How'd you like to win a new Mustang?

[puff4]

Here's a bit of fun TV history... I wonder, how many of us Sunbeam enthusiasts had Aurora ThunderJet racecars when we were kids? I still have mine!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L728zVZ4Ugk

Nice bit with Sterling Moss, who had a marketing arrangement with Aurora.

 

[mrtoycrazy]

That just about makes me cry.I use to collect T.jets,had about 150 along with the AFX,Fallers,Tyco Pros,Atlas ,and others.I probably had at least 500 cars.Some in the original boxs,had pit boxs,all the various track and around 40 60's race tracks.I want tell you what else I had,but I collected old toys.Well the weekend before Thanksgiving last year while out of town,infact I had gone to the British Invasion in SC,my house burnt down to the ground and I lost everything.I think I found about 5 of them that were worth keeping.

 

[MikeH]

I can't get the link to work, says something about malformed video ID.

 

[Alpineracer8]

Kevin:

You're talking to fellow devotee of Thunderjet racers here!!!! I still have all of mine and, up until I got married (just under 2 years ago), I had a big table and track set up in my back bedroom. My wife and I are in the process of doing some reworking of our lot (drainage, sprinkler system, etc.), all in order to get set up to build a shop to house my Sunbeams and my Aurora slot car track and everything that goes with it.

I'm into the landscaping and realism thing. My first two sets (T-Jet) came when I was too young to have a permanent landscaped layout. However, when I was 12, my parents bought me an AFX set for Christmas. Within a year, I had it mounted on a hinged board in my bedroom and had it landscaped with all the proper racing buildings (dual-station pit stops, grandstand, curved bleachers, judges stand and start/finish pylons) plus trees, grass, people, Matchbox cars, etc. I still have every bit of that and, luckily, my wife enjoys that sort of thing, too. Consequently, we're going to build a big four-lane set up so that she, a couple of my long-time slot car racing buddies and me can all race together.

I'll have to send you a pic of my collection of cars. I've got over 60 top quality T-Jets and about the same number of AFX cars. I've always told everyone that I'd sell everything I own, including my Tiger and my Alpine, before I'd sell any part of the slot car collection! How's that for a rabid fan???

Take care,

 

[puff4]

I can't get the link to work, says something about malformed video ID.

Apologies.. not sure how that happened, but I fixed the video ID.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L728zVZ4Ugk

 

[puff4]

How's that for a rabid fan???

Ha! Not nearly as rabid as me, Andy! I joke that I actually purchased my Dad's house, in part because my HO train & T-Jet setup (combined) was in the basement and we couldn't figure out how to get it out of the house! In reality, it was simply a well constructed home in a great school district, but I gotta say I'm glad I didn't have to move this thing... I'll attach some pictures later today.

In fact, I had Tom Hayden's grandchildren over here a few months ago, and they seemed to enjoy playing with them. I think they were a bit young to be really 'get' it, but hopefully I planted a seed.

Funny story... When the house was for sale my wife and I took a 'tour' with the realtor - she didn't know I was the owner's son and had grown up in the house - and when we hit the basement I asked "Hey, does the train setup go with the house?" and to my horror she said "Oh, yes, it does!" I mumbled under my breath "Yeah, over your cold, dead body, lady!"

That just about makes me cry. I use to collect T-jets, had about 150 along with the AFX, Fallers, Tyco Pros, Atlas ,and others. I probably had at least 500 cars. Some in the original boxes, had pit boxes, all the various track and around 40 60's race tracks. I want tell you what else I had, but I collected old toys. Well the weekend before Thanksgiving last year while out of town,in fact I had gone to the British Invasion in SC, my house burnt down to the ground and I lost everything. I think I found about 5 of them that were worth keeping.

Oh, god, Mr TC, that's heartbreaking. Of course, I'm sure you lost much more than that, but even that alone is horrible. My heart goes out to you.

 

[puff4]

OK, so I posted a few pics of my layout... it's a little dusty, but here's the album of photos...

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ALBUM.

and a few selected ones...

Hey... what's that little blue number in the gas station?

 

[puff4]

Oh, and here's just one more... extra points if you can identify *all* the cars in the lot of the dealership...

 

[Alpineracer8]

Okay, Kevin...for all the points...from left to right, Lotus 30, Lang Cooper, Austin Healey (100/6 or 3000), Turner (I'm not sure about this one), AC Cobra and Ford GT40. The last car is an original issue Matchbox...I know because I have one just like it and it sat on the driveway area of the judges stand on my slot car track when I was a kid!!! Fantastic race track you've got there! I want to put mine back up so bad that I can't stand it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[puff4]

Nice try! 4 out of 6!

Hints on the two you missed... they are the same model of car, and I hand-crafted the two replicas because they never actually made a model of that car - I used a Lindbergh Austin Healey 3000 as the base material. Oh, and I once owned one of the real cars, chassis #1216 - that's #216 out of about 250 cars ever made.

 

[Series6]

Motion on the floor

I move we hold the next national event at Kevin's house. All in favor..?

Nice place to life if you were that scale. Porsche 904, Jaguar 140, early 60's Impala. Very nice set up Kevin.

 

[puff4]

Nobody saw the baby blue Sunbeam??

But thanks for your comments, Nick. I'm quite happy to host a *small* gathering of Sunbeamers here someday... but my home really isn't set up for a huge party.

 

[Alpineracer8]

Kevin:

Well, I'm assuming the two I missed were the fourth and fifth cars. A tree blocks the view of the front of the red car, the one I assumed was a Cobra. The green car was the one I was unsure of but, upon closer inspection and your description of what you did, I would say that these are the two I missed. Judging on your description, I'd say maybe the two were Siatas. Am I closer????

