# Slot car memories...



## Seventy7 (Jul 4, 2012)

In an attempt to get to know the board members a bit more I thought a fun thread like this might be cool...

Have any really cool memories of being a kid with your cars? Any cool bonding stories? Or funny mistakes you may have made with your customs? 

It's funny, I have many hobbies along this line but only very recently did I start dusting off my slot stuff and really getting myself back into it like I did when I was a kid and into my teens. One of the reasons was this past Christmas--I do put up a train set but when I was a kid and my dad was still alive I can almost not remember a Christmas in the 80's where I didn't wake up to a new track all set up and the box tucked somewhere under the tree.

My dad was an old fashioned guy born overseas and worked really hard. I never had a problem getting action figures or whatever but I knew he didn't really think too much of them. Slots on the other hand actually "did something" as he would say and he enjoyed running them as much as I did. 

Anyway, the last Christmas I had my dad I got the Tyco Gran Prix set for and also the California Classics 2 pk. I remember going to sleep and hoping I'd see it under the tree in the morning..and there it was! For the next hour or so (or until my mom yelled at us to get dressed for company lol) my dad sat next to me sipping coffee, ripping that Chevy around the corners, laughing and counting out loud how many times he lapped me as I fought to get my Coupe back on the track and keep the rubber down around the corners. This image still puts a smile on my face.

This was a memory I talked to my uncle about this past holiday season and now, here I am slowly getting back into slot car racing.

Just thought I'd share--anyone else??


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## JordanZ870 (Nov 25, 2004)

Thank you for sharing!:thumbsup:
Your dad, you had a good one. Bless him real good.


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

*I like slot cars just a little........or a LOT...YEAH!!*



joez870 said:


> Thank you for sharing!:thumbsup:
> Your dad, you had a good one. Bless him real good.


Yeah Seventy7 thanks for sharing....Good Times!! 

Well here is my slot car / Dad story.

My Dad loved to build car models all of his life (he is still alive in a nursing home doing fine).

When we moved off the farm and into an Apartment, my Dad got me an Eldon 1/32 slot car set. 
The Cool one with the White Mustang on the box lid!!

I had TONS of fun racing on it. Then after he finished Drafting School 3 years later (Govt. sent him as he was in the Army Reserves), we moved to a House in Omaha, Nebraska with a BIG BASEMENT with black and white checkered floor.

Did I mention I'm an only child? Spoiled sometimes also?

Well HERE IT COMES....the most slot car CRAZY thing happened to me when we moved into our new house.
The owners of the house had a bunch of stuff in the garage they were giving to the Goodwill and said if there was anything we wanted to go ahead and help ourselves.

HERE IT COMES........Wait for it...........I found a huge box of ELDON slot car track...OH Boy! 
The basement was instantly covered with a Giant slot car track set up!!:woohoo:

I was 8 years old at this time when we moved into our house. 

My Dad built several Super Nice slot car model kit bodies in 1/32 for us to race. I remember them well...a metlaic blue 1966 Corvette, Monogram Porsche 906, a Monogram red Ferrari, 2 Indy cars and then a bunch of stock Eldon cars to race also. 
All of them were kept in an empty Honda Motorcycle model kit box.
My best friend Chris from across the street and me raced slots in our basement all winter long...fun times!

The rubber tires dried out after a while and moved on to a Remote Control car one Christmas. Hot Wheels and Sizzler cars were always one of my favorite toys to play with as well. 
Anything Cars, Motorcycles, Planes or Trains that moved.

Next my Dad and I went to the local Hobby Store ( this is where I spent almost any money I got) one day and he bought a Lionel Train Set!!
Down came the slot car track.

Oh Boy...Woooooh, Wooooooh!! Illinois Central and got extra track, turnoffs and a bunch more train cars.
My Dad was like a kid himself as he never had a train set before when he was a kid. I was like let me drive it.....hahahahaahahahaha

The train set was a blast to run and remember putting my army men in the coal cars and playing war with my tanks and men all the time. 

The Imagination we all had as kids in the 60s and 70s was from the lack of video games....Thank God for that as I have so many Great Memories of playing with TOYS not video games.

So now I'm about 9 or 10 years old and my Dad comes home with an AFX Non-Magnatraction slot car track and says here yah go son!!
Mike, the guy he works with (a car nut like my Dad), has 2 girls and had bought this slot car track for them but, they had nothing to do with it so,....ME, ME, ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Ooooooooooooooh Man this was a great set to. It had lots of extra cars.
55 Chevy, 70 Camaros, 57 Nomad and some others.

