25 replies to this topic

[Alchemist]

and what scale and model it was?

 

My first slot car purchase was a RTR Strombecker 1/32 Ferrari GTO in black.

 

I purchased it at the "King Norman's Kingdom of Toys" on Clement Street in San Francisco.

 

I remember being in awe every time I went inside King Norman's - almost everyday (LOL) just to look at all the toys!

 

http://boomtimes-the...om-of-toys.html

 

Thank you.

 

Ernie

[Dave Crevie]

Eldon figure 8 set with two poorly reproduced Ferrari Testa Rossas. Bought it from the Western auto store near me around 1959 or 1960. My childhood best friend and I ran the hell out of it. Shortly thereafter he got a much larger Strombecker set, and I bought a Strombecker D type Jaguar from the local hobby shop.   

[Paul Menkens]

Aurora 1/32 figure 8 set that I got from S & H Green Stamp catalog, next one was a Cox 1/24 Ford GT that I got from selling X-Mass cards, 1st one I actually "bought" was a K & B Ferrari GTO bought from Discount Hobby Distributors for $2.25

Still have em all but not exactly in great shape.

[Bill from NH]

My first slot car was an AMT Model Turnpike Set in 1/25 scale I bought new in 1963. I purchased it from an uncle's brother who had bought two sets the previous year when they came out. I didn't have the space to keep it set up, it was a PIA to assemble & disassemble, so I sold it after about three years.

 

Commercial raceways came to Maine in 1967. My first commercial slot car was a1/24 Russkit Porsche 906 kit with the painted body. I bought it at Le Mans Raceway in Brunswick, ME. I still have all the original parts except the body & Russkit 23 motor stored at my parent's former Maine home. The raceway was named Le Mans because the track was a Mr. Raceway's Le Mans model, about 140'.

[Randy Tragni]

Cox BRM (124) at GEM in north San Jose.
I'm not counting my Model Motoring set that was given to me for Christmas.

[Bill Seitz]

The first slot car I actually purchased myself was a Unique Lotus 30 at the Classic Speedway on Washington Blvd. in what I think is Culver City (Los Angeles Metro), summer 1965. Not sure, probably sometime in July. A few years ago, someone on Slotblog reported this Classic Seedways location had become a laundromat, Classic Speedwash. I think my second purchase was a Cox Cheetah from a schoolmate in 1966. My family didn't have a lot of money, but I was spoiled with many nice toys, and the early Strombecker slot cars were gifts, as was my Cox Lotus 40 and Monogram Lotus 23 and 33. My introduction to real racing slot cars was also a gift from an adult friend that was quitting slot cars in 1967. I opened a box from him to find a bunch of jaildoor scratchbuilt chassis, other purchased chassis, a variety of Mabuchi and Mura setups and arms, tires, gears, and other small components, and a few bodies. That gift changed my direction in slot cars.

[John Luongo]

early 60s model motoring set. then a long delay. next a mid 80s parma 1/24 rtr from grand national raceway lowell ma. good fun.

[Danny Zona]

My Dad bought me the red box Parma starter kit.

A 1/32 womp that had a corvette body.

It was at a Hobby Box in the Daytona Beach area. I believe it was 1987.

I've been hooked ever since.

[blue&orange]

My first 1/24 slot cars (AMT Lola, Hussein and Classic Astro V) were Christmas and birthday presents -- I had a very cool uncle.  The first RTR car I bought was a Riggen 26D metallic green Ford MK IV -- bought at Billiard Ball in Hatboro, PA.  Still have the restored car and the receipt.

[Clyde Romero]

Polks Hobbies 

Manhattan New York

1/24 Russkit Ferrari 

1964 August for my birthday 

[Phil Smith]

I was about 7 and my mom bought a Cox something (all I remember is Cox) from Tiger Raceway in Dallas.

[Aeropro]

Mine was a 1/24 scale Ford GT40 RTR. Don't remember what brand, I just recall that it had a metallic gold paint job. I also don't know where it came from, as my parents got it for my birthday (I insisted on getting one!) I assume it came from the local raceway that had just opened that a friend of mine had introduced me to, mid-sixties. What a long, strange trip it's been......

