Cox Models

Cox Models, a former division of Estes Industries of Penrose, Colorado, was a multimillion-dollar hobby company, is one of the hobby industry's oldest companies and is noted for its production of miniature model internal-combustion engines.

This company, originally named The L. M. Cox Manufacturing Co, Inc., was founded in 1945 by the machinist Roy Cox in Placentia, California. Cox grew up in and around his father's bicycle shop, and he developed an interest in mechanical devices. Cox's first products were wooden pop guns, produced in his home garage. Cox chose wood for his basic material, since metal was scarce during WW II.