Speed Inc. was originally founded by Paul Shoemaker in 1987. It has been an off and on venture and basement laboratory for HO scale body and detailing components. Speed Inc started out manufacturing HO scale vacuformed Lexan and PETG bodies for HO competition racing. Most business was localized in the Louisville, KY area until 1990 when REH Distributing began selling the line. Speed Inc also offered a line of detailed 1/24th scale stock car bodies designed to fit the Parma Stock Car Chassis (a Flexi-Car with an extension to a 4-1/2 inch wheelbase). The original line comprised of 12, HO scale bodies and 8, 1/24th scale bodies. Speed Inc continued in this venture until 1993 and was unable to continue to manufacturing at the demand the product was generating. Speed Inc closed it’s production in 1993 until it was revisited in 2006.
In 2006, owner Paul Shoemaker, began designing increasingly detailed sculptures that were not vacuform production compatible. Having created resin casts of other modeling subjects (model cars, figure kits, and architecture components) it was decided to pursue the art of resin casting for slot car bodies. Spending 14 months learning the process and refining the sculptures, Speed Inc released it’s first original cast, the 1934 Ford 3-Window Coupe. Loosely based on the Parma Lexan body, additional detailing, grill, headlights, door and hood lines, venting and windows were added to create a new mold. This release was very limited due to the fragile nature of the mold itself and this being the first production attempt. Fifty bodies were completed, 40 of which were traded, sold or gifted to individuals. The remaining 10 are owned by Speed Inc. The first series of releases from Speed Inc had no specific body mounting, allowing for most standard wheelbase chassis to be used. Beginning in 2010, all new products will focus the body mounts to Aurora/AFX/Tomy/Auto World Type mounts for 1/64th scale bodies and screw post mounting for ThunderJet and 4-Gear applications.
With the lessons learned, Speed Inc had moved to a small production schedule of about 4 body styles a year. We had also targeted Thunderjet scale as well as the 1/64th scale cars we have traditionally produced. Production was kept to 50 per design or less, due to mold degradation in the production process. All bodies were pressure molded in neutral color for customers finish as they would like. In 2016 Speed Inc. moved away from the resin casting and returned to the roots of vacuform bodies. The pinnacle of these efforts was the creation of 51 Tucker Torpedoes, recreating each of the production cars made in 1948. The molds were destroyed after all the cars were sold.
Starting in 2016, using the skills gained from the resin casting phase, Speed Inc. began creating original molds for HO scale vacuformed bodies. Speed Inc. also acquired original tools from legacy manufacturers and restored and improved those toolings to make them their own. With new techniques to pull details into the vacuformed products and creating decal art to accompany the finished products, Speed Inc began offering finished bodies in small quantities. As we move into 2022, new efforts will be made to make these products available for the racer/collector looking for something unique.
Speed Inc is dedicated to providing a quality, custom product, filling the niche for unique, one of kind designs.
Paul Shoemaker
Owner: Speed Inc