VIP Raceways logo, with some VIP slot cars

VIP Roadways, the New Hobby

1957-58

Victory's experience with small electric motors and with injection moulding plastic meant that once the basic parameters were established, the design of the models became fairly straightforward. It did however take some time to produce the tooling for the injection-moulded cars and in the mean time Victory lost valuable publicity to Scalextric by only revealing their prototype system to a select few. When both systems reached the shops, Victory's product was vastly superior but by then Scalextric was the name that everyone had heard about.

V.I.P. Roadways
Advert for V.I.P. Model Roadways
The first advert for V.I.P. Model Roadways from July 1957

Model Roadways

Set 'A'
Model Maker cover, November 1956
The complete contents of one of the first 1957 VIP Electric Model Roadways Set 'A'

Victory's slot cars were a great hit and their Set 'A' remained in continuous production from 1957 until 1961. During this period many thousands were sold worldwide and consequently its not a very difficult set to find today. Throughout its production, the cars, the set, its contents and the box all underwent various changes and I'll attempt to detail these below.

The Cars

Pick Up Springs
Line drawing showing the early style of pick ups
Early style of pick-ups

1957 - Steel spur gear, large section carbon motor brushes pressed into brass mount, paxolin brush carrier, orange colour motor windings, large diameter commutator with notable gap between it and motor windings, large cross section motor bearings, large flat holes on base of motor side plates, small unsleeved suppressor, metal weight at front of chassis, solid crossmember on front axle, spring steel wire pick-ups, thin moulded line beneath V logo on chassis, driver and steering wheel are both a push fit into cockpit.

Spring 1958 - Clear/white nylon spur gear, red colour motor windings, small diameter commutator flush with motor windings, small cross section motor bearings, small dished holes on base of motor side plates, driver and steering wheel heat welded into place. Other details as 1957.

Collector Bushes
Line drawing showing the later style of pick ups
Later multi-strand pick-ups (collector brushes)

Autumn 1958 - Small section carbon motor brushes pressed into brass carrier, large sleeved suppressor, no metal weight, two holes in front axle crossmember, multi-strand phosphor-bronze pick-ups. Other details as Spring 1958

Spring 1959 - Motor brushes now soldered into brass mount, black nylon brush carrier. Other details as Winter 1958

Winter 1959 - Black nylon spur gear. Other details as Spring 1959

1960 - Moulded line beneath V logo on chassis flattened down (don't ask me why!). Other details as Winter 1959

The cars then remained unchanged in this form. The sets were discontinued in 1961 and this version of the individually boxed cars in 1962.

The set car MGA's and Austin Healey's were produced in Yellow, Red, Green, White, Dark Blue,and Grey Blue colours. From the examples that I've seen to date, White cars only appear to have been produced up until early 1959 when this colour was discontinued and replaced by the Dark Blue variety. White cars only seem to appear in the sets.

The Set Box & Contents

Set 'A'
Model Maker cover, November 1956
The improved 1958 VIP Electric Model Roadways Set 'A'

Several changes were made to the set from the beginning of 1958 to make the assembled track more rigid and to improve electrical continuity. Most highly visible was the change to the box lid, a picturesque alpine scene (above) replacing the rather plain design used previously. Inside the box the grey plastic sleepers (MR200) were replaced by a completely new design in brown plastic (MR211). The small metal bridge approach supports (MR207) were replaced by triangular plastic piers (MR212). The fence post and railings (MR500 & MR501) were replaced by a new design with spring clips (MR502, MR503 & MR504) and the separate L shaped tag terminals (MR401) were replaced by a soldered on rectangular version. These changes are shown in the two pictures below.

Accessories
Line drawings showing the 1957 accessories
The parts shown above were replaced by those shown below in post 1957 sets.
Line drawing showing the accessories used from 1958 onwards

As well as the changes to the cars noted previously, the set instruction leaflet was frequently revised and this is another good guide to the age of a set as they generally carry a printers date mark in the bottom left-hand corner.

A single car Set 'B' with a small oval of track was made available during 1958 but it sold poorly and was dropped by the end of the year.

Boxed Models
White, yellow and red MGAs with boxes
A rare line-up of individually boxed early type MGAs

From 1957 until mid-1962 the sidewinder powered cars were available as individually boxed models under part numbers: MR 100 - Austin Healey and MR 101 - MGA. These models returned to the range in the early part of 1963 under part numbers: R64 Austin Healey and R65 MGA following a brief absence while their tooling was modified to enable them to be fitted with in-line motors. In this form they remained in production until the company closed in 1969. From 1963 until the end of 1967, Club special versions with hotter in-line motors were also available under part numbers: R64S Austin-Healey and R65S MGA. These motors are easily distinguished by their silver side plates.

Because the original sets sold a lot better than individual models, individually boxed MR100 & MR101 versions of the Healey and MGA are very much harder to find than early set cars. Conversely individually boxed R64 and R65 versions are much more common than later set cars as very few of the later sets included the Healey and MGA.