[spudboy]

My first slot cars were a gift, an Aurora HO race set.

 

The first slotcar I bought was at Dick Cafferelli's Modelville Hobby on Waverly St. in Framingham MA, some time in 1966.  It was a kit to build an Olds Toronado with a 36D motor.  I don't recall the brand but it had a blue body that must have been .050 thick.  A Cox plunger controller was purchased at the same time.

 

That was an exciting day.

[Tim Neja]

Costa Mesa Hobbies In SoCal.  We built our cars with hard body Revel kits ---Pittman motors and brass chassis we soldered up ourselves.

Not much as far as racing--cruising around the local track built with mountains and scenery!!! I had a 40 ford and my brother built a 55 chevy.

1962 time frame!  Fun times and yes--bikes galor parked outside the speedway!!!

[Steve T]

Still have mine that came with a set from Brewster's Toy Shop in Tulsa, OK. Scalextric Cooper. Other one is yellow! Also, have a Ferrari.

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[Bridgehampton66]

Hi.  My first slot car was the Cox GT40, which my dear old dad bought me at our local track, Fillmore Raceways,

in tiny Fillmore, California.  1965.

 

We had a good time, and I felt like I learned a lot, assembling the Ford.  Cox Mk. 1 controller in hand, I headed back down to the raceway, to try it out on their Engleman.  1/2 hour in, I could tell that the beautiful Ford was tippy and slidey, compared with almost everything else on the adjacent lanes.  I was a little heartbroken, and felt equally bad for my old man, who'd put good time into the build.  He was a hotrodder, and, at that point, the Ford Dealer in town.  He knew and loved cars, and he didn't want to be involved in us being outclassed.

 

The man who ran the service (or parts?) dept. for the dealership, Fillmore Motors Ford, was Don Barlow.  Don also happened to be one of the top slot car racers in the county, and in So. California, for that matter.  He traveled regularly to more than dozen raceways, in LA, San Diego, Bakersfield, and beyond.  Don had two, big wooden race boxes full of cars on which he'd lavished attention.  And that had won him his share of races.

 

Dad asked Don if he'd build me a competitive racecar, but the job went to the person Don considered the best builder in our area, and his No. 1 competitor, Mr. "Rosie" Rozelle.  Rosie showed us his current racecar design, a reengineering of a Classic Mantaray, and had me drive, to see if I would be able to handle it.  In a very few laps, I could see what the experience ought to be like, and I was in the neighborhood of on his own lap times by the end of 1/2 hour.  I vividly remember not wanting to hand the car back.

 

Two, very long weeks later, Dad brought the Rosie machine home.  I'd handled a Mantaray, knew what that was.  Here's what we now had...

The Classic chassis had been notched across the rails from side to side, and bent toward the track, to lower the center of gravity.

There was lead on the drop arm, and a little on the outriggers.  The front end now turned independently, and the front tires were noticeably smaller in diameter.  At the back, an aluminum spur gear engaged a steel pinion.  The rear tires were now blue-grey foam, wider, but smaller in diameter, than the ones they'd replaced.  The car sat much lower, and had a heft beyond what the stock Classic car presented.  The rear axle ran in the most exotic part seen yet: ball bearings!

 

The 36D motor was transformed, beyond anything I could have imagined.  I only understood later all that had gone into it.  Rosie was building motors for a number of area racers, and he was chary with the details.  But, in time, I better understood what I had.

a rewound, epoxied and balanced armature, which ran in ball bearings; magnets that had been matched and shimmed in; heavier motor springs.  And, to finish it all off, a metallic pastel motor can.

 

The body was a Lancer or Revell Lola T-70 spyder, mounted as low as possible, and sprayed in a Pactra metalic light blue paint that gave the illusion of having depth!   It was a nod to the Foyt and Mecom Lola liveries I had seen at Riverside.  The driver was beautifully turned out.

 

We were down to the track the next day, Dad patiently watching and marshaling for me.  He had a business to lead, but he made time that afternoon.

