7 replies to this topic

[Ron Hershman]

Herr Dokk....... what can you tell us about this.............

[MG Brown]

I am sure that Mr P has mentioned this before as the chassis design being a harbinger of the TSR ?

[TSR]

This was a 1972 set. It used the old Eldon track and cars (a McLaren M20 and Porsche 917-20) that had a molded-plastic 2-piece angle-winder chassis and a Mabuchi motor similar to those used on the Eldon and Revell home-racing cars.
Cox inherited the Eldon slot racing program in 1970 after its near-bankruptcy and the purchase of company assets by Leisure Dynamics Inc., a holding company in Minnesota. At the same time, LDI purchased Eldon also in financial trouble, and converted Eldon to making injection molded office-furniture goods, while the Eldon tooling for slot cars was dumped onto Cox, that really did not want it but did not have much of a choice.
The first "SuperScale" sets were issued in 1971, with the never-issued Eldon angle-winder chassis (these were going to be the next Eldon product but the company did not have the cash for producing them), and with Baja Bug VW, Mustang and Camaro bodies. They sold rather poorly (big surprise), and for 1972 the new Can Am bodies, some of the worst ever seen in the history of slot car racing, were produced in a bid to improve sales. Unfortunately, these bodies were even worse: ugly, lumpy and especially, grossly overweight.
The 1972 sets sold just as poorly as the 1971 versions, and this is when Cox fished me out of pro-racing to fix what was fixable, which I did the best I could, by fixing the track problems (bad rails), re-introducing digital control (simple diodes in controllers and cars allowing two cars to race on the same lane) and creating a whole new line of smaller cars using pro-racing technology and the world's first traction magnet fitted on commercially produced slot cars.
These were quite successful sellers and remained in the Cox product line until LDI was forced into bankruptcy themselves, after have dried Cox out of its cash in an attempt to save some of their failing companies such as.... Eldon.
Bad business moves aplenty. In 1982, the entire LDI empire was liquidated and its assets sold at public auction. The Cox company molds, tooling, fixtures were mostly sold to junk metal dealers, but some and the trademark rights were purchased by former VP Bill Selzer and his bank.

The 1972 sets come up time to time on eBay, but sell for very little because there is really no value there. The only value is in their name, because of the former glory of the Cox company.
In the early 2000s, REH inherited from Cox (when the company was sold to Estes as its post-bankruptcy owner, Bill Selzer, retired) the body molds of the McLaren and the Porsche and Bob Haines invested quite a bit of money to have them cleaned up and back in production. Of course, sales were dismal, who would want these horrors, especially with no running gear under them.
Sometimes, Bob made some bad business decisions, and this was one.
I think a mint, never used, boxed 1972 set as shown above has a value of $60.00 to $75.00 but someone really must want it!
Not me.

[Rick]

I have one for you P. One day while I was braiding and wiring a new Oval Track. A man came into my store with an old slotcar set, still boxed and looking in pretty good condition. I was up to my A$$ in alligators trying to get this project complete, quite buzzed from sniffing Weldwood fumes all day and night. I said to him, I was really busy at that time and asked if he would come back tomorrow when this was all complete. Sorry mistake on my part. The set was a pair of 1966 Dodge Chargers and it was aquired from a certificate in the glovebox that was in every '66 Charger from Chrysler, I am told. IIRC is was 1/24th car size???

The man never came back and I never saw it again.

P, have you ever heard of or seen this Boxed set?................

[TSR]

Not sure. Republic made a set with two Chargers, and so did Eldon, and both were promo sets for Dodge, but one was in the 1/40 scale, the other 1/32 scale.
Also, Strombecker made a promo set in a plain cardboard box with two Plymouth Barracudas, also in the 1/32 scale...
The only 1/24 scale 1966 Dodge Charger with injected body was the MPC model in static, slot car kit or RTR versions, but MPC never made a racing set.

[Rick]

P, they must have been 32nd scale cars and as I said, I was real busy and looked quickly. The box was color printed, not plain. Thanks for your info..............

[TSR]

I would bet that this would have been an Eldon set made for promo use by Dodge, but frankly there was so much of that stuff then... I cannot be sure and it is well known that Eldon is not my favorite manufacturer... even if very popular in the day because of its lower prices.
Every era has its Nissan Sentra, that does not mean that i must be in love with them!

[MG Brown]

IIRC (and this is all from very foggy memory) Dodge and Eldon partnered with promotional slot car sets in the 1960's.

I believe one was a "Thrill Show" set with a Coronet and Charger (1/32) possibly including a pickup truck as an extra. This set had a ramp to ramp jump with a clown figure holding a "target" that the cars would hit and the clown would spin around.

I believe that another was a super stock drag strip set; can't recall what cars were included with the drag set but it had a fairly nice Christmas tree. The drag set had colorful 1960's period graphics on the box.