17 replies to this topic

[TSR]

Another little known cottage industry in Germany produced this interesting 1/24-scale kit in 1969, partly inspired by the Russkit offerings from America, very popular in Germany between 1966 and 1968, and almost a straight copy of the other Russkit inspired, Italian Unicar chassis. In any case, quite scarce and they apparently issued quite a few models according to their in-box adverts...

Some of the pictures courtesy Edo "The Kingee" Bertoglio, thanks Edo!

 

 

 

 

 

A later angle-winder version of the chassis appears to have been produced...

 

 

 

 

No use to tell you that just as the Unicar models do, the Monza cars, powered by the latest mabuchi FT16D with can ball bearing, would clean the clock of a Russkit "Carrera Series" assembled kit.
But one German car would beat both: the 1/24-scale Fleishmann Lotus 40, possibly the best RTR slot car kit produced in the Classic Era:

 

[John Streisguth]

I can see where the European preference for "bolt together" cars started...

[don.siegel]

Yeah, but the Fleischmann Lotus is also one of the uglier cars to come out of that era - it's criminal what they did to a nice Lotus 40 body! Why didn't they just put a Thingie body on there? (actually, I think they did a little later, can't remember the name offhand - Alpina?)

 

Kind of normal that these cars from 3 years later would run circles around the Russkit, although I'm not totaly sure of that. I've seen some pretty fast Russkits in the past few years, often driven by "Fast Franco" Uliana, for instance. 

 

Of all those cars, the fastest I've seen is the Superaerodinamica by Unicar.... of course that's a pure Thingie. 

 

Are all the Monza chassis plastic? 

 

Don 

[TSR]

Hi Don,

The Monza chassis came in several flavors, some of them with a brass or steel drop arm. They likely would be on an equal level with the Unicar as they used the less powerful FT16D but out-handled the FT26 powered Unicar models because of their lower CG.
The Fleischmann Lotus may not be that pretty but on the track was hard to beat! Its flexible chassis was extremely efficient and the FT26 motor made it a rocket in a straight line...
Yes, there was an Alpina body, sold separately.

[SlotStox#53]

Those Monza kits/cars look really neat Chassis looks similar to a 1/24 2 piece anglewinder chassis with plumber action ,have seen them here on the blog,can't remember the company! may even be Monza? screwed together like these just infront of the motor.

 

have you got a picture of the Fleichmann chassis Philippe? sounds interesting

[TSR]

I do not have one of the assembled car handy but here is one of the kit's contents. The chassis is quite a complex affair, with things all over the place but it WORKS. I remember driving one of these things in Germany in 1968 and NOTHING you could buy over the counter would touch it. The body was made of a much better polycarbonate than the ones in the US at the time, and was simply unbreakable... in fact i KEPT mine all these years and donated it to the LASCM, and the body is absolutely intact despite LOTS of racing with it. And it is not THAT ugly compared to many period cars, its body having been clearly copied on the Cox model, but using the plated parts of the Fleischmann 1/32 scale Lotus!

 

Here is a picture of the Alpina body:

 

 

[SlotStox#53]

Thanks Philippe

 

Wow! You weren't kidding when you said "Flexible & complex " chassis!!!

 

No wonder with all those flex points and  26D that thing flew... That Alpina body is pretty cool .

[n.elmholt]

Another great piece of Slot Car history, thanks :-)

Niels, DK

[don.siegel]

Here's a couple quick shots of the Fleischmann Lotus. The body itself is not that bad, but the devil is in the details! There was even an article in the British mag Model Cars at the time, about how to make it more scale-looking... 

 

Don 

 

 

 

[SlotStox#53]

Thanks Don! Wow seeing the chassis in kit form in it's box and in your pictures... What a chassis !!!   Wheels are kinda far out there

[TSR]

That' s because his camera has myopia! 

Seriously, the body was a bit narrow, so the wheels were indeed out there but overall width was not that bad, about 3-1/8".

[Jens Scale Racing]

Here is a nice homepage of a german Fleischmann specialist with very good pics: http://www.google.de...ved=0CFUQrQMwAA

Some people gave the all winning Carrera and Monza chassis a good competition. A nice mint boxed red Lotus 40 body was sold for 1500 Euros before christmas last year...And I remember buying some Fleischmann (Alpina?) a hundred years ago for  - the Dokktor

[TSR]

Nice! While our museum is mostly dedicated to American slot cars, we would love a MIB Alpina body to add to the LASCM collection, but so far have not found one in decent shape.

Fleischmann Lotus 40 kit

 

And lots more Monza kits! 

 

[Jens Scale Racing]

Actually in german ebay is a red (rare) Fleischmann Lotus 40, if anyone is interested   Yes, very rare, but we saw some of these priced about 1500 Euros and sold

 

http://www.ebay.de/i...=item257adadef9

[TSR]

Dieter, thanks! The LASCM is only interested in mint and sealed items, as it has plenty enough of lose cars...
Looking for a Walter kit new in box...

[don.siegel]

Seriously Dieter, for €1500, without the box? Got mine for about 1/20 of that, but it was kind of a lucky find... 

 

Don 

[TSR]

True enough, €1500 sounds like a bit steep for a loose Fleishmann Lotus, more like €200 at most anywhere else! 

[Jens Scale Racing]

Don, seriously, maybe many years ago you had the luck to find a Lotus 40 in red at 75 Euro. Even in the late 90's it should have been more expensive. Anyway, as my smilies say, too expensive and not realistic at all.

Philippe, good ones were sold for 200 - 300 Euros, we visited a couple of tradefairs the last months...and: an "original Walter in the box" is like the find of a needle in the haystack...