This was it...I was hooked on HO slot car racing. Most of my cars were AFX but, I had some Tyco cars also that were speed demons. Oh and then the AFX Magnatractions and G-Plus cars...yes.

I shoveled snow here in Nebraska for money...then went to the Hobby Store for more slot cars.

Then for Christmas I asked for the Police & Semi truck set that AFX was putting out that year. I got the set and drove the Police and Semi Truck till the wheels fell off. 
Liked the set so much that I took my Christmas Money and bought another set and then picked up a few more Semi Trucks at the Hobby Store also.

Had a Huge AFX track set up .....life is good. Thanks Dad!! 

My Best friend Chris had a Tyco track set up in his basement and we took turns racing at each others houses every day. 
We would take our cars apart and fix them and trade with each other for parts. 
Then we would ride our Skateboards or Bikes to the Hobby Store to buy and look. One time there was a huge bin up front by the register with blister packed AFX Non-Magnatraction bodies for $1.49 each or something like that.
The Magnatractions had just came out and AFX was unloading the Non-Magnatraction cars. We bought TONS of them...more stuff to take apart hahahahhahahaha...Yeah!

For the Summer Months Chris and I flew Gas Powered U-Control airplanes that we build from balsawood airplane kits. 
Can still remember going to the Hobby Store and spending over $140.00 of my Corn De- Tasaling money on plane kits, a .051 Cox stunt engine with a detatchable red gas tank, paint dope and a big jug of gas.

Well now I am a 48 year old kid who builds custom slot cars...a slot car adict if you will, and loving it. 

Hobby Talk is the Slot Car place to be....I love you guys man!! :hat:

Bob...that's my story and I'm sticking to it...zilla


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## Seventy7 (Jul 4, 2012)

Wow, thanks for sharing that story!! A cool dad, big basement, slots and lionel trains are all AWESOME things!!

Glad to hear your dad is doing fine! :thumbsup:


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

So Bob, still in touch with Chris???
You know once a slotcar racer always a slotcar racer, it always come back.


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

sethndaddy said:


> So Bob, still in touch with Chris???
> You know once a slotcar racer always a slotcar racer, it always come back.


Ed,

Yes in fact I just got in touch with him via Facebook.
I'm not a big Facebooker guy but, do it now and then to check on the Cub Scout Pictures of camp outs and pack meetings that get posted up of our pack by parents.

Chris wanted my phone number so, he could call me to get together next time he came to Nebraska to visit his parents. They still live in the same house...Cool

Chris was really heavy into Remote Control Planes after High School and I was racing Electric Remote Control Buggies and trucks for a while on a real nice heated indoor off road Clay Track. 
This was before we had kids and had time for ALL THAT.
The track was inside of a large Farm Morton Building. This guys Father was a farmer and let him and his friend use half of the building for the track....Oh Yeah!

He used a small John Deere Tiller to rip the clay up when we needed to build a new track to race on from time to time. 
The stopwatches would come out. The Real Good racers (not me) would work together in teams during practice nights to figure the fastest way around the track.

I did learn that not wrecking alot was a good way to win a race. 
That and having a fast, good handling car with the right gears and tranny set up along with proper brake settings.

If you had to much brake coming into the corners you would just spin out. 
Having less brakes made for a smooth & fast way around the track.

We had transponders on our cars that would react to a wire buried under the Start/Finish line for computer lap and time records of the race.

My Nephew Josh was 14 at the time I was racing and he started to go racing with me. I had a car and Remote and stuff for him to race with. He remembers all the fun we had and now has his own Gas Powered Remote Control Truck along with a Wife and a Baby boy now also!!

Well now our 9 year old son Fletcher is getting into custom building slot cars.
Soon he will be posting up a picture of his NEW Dodge Ram "Ta, Ta, Taco pickup....He loves Tacos. 

I helped him mask off an AW silver pickup and he hand painted nicely the front hood and fenders Semi Gloss Black.
Next he painted silver over the roofs black stripes and left the rest of the cab silver and has one coat of flat white on the pickup box. Needs a second coat and then the Decals will go down....He thought of this whole concept on his own. 

When this is all done it will get dipped in Future Floor Coating for a great clear coat shine that will make everything GLOSS.
Painting with flat paints and a brush can get you some real nice paint schemes if you do a good job of laying the paint down without leaving any brush marks.
You need the right brush and need to move pretty fast to get the whole area painted before the paint has a chance to dry.
If painting a large area flat then you can start from one edge and work your way to the other edge.

