# Yard sale find... it pays to ask!



## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

long narrative ahead...

At a yard sale this weekend, I was looking at an old Schwinn balloon-tire bike. The elderly gent selling it asked if I was interested, and I said my wife would kill me if I brought home another, but that I WAS looking for toy cars. He tried to show me a couple of cheap RC cars they had, but I explained that I was looking for the little ones that ran on an electric track with the little trigger controllers. His face kinda lit up, and he said to his wife, "Hey, we have a box of that stuff in the basement, don't we, Myrtle?" She said yes, and if I'd come back a little later she'd be happy to dig it out.

So my heart is thumping and I'm thinking cigar box full of GTOs and Galaxies and Falcons (greedy jerk that I am). I come back a couple hours later, and she says if I'd wait a couple minutes, she'd go down and get it. Well, she comes up in a few and asks if I can come down and take a look... we left her daughter entertaining my 6- and 4-year-olds in the garage, and I go down into the basement to find a homemade plywood box, maybe 3' high, 3' wide, and 4' long, with a bunch of stuff in the bottom. At first glance, I can see a bunch of HO track, a bunch of orange Sizzler track with a box, and then under that one of those old vibrating football games. It's all thrown in the bottom of the box and her grandkids have been playing with it for years when they come over. So I spent about 15-20 minutes helping her clean it out and separating/organizing the various parts of the Sizzler set, the slot car set, and the football game. 

She asked what I thought the Sizzler set was worth (no cars, sorry, just orange track and banked curves and a Juice Machine and a beat-up box). I guessed $5-$10, so she put it out for 5 bucks.

Then we collected all the slot car stuff in a box and I asked what she wanted for it. She asked me what it was worth. I offered 10 bucks and everybody walked away happy. Here's what I got:














































more in the next post...


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

continued...














































The track is old Tyco S (it actually says Tyco Speedways) and I'm amazed that there are only like 3 broken tabs in the whole lot. I thought the intersection track was particularly cool. And I didn't know that the Tyco ramp-jump with the wide-slot landing track dated back this far. I'm guessing the section with the yellow bar across it is kinda like a speed bump-jump, and the wiggle sections seem to be L & J adapters.

And the cars... believe it or not, all I had to do was oil them (and pick a bunch of lint boogers out of the blue one with tweezers) and they run pretty well. I need two rims for the green Tyco (the ones with the little holes around the outside and the spinner in the middle) and that's it. For now, I'm running it with hard plastic US-1 tires on the front--it looks dumb, but it works.

Question about the red and blue Marx cars... they run the wrong way on my track, so how can I get them to run the same direction as my Tjets without taking the motors apart? Or is that possible? And if I do have to take the motors apart, will the magnets fit in reversed? Should I swap sides with them or turn them upside down or what? I thought of reversing the gear that contacts the pinion gear on the back of the motor, but it'll only fit in one way because of the way the other gears back there are situated and the slot for the crown gear in the bottom of the chassis. They're kinda fun to drive, and I'm excited because these are the first Marx cars I've ever found. Any ideas on getting them to run the right direction?

thanx all--

--rick


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

Rick,

Have you tried to flip the motor upside down? The arm should run through the center of the motor and the brush tubes should line up with the center of the motor. If you flip the can, the brush tubes should still align with power tabs and the pinion gear should still align with the crown/worm gear assembly. 

Could be worth a try.

Russ


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## noddaz (Aug 6, 1999)

*Wow Rick!*

Now that stuff is really cool!
Especially those Marx cars...
Nice haul!

Scott


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## grungerockjeepe (Jan 8, 2007)

I had a marx car once, and it ran backwards too. Doesnt look like the motor is really serviceable either.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Cowabunga!


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

resinmonger--good call! smacked myself in the head for not thinking of it myself. and it worked fine except for one thing... there are 3 square plastic pins on the bottom of the motor, molded into the plastic insert that holds the magnets and such. they fit into holes in the chassis. but when you flip the motor, they hit the body. now i'm up against the dilemma... do i cut on pristine vintage stuff? the pins would cut off real easy... the insert and the chassis look to be made of the same stuff as Tjet chassis (delrin?). and there's locating tabs on the chassis that keep the motor in place, so it seems to run fine without the pins...

scott, i was amazed that this stuff lived in the bottom of a toybox and got beat up by little kids for YEARS and seems pretty much intact. i think the Tyco has all its trim bits in one piece, as does the blue Marx... the red one, you can see it has a busted header and is missing the driver's head...

jeep, you are exactly right. the motor is crimped together, the brush holders (barrels?) seem nonadjustable, and i'm a little concerned that if i DO run this thing, and the motor wears out, it's essentially a display piece...

so what do you guys think? cut the pins off the bottom of the motor and flip it? or leave it as an intact piece of slot car history?

--rick


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

How is your track wired?? If you have a different supply for each lane a single pole double throw switch per lane will reverse track polarity and the cars will run the correct direction. option 2.. run the cars in the other direction and reverse the magnets on the competing cars you would be racing against.. I am lucky in tis regard My 4 lane is powered by 4 train transformers so switching direction is as easy as flipping a switch..or 4 switches..


