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Hornet Mite rail car
Produced by Hornet Motor Mfg. Co.
The Hornet Mite was designed by Ray Snow and was manufactured and sold by his company, the Hornet Motor Mfg. Co. of Fresno, CA.
Introduced in 1949, the Hornet Mite was designed for competition on either a rail track or a cable track, and the car could be fitted with either rail guides or a wire bridle.
The body and pan were cast aluminum. The car was powered by a Hornet .199 model engine. The car featured a Zerol Bevel gear box and was fitted with Hornet Mite wheels and tires on all four corners.
Even though it was an excellent performer, the Hornet .199 model engine was relatively expensive in comparison with its competitors when it was introduced. In addition, immediately after their introduction,both the engine and the car itself were plagued with production delays. As a result, only a small number of Hornet .199 model engines were sold and even fewer Hornet Mite cars were actually produced.
Following what was hoped to be the successful production of the Hornet .199 model engine and the Hornet Mite race car, Ray Snow had initially planned to introduce a second car which he called the New Hornet "Streamite". That car was supposed to be a spur gear, front wheel drive car powered by the Hornet .199 model engine. He also planned to offer a larger displacement Hornet .29 model engine along with a somewhat larger mite car designed around that .29-size model engine. Unfortunately, neither the larger engine nor either of the two cars ever reached production.
