67 replies to this topic

[don.siegel]

You're a generous soul Philippe! Now, could you try the same on the mag 2E?

Actually, now that I think of it, we're all way too snobbish. The most iconic slot car is actually something like the Strombecker Type D Jaguar!

Don

[BWA]

Actually, now that I think of it, we're all way too snobbish. The most iconic slot car is actually something like the Strombecker Type D Jaguar!

Actualy Don, you are wrong, it was the pin guide Eldon Ferrari's. Now, THAT was an Icon. 8) :mrgreen:

[endbelldrive]

The Strombecker D-Type Jag and Testa Rossa were at the top of my list along with the metal-bodied cars of the late '50s but I reconsidered because they were part of a set rather than RTRs or kit cars . . . but they did get heavy consideration. :drool:

[slotbaker]

Wow, thanks for all the great replies.:up:

For me, the iconic slot car is one that when you see it, you immediately think 1960s SLOT CAR, in any scale.

While I had wet dreams (young teenager pre-girl awareness stage :twisted: ) about the MRRC 4wd Merc and wished I had one, I don't think about it as being an iconic slot car. Certainly a great and desirable slot car.

Some of the cars mentioned were available as diecasts or model kits, so they are not (in my mind) specifically slot cars.

I thought Testors may have got a mention somewhere here as well??

While some of the Cox, Monogram, and AMT cars were available as kits, they were predominantly slot cars, so they qualify.

So, apart from a few (Chap 2E, Cheetah, ?) hardbody scale cars, it looks like thingies are generally more iconic to 1960s factory-built slot cars.
:think:

Just to clarify, when you say "Manta Ray", I assume that is the Classic one and not the MPC one. Correct?

[Cheater]

For me, the iconic slot car is one that when you see it, you immediately think 1960s SLOT CAR, in any scale.

And for me, that's the orange Classic Manta Ray! :mrgreen:

[TSR]

That is some U-G-L-Y mofo . . . I always HATED that slot car from the very first day I saw one, in the summer of 1965. A true mongrel of a car . . .

[Cheater]

P, I don't disagree with you, but to anyone who spent time in a commercial raceway during the hobby's heyday, the Manta Ray was THE slot car. You know how many of the silly things they sold . . .

I never owned one during the sixties, but now, due to buying out a couple of guys leaving the hobby plus a few gifts, I have nearly a half a dozen on them . . .

[gascarnut]

As a teenager in the 60's racing slot cars in South Africa, we were not exactly at the hub of activity, but thanks to the magazines we were always aware of what was going on in the USA and the UK. In the early part of the 60's I would have said that the iconic car to me was the Russkit Black Widow Lola - just the thought of two motors and four wheel drive was enough to get the juices flowing!

Later on, and in 1/32 scale, the most desirable, most iconic cars to us were the Cox Cheetah and the Monogram Lola T70. Nothing else came close.

[don.siegel]

Good lord Greg - a half dozen Mantas??? Definitely a walk on the dark side.

Strangely enough, I never saw one of these things growing up, despite how popular they were. Maybe that influences why I don't think they were the most iconic.

Anyway, I'm with Steve - they always looked better in the magazines, and on the box covers (especially the GarVic models!). And when I saw my first naked slot car on the cover of a magazine (a Unique Lotus 30 with clear body shell), inside a clear plastic MC&T magazine cover, well . . . that was almost better than sex!

Don

PS: Whoever mentioned the Eldon pin guide cars should be banned!

[TSR]

Dennis,
If I could only have a single slot car from the 1960s, the 1/32 scale Cox Cheetah RTR would be high on the list, but the Testor Ferrari P4 Spyder would be on top of it, with the Russkit Carrera 6 near it. However, that Cox 2E "Mag" is the queen today for the serious collector . . . and prices clearly show it to be true. The Manta Rays can be had for just about nothing, and most serious collectors frankly ignore them.

[Cheater]

Don, I didn't say I wanted them, and in fact, I don't care much for Manta Rays. The ones I have will go on eBay some day . . .

Dokk, my favorite slot car from the sixties is probably the Cox Lotus 30/40 (?). I just love the detail on the Cox cars and the Lotus is so low it almost looks flattened.

But the question was "Iconic", not "Favorite". :mrgreen:

[Maximo]

My two cents . . .

Both the Manta Ray and the La Cucaracha were the icons of my baptism in slot cars. I too had a Cox Chapperal with the mag frame but it was a pig to control.

I actually never owned either the Manta Ray or the La Cucaracha until now . . .



Here are a few of the La Cucs I own now that are in mint condition!

These two were the icons of the '60s!

-Maximo

[sportblazer350]

If I were to strain for an answer here, I would want the topic originator to define "icon" for us, as he perceives the definition of the word in this topic.
I agree to the Cox La Cucs, as well as Cox Cheetahs and Cox Chappies, and the Ford GT40.

Sadly, none of you mentioned any Revell cars, as they seem to have made and sold a lot of RTR and kit cars in 1/32 and 1/24 scales. The Revell 1/24 Corvette would stand out to me . . .
I am also a big fan of Monogram cars, but not one of their 1/24 cars really stands out . . . but in 1/32 scale, the Lola is king!

And the Thingies cannot be ignored, no matter how some of you out there depise them, some of us luv them!! (right Edo??!! 8) ) So the million-seller Manta Ray is the most likely candidate here.

