# IDEAL TCR Slotless cars



## 1scalevolvo

Fortunately I found a small trove of stock IDEAL TCR cars that are "Unmolested" by my dremelation & re-mounting!They are double's of what I have but they are good for illustration purposes.
One thing that is different from TYCO TCR slotless is that the Jam ,"A" & "B" cars are on the same wheel base so any given body can be either of the three categories.For example the #44 Blue Pantera Is on a Jam chassis & the sv/bk/yl #55 Pantera can be an "A" or "B" car interchangeably.On the TYCO TCR only long wheelbase bodies can be used on the Jam car as their A & B cars are all short wheelbase.
IDEAL TCR came in three series succeeding each other,Mark 1,Mark 2 & Mark 3.
All Jam cars have three p/u shoes & can go in either direction.The front wheels are fixed so the car always bears right.Only the L/R wheel has drive power while the R/R freewheels.
The Mark 1 cars are in the top row.They are screw-on only & use short p/u shoe's.Unlike TYCO's TCR system the pickup shoes are the same for the Jam & A/B cars.This is the same for the Mark 2 & 3 as well.The A/B cars have a front axle that can "steer" from right to left.The Mark 1 cars came out in A.D. 1977 .On car "A" one p/u shoe is on the center of the chassis while on the "B" cars the p/u shoes are on either side.On the TYCO TCR I think it is the opposite.IDEAL cars cannot be used on TYCO TCR track.
On the Mark 2 ( lower row)all the the chassis can now use both either snap-on bodies or the old screw-on bodies .The front asxle is now fixed & does not steer.All chassis's use larger p/u shoes.
Both Mark 1 & 2 cars steered through the rear wheels.When you wanted to steer right the gearing transferred power to the Left rear wheel when the motor reversed direction & vice-versa.The cars alwys moved foreward regardles of whether the motor ran clockwise or counter clockwise.
The Mark 3 (Lower row at extreme right)went to a system more in line with TYCO with the front wheels steering & traction power applied to both rear wheels.They used Pontiac Firebird & Dukes of Hazzard General Lee Bodies & the previous bodies that could snap-on only.
Enclosed are pic's of the respective chassis's & the stock cars.Most of the cars shown are now mounted on TYCO 440-X2 wide using my mounting system in the customising section of hobbytalk.The Blue Dodge truck is on a TYCO chassis (  looks great!) & the yl/bk checkered roof Dodge truck is stock.Same is for the Jeep's.Also shown are the Dodge Magnum's,Chevy Malibu Laguna's, Can-Am & Indy cars that IDEAL TCR made.They also did Ford Vans ,Triumph TR-7's & other bodiesbut that is for another post.
Any corrections appreciated.

Regards, Neal :dude:


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## 1scalevolvo

*Some more pic's of IDEAL TCR Car's*

Here are some more pics of my IDEAL TCR cars.almost all are now on TYCO 440-X2 chassis.They are Dodge Magnum's, Malubu Laguna's,Can-Am & Indy cars,etc.


Neal :dude:


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## Bill Hall

Ya know what Neal? That last pic of the jeeps with the chassis stuffed up deep just gave me another idea for some model murdering.

Willy's Overland! Hmmmmm?! Gonna have to mull that over for a while. 

Always inspiring.

Bill


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## WesJY

Hey Neal, 

I am hoping you can help me on this. I found one complete box tcr indy jam car raceway it came with everything except billboards and trestles but everything is complete even with cars plus the truck.

I wanna try it out. is it funny that i said i wanna try it one day and now i found this cool set from yard sale for 5 bucks!!! anyway do you know where i can get rear tires and pick up shoes for those cars? 

any info would be appreciated.. fyi - i did find some tires from tubtrack (ebay) but i am hoping to find silicone? 

Thanks
Wes


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## 1scalevolvo

WesJY said:


> Hey Neal,
> 
> I am hoping you can help me on this. I found one complete box tcr indy jam car raceway it came with everything except billboards and trestles but everything is complete even with cars plus the truck.
> 
> I wanna try it out. is it funny that i said i wanna try it one day and now i found this cool set from yard sale for 5 bucks!!! anyway do you know where i can get rear tires and pick up shoes for those cars?
> 
> any info would be appreciated.. fyi - i did find some tires from tubtrack (ebay) but i am hoping to find silicone?
> 
> Thanks
> Wes


 As far as parts are concerned I normally would get the silicone Tires from the slotcar shows I go to or the internet or eBay.Same is for other parts but they are far & few between.
I have the same cars as you have but except for the Red truck they are all converted to either TOMY G+ or TYCO 44--X2 wide chassis with my plastruct method.
I did try to operate the set I had in my attic for almost a decade but it operated very poorly if at all. Perhaps you could do better but as far as slotless racing is concerned TYCO TCR is the only way to go.
If you really want a go at it I do have a lot of spare chassis complete (Jam & A/B car & junker chassis's you could raid for parts if you are interested in buying as they are left over from al the conversions I did.

Regards, Neal


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## WesJY

volvo1:1 said:


> As far as parts are concerned I normally would get the silicone Tires from the slotcar shows I go to or the internet or eBay.Same is for other parts but they are far & few between.
> I have the same cars as you have but except for the Red truck they are all converted to either TOMY G+ or TYCO 44--X2 wide chassis with my plastruct method.
> I did try to operate the set I had in my attic for almost a decade but it operated very poorly if at all. Perhaps you could do better but as far as slotless racing is concerned TYCO TCR is the only way to go.
> If you really want a go at it I do have a lot of spare chassis complete (Jam & A/B car & junker chassis's you could raid for parts if you are interested in buying as they are left over from al the conversions I did.
> 
> Regards, Neal


i ll get back to you on that. i found some silcione tires and no luck on pick ups. i ll try and see if i can get them running and experience it.. i will probably get tired of it? lol.. thanks neal. 

Wes


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## WesJY

neal can you send me pics of leftover slotless chassis [email protected]. i would like to look at it and decide if i want to buy from you. i have ideal slotless general lee and roscoe police car they are different than what i have with the box.. ?? 

Thanks
Wes


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## 1scalevolvo

*duuuuh ! I forgot the Mark IV chassis !*

There was also a Mark IV chassis.Most likely this was at the end of the road for the IDEAL TCR series in the early '80's. Notice the more powerfull TOMY TURBO type motor & revised front suspension.Both the Mark III & the Mark IV still have a lot in common.Interesting how much it now has in common with the TYCO TCR engineering wise as both the rear drive gears & front steering are the same principle.The Mark IV chassis was still too little too late to save the IDEAL TCR slotless line. TYCO TCR is still the best slotless system so far.Perhaps with more microchip miniaturization they can come up with a new slotless system.

Neal :dude:


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## noddaz

*10 years?*



volvo1:1 said:


> *snip*
> I did try to operate the set I had in my attic for almost a decade but it operated very poorly if at all.
> *snip*
> Regards, Neal


Did you really spend 10 years trying to make the set work? :jest: 
That is a long time..... lol

Scott


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## 1scalevolvo

noddaz said:


> Did you really spend 10 years trying to make the set work? :jest:
> That is a long time..... lol
> 
> Scott


thats OK I meant that it was sitting in the attic for almost 10 year before I tried to operate it.


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