I was reading through some of my old model/slot car magazines today. I got to thinking, "Who collects these cars and magazines from a bygone era? " I have a few myself, mine aren't much to look at, they were ALL saved from a trip to the landfill. (cars and magazines included) But, here they are in all of their glory. If you got 'em, post 'em!!
Had as a teen and started collecting again , dang it . Over 22 cars ( 1/24 scale ) and a few 1/32 . Love the original Cox chaparral and the lotus .
No vintage ones that I still have, but have a few modern slot cars, pretty similar to the vintage ones I used to race as a kid. I was out of work for a couple years and started going with my son, I was hooked again...we did have a King track, in fact, most of the popular places still have the old AMF King tracks. Not a lot of them around, but a few in California. I also raced on a King when I was a kid. Nowadays they have different classes, like F1 or Nascar. You need to use the specific body, and there are some rules on the motors and/or other parts, depending on the class you enter.
Mine are all Aurora "pancake" style HO slot cars.... Fast forward a few threads till you come to a similar thread like this one... I posted my pictures on that thread.. Page 5: old hot rod slot cars..
Found my first “really fast” (by ‘60s standards), slot car from my childhood. I used to take this to the local big slot car track at “Bobby’s Hobby Lobby”. For a coupla months, it was one of the fastest cars on the track, till newer designs took over. It was built from all the latest parts, including a “vacuum formed” body, a magnesium chassis with spring suspension on the axles, a “drop” front end, and a ball bearing, balanced Dynamic “Mad Hornet” motor (supposedly good for 30,000 rpm)…
Let’s get this thread started back up. Surely some of you old farts (I’m 73), still have something kicking around. I have a 1/32 scale track, and at least 12 cars that a friend gave me that my boys love. unfortunately, my vintage slot car is not competitive any more…
Hello, When we were involved in slot cars and road racing, there were two classes, 1/32 and 1/25 scale. The solid plastic body cars in kits had bland white shells that required paint. Then the massive stickers were applied. They looked somewhat like the actual cars on the covers or in magazines. But sometimes, the spray paint was not as detailed as possible. So, when clear plastic bodies that were vacuum formed came on the scene, that was the answer to a nice shiny outside finished paint job. We started with 1/32 as they were powerful with a motor replacement, but with the clear bodies, were lighter and therefore, faster than stock. The early rules did not signify the difference between stock body cars and clear vacuum formed bodies for the actual races. So, how did we finish the paint jobs to look shiny on the outside? At first, the clear bodies had to be trimmed to fit on our scale model size frames/tires. Then, the bodies were flipped over to get the color spray we wanted to have on the track. The brighter the better for identification and viewing while racing among the vast different cars all at one time. so, yellows, oranges and reds were popular. Some went to the stock green colors for the British race car bodies. Jnaki When flipped over after drying, the outside was so shiny and looked like real paint jobs at the car dealers. But, one coat, inside, was enough. But the detailing had to be done on the outside, causing the cracks when jammed up in a race or two… or even falling off of the track out of control and hitting the ground. Over time and other clear bodies we used as replacements for cracked plastic, we learned to do some pinstriping lines, in silver or black, first, then spray painting the whole inside, with color. Now from the outside, it looked like flames or scallops with pinstriping lines along the edges. One had to take care not to spray or brush on too much paint as it cracked upon hitting the wall or ground. In drag racing, when we went to the next larger size, 1/24 scale, now the detailing had to be better underneath as the larger bodies showed more faults on the outside. They were still shiny and nice looking, but the detailing was called for when everyone was looking at what just beat them in a lap or scale quarter mile races. For the drags in 1/24 scale: Then, the clear, painted finished bodies were held on with tiny tubing holes and using small needles with heads to keep the bodies on during the races. But, the drags took their toll on all bodies and chassis, as it had to finish in the end fluffy pillow to stop the fast cars. After a few months of 1/24 sports car bodies, using the same modified ball bearing motors, we extended the chassis and now tried to catch the top eliminators at out favorite place in North Long Beach, J&J Hobbies. This is where the top guns from the So Cal drag racing slot cars gathered every weekend for those fast times... It was over in a blink of an eye and stopped in some fluffy pillows at the end of the races... YRMV
This thread brought back a ton of memories. Got into slot cars in 1965 when a chief petty officer in my outfit bought an old movie theatre in Lexington Park MD and put in 5 tracks in ranging from 90-180 ft. My favorite car was a 1/32nd scale Lola GT with TWO Pittman DC-196B motors set up as a 4WD. Not as fast as a 1/24th car but could corner like a cat on rails! Used to get miniature ball bearings(1/8th i.d. X 1/4 in.o.d.)and silver magnet wire to rewind my motors from a friend who was a McDonnell-Douglas tech rep who worked at the base. Remember doing a 24 hour endurance race one weekend. Run for 1 hour and have 15 minutes to repair the car! I think the winner ran about 12 hours! Anyway here is what l have acquired since. The Lola and Hussein are 1/24th AMT kits that could be built as static displays or used as slot cars. The Thunderjets and COX Ford GT40 were yard sale finds. The AFX bodies came from somewhere.
Hello, These wide tires were the soft ones and the sponge effect was good for most surfaces. At the old J&J Hobby store in north Long Beach, near Bixby Knolls, they were abundant in sales. Everyone thought if on had normal size slicks, then wider ones would get more traction. In theory, yes, the wider soft tires had more area to grab the smooth dragstrip table top surface. But, after a run or two, they became slick and then the following races lost time. What little time in .002 was clocked. 1 sec runs were 1.oo2 seconds, etc. it seems fast, but the top racers had less than 1 sec runs. So, what did we use to keep the traction working on the soft “rubber spongy” slicks? We sanded the surface rubber down on a drill to get an even grip. Then as the first layer got sanded down, now, we ran one race to get it to spin on the surface. The chassis was set up to fit under the Corvette bodies or lengthened to make a long fueler type chassis and tires., with the exposed motor spinning like crazy for tuning and staging. The EPOXY laden armature +contact points were cleaned in the staging area and now, just before the roll up to the starting line, we added a home made solution of Wintergreen liquid to add to the soft gum rubber slicks, while spinning. Jnaki Not only did it smell nice, but it made the gum rubber surface a little sticky and more traction. Since the wheels/tires spin at such a high rate, less is more solution on the soft tires worked best. Fingertips coated with wintergreen liquid touched the spinning slicks to get absorbed into the compound. So, yes, we were doing what some real life size racers were doing to their real slicks prior to a run in those early days of wiping down the slicks, then adding one more wipe of a sticky solution for more traction. YRMV Did the solution make better times? Yes and no. Yes as one kept the timing notes, the increments were noticeable, but tiny. 1.002 vs 1.001 etc. It was hard to top the “less than one second club” that the top professionals were running. But, we got close. Winning our class race was just as exciting, but our rail builds were not as fast as the constant upgraded pro guys’ builds. No, the times were so close as to the .oooo readings that it was “over in a blink of an eye…” The timing lights had to show who won and there were folks at the end of the timing lights to also check, although it was so fast zipping by and crashing into those soft pillows.
The Jalopy Journal
