The 60's - Slot Cars

Slot cars of the 60's are featured on the History Channel's 60's high tech.

[@WilliamJOHNSONJR]

I had to respond to this ! My interest in slot cars ,dates back to the early '60's , with a friends Strombecker home set. Later, I came to learn of 1/24 scale racing on commercial tracks. There was one, in "inner city" Detroit, "Hobby City" that a West Indian guy operated. I loved going there ... I had some scale cars , but my favs were my Classic "Asp", and a Cox "La Cucaracha" ... Loved them. But in 1967, the place was consumed by the Detroit Riot... and I was forced to realize that the realities of urban America, made this something I could not be diverted by ... (I was 15 at the time) Much later in life, when my model Train retrovirus had kicked in ( I did Lionel Trains at about 4 yrs old) , I noticed cool little scale cars , in the Train shops ... So now I am a TrainJunky, and a SlotCarSlut!!!😜

[@noprocrastination]

Absolutely Love it! Greatest Hobby in the World!!! One of the most preserved Hobbies in the country!!!

[@user-RLTW]

Oh man me and my dad use to build our frames out of brass tube and solder then paint the bodies ourselves. We raced them every week. And that was in like 1967-68. What a great hobby for any family to engage in.

[@johncahill3644]

I had a 1/24 Cox Chaparral in the 60’s, moved to HO for a long time only to discover 1/32 cars about 25 years ago. Been kitbashing 1/32 cars for a wood-routed home track every since. Great hobby!!

[@MrPrincepop]

Very cool video. Reminds me when I would sit and watch my dad build his slot cars from kits and take them to local commercial raceway. He'd take me with him, I was only 4 but I remember because he built my two favorite cars from the 1960's TV shows - Batman's Batmobile and Green Hornet's Black Beauty. I'm 49 now, got back into the hobby 10 years ago. I have my grandsons started with their own set which they've taken good care of over the past two years, I love that they love this hobby too.

[@leehenderson8132]

My dad used to take me every week.Parma raceway in Parma Ohio.I last raced in long Beach CA. MY last car was group 20 with thin plasticity car body.I LOVED IT.AND MISS IT.

[@WilliamJOHNSONJR]

There's still time, Brother ! They are still out there ! I am currently waiting to spend a bunch on money, on a Porsche 919 LMP model made by a little outfit In Italy !!! (SRC) Surf the web ... They are still out there. !!! Professor Motor (Saline MI) Power Hobby (NY) 132Slotcar (Tacoma WA) LEB Hobbies (PA somewhere) ... to name a few ...

[@johncolclough2977]

I started slot cars in 1962 or 63 .and now have a track 4×8 in one of my boys bedroom after he moved out. Still have the Lotus ,Austin Healy from back then.

[@OgaugeTrainsplusslotCars]

Thanks for sharing this history

[@knightwatchman]

I used to race at a track in Leominster, Mass back around 1965, 66, 67.

[@scootergeorge9576]

Growing up in Thousand Oaks, CA circa 1965 I bought a 1/24 scale 1963 Corvette slot car. The only track in town had just shut down. : (

[@Ricardosouza-sp7fu]

1950, 1960 remember cars! very well! classic slot cars.

[@bandu2512]

Watched this is Batman the TV series 1966, seems like it was pure joy for the whole family.

[@scootergeorge9576]

Maybe with a Batmobile slot car...

[@auroraafxsweden5300]

Born slotcarcrazy 🏁🏁

[@AlfieBucks]

I had my home-built slot track on the floor of the loft with my trains running around the edge on a knee-high shelf. All made by myself and my father.

[@SPCLPONY]

Your 'track and slot' layout sounds cool! What scale of both did you use? I have a sizable slot car collection from when my buddies and I used to race at a club. Haven't raced in years, but my cars are in display cases on the walls of my attic above my Lionel Christmas Village train layout. I used the older 3 rail track because it reminds me of my dads train he would set up around our Christmas tree. My kids, and now Granddaughter's love to rearrange the animals, people and cars while we watch a DVD movie that plays at the 'drive in theater' on the layout.

[@AlfieBucks]

@@SPCLPONY slot cars were 1/32. Short track, maybe only 50-60 ft but used to test before competing on larger club tracks. Also raced 1/24 on commercial tracks. Trains were OO scale. Pride of place went to Sir Nigel Gresley locomotive. Biggest argument my Dad and I had, when I told him I was selling up!

[@SPCLPONY]

@@AlfieBucks Thanks for that. I just looked up a video of the Sir Nigel Gresley locomotive. Wow, that is a beautiful engine and tender!

[@scootergeorge9576]

I had an O Gauge train I set up on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood that folded down from the garage wall. Boring. Seen a bunch of used AFX stuff at the Simi Valley drive in swap meet. Ditched the train and my brother and I went racing.

