I built a couple scratch built HO slot cars for Auto World mail in contests. Both are fiberglass bodies made from carved wood patterns. Willys has chrome brass frame w/ leaf springs and brass axle, steering wheels. Front wheels are 1/4" ball bearings with O-ring tires. LSR car has two Aurora motor/chassis. I sent in the Willys to the contest but didn't win anything. Had a broken wire lead and didn't run. Company went out of business before I sent in the LSR car. I never ran either on a track.
I thought that someone may like this. I was going through my dad's attic today. And found some old slot cars. That I ran on those old rental tracks. Back when I was a kid. I had two motors in this one, as it is a heavy car. But it was an attention getter. lol I'm sure if you had a nice car. This one would have been pretty scary. ha ha Ron...
Hey Ron, Great find. It looks like a solid body car that hit the pillow at the end just a little too fast. We had solid body Corvettes that ended up looking the same after a few runs...Ours had the DC 85 big time motors with epoxy and bearings. We tried a dual set up, but could no get them to work together. So, kudos to your ingenuity and your dad for saving that cool car. Straight front axle with internal bearings made the fronts go faster. A long time ago, I was trying to be a good guy and gave away all of my slot car stuff to a kid that did not have anything to do, but had a mechanical mind. He liked the R/C cars I built, but could not afford one, so I gave him the whole tackle box with all of my slot cars and paraphernalia. Your garage/house is like an automotive treasure trove. It should be a museum... ha! Junji
Thanks Junji, my dad is in great health at 85. He still lives in the same house that he built new. I was a week old when we moved into it. I had the whole upstairs as my room, which is a large center room with the attic on both sides. That's how that I've been able to save most of my childhood toys. That attic still holds a lot of treasures and memories of mine. I was bad for taking a candle and making wrecks with the old models, or slot cars. That I thought had ugly body styles, like that old dodge. And yes most of my slots were hard bodies and scratch built. I had a 1/24 scale slot car layout in that room. It is boxed up now in the attic. I do have a modern Carrera Layout in my garage. Some kids never grow up. lol Ron...
I been taking the grandkids to this drag strip. Some of the guys there have some fast and sweet cars. There's plans for more track lay outs too. A lot of fun just like the good old days. Ron... Sent from my SM-G920P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Here ya go... check out this link. Gary http://autoweek.com/article/pebble-...a-slot-car-track-coming-pebble-beach-concours Or this one if you just hit the lottery! They built the one above. https://slotmods.com/
Neat thread. While not an actual real location, I suppose some consider virtual to be a location. <shrug>. I suppose everyone knows about this by now(started in '16), but if you don't: http://slotcarmods.com/summer2017.html Might be worth the time to check out. I have no connection, except reading it... . Marcus...
Great thread. Need to properly get back into this but as a starting point I have bought about 80 feet of Airfix slot car track from the 60s. Thinking of an early to mid 60s f1 and sports car theme. Yes late 60s early 70s was the key era here in the U.K.
We have a great 10 lame huge Slot Car Track about 30 Mi North... my wife and I have been there in the last year to rent cars and track time by the hour... Ton’s of fun! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Looked again for pics of this great mid-60s facility in Chamblee, GA and found a slotcar forum with a 1967 Champion of Chamblee catalog posted here: http://slotblog.net/topic/74383-1968-champion-official-parts-price-list/ They were located just a few blocks away from the slotcar track of my youth. Anyway, browse this catalog, this really brings back the memories of the 60s heyday. Here's a few examples from the catalog:
You do paint the bodies on the inside, but with proper “r/c” paint. Regular rattle can wills flake off when you crash Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Testors offered special paint available at the track, all sorts of colors along with floresents, Cap had a small brush attached for those that did not have access to an air brush/compressor. I use to paint bodies in exchange for track time at my local emporium
Hmm..the "quote didn't come out quite right..! The question was about painting the above body. The paint required is just paint that works on "Lexan" bodies. And yes it IS rattle can and yes, it's most easily found in R/C (radio controlled cars) shops, if not slot car shops. And yes again, paint the underside of the body, the paint job will be as brite and shiny as the outside of the body is smooth. Beware...cheap it...isn't. Mike
Just traded for a couple if old Strombeckers.Repainted the Ford GT because it was painted an ugly green color.