By the way, I saw the Mediteranean Blue Sunbeam. I have one just like it but forgot to mention it in my post to you. Do you have a Sunbeam slot car?? I had a guy make one for me years ago; a replica of my Tiger, to be exact. It fits on a T-Jet chassis and I race that rascal!!! As a matter of fact, there was a Sunbeam resin T-Jet body on Ebay just the other day. I don't know if it sold but they come up from time to time.

Take care,

 

[puff4]

No, that's a Johnny Lightning Sunbeam on that set, Nick, but yes I have seen the Sunbeam T-jet bodies pop up on eBay from time to time. In fact, that's where I got the 64 Chevy body - they were never made new by Aurora, it's a newly manufactured body. I got it because I used to own one, and indeed it was the car in which I learned to drive.

As for the two mystery cars, I suppose I should just tell you at this point, because it's really obscure, although Siata was a really good guess, particularly with the red one. They are Swallow Doretti's, manufactured by the venerable Swallow Coachbuilding Company (formerly Swallow Sidecars Company, the folks who brought us the Jaguar SS100 back before the war.) My Doretti was one of the many limited-manufacture cars I once owned and/or restored (and I wish I still had!). I sold it in 1982, but if I had it today it would be worth quite a bit, I'd imagine.

The red one was my first go at it and is not really 'right', but the green one is pretty much as close as you can get in that scale, I think. Indeed, if you look *very* closely at the green one you can see the triangular badge on the bonnet.

 

[sunalp]

I don't know how I missed this post! I thought I was the only one left that still had all his cars. I still have all of my T-jets and AFX cars. My daughter and I even used to go to a track at a local hobby shop and raced with others that were afflicted with this stuff! The new cars are so incredibly fast that you almost can't watch them. It's kind of fun but gets expensive when you have to change gears and tires to get to the optimum set up- almost like real racing! We had to quit since the races were on Monday nights and (at the time) she was 8 years old. With us getting home after 10pm and school the next day, it was rather short lived. But when she was racing, she really kicked
some slot car butt!

One day, I hope to get my layout built. I've got a large basement and have lots of ideas!

Cheers!
Steve

 

[Alpineracer8]

Okay...just out of curiosity, how old are you guys who are responding to this thread? I'll start first...I'm 48 and rapidly approaching 49. I got my first slot car set at the age of 7 at Christmas of 1967. It was the "Golden Gate" set sold exclusively at the time by Montgomery Wards. It came with a white Ford GT 40 and a red Mako Shark. In later years, the GT 40 got modified (no way would I do that now...but, hey...back then they were just toys), but I still have my original red Mako Shark and it's still in great condition. A couple of years later, when the "Wild Ones" cars came out, my folks bought me a new set that included two sets of Monza banked curves. That allowed my friends and me to really build some bigger layouts. I can still remember the arguing that went on between me and my Dad about me getting the slot car track off of the ping-pong table in the garage so that he could put his car in!!!

On Christmas 1972, I asked for the Roger Penske 4-lane layout that was in the "Sears Wishbook" Christmas catalog for that year, which was basically an elongated figure-8. I was so excited to set it up the day after Christmas but, when I opened the box, there were so many pieces of track with the tabs already broken off of them that there was no reason to keep it. We exchanged it for another one and, lo and behold, the same thing...multiple broken tabs. By this time, I was one pissed off puppy. Consequently, I relented and let my folks get me the 2-lane track on the preceding page, the "Meadowbrook" road course. Well, that turned out to be a Godsend because the layout was small enough to fit in my room but interesting enough to be fun. I landscaped it had an absolute ball with it. Some of my best childhood memories are of me and my best friend racing into the wee hours of the morning, completely oblivious to the clock!!!

Okay, guys. Let's have it...age first, then your history with the slot cars.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane,

 

[Series6]

The year was 1962, Torrance California. There was a built up 1/25 scale red Porsche 904 in the display case with a 705 motor. It's armature had been rewound to 6 volts and epoxied. Took me a few weeks to come up with the $12 but I ended up with it. Took it to the local track and sunddenly realised I couldn't drive it as I didn't have a variable speed controller. So I used an on/off button switch and still smoked the field on a figure 8.

Caught heck when I got home for spending my savings on "something I'd forget about next week"...

 

[Jim E]

Wild, we were paly with the auroras just the other day

 

[sunalp]

OK, I'm 49 rapidly going on 50. I got my first set, to which I still have the original track & transformer and controls (the ones with the steering wheels, brakes and forward and reverse switch!) for a christmas present in 1962. My Aunt that always liked to impress with gifts gave it to me. I had no idea what it was (probably didn't care at the time as i was 3 years old!) so my Mom put it away until I was old enough to understand what they were. After 4 or 5 years, my Dad built me a table layout for the set and bought me a special car, a yellow dune buggy with the red & white surrey top on it. My set was one of the Sterling Moss sets and came with a yellow Riviera and a red corvette, Those are the only two cars I don't have but have vowed to find them again. I probably traded them to friends for other cars.

I used to subscribe to a slot car list, much like the old Alpines list. I wonder if it's still out there? Anyone here know or subscribe?

By the way, I showed my slots off to a friend and his wife a couple of weeks ago and they thought I was nuts! Just goes to show what they know!

Cheers!
Steve

 

[jmthehermit]

I remember skipping lunch and saving the money for my first set. My prized car was a Ford GT 40. When my son was about 8 or 9, I set a track up inside a large Lionel layout. He had little interest in either of them compared to the Playstation. While growing up, my dad always told us if you break your toys you'll never get any more. I have boxes of old toy trains, cars and trucks from when I was young. I hope that maybe his future children will find them entertaining. I sometimes set them up for myself, just to make sure that they are lubed and oiled and still operate correctly!!! Jeff