# Tjet cars or the real thing



## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

When I first started playing with slot cars I always liked the Aurora cars better than any of the others being sold. They just looked more realistic to me. I think Tyco started out OK ( details were not very good ) but then got too large. I never really thought about how accurate Tjets were. I didn’t know if some of the cars were real or something Aurora came up with. Mangusta Mongoose being one. So I started to google the cars to see what came up. Here are some photo compares. I google the photos so I hope I am not stepping on anyone’s toes.
Here are some early Fords:


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

Some more cars:


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

Some More:


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

Some more compares:


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

A few more


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Cool side by side comparo's!! Aurora didn't do too bad of a job representing their targets! Sure, there are some discrepancies... Sure, some of the proportions are a little off. But they still did a really good job of capturing most. You don't have to second guess what they were modeled after.


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## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

Loved those stock bodied cars, tow truck and stake beds.


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## hojoe (Dec 1, 2004)

Nice job, love seeing them next to the real thing.
hojoe


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

For the most part Aurora did a good job with their bodies, especially considering that they were originally intended to be toys. I never cared for their Corvette Stingray, But Johnny Lightning did a good job with that.


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## mikeponiatowski (Jan 24, 2006)

I read somewhere about how diffiicult it was for Aurora designers and engineers to create/build all the differentl body styles they did on essentially a small "brick".


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

Thanks guy's I am glad you like them. I agree that Aurora did a very good job. Here are the other cars


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

Some more:


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

Getting to the end


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

some more


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

Hope I am not boring you


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Excellent!!! The only car that Aurora really fudged up is the J car. The real deal has sexy curves in all the right places, and the Aurora version looks more like a delivery van... :lol: They had to work around the chassis and that really took the sexy out of it!


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

this some


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## bmt216a (Mar 28, 2008)

If I missed any Tjets let me know


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## 60chevyjim (Feb 21, 2008)

very cool picture show !! thank you ..
aurora did a great job on the tjet and vibe bodys .
the other manufactures didn't all ways do so good .


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

*bmt216a* sez:


> ... I always liked the Aurora cars better than any of the others being sold ...


Well, BMT, as far as the '60s-'70s slot cars go, I'd say you're preaching to the choir. We do have some fellows who are heavily into Tyco or love Faller, but I think most of the members are big Aurora fans. It may largely be a matter of what you had, or lusted after, as a kid.

Now, here's three questions for the forum:


If you had to pick one car that Aurora really nailed, which would it be? What car did Aurora capture the look and feel of best?


If you had to pick one car that Aurora really goobered, which would it be? (We probably have to limit this to full-bodied cars - the open-wheel racers that got bloated to fit over the brick chassis are just too easy a target).


And if you had to pick one Aurora car that you just love in spite of its visual shortcomings, which would it be? And what's the story there?

Right off the top of my head, I'd say the one that visually hits me as right is the '67 Galaxie (though that may just be because it's so familiar - my mother had one). 








There are several others that are probably as good.


And the one that is so wrong it _hurts_, has got to be the McLaren-Elva.








Mamma mia! When I saw a pic of the real thing, after years of looking at the HO version, I couldn't believe it was the same car.


The one I love is the top-down Mercedes 300-SL vibrator-body, including the little dude in the sports-car hat. 















It has the vertical Euro-style headlight covers (illegal in the US), which I had seen in a dramatic illustration in a kids' book on sports cars. I never got a slot set when they were new, but some years later Jim McDonald sold me his old vibrator track and cars. While many of Aurora's cars were the stylishly muted colors of telephone-body cycolac, I can still remember the intense blue Mercedes with the double truck tires poking outside the wheelwell on an extended axle. Not exactly the European high-fashion sports car look, but it was a real mover, and - Man! - did that sucker *corner!*.

-- D


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## hojoe (Dec 1, 2004)

The Cobra GT has got to be the ugliest tjet. And the original Mustang is my fave, probably because it was my first car.
hojoe


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## 60chevyjim (Feb 21, 2008)

I really like the faller cadillac and 
the atlas 36 ford coupe 62 olds starfire and 62 Pontiac and 62 buick wagon. 
as for tjets I like the 63 falcon 63 fairlane and 63 galaxie. and the trucks and a bunch of other street cars . the slimline 32 ford pickup
the vibrator cars I like the ford pu and ford wagon the Mercedes and corvette.


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## mr1967charger (May 18, 2015)

I don't get to run my cars these days because of lack of space but still enjoy collecting T-jet cars. I never really thought about the cars design but Aurora did a petty good job of getting the feel and look of most cars. Thanks for pointing that out with your photo show.


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## slotking (May 27, 2008)

ok, I am a jerk!!!

I used to go to 1:1 car shows and walk around. If I saw a car that I own in t-jet form, I would say, Nice car, I have one too! I would see their eye light up with excitement, then I would tell them it a ho scale slot car. For some reason they would want me to leave.


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