Hello, In our experiences, the clear bodies were flexible, but there were some that were harder than the others. The sprays worked fine underneath. But the more you sprayed or the more the outside design called for different colors or pinstriping, it got thicker. Now, there was the situation for cracking upon hitting the walls or rolling over on high speed turns. Once the cracks started, despite the care taken to prep the area, the paint cracks just kept getting larger and started falling off in chunks or large flakes. Even the slightest bump or hitting the side of the small wooden compartment in the pit tool/car box we all carried around made the layered paint come off in pieces. The sprays looked better underneath, but the hand painted model paints were applied on slightly thicker and looked just as smooth from the outside. The problem with those model paints was the same thing, thicker looked better, but cracked sooner. We used those little 1/32 to 1/24 size race cars on the curving tracks with our modified motors and ball bearings for higher speeds. When we went to drag racing centers in So Cal, the end of the drag strip was a large pillow or a huge soft blanket for the final stopping barrier. There was no way to keep the spray paint underneath the clear Lexan bodies from cracking when the little cars or dragsters hit the final barrier. Even with the sub 1 sec runs, it was over in a flash and the bodies showed small cracks that got larger as more elimination races happened. There as a time that my 58 Corvette with a modified fully ball bearing motor, bearing axles and moving parts chassis was fast, but, as we got farther into the eliminations, the paint cracked and cracked until it started flaking off. But, that was the cost of drag racing slot cars. No brakes except for those large pillows or soft blankets at the end. Cushioning the blow, but there was always collateral damage to the sudden stopping effect. Jnaki On our Top Eliminator custom rail chassis, we started out with some homemade heat treated clear bodies over the thin wall tubing chassis mods. Pins kept the bodies in place, but they still ran into the same pillow or large bunched up blanket to stop. Less than a second, but sometimes a blink of an eye and your dragster was already in the pillow. Those bodies with custom flames and overall paint were usually one coat over the original pinstriped flames or scallops. That was less weight overall and it was supposed to make the car go faster. We were never able to out gun or out run the top guys like Gene Husting and Bob Braverman. They were so knowledgeable and had the best creations anywhere. But they were older guys and had been involved a lot longer than we were at the time. Plus, they had what felt like unlimited access and money to build what they needed to keep at the top of the races/drag racing lists. The hot spots were J& J Hobby Shop just North of Bixby Knolls and some place in South Gate farther North. Good times, creativity in modifying stock set ups, then advancing to our own modification on custom frames for sporty cars and road racers. Then the dragster craze hit us like a wild fire. We just had to make the custom tubing frames for our high modified DC 64 motors. Shaved rotors, rewound motors, polished contacts, epoxy coatings just the right thickness, high speed ball bearings in custom engine mount applications and on frames made it all worthwhile in a small scale. Our old backyard hot rod garage looked like a custom small scale hot rod/drag racing speed shop with the parts section, the building section, the paint section and the finishing table for the final dust free assembly. We even had a short bit of electronic track to make sure the contacts were working and that the newly created motors were adjusted to the best we could do to them. Every “little” bit counted against the Big Boys… just like in real drag racing, the little guys versus the big name racers… YRMV
Some raceways had HO Tracks. If I recall, the track in Buffalo Grove IL, Mid-America Raceways, has one or had one set up.
There is a "map" where they are trying to document all of the slot car raceways that are still in business (green marker) and where the ones that went out of business (red marker) were located. This was mentioned earlier in the thread but I thought I would expand on it. There is other information on the map too. Check the legend at the bottom and the pull-down menu. The map information is crowdsourced so you can add to the map. It is moderated, but additions are checked once a week or thereabout for approval. https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=2121358#
I have never seen a 10-lane slot car track. They usually are 8 lanes max. Would you please post the name and address?
I am going to a "Retro" slot car race this weekend 10/8/2022 in Cleveland, TN at "The Raceway". If there is interest, I can post pix of the cars and the action. Stock Cars, GT Coupes, Can-Am and F1/Indy will be raced.
Those new cars are too fast and stick to the track too well. They dont take as much skill as the old cars. I like the old cars that fish tailed and slid around. It's kind of like Bias plys vs radials lol..
The Jalopy Journal