 

The Rosiemobile was smooth, planted, predictable, and fast as hell.  I was in heaven.  I think my dad was feeling pretty good himself !

 

I entered two or three races at Fillmore Raceways, and in my last I came top-five, running with everyone, including Don Barlow and Rosie, I believe.

 

And then the raceway closed.  Don and Rosie continued to travel to races, but we had lost our local connection.  Dad and I did a couple of races in Santa Paula, a few miles down the road. But mostly that car, and the cars that followed it, were in the Fairlane when we traveled as a family.  I'd research the local Yellow Pages, find the track(s) in the locale visited, and off we'd go for a couple of hours, while my mom and sister would go do things that specifically interested them.

 

Dad continued as my wrench, even after we moved across the country to Detroit so that he could rise in Ford corporate.  "Jail door" type  cars were the last we did together, and then he took on the weekend restoration of a 1:1 1932 Ford Tudor.  Which I helped with, naturally.  But that was the end of our slot car team days.  

 

The area raceways kept closing, but I was incredibly lucky to find an HO slot car club in Westland, a couple of suburbs over from our home in Dearborn.  And that's a story for another time.

[zipper]

My first car, 1/43 Jouef Lotus - my pal had a Jouef track 1966. As we had lots of track pieces we finally could drive even 1/24 using six lanes and leaving one empty between cars

 

[Dave Person]

I purchased a Cox La cucaracha in early 1967 (I was 12) at 11th St Raceway in Rockford, IL. My allowance was $10 a month and every penny went to slotcars. About 40 yrs ago, I bought another one in pristine condition just to have one like my very first slotcar. I still have it. It sits in a showcase in my workshop

[Alchemist]

Hi Dave!

 

I purchased a Cox La cucaracha in early 1967 (I was 12) at 11th St Raceway in Rockford, IL. My allowance was $10 a month and every penny went to slotcars. About 40 yrs ago, I bought another one in pristine condition just to have one like my very first slotcar. I still have it. It sits in a showcase in my workshop

 

Would you have a picture of the car that we could see and admire please?

 

Thank you Dave!

 

Ernie

[Dave Person]

I'll take one. Heading down to the workshop later tonight. Wellllll, maybe pristine was to strong a word but still in really good shape. I see the rubber band has completely deteriorated but other than that not to bad. Just reminds me of days gone by.

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[Thom]

In 1965 I bought the AMT Cobra kit at Chick Bartlett’s Hobby Town, 13th and P, in downtown Lincoln,NE. I still have the body, motor, tires & wheels, and what’s left of the mangled aluminum frame. When Chick retired he sold the business to another local shop owner who franchised the “Hobby Town” name into what we know today.

[NSwanberg]

Summer of 1966 seems to me I bought the AMT Bandido at the Wayne Hobby Center with my hard earned chore money. My friend Ron bought the sister car known as the Fantum. The Fantum handled better but it had dependability issues. The Bandido was better for racing. I think it is still up in a box in the rafters of the garage.

[brnursebmt]

1975.  Hawks Hobbies in Gadsden Al.  I was 14 years old.  My brother took me to the new track in town and bought me a Riggen RTR Grp. 12 and a Parma Tiger controller.

 

Life changing.

[Mike Patterson]

No.

[MG Brown]

People will laugh at this I am sure...prior to this I owned a number of home-set cars (Eldon, Marx) and such that I would consider to be "toys" but this was my first vac-formed body metal chassis car.

Marathon oil company stations sold a Strombecker Aston-Martin DB5 1/32 slot car for a promotional price with a fill up. I saved my lawn mowing money and "filled up" my mower fuel can. The service station attendant was a good guy and get a laugh out of my fill up so he sold me the slot car at the promotional price.

 

I did a terrible job of assembling it and it barely made a lap at my local raceway. The raceway attendant had pity on me and fixed all of its problems so that it would run consistently if not at world record lap times.

 

 

I don't know what happened to it. It goes without saying that I no longer have it in my collection. Photo found with google image search. I understand un-assembled and complete examples sell for $100-150 when they can be found.