# Body question for Mattel Chassis'



## SFC_Allen (Aug 19, 2007)

I was reading a tread in the sales part and saw the $3 Nascar Chassis on the Mattel site.

My question is does anyone now what bodies can be used with these and where they could be purchased.

I want to get a few differnt cars as I have a 10 & 7 yr old that will be racing with me once i get the track up and going.

I read what some poeple wrote about them and see they would be great for kids and i won't be made when they send them flying off the track 

Thanks in advance Earle


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## 440s-4ever (Feb 23, 2010)

They fit any "wide mount" body from the 440/magnum era. Same with early Tyco Pro offerings from the 70s.

One catch, I have a wide tyco pro that's a porsche(?) lemans style car, and it sits too low on the mattel/440 style chassis and interferes with the bulkheads. The same body offered in the 440 era has taller mounts to fix the problem, and the other 20 tyco pro bodies I have don't interfere.

Other than used bashers and $7-up bodies, on ebay there's blue emergency van bodies for $4 each and 6 packs of yellow 5.0 mustang jam cars for more like $2 apiece. Take the windshields out, spray bomb em a variety of colors, reassemble, you got yourself a fleet of $8 slot cars including shipping and paint. The kids could even pick their colors, and might even have some tiny spiderman, etc stickers to contribute to their car.


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

Thanks, 440s! I have some of those $3 chassis headed my way and I was wondering what the body options were, especially since I have no prior Tyco experience.

Thanks!

Rolls


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## SFC_Allen (Aug 19, 2007)

Thanks 440s. Now to get some. I wanted one of those vans for myself anyways  Earle


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

440s-4ever said:


> Other than used bashers and $7-up bodies, on ebay there's blue emergency van bodies for $4 each and 6 packs of yellow 5.0 mustang jam cars for more like $2 apiece.


 I'm not sure the Obstacle car bodies you mention will fit on a normal chassis. I had a bunch of the Mustang and #3 Maintenance Vans - neither fit on a standard chassis. They have a different wheelbase. I'll bet the blue emergency van also has the odd wheelbase.

Joe


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## 440s-4ever (Feb 23, 2010)

From what I've seen tyco TCR bodies have larger front wheel openings and may even sit a smidge higher. They end up fitting tyco slot chassis.

Can you elaborate on how those bodies didn't fit? I'm confused now, generally tyco bodies are hugely interchangeable because of the $$$ involved with injection mold changes.

FWIW the guy selling on ebay is "tubtrack", seems to have a good repution off ebay as well, and he claims they fit mattel/tyco widepan. The mustang appears to have some kind of black trim in the front wheelwell that may need removed, but it also looks like a seperate piece (ie- easy to remove).

I've been thinking about a multi-color mustang 6 pack for the Jr racers around here.


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

440s-4ever said:


> From what I've seen tyco TCR bodies have larger front wheel openings and may even sit a smidge higher. They end up fitting tyco slot chassis.
> 
> Can you elaborate on how those bodies didn't fit? I'm confused now, generally tyco bodies are hugely interchangeable because of the $$$ involved with injection mold changes.
> 
> ...


Tubtrack is Bob Molta up in Syracuse, NY and he is a great guy to deal with. His inventory is unbelievable. If Bob says they will fit, then I'm sure he's tried them; although you may want to check on that.

You are corrct in that the Mustang has a piece of black around the front wheel wells which can probably be removed. I can't remember exactly why the two bodies I mentioned didn't fit on a regular Tyco wide pan, I just remember that I sold the bodies because I could not get them mounted. I believe it had to do with the wheel alignment and clearence.

Note that the maintenance van is designed for the command control chassis, not for the TCR chassis.

Regular TCR chassis fit under MOST Tyco bodies, although there are some bodies which cannot take a TCR chassis. On the other hand, some Tyco bodies are molded slightly differently on the underside to accomodate a TCR chassis. The Lamborghini is one such example. If you take a standard Lambo body and compare it to the black/gold #2 TCR Lambo, you will a difference. I forget whether the TCR body doesn't fit on a regular chassis or the regular body doesn't fit on a TCR chassis.

