4-27-2020

MECOA obtained the rights for
Cameron Precision Engineering

Makers of the Rodzy Tether car and Cameron engines.

Here's some history on Cameron

Randy Linsalato and Bob Cameron in 2006.

Bob and Randy were very good friends. They spoke nearly every month and Randy almost bought the Cameron Company in the 1980's.

Bob passed away at 97½ in 2018

Now that we have all of Bob's personal engines and prototypes, Randy has many questions that no one can answer.

Coming soon is a movie I took of the factory from the 1980's. Mainly making Micro Drill Presses.

 

Cameron's first engine made during the war.

Only one was hand made.

 
 
The first attempt at a production engines  
 

In the 1940's they made die casting dies and castings for a model steam engine but never went into production.

The steam engine was called "Tom Thumb" and I don't have much information on it.

Below is the bottom of the casting.

 

This is their first real production Cameron .23 that came out in 1946. That's the year many engines came out, right after W.W.II.

Mostly Zinc die castings with Aluminum head, the Cameron .23 crankcase, front housing and timer were painted silver.

 

 

They made the original Thimble Drome .09 Car engine and rear axle.

Here's what's left of the original prototype. All bar stock crankcase and differential.

Here is the production version Cameron Supplied to Cox

The .09 Thimble Drome for Cox had iconic vertical fins.

The only other similar engine a tiny Hasbro engine that was used in a plastic toy car that rode in a track. Very rare item but the engine was definitely inspired by the Cameron Engine. See the commercial here
 

When Cox decided to use their own engine, Cameron came out with the Rodzy in 1954.

They used their .09 with the iconic vertical fins.

That year also offered the .09 in marine and 2 speed versions.

 

This house was in front of the original factory.
Mom's standing in front.

The original Cameron Brothers factory was in a converted chicken coop behind this house on Walnut & Magnolia Streets in Chino, California

That's only about 25 miles from our factory

In 1955, they moved the factory 325 miles North from Chino to Sonora, CA

 

The Cameron .19 came out in 1952 and was more of a conventional design. They offered aero and marine versions as well as lapped and ringed pistons.
A 2 speed using twin needles came out in 1953

Here's a barrel full of crankcases from production time. Click picture to enlarge.

 

The .15 came out in the early 1960's and was a very unique design with only a steel sleeve (ring) above the cast in ports.

The piston top was stepped to obtain the intake and exhaust timing.

The piston rides in the cast aluminum crankcase below the sleeve.

   
   
They made escapements for early radio control models
   
   
 
These were the last engines Cameron was going to produce. They made die cast tooling for a .049 .020 and .009 named ATOMITE but never went into production. Here are the prototypes - click to enlarge
.020 with .049 in background above and .009 right

Here is a picture of the casting tree and casting die.

 

Don Cameron made all the tooling for the company. He was a very talented tool and die maker.

 
 
Tragedy hit the Cameron family in the early 1960's when the youngest of the 3 brothers was killed in an airplane crash. He was flying supplies into a fire crew, through no fault of his own, the parachute pack with the supplies was not packed correctly and did not deploy. Rather it remained tied to the aircraft and entangled in the empennage bringing the plane down.
 
Cameron came out with a small precision drill press in 1964