# Old Aurora magazine ads?



## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

I'm always looking for stuff to decorate the concrete block walls of the slot dungeon. A while back, I had the opportunity to go through a pile of junk National Geographics from the '60s, and I was able to harvest a whole bunch of cool 1:1 car ads. Lots of them went into a scrapbook of sorts, and several went onto the walls--I tried to use cars that I had HO scale versions of (Thunderbird, Riviera, etc.) But I'd LOVE to have some old Aurora ads to go on the walls too.

An antique store near me has a vendor with hundreds of LIFE magazines sitting on a table for cheap. I'm pretty sure I saw information in the Thomas Graham Aurora book that alluded to the fact that Aurora advertised in LIFE specifically, and marketed to adults in general since they would be the ones buying the sets as Christmas gifts. But in the 10 or so copies of LIFE that I flipped through last time I was at the antique store, I found nothin'. Needle/haystack in full effect.

Here's the point: Might there be a list out there of which issues of which magazines contain Aurora ads? I figure with the power of the intarwebs, anything is possible...

thanks in advance

--rick


----------



## Marty (Oct 20, 1999)

Comic books! They are on the back covers and sometimes inside. Boys Life was good for slot car ads also. Don't forget Car Model, Model Car Science, Model Car & Track,.....

Marty


----------



## clydeomite (May 5, 2004)

Howdee:
I have a collection of early hot rod magazines which contain several adds for Aurora race sets. These are in the 1962-63 era. Just thought this might help. I treid selling them but they don't seem to be too hot of an item ene at $10.00 per year bundles I couldn't move them so I still have em.
Clyde-0-Mite


----------



## TUFFONE (Dec 21, 2004)

Some of the best ones are in Boy's Life magazine. A magazine related to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. They had some great Aurora ads and the magazine is large format pages.


----------



## krazcustoms (Nov 20, 2003)

TUFFONE said:


> Some of the best ones are in Boy's Life magazine. A magazine related to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. They had some great Aurora ads and the magazine is large format pages.



Yep - And the September to December issues are more likely to have slot ads than other months.


----------



## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

Another source you might like - Slot Car Monsters showcases a few cool MM and AFX ads in their library.

http://slotmonsters.com/aurora-slot-cars-advertising.ashx


----------



## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

This is a place to visit- put some time aside though- you'll be tripping down memory lane. 

http://www.wishbookweb.com/

My race room is lined with tons of framed HO and 1/24 slot car pages from the 1966 Sears Wishbook. Aurora did HO sets specifically for Sears and some ads are really cool.


----------



## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

Another awesome website for old toy ads: I have the "Get Smart" one framed and it gets a lot of attention. 

http://www.toyadz.com/toyadz/menu1.html


----------



## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

Here is a cool one from the December 1965 Playboy I scanned years ago if you want:


----------



## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

ROFL. Score! Looks like I gotta put aside some time for that site and find someone with a good color printer...

--rick


----------



## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

Ya I'm fortunate to have a color laser at work so I printed them up and mounted them in cheapy Hobby Lobby frames. I also found ads for other toys and bikes I had. The wishbook is a major time sucker but it's kind of like going to the big toy swap meets and finding things you forgot you had as a kid.


----------



## neorules (Oct 20, 2006)

I miss corduroy pants.


----------



## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

I don't remember a pouty, hot chick being included in my Aurora Slot Car Set? Maybe somebody at T-Way opened the box... :freak: :drunk:


----------



## Hittman101 (Oct 21, 2009)

I have found them in old comic books!!!


----------



## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Slott V said:


> This is a place to visit- put some time aside though- you'll be tripping down memory lane.
> 
> http://www.wishbookweb.com/
> 
> (snip)


Yeah, yer not kidding about killing time. I went thru every Sears, Penneys and Wards catalog there from 1964 to 1988 and now I have 54 pages to print, should I ever find the resources (read: access to color laser printer) to do so. VERY cool stuff. I remembered that I had spent some time there before, looking at the bike pages for pics of Stingray-type bikes. In addition to being a slot car nerd, I'm a sucker for banana seats and apehangers, I guess...

Also, am I the only one that didn't know that Tyco resurrected the Tycopro name in the 80s? I thought that went away with, like, HP7s or something...

--rick

edit: don't overlook the Eatons and Spiegel catalogs there! Eatons has the cool TycoPro set with the 4-speed shifter controllers, and Spiegel has a Super II set. I didn't even know Aurora ever MADE a Super II set. And apparently, in 1967, you could buy an Aurora Tjet set from FAO Schwarz already mounted to a table and landscaped. 'Course, it cost 75 bucks when a similar-size regular boxed Aurora set cost maybe 30 or 40, but from what I remember about FAO Schwarz, that's about par for the course...

Make that 61 pages to print.


----------



## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

Slott V said:


> Ya I'm fortunate to have a color laser at work so I printed them up and mounted them in cheapy Hobby Lobby frames. I also found ads for other toys and bikes I had. The wishbook is a major time sucker but it's kind of like going to the big toy swap meets and finding things you forgot you had as a kid.




Cool. If you could print them out for me, I would pay for them. I don't have access to anything like that!! And I suck at this computer too.

I love these ads!!


----------



## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

OMG!! I just found my skateboard in the 75 sears for 9.99!! The Black Night Side Walk Skateboard!!! OMG!!!

With Self Contained Fiber wheels to make you King of the side walks! Lmao!!!!


I'm lost in that site!!!!


----------



## FullyLoaded (Apr 19, 2006)

Slott V said:


> This is a place to visit- put some time aside though- you'll be tripping down memory lane.
> 
> http://www.wishbookweb.com/ ...rest snipped...


Thank you for that link, I know for sure I'm going to kill a lot of spare time jogging my memory looking at the past toys, radio control and slot cars I remember seeing! :thumbsup:


----------



## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

resinmonger said:


> I don't remember a pouty, hot chick being included in my Aurora Slot Car Set? Maybe somebody at T-Way opened the box... :freak: :drunk:


Hey Hut I didn't get that hot chick in any of my AFX sets either...DANG.

This is Toy Heaven...Somebody pinch me quick.

I can remember hounding my Dad as a kid to go to the toy section everytime we went shopping. Those were the days. 

Bob...I love toys...zilla


----------



## Marty (Oct 20, 1999)

bobhch said:


> I can remember hounding my Dad as a kid to go to the toy section everytime we went shopping. Those were the days.
> 
> Bob...I love toys...zilla


There was a department store in Toledo called Tiedtkes. My Mom would drop me off on the 4th floor, the toy floor, do her shopping and pick me up when she was done. It was heaven! She knew I wasn't going anywhere else!

Marty


----------

