18 replies to this topic

[don.siegel]

A buddy here found these on the Web and asked me if I was familiar with these tracks... nope! 
 
Sounds more like a distributor and/or promotor, but have never seen this name. Any of you East coast guys remember Mike Munves? 
 
The tracks look rather similar to AMC, Engleman, etc. and on the one shot of a power supply it says "International Model Raceways". 
 
The last one is a coin operated raceway, which is closer to Munves's business of amusement and vending. The track rings a bell, but not under that name  
 
Don 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

[blue&orange]

I believe our 220' AllTech at Trains and Lanes is, in fact, a Titan.

[MSwiss]

Very interesting stuff, Don.

I never heard of, or saw this.

For some reason, you keep referring to "him", as Mike Munvie.

It's clearly Mike Munves, so I am going to edit your post.

[don.siegel]

Thanks Mike, yep, slip of the finger, and the eye, and the ... 

 

You'll see when you get to my age, young whippersnapper! 

 

Don 

[Mike Patterson]

Those tracks sure look like they were built by the same factory that made AMCR's tracks.

[old & gray]

A couple of quick observations; the picture of the “Big Ben 150” shows an elongated rather than round doughnut, and the tracks are priced FOB Hialeah, Florida while the rest of the advertisement is listing a New York city address. 

[MattD]

In the old magazines there are few different companies that would set you up in the slot business.   I always figured they were just wholesalers and were not builders, just middlemen that supplied everything to start your business.   Once you were setup, they supplied your stock.

[MSwiss]

Those tracks sure look like they were built by the same factory that made AMCR's tracks.

Except an Engleman wasn't an AMCR track (if you are saying the layout designs were copied).

 

A couple of quick observations; the picture of the “Big Ben 150” shows an elongated rather than round doughnut, and the tracks are priced FOB Hialeah, Florida while the rest of the advertisement is listing a New York city address. 

That track is the correct length, and with that style Donut, a very close copy to the most common American Imperial Red.(The Red at Hagginwood Raceway, in Sacramento, had a round Donut)

 

 

[tonyp]

Never heard of this guy. Would be interested to know the date this came out. Interesting the coin operated track looks like it has Russkit controllers.

He was someone trying to cash in on the boom but may have been late to the party.

[don.siegel]

Tony, 

 

He says "American debut in California 4 years ago", so, assuming the first commercial raceway opened in 1961 in California, or thereabouts, that would make it about 1965, which jibes with this type of track. 

 

Don 

[Mike Patterson]

Mike Swiss, I was basing my assumption as to the maker of these tracks on the fact that they were Formica® sided with thick sidewalls, and the legs they stood on.

[don.siegel]

A search on Google images also showed this short paragraph: 

 

Mike Munves Slot Car Tracks

Description: Mike Munves Slot Car tracks, Mike Munves Corporation, 1960s (exact date unknown.) During the 1960s Mike Munves got into the slot car craze that was going around the U.S., and offered large "plug and play" slot car tracks.

If you have any Mike Munves games for sale please contact cfh@provide.net

 

Don 

 

PS: I contacted this address to see if the collector knew any more... 

 

Mike Munves seems to have been a major supplier of arcade games - their fortune-telling Grandma was famous! Here's a link to a catalog from 1956: 

http://rwatts.cdyn.c...nves part 1.pdf

 

The slot car connection is very odd, but they weren't the only "amusement" company to get involved it seems, at least for the coin-operated games. 

[MSwiss]

Mike Swiss, I was basing my assumption as to the maker of these tracks on the fact that they were Formica® sided with thick sidewalls, and the legs they stood on.

If you have Slotblog on your phone, go the the pics of the 2 larger tracks and expand on it.

The walls look totally different.

On the 150' track, they appear thin (maybe a 1/2"?), with looks like rubber edging.

 

The 220' appears to definitely have rubber edging.

[Dave Crevie]

I would guess these were not formica-surfaced tracks. The sides were usually Masonite, because it bends so easily. Panelling was also popular for sides, especially if the sides went all the way to the floor. IIRC formica tracks began to disappear when these tracks came out.

[MSwiss]

Dave,

No, they are not Formica® surfaced.

 

Mike P. was referring to the sides.

 

Looking back at the description, it does say Formica® cabinet on two of them, and does confirm it has  vinyl "rails" and a cap.

 

Regardless, it says FOB, Hialeah , Florida.

 

I know American Raceways used a Bevery Hills address, but where were the tracks made?

 

Somewhere in California?

[Phil Hackett]

Dave,

No, they are not Formica® surfaced.

 

Mike P. was referring to the sides.

 

Looking back at the description, it does say Formica® cabinet on two of them, and does confirm it has  vinyl "rails" and a cap.

 

Regardless, it says FOB, Hialeah , Florida.

 

I know American Raceways used a Bevery Hills address, but where were the tracks made?

 

Somewhere in California?

 

The closest I've come to the producer of the American tracks was they were in Orange County (SoCal). In the American sales literature the tracks were priced F.O.B., Orange County...

 

I suppose any decent wood shop could knock out tracks designed like the American tracks. It's a matter of have jigs & fixtures setup for the various sections.

 

Just an aside, just after the "bust" in the 60s, Revell was offering tracks for lease not for sale. This would imply that Revell had a strong inventory of slot car tracks.

 

I once, sometime in the early 70s, called Revell to find out where the tracks went from the La Tijera store. The person on the phone pretty much didn't know but implied the slot car venture cost Revell A LOT of money and they didn't even want to talk about it (where the tracks went).

[idare2bdul]

I used the AIER cost of living calculator and the $3.300 figure 8 would be $25,447.54 in today's money. if this was from 1967

[Phil Hackett]

Yup.. the Dolla ain't what it used to be.... when Revell was tearing out its tracks and such I did some dumpster diving (circa 1970) and found some budget sheets for the racceway loccation. They were working on a $250/day budget.... that's $1650/day now! That's a fixed cost of over $600,000/year in today's money.. jeez....

[don.siegel]

On the other hand the prices for those tracks seem pretty much in line with what I remember for American tracks, so not really out of line with what was being done at the time. We can't always compare prices in terms of today's equivalent. 

 

Don