11 replies to this topic

[NHBandit]

Reading through a June 1966 issue of Car Model magazine I saw an ad for Lionel 6 lane track complete with cars & controllers. The track was made of what they called foam styrene plastic and evidently you would design the layout and size you wanted and they would build it in sections with prices starting at $500 and going up from there. I have never seen or even heard of these. Was it a pipe dream that never took off or did they actually sell some of these ? 

[don.siegel]

Like you, I only know about these because they were mentioned in Car Model! 

 

I have never seen or heard of these since, but it's really hard to track these kinds of things. Cars get tossed in the attic, tracks don't! There were a fair number of these large home tracks, at least a half-dozen, all in the same price range, but I can't imagine a lot were sold at $500 - that was a lot of money at the time! In 65-66 it seemed like a booming market, but by 67 it was already dying, at least for commercial raceways. 

 

I'm not in the States, so couldn't say for sure: does anybody know of any of these fancy home tracks that survived? 

 

I do have a buddy here in France who recovered one of the old 4-lane wood Revell tracks (maybe about 40' lap length) from where it was being used, expanded it and set it up at his house in southern France. I raced on it once when it was in the Paris area. 

 

Don 

[NHBandit]

Like you, I only know about these because they were mentioned in Car Model! 

 

I have never seen or heard of these since, but it's really hard to track these kinds of things. Cars get tossed in the attic, tracks don't! There were a fair number of these large home tracks, at least a half-dozen, all in the same price range, but I can't imagine a lot were sold at $500 - that was a lot of money at the time! In 65-66 it seemed like a booming market, but by 67 it was already dying, at least for commercial raceways. 

 

I'm not in the States, so couldn't say for sure: does anybody know of any of these fancy home tracks that survived? 

 

I do have a buddy here in France who recovered one of the old 4-lane wood Revell tracks (maybe about 40' lap length) from where it was being used, expanded it and set it up at his house in southern France. I raced on it once when it was in the Paris area. 

 

Don 

My home track is old Revell stuff but I did it the hard way with Revell plastic track. Never measured the exact length but it's built using 3 4x8 tables bolted together so I'm guessing the main straight is about 15' or so. 

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[MattD]

Many years ago, before internet, I bought some kits from a farmer  in Tn.   He also had one of the 4 lane routed Revell tracks  in his barn.   It was not functional, he just got it to keep it from the dump.     While not a home track., I have a friend that has a 6 Lane American Raceways track that is either a scaled down yellow or orange.   I've never seen any info on a 6 lane AMR.

[MSwiss]

We'd love to see pictures of that 6 lane track.

[MattD]

It is in storage, but I can ask for some pictures.

[mdiv]

I have a Lionel slot car or two, so does Joe.

 

He may have some track pieces, or pictures, or literature.  Give him a ring.  

 

Mike

[don.siegel]

I also looked back at the article, which says that it came with 1/24 scale model racing cars, such as Ferrari, Maserati, Lotus, Cobra, Chaparral, etc. 

 

Since Lionel never produced anything like this, I think it's safe to say they never made the track. But it does make you wonder if they were thinking of entering the 1/24 commercial raceway scene at the time, like Marx did... 

 

Don 

[Martin]

This is a track ( I own) that is that bridge between home and commercial track.

I do plan to set it up at some point, but would need to rearrange my work shop.

Mine has 2 extra 4 foot sections making the straights 12 feet long.

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[NSwanberg]

Routed? Molded?

[MattD]

Routed

[Martin]

Routed is correct. Has a honeycomb sandwich design. Very stable.

I still have the chrome legs and the individual power stations.

One day.