# Cox HO Track?



## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

I am working on an article on the history of Lifelike, which goes back to the Cox HO cars. Does anyone out there know if Cox ever had their own track and if so pictures of it would be nice. AMRAC took over the Cox HO business and I have info on their cars and track.


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## slotcardan (Jun 9, 2012)

...........


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

Thanks for those pictures. I remember the gas powered cars from when I was a kid, I have never seen any of those run. I only recently become aware that Cox had 1/32nd tracks. In 1969 the original owner of Cox sold the business to Leisure Dynamics. Possibly all of the Cox branded tracks in HO and 1/32nd scale were by Leisure Dynamics and the original company only sold cars prior to that time. I do have contact information for someone that was an insider with Cox, so hopefully I can get more detailed information. My article is strictly about the HO cars and track.


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## many slots (Apr 16, 2007)

It looks like Cox made at least 3 different HO sets: HO-8, HO-10, HO-21.
I hope this helps.


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

I have a picture of the box for the third set included in my article. Note that the text on the boxes is in both French and English. Leisure Dynamics was a Canadian company. I did get more info on that strange 1/32nd set. Actually I am told that the cars were 1/43rd. The track used what is now referred to as the AC2Car system that I believe was developed by Eldon and had AC voltage with diodes in the cars and controllers. The single cross over section had spring loaded flippers. If a car was going fast it continued straight ahead and did not change lanes. If the car was going slow it would get diverted to the other lane.


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## many slots (Apr 16, 2007)

Don't forget to mention Jouef, the French company. They released at least 2 different sets under license from ROKAR.


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## many slots (Apr 16, 2007)

Jouef Set


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## Dushkwoneshe (Apr 27, 2012)

many slots said:


> It looks like Cox made at least 3 different HO sets: HO-8, HO-10, HO-21. I hope this helps.


Add - 12, 15, 17 & 19...


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

I will have to investigate the Jouef connection. I still do not have a date for when the Cox HO cars came out.
There has been some controversy on another BB regarding the Cox HO cars. Aurora had a patent on the G-Plus car, that was filed in 1976 and issued in 1977. That patent would have been in effect until at least 1993. Aurora folded in 1983, Tomy bought the business and would have acquired the patent. The Cox HO cars are clearly in violation of that patent, so possibly Leisure Concepts, who owned Cox had a license agreement with Aurora.


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## FullyLoaded (Apr 19, 2006)

Rich Dumas said:


> ...There has been some controversy on another BB regarding the Cox HO cars. Aurora had a patent on the G-Plus car, that was filed in 1976 and issued in 1977...


Taking a wild guess, I would say the Cox HO cars were probably made near the late 1970s. As for them violating the patent of the Aurora G+ design, this is a gray area as the chassis from Cox/Amrac may have been influenced by the design but it is not a direct copy of the Aurora chassis.


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

I got an e-mail yesterday from Philippe de Lespinay, who worked on the Cox HO cars. He tells me that the Aurora patent for the G-Plus car was on shaky ground and mentioned that a Riggen car with magnetic downforce had been shown at the February 1971 Chicago Hobby Show. Aurora had already taken a beating in another patent lawsuit, since the Cox/Leisure Dynamics stuff was only marketed in Canada, they probably thought that there would be nothing to be gained from trying to enforce their patent.
Philippe also said that his mandate was to do a clone of the G-Plus and that the main improvement that he made was to have a bigger flux condenser for improved downforce. He dates the sets to the end of 1977.


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