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Back to the hobby!
#1

Greetings everybody!  I got my first slot car set when I was around 8 or 9.  It was an Eldon set in 1/32 and it was followed a couple years later with a Strombecker 1/32 set.   At 13, my family moved to Geelong, Victoria Australia, and within a few months the commercial slotcar craze arrived down under and soon there were two tracks within a couple hundred yards of our house.  My "home" track was Avus Raceways, owned by an expatriate German couple.  We had a 250 foot, eight lane track along with an electronic lap-timer.  Our track lap record was 11.8 seconds, done with a 1/24 Russkit vac-form Porsche 906 equipped with a rewound and balanced Mabuchi 26D.  I made a 14 second lap with the same car, using the controller in one hand and and a push-button "brake" in the other.  We had weekly races for cash and car prizes and even hosted a 12 hour Enduro, complete with three hours in the dark requiring working lights!

Fast forward to 1978 and my first married Christmas.   My wife gave me an Aurora A/FX HO set.   It lasted for a few years and was eventually put away.   Fast forward even more and now I have four young grandchildren, ages 3,4 and 2 x 6.  The older two are boys and crazy about cars of course.  This weekend, we set up what was left of the old Aurora set and found that the track needed quite a bit of attention and while the cars (two Magna-traction replacements for the originals) would run, the ancient tires were done for.  Still, they loved running the cars around the circuit we made.

I'm going to invest in another set soon.  I predict a lot of racing fun before much longer!   I'm excited to be a member here, and look forward to "picking a lot of brains" for current info.

Best regards, Gary
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#2

Welcome to SlotRacer Gary Wavegreen
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#3

Aus' is a great place for HO. You have your own importer/distributor 'down there'  Thumbup
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#4

Welcome aboard Gary. Checkeredflag
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#5

(24th-Jan-21, 06:07 PM)Top Down Wrote:  Aus' is a great place for HO. You have your own importer/distributor 'down there'  Thumbup

Thanks for the replies!   But I think I should explain that I don't live in Australia anymore.  We stayed there for only 14 months (my Dad worked for ALCOA) and then returned to Texas, where I still live.     We are in Cameron, roughly in the middle of a triangle drawn from Austin to Dallas to Houston.   Sun
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#6

Welcome to SlotRacer, Gary.  Thumbup

Which vintage set did you prefer? Eldon or Strombecker?
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#7

(24th-Jan-21, 07:43 PM)KensRedZed Wrote:  Welcome to SlotRacer, Gary.  Thumbup

Which vintage set did you prefer? Eldon or Strombecker?

Thanks so much!  Well, it was a really long time ago now, but both had their good features.   I remember that the Eldon set came with two chassis but also with 6 bodies.   They were easily interchanged and I still have several of them today though the rest of the set is long gone.  There was a Ford Thunderbird, a Ford Galaxie, a Pontiac, Plymouth and a Chevrolet that I recall.  They appear to be either '61 or '62 vintage autos.  It was a pretty basic set otherwise.

The Strombecker had more track, with a lane-changing section and pylons for overpasses.  There were two cars, an E-Type Jag and a Ferrari 250 I believe.   One or both of those car bodies may still be around here someplace as well.    Oh, and I seem to remember working headlights in those two racers as well.   Man, I wish I had kept more of both old sets now.    I did get out my 1/24 cars from my days in Australia to show my grandson this morning.   Wow, they hadn't been out of their case in many years and really did show their age.  There were my two Cox racers, the Lotus 40 and Ferrari Dino, along with rotten tires, worn-out gears and assorted other crap from 1967, lol.   Those Cox racers were competitive with the Tamiya Lotus 40s that came out about the same time.    But after the appearance of the Russkit vac-form cars with their flat, pan chassis, there was no way to compete.  Those Russkit cars were fast out the box, but when fitted with the "hot rodded" Mabuchi 26Ds, they just flat screamed.   250 feet in under 12 seconds seemed fast back then!   Bigsmile
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#8

Gary,

Thank you very kindly for responding.

I found the 12V Strombecker set to be a fast-blast over the 6V Eldon. But preferred the bodies from Eldon in those days. I did my fair share of "kit-bashing" before it was in style.   Checkeredflag

DO NOT part with your Cox cars. Your grandchildren might be able to retire from the sale of those cars one day.

Strombecker and Eldon are still easy enough to buy on EBash.
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#9

You can easily get replacement tyres for the cars and the Dino especially (if in reasonably good condition) is quite valuble.


Two I have in my collection

   

   
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#10

Anthony, your cars still look great.   I'm afraid my Dino coupe is in a bit "less" condition, while the spyder body has suffered even worse wear and abuse.   I had forgotten all about those Ford GTs though, very cool indeed!    I will try to get some pics (a first for my old veterans) of my slot cars soon and post them here.    Looking through my old carrying case last weekend, I noticed the steerable front wheel set up for the Cox cars.   I remember trading something to another racer back in Australia, '66-'67, for that piece.  I also recall having the front steering setup on a Cox Cheetah bodied car for awhile and not being impressed by it's on-track performance.  I'm sure that's why it was removed and the straight front axle reinstalled.   It's a pity that I sold off that Cheetah body back then too.  I wish I still had that one!  
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