Bob...I just love to ramble on about my hobby...zilla


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

" Hobby Talk is the Slot Car place to be....I love you guys man!! "

al ...you're still not getting my Budwieser ... pink


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## tomhocars (Oct 19, 2005)

*AC Gibert*

I got my first slot car set for Christmas in 1962.WOW.It was an AC Gilbert set.It was a figure 8 set with two Corvettes.My father spent about $30 for this set.Expensive for toys at the time.We put it on a 4x8 sheet of plywood,with the green roll of grass and a piece of painted blue plexiglass for a lake.We put a few trees on the layout and I thought I had the coolest layout anywhere.It was as nice as Watkins Glen in my mind.I think thats why I collect Gilbert slots It's a great memory.Thanks Dad.


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## foxkilo (Mar 27, 2008)

I got my first set myfrom grandparents. Christmas eve 64. It was a Faller set with a light blue Porsche 356 and a red Merc SL hardtop. Normally i had tobe content to play with my sister and as you probably would have guessed the red Merc had to be hers. I went on to create a combined modelrailroad cum racecours lay-out. Which in retrospect looked really nice to me. But proof how time distorts memory came when I went through the cellar at my motthers home and found my RR and what remained of the little buildings. God my craftmanship at that time which manifested itself in those innocent buildings was really awfull. Anyway I had loadsa fun with. At school I had friend who got the biggest Faller set at the time, the Nuerburgring set, for his birthday. Man, I turned green with envy. There was a big rift at the time between those who had Carrera sets and those with Faller. And being the only Faller ones in our form we naturally had to join forces.I visited him quite often and we used that set extensively to destroy cars. Later on I turned to plastic kits, graduated from small planes to armoured vehicles and soldiers and than figures in general. Than back to WW1 planes just for the fun in creating the wiring of the airframe. And in the end I ended up with m/c's in small scale and in 1/1 scale.
By now I am back into slots and trains. 
I'm no longer on speaking terms with that friend from school cause he ripped me off pretty bad in our teens. Nowadays he tries to get in touch with me but I refuse. Not even for ol'times sake. In that respect I've got a memory like an elephant. 

But the little cars are still with me. But as I have no kids again I have to be content to play with myself. (Not that playing with myself).

Mario


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## racer8nut (Mar 25, 2010)

My first memeories of slot cars came when my dad let set up the old aurora lock and joiner track. It had a turquoise split window vette, red Jaguar and red makko shark. I have all the cars today and in good condition. Unfortunately the track ended up being sold. Later, I got a tyco track and as an adult I have an AFX track set up in my game room. I am now sharing and making more memories with my own son who is now 3 years old. Just like my dad and I would play..we are doing the same thing. The cooleset thing is he starting pulling the trigger when he was about 9 months old. We go to our local track here in Daytona Beach and race 1/32 scale and HO cars. At home, I turn down the track so he has good success and of course being the smarty pants that he is.. he turns it up. Hmmmm.. wonder where he gets his need for speed from? So, I have to thank my dad for getting me hooked.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Great stories! 

Here's some more from a similar thread...

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=308902


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## Dave G. (May 26, 2009)

I grew up in the era when slot cars and slot car sets seemed to be everywhere. All of the local department stores would have racks and racks of slot car sets and various slot cars for sale. I used to drool over all the different kinds of sets available in the Christmas catalogs we got in the mail. I bugged and bugged my parents for a set of my own, and finally got one for Christmas when I was in 6th grade. It was a little Eldon 1/32 scale fiqure 8 set, with two chassis, and 2 sets of bodies that you could interchange. Two of the bodies were Dodge stock cars, and the other two were were Indy style bodies. Man, I think I literally wore that set out. 

Some time later, my oldest brother took me to a local car show, and in the back of the hall, they had the biggest slot car set up I had ever seen up to that point. AND, you could plunk down a few dollars, and pick out a car and run it! They were 1/32 scale also, but they weren't the "toy cars" that were in the set my parents got me. I got in line, paid my money, and got to race against some of the other boys. Man, I was in heaven. After my time was up, I was handed a coupon for a 1/2 hr of free time at the newly set up shop in my hometown. Again, I bugged my Dad, brothers, uncles or anybody else in the family who could drive to take me there. Finally, my uncle said he'd take me and my cousin (who was also bitten by the slot car bug) to the place one saturday afternoon. When we got there, I was awe struck. Two huge 8 lane commercial style tracks, and they were running 1/24 scale! My cousin and I both had to rent a car, and a controller (which my uncle paid for), and I handed over my free time coupon, and we went racing. We had a blast. After racing 1/24 there was no going back. I began to scheme how to get my own 1/24 slot car. And like a lot boys back then, I managed to get a paper route, and started saving. Then one day, district manager for the paper that I delivered stopped by the house. And showed me a catalog of different prizes I could win for getting new subscribers to the newspaper. There in the middle of the catalog was a variety of slot cars. I knew right then and there, that I was gonna get those new subscribers. I simply HAD TO HAVE my own 1/24 scale slot car! A few weeks went by, and little by little I did it. I picked out the car I wanted from the catalog, a Classic Industries blue Oldsmobile Toronado. Another week went by, and the district manager again showed up at the house with my car. I hurriedly opened up the package, and to my surprise, it was a kit car. Which I had no idea at the time how to put together. Well, no problem I thought, I'll simply get my oldest brother (who was well known as the one of the better auto mechanics in the neighborhood) and have him help me put it together.

