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It's nearly a toss-up as to who digs Autopia the most, the old folks or the kids for whom the miniature freeway was recently created. Imaginative Walt Disney is responsible for the huge attraction in Anaheim, California, of which the Richfield Oil Corporation's mile-long roadway is a feature attraction.

Director of Special Vehicular Development Robert Gurr, Los Angeles Art Center graduate, is in charge of the project which includes the realistic, fiberglass roadsters featuring a 7 1/2 horsepower Mustang motorcycle engine and automatic transmission-brake system.

After several conferences. Disney and Gurr called in Johnny Hartman of Hartman Engineering in nearby Montrose to develop the original chassis and drive layout that would withstand the seven day barrage that the wee pilots would dish out. Hartman delivered the prototype and it was a honey (it's Disney's personal car now), then a few refinements such as wrap around bumpers, foam rubber dash-boards, sealed beam headlights and the novel stop-and-go unit were perfected. Braking action is automatic once the kids pull their Buster Brown off the throttle pedal or heave on the big lever to the left of the cockpit.[…]