In our younger days we were staunch drag racing fans. We went to the track at every opportunity, to either race, help friends run their cars or just as spectators and soak up the atmosphere.

Growing up Brian was really addicted to going to the drags. So when the opportunity to purchase a used Chrondek Timers “Christmas Tree” came along we grabbed it right away. It is an early tree with an “add on” Pre-Stage light set. This type of tree would have been used during the mid to late sixties. It is a full five amber light tree. As you can see in the pictures we have added a shot of a similar tree in use at Lions Drag Strip back in the day.

We carefully disassembled the unit and drew a schematic of the wiring to enable us to repair and restore it as it correctly. While all apart, Brian bead blasted all the metal parts and repainted them gloss white. We took apart the light sockets and blasted and painted those too before replacing and restoring the actual electrical sockets in the fixtures. The fixtures are not made any more but we were able to save all but two of them.

When we were first removing layers of paint we found the original Chrondek lettering and Jane managed to trace it enough to clean it all up on the computer. We will eventually get new graphics cut from mylar / vinyl and stick them to the restored tree.

Now if we could manage to find an original control console that would have been used in the strip tower that would work with this tree, we would be very happy. Failing that we are trying to get someone with the skills to create a modern computer box that will fire off the tree just for fun. We will let you know what happens.