Cox Model Engine - Cox History

Cox History

The Cox range of model engines were the brain child of entrepreneur Leroy (Roy) M. Cox.

• Cox Manufacturing started out in Leroy's garage in 1945 where he made wooden pop guns for kids and employed local housewives to assemble them. Metal was scarce due to the war which is why the toy guns were made of wood.

• In 1946 metal became readily available again and competitors quickly moved into the market making their metal pop guns cheaper, so Roy moved to something else, making metal tether cars for kids.

• In August 1946 a fire in Cox's garage forced him to move to newer and larger premises at 730 Poinsettia Ave, Santa Ana, California.

• In 1947 Cox developed a racing car which used an engine manufactured by Cameron Brothers. The cars sold for $19.95 and generated $200,000 in sales in their first year of production.

• In 1949 Cox developed their own engine for their racing tether car which included some parts from Mel Anderson's Spitzy engine. This engine was called the "O Forty Five" as it was .045 cubic inch displacement.

• In 1950 with sales of the car proving to be a success Cox moved on to development of a model plane engine. Roy, felt the need for dependable, easy-to-start engines and spent the better part of the year 1950 in research. (actually 8 months) His three man engineering crew (himself, Mark Mier and Bill Fogler) spent 7 days a week, day and night, to develop the ‘.049 Space Bug’ contest engine. The end result was the Space Bug .049 Contest engine, Cox's first model plane engine which was completed in October 1951.

• In 1952 first name change was made to L.M. Cox Manufacturing Company Inc. The Space Bug engine sets the scene for all the Cox engines that followed and it went into full production in 1952. This engine was so popular that it caused problems for other model engine manufacturers.

• In 1953 Cox produced their first Ready To Fly (RTF) airplane the TD1 which was powered by the Space Bug engine.

• In 1953 Leroy Cox (L.M. Cox Manufacturing) is sued by Jim Walker (American Junior Aircraft Co.) for copyright infringement because Cox was using Walker's patented bellcrank system in the TD1 and secondly because Walker believed the Cox Skylon Reel was a copy of his U-Reely control handle. The court case lasted for 3 years.

• In 1955 Cox wins the court case against Jim Walker. Walker's patent on the bellcrank control system is ruled void and invalid because it was determined that the system had been designed before Walker's patent and by someone else - a man named Oba St.Clair, who was the first man to fly a control line airplane (in the USA) back in 1937 and the design was published in 1938. Oba St.Clair had shown his design to Jim Walker who took it upon himself to patent the design! The court also ruled that the Cox reel was not a copyright infringement.

• In 1956 Cox developed the Babe Bee 049, designed by William (Bill) Selzer, which had an extruded aluminum crankcase, not cast like the others, this engine sold for just $3.95 and stamped the final nail in the coffin of many competitors whose engines were selling for substantially more. The Babe Bee was a high quality high precision engine which started easily and was very reliable, unlike some of the competition.

• In 1957 Cox took over the Flying Circle at Disneyland which was a major coup for the company. The model planes were being flown each day in front of tens of thousands of people and they had a hobby shop right there full of Cox RTF planes. The Cox Flying Circle remained in operation until 1965 when it was closed to make way for expansion of Tomorrowland.

• In 1960 Cox hired an engineer named Bill Atwood, (who had already build his own line of engines), to develop a new .010 cubic inch engine. Atwood was also responsible for the Tee Dee and Medallion line of engines. These engines put Cox on the map as a leading engine in the world for many years to come.

• In 1963 due to continuing growth the company moved to larger (225,000 square feet) facilities which were three times larger than the old site. Shortly thereafter Cox got into Slot Cars and focused attention on gearing up for this fad.

• 1965 Cox International is established in Hong Kong to meet the demands of the Slot Car craze.

• 1967 The Slot Car fad ends, leaving Cox with excess stock that cannot be sold resulting in financial cash flow problems.

• In 1969 Leroy's wife Myrtle died and Leroy was having health problems of his own so he retired and sold the company to Leisure Dynamics Inc. Leisure Dynamics continued to expand the range of Cox Model Aircraft as well as adding trains, boats, rockets, kites and radio control boosting sales to 25 million dollars per year. Roy Cox retired with the distinction of being the world's most successful model engine manufacturer.

• In 1970 William H. Selzer was appointed as President of L.M. Cox Manufacturing Inc. (a subsidiary of Leisure Dynamics).

• In 1971 Leisure Dynamics breaks the company in two and moves the model production to Minnesota and leaves the engine production in Santa Ana, California.

• In 1976 Leisure Dynamics changes the company name to "Cox Hobbies Inc."

• In 1980 Leisure Dynamics filed for bankruptcy, taking Cox Hobbies Inc. with them.

• In 1981 Leroy (Roy) M. Cox died Sept, 22. Age 75.

• In 1983 former Cox engineer and president Bill Selzer (whom Cox hired in 1952) purchased the company out of bankruptcy. All manufacturing was returned to Santa Ana. The company once again flourished into the 1990s with new products being added and another move to even bigger facilities.

• In 1990 Cox Hobbies moved to new facilities at Corona, California.

• In 1993 the company name changed again to "Cox Products". The Pee Wee, Babe Bee, and PT 19 Trainer still in production.

• In 1995 Cox celebrated 50 years and introduced some new engines and RTF models.

• In 1996 Cox sold to Estes Industries / Centuri Corp. and moved to Penrose, Colorado. Things changed quite considerably from here on. Cox as the hobbyists of the world knew it had gone. The high reputation Cox engines had declined. One by one each product item was withdrawn from sale as stock ran out. Engine parts from different engines were mixed and matched making hybrid engines that performed very poorly compared to the Cox engines from previous years. Estes added new products to the Cox line using the Cox name, however these were electric radio control models. Some of which were known to explode resulting in a massive product recall by the company.

• In 2005 an online company calling themselves Cox Hobby Distributors (owned by Estes Industries) appeared selling RC and electric products and some of the "classic" engines and RTF models. However as each item from the classic era sold out it wasn't replaced.

• In Feb. 2009 Estes Industries sold all of their remaining classic Cox stock to a private buyer from Canada. Bernie & Xena. In June 2009 they launched a website Cox International to sell the remaining stock online and also via eBay.

• In Jan. 2010 Estes-Cox Corporation purchased by Hobbico based in Champaign, Illinois.

• In 2011 Cox International continue to revive the classic Cox brand as well as introducing new engine versions, spare parts and accessories.