One style of Indy/F1 can take a TCR chassis, another style cannot. The low rear wing cars can, the high rear wing cars cannot.

You'll also find some bodies made for the HP-2 cannot fit on a 440-X2 due to clearence.

While 95%+ of the bodies are interchangeable, there are a few which are not.

Joe


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## SFC_Allen (Aug 19, 2007)

440s-4ever said:


> They fit any "wide mount" body
> 
> 
> > Does this also mean "Pan Chassis" also? I was on lucky Bob's and really only saw narrow and Pan under 440x2's.
> ...


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

The wide bodies fit on the "wide pan" chassis. The narrow chassis may also be referred to as "narrow pan". These are the only two types available. If Bob's lists two types, pan and narrow, I would guess the pan chassis is the wide chassis. The HP series of chassis (HP-2 and HP-7) are wide pan. Only the 440 and 440-X2 have both a wide and narrow chassis.

Joe


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## SFC_Allen (Aug 19, 2007)

Thanks Joe...Makes sense and a little easier to get the right body. Earle


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## LeeRoy98 (Jul 8, 2005)

If you want to stay with a theme for the 440X2 wide pan, check out the 90s Lumina/Gran Prix bodies. They are cheap and plentiful on ebay plus they make for a nice nostalgic trip down memory lane. If you like to paint and detail, they are a fun place to start. You can get the Days of Thunder cars, Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Michael Waltrip, etc.
One of my all time favorite slot cars!

Gary
AKA LeeRoy98
www.marioncountyraceway.com


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## Guest (Mar 23, 2010)

Grandcheapskate said:


> I'm not sure the Obstacle car bodies you mention will fit on a normal chassis. I had a bunch of the Mustang and #3 Maintenance Vans - neither fit on a standard chassis. They have a different wheelbase. I'll bet the blue emergency van also has the odd wheelbase.
> 
> Joe


In regards to the above mentioned Tyco Bodies, they will fit any Tyco Wide-Pan Chassis. If wheelbase length appears to be an issue, you need only to relocate the front axle on the Tyco widepan chassis, as it has 2 front axle mounts! This includes Curvehuggers,HP-2, HP-7, and 440 chassis.

**(If you have a Tyco Chassis without dual front axle slots, you either have an old TYCO-PRO chassis, a Narrow 440 chassis, or a slotless (CC1, CC2, TCR) chassis.)

The Red #3 van body has an internal light-bar that hangs low and interferes with HP-7 motors. I usually grind down the extra protrusion about 1/8" to make adequate clearance. The Blue #3 Van body is a newer casting and I have not had any fitting issues at all with that one.

The Yellow Mustang has a black plastic insert under the hood that is part of the windshield insert. Windshield removal is extremely difficult and tedious, so I carefully remove the hood insert portion by snapping off yiny bits at a time with flat needle nose pliers. this will prevent possible splitting of the windshield itself.


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## 440s-4ever (Feb 23, 2010)

GTC65 said:


> In regards to the above mentioned Tyco Bodies......EDITED FOR LENGTH......
> 
> The Blue #3 Van body is a newer casting and I have not had any fitting issues at all with that one.
> 
> The Yellow Mustang has a black plastic insert under the hood that is part of the windshield insert. Windshield removal is extremely difficult and tedious, so I carefully remove the hood insert portion by snapping off yiny bits at a time with flat needle nose pliers. this will prevent possible splitting of the windshield itself.


This is right on the money! Just received some yellow mustangs and blue vans from Bob Molta for my custom projects. Vans click onto 440X2 wide pans with zero mods, stang needs the front wheel skirt removed. (15 seconds of dremel)

Bob Molta at slot car central is also a ruler. 2 day shipping and bonus goodies included.


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