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## SCJ (Jul 15, 1999)

Great find......and the Tjet to Tyco Speedways adaptors are kinda hard to find in good shape.

-------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com


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## tonesua (Jul 1, 2006)

*It does pay to ask.*

Wow. That is a great find. I have yet to find them at garage sales I find many interesting 45prm records that way (usually at the swapmeet).

Weird Jack has the tires for tyco s. The guide pins are on the 'bay.
I am looking for a source for the shoes, as I need a pair or two to get one going.


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## joeslotcar (Mar 12, 2003)

*If it's the 3 gear chassis...*

to change direction, flip the drive gear around. Pull the A frame pillars apart slightly and pop it out, then flip it over so the crown is on the other side.


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## Roddgerr (Feb 8, 2006)

That looks like the set I got for Christmas one year.

http://www.slotmonsters.com/tyco-slot-cars-1967-1968-road-and-rail-catalog.ashx

Look at the last page.


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

joeslotcar said:


> to change direction, flip the drive gear around. Pull the A frame pillars apart slightly and pop it out, then flip it over so the crown is on the other side.


i wanted to try that, but i think it (the "driven" crown gear) will interfere with the crown gear on the axle...



Roddgerr said:


> That looks like the set I got for Christmas one year.
> 
> http://www.slotmonsters.com/tyco-slot-cars-1967-1968-road-and-rail-catalog.ashx
> 
> Look at the last page.


yeah, dang... every piece i got with the set is on that page, except one of the cars...

--rick


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## joeslotcar (Mar 12, 2003)

Quote:
Originally Posted by *joeslotcar*  
_to change direction, flip the drive gear around. Pull the A frame pillars apart slightly and pop it out, then flip it over so the crown is on the other side._

<i wanted to try that, but i think it (the "driven" crown gear) will interfere with the crown gear on the axle...>

The gear on the axle can be moved side to side, out of the way of the drive crown. -Joe


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

joeslotcar said:


> The gear on the axle can be moved side to side, out of the way of the drive crown. -Joe


yes and no. i'd have to cut the chassis... there's an opening in the chassis that the axle gear sticks down through. it's offset to one side like on a Tjet... i'd have to open up the other side. if i can wriggle out from under the housework stuff i have to do later, i'll post pics...


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## noddaz (Aug 6, 1999)

*Yo Rick!*

Spring Carlise is this weekend.....
Good luck...


Scott


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

noddaz said:


> Spring Carlise is this weekend.....
> Good luck...
> 
> 
> Scott


wow, good memory! I'm impressed...

yeah, i went. i play hooky from work 2 days a year... i go to both the Spring and Fall shows on Thursday if I can. and i got... nothin'. ok, that's not entirely true... but the pickins is gettin' mighty slim. came home with a nice red GT40, a blue Lionel Mercedes missing its roof and mounted all cockeyed on a Tjet chassis, a white Ferrari GT250 body, a beat Speedline Ferrari Dino, a few unremarkable AFX things and a sunburn.

this is not to say that there was nothing else there... I passed on a complete Micro Machines set without box for 20 bucks just because I already have one. (in retrospect, i shoulda bought that sucker and turned it around on FeeBay  ) it's just that the few guys I saw that had stuff, had like the cases you've all seen at slot car shows... pretty rows of shiny Tjets with 3-figure price stickers on the bottom. there's very little chance of finding a junk box/treasure chest hiding off to the side of someone's booth.

and to top it all off, the bike I was riding around got a flat at the extreme far corner of the fairgrounds from where my car was parked. it was getting to be time to go home anyway, but still.

waaah waaaah. i'll stop cryin' now and run a few laps in the basement and then i'll feel all better. 

--rick


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

nice find Rick.


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

never hurts to ask!  

:thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


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## FullyLoaded (Apr 19, 2006)

Good find especially on the Marx HO Speedways Indy cars. The weird thing is that I don't ever recall from when I collected Marx HO slot cars that they ran the wrong way on my Tyco set-up ages back but my memory is getting foggy and I don't have any here to test. The easiest thing is to take the can motor and just flip the entire unit around since it has a step-down gear arrangement in the rear. The Indy cars are harder to find than the regular T-bird and Corvette.

REH did repops of the Marx HO cars under their American Line label using NOS T-jet chassis, they did the 1963 T-bird, 1963 Corvette, Rolls Royce (no glass) and the two Indy Cars but without the driver figures. I think the main colors were red, yellow, green and then they did some in blue and maybe black.


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

FullyLoaded said:


> REH did repops of the Marx HO cars under their American Line label using NOS T-jet chassis, they did the 1963 T-bird, 1963 Corvette, Rolls Royce (no glass) and the two Indy Cars but without the driver figures. I think the main colors were red, yellow, green and then they did some in blue and maybe black.


I have some of the repops... pretty sure I have a yellow Rolls and one or two of the T-birds. And I built a red Corvette up as a Fray-type car--actually I think it's built to VHORS rules; it's been a while. I still run it sometimes when the kids feel like running wide Tjets. You'd be amazed how low you can get that body on a Tjet chassis...


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