All in all - the Aurora Model Motoring Thunderjet has to get an all around vote, but to pick one model?? I would guess at a Mustang, and the Batmobile - many sold, and when you think of a T-jet, ya gotta remember the Batmobile for sure. And if thinking along the lines of HO scale, then Aurora AFX cars really began to change the way HO cars were made and raced, especially with Magna-Traction cars. One model to choose??? . . . how 'bout a Nomad wagon or the Too Much?? (oops - an HO scale Thingie alert!!)

[endbelldrive]

Sadly, none of you mentioned any Revell cars, as they seem to have made and sold a lot od rtr and kit cars in 1/32 and 1/24 scales. The Revell 1/24 Corvette would stand out to me . . .

The Revell ads were what caught my eye during the Christmas season of 1963. These 13.5" X 23.5" original dealer posters sold online last week for $44.00 and $45.00 respectively.

[slotbaker]

If I were to strain for an answer here, I would want the topic originator to define "icon" for us, as he perceives the definition of the word in this topic.

For me, the iconic slot car is one that when you see it, you immediately think 1960s SLOT CAR, in any scale.

Yeah, I know, such a broad question and it's always going to be very subjective, and there is no one right or wrong answer. They are all right.

It's meant to be what triggers "1960s SLOT CAR", in your mind. It doesn't have to be the best, the fastest, the most valuable or collectable now, but just the one that flashes you back in time.

I hate the Manta Ray, but it's image from those box tops and magazines brings back memories.

But it's still the Cox Cheetah for me.

:clap:

[JimR]

As per Webster's:
3 : an object of uncritical devotion
4 : EMBLEM, SYMBOL

Based on what everybody ('cept me) seemed to be running (in no particular order):
> Classic Manta Ray
> Cox La Cucaracha
> Cox Chaparral
> Lindberg Porsche 906 (just kidding)

[Allan Feldman]

I do not think that anyone in the UK got the Classic (thanks Don) Manta Ray as first choice.

I think that the traditional scale of racing in the UK was 1/32. I know the rail racing and earlier racing might have been to a bigger scale. But it was only when the boom of slotcars in the 1960's made available large commercial tracks that 1/24 established itself.

I know that Phillipe may disagree, but if you mean what slot car was Iconic world-wide and not just pertaining to the USA it would be more down to scarcity of the product and the cost. And of course the knowledge it exists helps. I certainly thought cars like the Autohobbies Cobra 1/32 Daytona coupe, the Monogram 1/24 Lotus 38, the 1/24 Chapparal 2D Daytona Monogram, cars that we would see in an USA magazine. And appear in the shops if we were lucky enough to afford them. As Scalextric James Bond sets were reasonably expensive at the time. So were USA kits, £7 for a Pactra kit.

At least in the same way as USA slotters getting a Eldon or Strombecker set as their first slot cars. Within the UK it was generally a Scalextric set or VIP, SRM, and Revell to a lesser extent.

With me not the case. I went in the deep end with a £5/19/6 ( £5. 97p approx) for a 1/32 Cox Ford GT. When my pocket money was 5/- (25p) a week. And the 1/32 Monogram 330P/LM Ferrari 250/275 LM). And yes, the Cuc did make a difference. But I and most people were initially into scale hardbodied cars.

So I am sure there are more than one slotcar to include as Iconic?

Regards,
Allan

[TSR]

Simple reading of this thread shows that everyone has a different opinion, so I guess it is going to be impossible to determine which will be named as "most iconic" except through a vote, and it looks at this time that there will be two dozen candidates with one vote each.

[don.siegel]

Actually, there was a surprising amount of consensus, but I think that also reflects the membership of Slotblog, which is very much the pure '60s style slot racer!

Allan brought up a good point (and confused BZ with Classic - shame on you!): a British point of view would be very different. If you're going for a more general public, then it's got to be something like the Scalextric Aston Martin, the Strombecker D Jag, Aurora Indy Racer or Mustang, a Circuit 24 Testa Rossa (had to get that in there!), etc.

Among the slot fanatics, it's going to be the Manta Ray, Cuc, a Cox Chappy 2, Russkit Carrera 6 (can't believe I didn't think of that one!), or something of that ilk.

Mainly, we have to decide between home and commercial slot racing . . . but among the official old farts club, I think the Cuc would take the (orange) cake!

Don

[TSR]

The Germans might want to put Carrera's "La Bostella" on top of their list . . .

[TSR]

How does five bucks sound? :mrgreen:

[slotbaker]

. . . but if you mean what slot car was Iconic world-wide and not just pertaining to the USA . . .

No, I was just meaning, to you personally, within your slot car days and memories.

In my little world starting on Scaley track at LaPerouse, it was 1/32 Monogram Lotus GP, and K&B Ponitac GTO. One of the older guys took me to a 1/24 track in his Mini Cooper and then it was Russkit Porsche, Cox Cheetah, and Testors Plymouth. Then, reading magazines, Cox Cuc, and all the other thingies. They all immediately take me back there, but the Cox Cheetah stands out for me.

[Allan Feldman]

Thanks, Don, for reminding me the Manta Ray was Classic. I have edited it.

I still think in those days of the non-internet 1960s the slot cars that meant something to you were the ones most readily available. I never saw a Manta Ray in a model shop window. The only way I would I known it existed was in Model Cars or, if I was flushed with money, one of the US magazines. Generally to me anyway I was a scale man and the most iconic car like I have said before was the 1/32 Cox Ford GT. It was my first US slot car and I was in awe of its packaging, mag wheels, and chassis. It was the Bees Knees to my way of thinking at the time.

In hindsight I know there were other slotcars in distant lands that I really liked.

Regards,
Allan