Well, we looked over the instructions, and I distincly remember him saying, that doesn't seem right, why would they do that for. I didn't think anything of it, after all he was a mechanic. He could get about any "real car" up and running. Surely he would know the proper way to put together a slot car. We finally put the thing together, and later that weekend, my Dad dropped me off at the shop. I walked in, paid for my time on the track, rented a controller, and hurried to one of the tracks. Man, I could hardly wait to put my new car in the slot and run it.

I squeezed the trigger on the controller, and man oh man, the thing took off like a rocket. I got close to the first turn and let off the "throttle". And oh no..... the car was still hurtling down the track like a car possesed. It would not slow down. I watched in horror as my brand new slot car flew off the track and slammed into the wall. I ran down to the end of the room and picked up my car. Amazingly, the body only had a small crack on it, but the rear axle was bent at a horrible angle. I stood there for a few minutes, not knowing what to do.

While all this was happening, the owner of the shop, and one of the older boys saw what happened, and came down to where I was at to take a look at my car. They asked me, who put this together for you? I told them about how my brother and I worked on it. Then the older boy (who knew my oldest brother) said, he may know how to work on a real car, but he don't know sheet about how to set up a slot car.

So the both of them went about repairing my car, replaced the axle, and properly set my car up. The owner handed my car to me, and said now try it. I then asked him, what I owed him for repairing my slot car. He stood there for a little bit, scratched his chin, and said, oh about $100.00. I didn't know what to think. I looked at him, and almost in tears, told him, that I didn't have $100.00. He then looked at the older boy, who was doing his best not to laugh, then looked at me and said. Well, @#$%^!!, now you've made me so mad, I'll just have not charge you anything! He and the older boy then shared a laugh together, and I realized that I was being put on.

He then went back behind the counter, restarted my time, and told me to have fun. Which I did.

As time went on, I bought a few more slot cars, always from the owner of that shop. 

I continued to race slot cars on up to my years in high school. Sadly, the shop got sold to some other people. The place began to get run down, people stopped showing up. And the hobby as a whole began to wind down. The place eventually closed, and the building demolished to make way for new construction.

I gave my slot cars away, as by that point, I thought I was too "grown up" being a junior in high school by then to play with slot cars. 

I'm now 59 years old, and in the last few years have gotten back into the hobby. I got into a conversation with some co-workers/friends, and we got to talking about how when we were kids, how much we enjoyed slot cars. Another co worker heard us, and mentioned that he still had a HO track set up in his basement on an old ping pong table. We decided to get together and run a few races. We had a BLAST! 

Since then I found out via Facebook, that there was a new club forming in the area. I gave them a call, and wound up joining. They race 1/32 and HO. We have also done some travelling to out of town clubs and racing against them. 

I think I'm enjoying racing slot cars now, more than I did when I was a kid.

And sorry about the rather long winded post, but the memories came flooding back.


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

alpink said:


> " Hobby Talk is the Slot Car place to be....I love you guys man!! "
> 
> al ...you're still not getting my Budwieser ... pink


Yes Hobby Talk Rules and am realy digging the stories people are starting to post up now!! 

Stories of slot cars FROM THE HEART...Yeah!!

Bob...make mine a Coke Zero with a slice of Apple Pie Alamode please...zilla


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

My dad was always a train guy, when we were younger I remember multi scenery filled platforms while growing up in ho scale. Then he switched over to lionel/american flyer and only set up at xmas with a full blown decorated plaform under the tree, cinder block and 4x8 sheet of plywood, and he would have 2 trains zipping everywhere. He was quit a skilled modeler.
One of my fondest memories came in 1991. when I was around 24 yrs old.
I had probably 200 cars at the time, no internet. All racing cars in a cool display case. 2 cars I had at that time where the white ford gt ford with the wide black stripe, and the lighted blue ferrari. the ferrari had blue silicone tires, the white had stock tires with a thin layer of clear silicone rubbed on with my finger(back then I didnt know they made silicone stock size tires).
My dad and mom were over to visit and because my oldest daughter was only a few months old, we had to smoke in the basement (were the platform was). I told dad, "see this is a real platform, not like those boring trains rolling around, these cars you can race".
He said "well set up a race and we'll see if dear old dad can put you in your place."
Knowing I would kick his ass, I gave him the Blue Ferrari, and I took the white gt40.

