I picked this set up for $10 at a yard sale last summer . the owner said it was his as a kid and they were cleaning out his parents house to sell, so lets see how they held up after sitting for so long.
one mans junk is another mans treasure…
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
brings back awesome memories.God bless everyone.
Gotta sand the track rails every now and then
As a kid, I got one of the earliest HO slot car sets. They were the original "vibrater" design. About 2 years later they started using armatures. Made them WAY faster. Then they started making curb rails.
More! Brings back good memories! I was born in 1962, and my older brother had a quality Tyco set. Unfortunately, his wife sold it in a garage sale!😥
I was (am) even more into Matchbox cars, the old Lesney collectibles. Still have about 85% of all my childhood vehicles. In 2003 or so, I bought a Matchbox Motorway 12 set, which you turn regular Matchbox cars into slot cars! And you could run 12 or so at a time, using controllers like used for Tyco slot cars. Still have it, but just no room to set it up!🙁
Great vid, about 10 years back I dug out some of my old slot cars and recently dug out an old train set that belonged to my uncle in the 40's.
My first slot car set was one my cousin had in the 60's. The cars were larger, it was also made by aurora. I still have the track the cars are long gone. We pretty much smashed the cars to bits since the track was set up in the basement. I remember when the cars ran off one curve, they had a 50/50 shot of either hitting the cement block wall or falling to the concrete floor.
The older tires left a lot to be desired, and they got drier and harder with age. At first we used to cut tires out of automotive vacuum line, then we found latex tubing worked better. Years later we found we could mold tires out of RTV silicone, those would stick to the track the best.
When the 70's came around, I got a slotless set called Ultra-5. those were a whole new game. The track was a big improvement in that it had a built in guard rail, but we turned more toward drag racing the cars and later found that since the cars ran on AC power, we could steal dads router speed control and push the cars faster with more volts. At around 40 volts, the cars would go fast enough to melt the plastic when they rubbed against the side rails of the track.
The cat would occasionally venture onto the track, which at that time was set up in what was a semi-finished attic, we had a super oval set up and a 30ft long drag strip. With the longer track we needed multiple power supplies too. Eventually the whole upstairs of the house was a giant track, we had slot cars, slotless tracks, and trains all set up together. It lasted till my grandparents needed assistance and the upstairs got turned into living area for the grandparents and the slot cars and trains got packed up.
The early HO sets were called Model Motoring, those had the narrow tires and ran slower than the others, then came AFX, and Magnatraction, then Ultra 5 and eventually Speedsteer, which was a safer, more refined version of Ultra 5 slotless sets. Speedsteer, like Tyco back then also had trucks, which we had as well. Speedsteer also had a self running 'blocker' car that would randomly run around the track switching lanes at will.
At my peak of interest in slot cars I had a suitcase full of cars and bodies and several boxes of parts, which were required to keep them running. At the same time, every kid in the neighborhood had a track set up. They're fun to dig out and mess with from time to time but I find I loose interest in them pretty fast these days and they go back in the box for another 10 or so years or more. Its been 15 or so years since I had mine out of the attic now. Its a case of too many hobbies and not enough time and space.
Id paybyou good money
Just took me back to the 60s…..later I made a large layout for my son …many great memories
Hey the eraser thing is a great idea who’d a thunk?
love it
There was TCR, Total Control Racing by Kenner I believe…you could pass one another but the track was limited in making your own custom configurations.
I was born the same year…I first had AFX snap trak with the MagnaTraction cars ..(Jackie Stewart) …later I found a whole bunch of the older aurora ones and they had Adapter Track for the old style track which was really cool and your layout could be huge until you realized that the bigger the layout, the more it stresses the transformer!! That thing really got hot!!!! 😂
the high pitch squeal indicated you need a lub on the gears. You can use a lithium grease that will not attack plastics
Very Cool Vid, I'm 60 & Born In 62' So I Was 6 When Hot Wheels (Gateway Drug) Came Out In 1968 But Don't Remember How Old I Was When I Got My First Slot Car Track Set Or What It Even Was.
With My Dad Being A Body Man & Mechanic Who Painted The Local GETTY 00 Stock Car For Our Local Stock Car Races At Seekonk Speedway On The Weekends, It Could've Been NASCAR Or Just A Hot Rod Race Set. But Now I've Got A Ton Of AFX Racemaster, AutoWorld Tracksets, & Some LifeLike Sets I Bought Before The AFX & AW Sets But Just This Month 3/23 I Scored A Complete 60's AURORA MoDEL MoToRING Set Locally Off Of Craigslist That Came With A First Gen 65/66 Mustang Convertible & A 1966 Porsche
906 So I'm Thinking It's A 1966 Set. But It Didn't Have The Box Cover Which Bothered Me Enough To Hit eBay & Score Another Full Set Minus Cars But Had 2 Mustangs Racing On The Nice Cover. So Now I Can Cherrypick Between The 2 Sets & All The Extra Accessories That Came With Them To Make 1 Complete Full Set That I Want To Keep For The Box With A Buncha Spare Stuff To Build Bigger Tracks With. I Already Had Some Of The Same Style Screw On Body Cars, Chassis's, & Bodies To Play Around With So This Vid Is Full Of Good Tips For Rebuilding, Repairing, & Restoring These Older Cars. Thanx 4 Posting This, It'll Be A Great Help For When I Set Up The Older Track & Break Out All The Cars.
Great stuff love it 😂
Nice to see you driving on the left! 🙂
St Joe Mo they had a 8 lane HO track in the early 60s I think everybody had the old vibrator cars by Aurora I was maybe 10 an older kid that was there All the time could massage those motors to fly… He used grommets for rear tires