Over the years, many modelers started in the hobby with the famous PT-19 control line trainer, Its Very first year was 1955. Then we had the  Sportavia or the  Shrike prop powered Tether car. Nearly every Control Line FLyer has flown a model with a Cox engine at some point in their history. Search on eBay and you will find a large selection of vintage Cox models - often a rare model in good condition will sell for hundreds of dollars.
       In 1945 Roy Cox started The L. M. Cox Manuf. Co It was not until after World War II in 1947 that metal was readily available again that Mr. Cox was able to look into new products. One of the first was a metal die-cast push car. It later developed into a tethered car, which could be pulled around a circle at an impressive speed. Roy noted that modelers were building and racing larger scale cars with larger .60 sized engines that could Reach speeds up to 100+ MPH. The average price for such a car was over $100. That is equal to over $500.00 in todays money.Inspired by the interest in the gas-powered cars, Cox developed a cast aluminum midget racer.
        By this time Cox had outgrown its small facility and in 1963 the company constructed a larger manufacturing facility at 1505 E. Warner in Santa Ana, Ca. Starting at 80,000 sq. ft. and with three expansions in just a few years, grew to 225,000 sq. ft. This provided room for growth; Slot cars, model rockets, HO trains, and even a 1 HP Chain saw became part of the famous Cox product line. In 1969 Roy Cox decided to retire and sold the company to Leisure Dynamics. Such items as kites, walkie-talkies, yo-yos, hula hoops, were added to the line. In 1976, Cox Hobbies acquired Airtronics to expand the Cox hobby products radio control and balsa airplanes. The Conquest engines were also developed, manufactured and added to the hobby product line. By 1983, the entire Leisure Dynamics conglomerate was in the bankruptcy courts. William Selzer, the designer of the Babe Bee, joined with a local businessman and purchased Cox from the Leisure group. The Cox Company became Cox Hobbies, Inc. 1984. The company prospered, the future looked bright, and again Cox was cramped, for room operating in several leased buildings. In 1990, a decision was made to move to a large manufacturing facility in Corona, California. In 1995, Cox celebrated their 50th Anniversary. That year Cox offered a gold plated Pitts Special with a numbered certificate of authenticity. There were only 2,632 planes produced. New in the anniversary year of 1995, was the AT-6 Texan, the .049 Texaco and Texaco Jr. engines, the Killer Bee .049 engine, the Lazy Bee R/C plane, the ready-built balsa Katydid and Scorpion plane kits and the AD-6 Skyraider reissued from 1969. In January 1996, Estes Industries, the world's leading manufacturer of model rocketry products, Merged with Cox and later in that year the Cox company was moved to the Estes facility Out side of Denver CO.in  Penrose, Colorado. For the next few years, many of the new Cox releases were designed for the mass market and were sold very successfully through chain stores.
            So there you have it they have come full circle back to hobbies right where it all started with a quite few steps along the way. This is thanks to the many supporters that over the years have made COX one of the best names in The Hobby, Model, Radio Control, and Airplane Model Market. Thanks Dray