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12-28-2025
Owned by MECOA since 2019
In 2019, MECOA acquired Cox Hobbies
and rights to it in its entirety.
All molds, tooling, drawings and machinery for Cox engines, airplanes,
cars, and boats are in our Irwindale, California facility.
We've made COX engines and parts
since 1982, now we have airplanes and cars too.
Formerly a division of Estes Industries of Penrose,
Colorado, Cox was a multimillion-dollar hobby company. Known as
one of the hobby industry's oldest companies, Cox is noted for its
production of miniature model internal-combustion engines.
In 2009, MECOA approached Estes for the purchase
of Cox Hobbies in its entirety. However, around the same time, Hobbico
expressed interest in purchasing Estes along with all of its subsidiaries.
Rather than splitting Cox off from Estes, Hobbico purchased both
Estes and Cox closing a deal in late 2009
In January 2010, Estes-Cox Corporation was purchased
by Hobbico based in Champaign, Illinois and they became the official
owner of the former Cox name, logo, and the Cox Models product line
up.
In 2019, after the bankruptcy of Hobbico, MECOA purchased Cox Hobbies
in its entirety from Estes Corporation and obtained ownership of
the COX Product line, Trademark and logos. This included all molds,
machinery, inventory, tooling, and drawings, which were moved from
Penrose, Colorado to MECOA's facility in Irwindale, California over
the next few years during the COVID outbreak.
It took 2 years, 18 trips, Fourteen 53 foot semis
and one flat bed to move it all back to Southern California from
Penrose Colorado during the Covid outbreak.
MECOA RJL had been producing OEM parts for Estes-Cox
since the mid 1990's. K&B Manufacturing and Cox was owned by
Leisure Dynamics in the 1980's. It was decided that K&B would
produce the larger Cox Conquest engines for Cox. Then after Leisure
Dynamics filed bankruptcy, K&B continued to make the Cox Conquests.
In 1990. K&B decided to move to Lake Havasu, Arizona at which
time the Conquest .15 and .40 engine lines were sold to RJL Industries
and the Conquest production continued. MECOA started out as RJL
Industries in 1980 and formed MECOA in the 1990's. K&B was purchased
by MECOA in 1999.
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Here's a some of the pictures for our move from Penrose Colorado
The first two trips we flew in Denver and drove to Penrose a
little over an hour away. We don't have a direct flight to Colorado
Springs so driving from Denver was a better option.
After that we decided to drive an it actually only took a few
more hours than flying. 1009 miles each way Irwindale to Canyon
City going through Utah and most of the time. We did it in a little
over 12 hours of actual driving on a good run. A few trips through
New Mexico and Arizona when the snow was too heavy in Colorado.
Almost got a ticket in Arizona.
Flying was an hour to get to the airport, nearly 2 hours of waiting,
3 hours gate to gate flying, an hour to get the rental car, another
hour and a half to drive to Canyon City. Close to 9 hours.
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California/Nevada Stateline, those glowing towers in the
background are solar energy power plants.
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Utah Interstate 70
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I don't know why I really like this rock.
It's Ghost Rock in Utah. While some people see a cat, lion,
or monkey head, the name originated from the Swasey brothers,
who reportedly thought the rock looked like a ghost when
viewed through the fog.
The Ghost Rock View Area is a prominent landmark located
off Interstate 70 in Utah, known for its unique geological
formations and panoramic desert views.
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Colorado Highway 50
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Cañyon City, Colorado
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We became friends with the owners of Travel
Inn. This was a great motel, much cleaner than the well
knowns. Always got he same rooms and we were about 10 miles
from Estes in Penrose. There's not much in Penrose.
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Estes, Penrose, Colorado
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Too much moving
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Every Pallet had to be weighed and weight
disputed properly in the semi. Max was 40,000 lb
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A little light at 37,800
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Close enough at 39,920
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Total for the whole rig 71,620
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39,540 not bad
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We usually got close to the max weight.
Had to calculate the placement of each pallet.
We only went over 40,000 once and had to pull 500 lbs off.
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We never had the same trucker twice.
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Molding one of the planes at MECOA
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