FOX 29-R

I got this email from Peter Somers in Perth, Western Australia. I thought it might be of general interest.


Hi Guys,

    We all had some questions on the ancestry of this Fox which I found on eBay. None of us have seen the solid cylinder head, for instance, and whether it should be sand cast or not is another question. 

At least it does have the twin glow-plug set up, which we all know about on this type, and the solid head shows the same casting marks as the backplate, showing that the head appears to be a genuine piece.

I looked it up for myself in Anderson's MECOA Blue Book. Turns out one George Moir built T-R specials for Fox in 1950 ( Fox 29R )which looked conventional in a sand cast case, with a thick head and ported crankshaft etc. Moir became an employee when Fox Mfg. moved to Arkansas in 1955 and worked with another fella named Payton (?) on the .29's.

He soon turned out the first of the racing 29-R nasties in 1956, and this motor is one of those. Sand cast case, FOX 29-R on the bypass housing and the Legendary "Bath Tub" intake. 

In the following year this production was taken over by and within the Fox Works, and the cylinder head was now finned. This is the motor we first saw I believe, in the  "Aeromodeller" Engine Tests. What a blast..!

Before long Fox had found the twin plugs caused overheating, so recalled the 2-plug heads both solid and finned, for replacement by a finned 1-plug head, although this was not of course compulsory.

So here we have a near 60 year-old relic of the past with an even more interesting history than I imagined. How many would be left out there with the solid head, one can only guess but it would be very few.

The pics which were on eBay are attached below. I must have got it as a bargain since few know what it is; but the Blue Book quotes + - $300 US.

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Best Regards, 

from Peter Somers.....

"I still know nothing, but I've learned it all from experts"...