such as physics), develop their skills, and grow them up right.

[rpcarpe]

2 - Cub Scout ( I only remember two builds, should've had a third?)
3 - Dad for family reunion PWD
7 - PWD demo
4 - 2010 workshop
50 - 2011 workshops
50+ - 2012 workshops

It's a great thing to volunteer time and talent to others. Much more fulfilling than just building one per year in my garage.

[Shawn Stebleton]

How could I have forgotten the ones I built as a cub??? I wasn't thinking of the ones for myself--just the ones I helped my sons make. Add a few to my 14 I mentioned earlier.

Also, I've helped countless others (50-70 per year?) over the last 5 Fun Day's our pack has hosted. I'd probably be over 300 if I add those. Should I change my vote

[Curse You Red Baron!]

Five when I was in YMCA Indian Guides/Gray-Y (Really only participated in 4, since my Dad did the first one, but I got to do some painting and wood-burning on Car #2. Cars #4 and 5 I did entirely by myself, including Snoopy and Woodstock in the Mach 5.) I think I may have had one or two other builds, but if so they didn't survive; I have the 5 in my basement workshop to this day.

10 with my sons: 5 with my oldest, 4 with my youngest, and one 'backup'. My oldest has autism, he's intellectually high-functioning, but it impacts his dexterity (hand over hand is even more important, because his mirror neurons don't function well, meaning that I can model a behavior all I want but its very unlikely that he will be able to replicate it just from watching me - clapping, for instance, was something we spent days teaching him, hand over hand.), so he's still a bit behind my youngest in build skills, but I hope to have them both building their cars next year while I provide the jigs, moral support, advice, and safety guidance.

The extraordinary thing for me about the Pinewood Derby is that it is the primary experience through which my Dad and I really bonded. I loved sports and he could care less about sports. He was an engineer and had a sense for how things work which my brother inherited, but I didn't so much. But this was something we could talk about and both really enjoy the conversation. There are lots of things I do from Family time to Karate, Running, Investing, Roto Baseball - I love PWD but I didn't really have time for another hobby. I'm into it because i want so much to recreate my own experience with and for my sons.

[PWD]

I built 1 with my father when I was a kid. It was the block, I don't believe we cut anything. I know we did not paint. We did put some stickers on it. We had lost one of the axles and my dad found a replacement nail. It was the slowest car in the pack race.

My wife feels this experience caused a scar and why I am so serious with my boys to do better

Funny looking back that actually using an axle that did not come with the car was probably actually against the rules. But no one had anything to worry about.

I have eight kids with six boys and over the years we have built around 200 cars. Pretty scary. We still have most of them. They were the result of trying many different things.

The last two years the number had really decreased. This year we have built four so far. But for districts we will probably build four more. We have a target time we are shooting for which will dictate the number. The quality of our builds over the years has also really improved so really no need to build as many any longer.

We do re-use tungsten from builds that don't race. The cars that race we leave alone. In the lead days we did not re-use very much.

[whodathunkit]

I haven't stoped sence I've started..(lol!)
And sence I've started I can't stop.

I Diden't see that added to the poll. but it's my vote.

[resullivan]

I have only made 2 so far. I would like to make more than just 1 car next year, but both of mine so far have used tungsten and it isn't cheap. Maybe I should get some lead to play with?

[Shawn Stebleton]

A source of free lead you can check out would be the various tire shops. They pull off a bunch of lead wheel weights and throw them into a bucket for recycling. Ask them if you could recycle some of them. Tell 'em it's for Cub Scouts (or whatever organization you/your child belongs to) and that the organization is on a tight budget. You will probably get more than you ever thought you'd need. Bring a flat-bottomed bucket and they'll let you pick through them. They'll probably have lead and stainless steel weights mixed together. Share with your den/pack/group.

You can epoxy them as-is underneath, if that is all you are looking for. If this is the case, only pick out the ones that are about 1-1/2 inch long or less, if you can.

If you take all sorts of precautions, know how to melt lead, and have the proper tools and safety equipment, melt them into shapes more suitable for Pinewood Derby cars.

See here and here for ideas.

I know Stan Pope has suggested using two angle irons bolted together with holes drilled down the junction to make some cylinders/rods. If you use this suggestion, I would either drill 23/64" holes (lead would then fit into a 3/8" hole in the car) or obtain a 25/64" drill bit for making the holes in the car for the 3/8" lead cylinders.

[FatSebastian]

A source of free lead you can check out would be the various tire shops.

Sadly, not always anymore. Perhaps it depends on the shop; have you tried this lately?

[ah8tk]

As a Cub Scout I built 3 (with my dad), way back in the 1970s Cub Scouts was only a 3 year program.

In the late 70s I helped my little brother build 2 cars, my parents had divorced so I got to help.

So far, we have built 18 cars and trucks together during Noah’s Cub Scout career (and continuing…).

I built "The King" for an article about building a pinewood car, for the Pinewood derby Times.

We built 2 cars as giveaways at our 2010 district races.

I helped also on a car for my niece for an AWANA race at her church.

I built a Vespa scooter for a bar pinewood derby race.

I also built a truck for a company, for their entry in a competition between companies.

So the total, at this point, is 29. And, I know this seems strange, I have a picture of the 29 cars with the years they were created:

[ciodude]

So the total, at this point, is 29. And, I know this seems strange, I have a picture of the 29 cars with the years they were created:

Some very cool cars, trucks and bikes ah8tk! I really like the Vespa! It reminds me that somewhere I have some sketches for making a Tron lightcycle racer. I had thought to make it look like two light cycles were racing, maybe even offsetting the wheels so one would be in the 'lead.' I even thought about using two different colors of wheels. Now I have to go back and dig those plans out.

[Shawn Stebleton]

Perhaps it depends on the shop; have you tried this lately?

It was just over a year ago. I only checked one shop and they were helpful. I realize that a sample size of one is a bit small, but that is all it took for me. I have enough for quite awhile.

We used some of it not too long ago on my Boy Scout's "crash" car. They had a "Blast, Crash, Splash, Smash ‘n Dash" theme for their Spring Camporee last April and he needed a Pinewood Derby car to crash in a last one standing event. Speed wasn't an issue--survivability was. So we built for that. No sense in buying tungsten for it, as we didn't know if it would even survive. It mostly did and only lost one fender. The epoxy held. It was the wood that split. I don't remember if it won or not. If they ever do that sort of event again, I would coat the whole front end with epoxy.

[FatSebastian]

Perhaps it depends on the shop; have you tried this lately?

It was just over a year ago. I only checked one shop and they were helpful.

One is all it takes! Your experience is encouraging; we'll keep trying. Thanks for the report.

[Shawn Stebleton]

Should I change my vote

I decided to change my vote, based on the wording of the poll question. I've helped over 300 cars to be built. The post title is "How many cars have you built?" which is different than the actual poll question.