I gave it my best shot, knowing I had the much slower, poor handling car.
He won, and continued upstairs bragging and swinging his arms around, "yep, can beat dear old Dad, even on his own track" (he always called himself dear old dad for some reason?), "pick the cars himself and I still whooped him"
All I could do was whine about how I gave him the better car and la la la la was all he would hear.

A few months later he voluntarily went into the hospital to quit drinking beer. He was in there for 6 weeks and ended up dying of pneumonia and failed kidneys. He was 42 years old.

Of all the cars that roll in and out of my stable, the Blue Ferrari and White gt40 are still there. I bought both of these cars with my dad when I was little at a place called Tony's Hobbyshop in Coplay, Pa.
January 23rd of this year Tony passed away at 97 years old, his Hobby shop is still open
and he worked till the day he died. The store remains unchanged from the 70's as I remember it as a kid. His son runs it now.

sorry so long


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

Well, I don't have any really cool stories to tell, but i do have memories. And one of my Fondest, was of the X-mas of 1969, when I really wanted a 1/32 scale set, and finally got this Eldon set for X-Mas....yep, that's me(and mom) !








PS- although the Eldon 1/32 was fun for a while, I really liked my Aurora H.O. set alot better


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

Ralph, I love the rug and ashtray stand. I remember all my aunts/uncles/grandparent, ect, ect. having those ashtray's. Funny how little things like that get lost in time.


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## gonegonzo (Jan 18, 2006)

Reading the posts jogged my memory as well .

I was introduced to slotcars in the slotcar heyday , 1962 . My uncle ran stock cars and I loved going to his house and banging around with his latest and greates project on the cars .

One day , it was winter time , I was with my dad on my way to my uncles house when down the street I could see the stock car sitting outside full of snow . I knew then that my day of serious greasy grimmy work was ruined .

When we walked into the garage , I was in shock . Where the stock car used to sit was a plywood routed slotcar track that my uncle and his neighbor had built . Needless to say , that day turned out to be a great day in my love for auto sports .

Christmas was right around the corner . After being introduced to slotcars , now all I wanted for Christmas was a slotcar set . Heyyyyy , it was 1962 and slotcars were sold everywhere . JC Penny's , Sears and Robuck , Montgomery Wards , Alens and many other catalog stores had them listed .

That year I got an AC Gilbert 40 Ford jalopy set with gas pedal controllers . Shortly afetr , slotcar tracks were sprining up so as almost every town had a slotcar track . Just as fast , they all seemed to be dying . I then got an Elden set and used it in between commercial track openings and closings .

It was after I got married that I got my first HO set . It was a TYCO PRO . I loved it . I used it to race with friends in my basement . 

Then , a slotcar track opened and was a mainstay unil just a few years ago when the owner passed away . We ran 1/24th scale cars there . 

Now , with nowhere to race again , I was introduced to these funky little cars called T-Jets . I didn't know much about them and am still learning . I look back on the hobby and how it structured my 1/1th automotive life as well . I raced cars , built what we called hot rods and was involved in many automotive adventures .

Now retired , I'm still racing my T-Jets and 1/24th scale grag cars . Oh yeah , 'm also building an "old school hot rod " that my friend and I are taking across Route 66 as soon as it's finished .

Good memories ,

Gonzo


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## roddster (Jan 17, 2010)

Model Car Science frequently had HO slot car articles. Also race results from coast to coast. This was in the sixties. So, I pointed out to my mom, a few weeks before Christmas that Ace hardware has an Aurora set I would like. Knowing she bought it, I already visited a hobby store and bought some staights. And begged and begged to open the "gift" on Dec 23rd. She finally let me. I ran the cars 'till 2 in the morning.
And, in Lansing IL, a place called "Tony's" opened up. What a place. Scale 1/25th drag strip (full 55 feet), a fast stretched figure 8, next to that was a 32nd scale road course (never ran it), a 1/25the scale road couse, then a long HO track. The straight must have been 20 feet long. About every other week the kids I hung out with would go down there and ran our drag cars. Five cents a run!! 
I ran about 10 races there. Some on the HO track, some on the figure 8, some on the 1/25th scale road course. Wasn't enough though. Like a lot of other tracks, Tony's closed up in about 3-4 years. What a place.


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

This is a great thread! I'll keep comming back to read everyones stories.

Bob...once upon a slot car time stories rock...zilla


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