ORIGINAL: w8ye
A big jump for the current big hobby distributors happened when World Engines and Indy R/C product lines were split up and sold off to or taken over by other distributors.
Hobbico wasn't always completely successful with all their product lines. They had Mac Minarelli gas engines at one time. They still have the Fuji gas engine line.
I bought my first Quadra 35cc gas engine from Tower Hobbies for $89.95 back around 1982. That was a great engine, but it (Tower gas engines) went down hill after that. Don't forget US Engines, although I know that most of us have tried really hard to do so.
Ed Cregger