10 replies to this topic

[Vay Jonynas]

Which (if any) home slot car set(s) did you have as a kid? Are these sets still your favourites due to nostalgia? Or would you now prefer a different, perhaps bigger, track layout by the same manufacturer or one by a different manufacturer altogether?

 

I never had a home set as a kid but the 1/32 scale Monogram Sebring would be the vintage set I'd choose these days:

 

 

 

[John Luongo]

aurora model motoring set was alot of fun years ago. however, the detail and performance of some of the newer 1/32 scale sets seem very good.

[Paul Menkens]

I had an Aurora 1/32 figure 8 set (still have it, and another set's worth of track) the cars were good, basically smaller versions of the 1/24th K&B kits with Challenger motors and very high quality. The main thing I like about the Aurora track is that the slots are deeper then some others (Strombecker for one. I have a lot of Strombecker track too) and I can run Flexis and Brasskars on the Aurora track with no probs, I'd have to modify the guides to do that on the Strombecker track. I have a lot of Eldon track too and there's no way I could run 1/24th cars on it.

[Dave Crevie]

My first set was an Eldon figure 8 like this one. I don't recall it being "deluxe", though. Same two cars, same controllers, same transformer. I bought it with saved allowance, (25 cents/week) and money I got for painting a neighbor's fence. I don't remember the price. Bought it from the local Western Auto store.

 

 

The second was an Aurora HO set I bought to use with my model train set-up. It was the old reed-type motors. Aurora had a crossing where the cars could cross the tracks. I bought two of those from the local hobby shop so I could overlap the slot car oval over the train route, which was a folded over dog-bone.

 

When Eldon came out with their drag strip, I bought one of those on close-out when the Western Auto store went out of business. Mostly with lawn mowing money.    

[Bill from NH]

I never had a home set as a kid, but I got an AMT Turnpike Set in '63 when I was 15. Setting up & taking the oval down involved a lot of parts & was a general PIA. Not a pure slot car set, it did have some leading-edge features such as steering wheel controllers & the cars had individual steering, the oval was 2-lane with one crossover section you could steer into to change slots. You could run both cars individually in the same slot a once if you wanted. The hard bodies mounted to the chassis with 4 screws, the same pattern as 90% of the AMT model car kits. My model car collection provided me an almost endless supply of body changes, I had been building AMT 1/25 kits since '58. My bedroom at my parent's house was small & didn't have the room to leave the 1/25 oval set up. After a couple years of constant assembly & disassembly of the oval, I decided to replace it with a small 1/32 road course. I had the track design made but before I could collect all the needed materials, commercial raceways opened up in southern Maine. That put an end to my home track building thoughts, but I did sell off the AMT Turnpike. If I had room for a home track today, it would probably 1/32 scale with mostly scratchbuilt cars or modified womps.

[Vay Jonynas]

I never had a home set as a kid, but I got an AMT Turnpike Set in '63 when I was 15. Setting up & taking the oval down involved a lot of parts & was a general PIA. Not a pure slot car set, it did have some leading-edge features such as steering wheel controllers & the cars had individual steering, the oval was 2-lane with one crossover section you could steer into to change slots. You could run both cars individually in the same slot a once if you wanted. 

 

 

With all those leading-edge features, I wonder if the AMT Model Turnpike sets were just too far ahead for their time in 1962. With slot car racing still in its infancy and being cutting edge itself in comparison to other kids' toys, I don't think the market was ready for additional complexity.

 

[Bill from NH]

It wasn't.

[zipper]

Like Scalextric You Steer later - we didn't sell too many as I was behind the counter early 70's - vanished very fast! How did Scalextric "You Steer" work | SlotForum

[Vay Jonynas]

I really like both the layout and the two models of cars provided in this Strombecker set:

 

 

[Dave Crevie]

That price was a lot back then. Basically 50 lawn mowings for me. I don't remember what the Eldon set cost. I believe the train set was $9.95. It had enough track to barely fit on a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood, plus two switches. It had a Docksider loco, four cars and a caboose. 

[Vay Jonynas]

I believe the train set was $9.95. It had enough track to barely fit on a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood, plus two switches. It had a Docksider loco, four cars and a caboose. 

 

Which train set?