[@SPCLPONY]

@@scootergeorge9576 My Christmas Village isn't much bigger. It's 4x12' with just a single oval track. There's a non functional siding track to park a few extra rail cars on. You're right though, one can only get so much entertainment out of the train running around the edge of the layout in one direction. But we find the fun in the little hidden things throughout the Village. The different people, hidden animals, gnomes, and gumball machine aliens, etc. Most of my people are 'Homies' given to me by a friend who collected them. There's a pretty lady in red and a gas pump girl in Daisy Duke shorts. There's a biker dude with a keg of beer and a fat guy sitting on a crate with a bucket of fried chicken. The animated items are pretty cool too. Mostly cheap Walmart stuff like ice skaters twirling on a frozen pond, a working popcorn cart and a Christmas tree stand. I have a handful of my favorite 60's and 70's muscle cars and trucks parked in a semi circle in front of a portable DVD player that looks like a drive-in theater next door to a collectable ceramic McDonalds. Someday I'll get one of those ski lift's with the gondola style cars and people skiing down the snowy slope, and add a second oval to run my other engine on.

[@tonichecavalari528]

I can't believe there are only 41 comments in 14 long years. This has got to be like the great great grand father of the "Remote Control" cars we have now .

[@johncolclough2977]

When my dad got the track it was up in Alaska and sometimes you couldn't go outside it was -65 degrees so we couldn't go out for a few days. I still have about 60 cars

[@slotcardude68]

Great video! Thanks!!

[@goldenretriever6440]

I have a couple of these a Ford GT (ecoboost sadly) a Ford Mustang a la Ferrari and a back to the future Delorean Slot cars are a fun toy i wish there was a place I could race mine

[@mattosullivan9687]

I had a Tyco and AFX home set. Used to drive the cat nuts, used old books to make the overpasses

[@jordipena7984]

Fantastic slot Cars

[@raymondwoods2410]

Love those days ! Building my own high performance slot car! With handmade brass frame ,all ball bearing wheels,drop pick,champion motor ,ball bearing,rewinded,balance,epoxy seal by me ! Easily took ! Second place in North Carolina Slot Car championshiip held in Raleigh ! The first place winner,DickiebTarton was the guy whom taught me!

[@jefhunwpb]

been there and loved it, raced at all the local tracks, as a teen...

[@Sicknowledge01]

Yeah right where. 2 tracks.

[@writereducator]

I loved this hobby as a kid. I was terrible at it and a guy sold me a slot car with a Pittman motor for $10 bucks that was a lemon. But my friend, David, my same age, could build his own cars. A little engineering genius.

[@mpz-video]

Very cool 😀

[@evelyncraig2651]

I remember these cars

[@mickcarson8504]

I loved slot cars. It was a clean get together hobby. No drugs in those day but pure slot car fun. Mine was a 66 Corvette Stingray. They should reintroduce this past time and keep the kids off the streets. But of course whoever will reintroduce slot cars would do it to get rich quick as always by charging more money for 3 minutes, whereas in my days on quiet times it cost me 10 cents for 5 minutes and the owner would still make a clean profit.

[@Machi74005]

I think my dad did this for a while in the 60s. He had a large slot car that I inherited. I believe it was a scale model of the Chaparral Chevy.

[@donh7909]

I did the 1/32 scale cars.. Even had 'The Batmobile '..

[@triffidgrower]

I was seduced by many other forms of "fun" when I quit slot cars in the late 60s. Since I came back about 5 years ago, I always give slot cars the credit for being the first thing to put me in a trance. YUK YUK YUK

[@justvisitingterra6459]

I REMEMBER IN MY DAY THEY EVEN HAD POWER BRAKE'S, NOW THAT WAS SOMETHIN' TO SEE . MAXXAUS .

[@pabloiervolino2265]

Que buen video , acá en Argentina tenemos un buen parque de slot Car en varias provincias hay pistas importantes y muy actualizadas!! Se fabrican partes que se venden en el Mundo de exelente calidad y x supuesto el precio es muy bajo en comparación a otros mercafos !! Un saludo desde Argentina 🇦🇷

[@sonoranrain2330]

Great memories! Perhaps some enthusiast can refresh mine more accurately as I did not see the type of car I would race in front of a local hobby shop in San Antonio in 1867. They were the miniatures, but had 2 copper strips that were spring loaded underneath the car that made contact with the track. I had a lime green corvette and a fire engine red camaro. I want to say it was made by Cox, but am not sure. It was a great fun and I couldn't wait to get to the raceway each Saturday morning. Thanks for sharing this video.

[@donsiegel676]

That sounds more like the HO cars, which are about 2-1/2" long - and they continued to be popular after the collapse of the big commercial raceways with their 1/24 scale slot cars.

[@nomad2race]

Actually, they have gotten less expensive. A good ready to run car in 1968, a COX 1/24 Scale Cox Cheetah cost about 14.95. In today's money that is about $95. A 1/24 scale Carrera Cheetah today, is about $59. Today's car has better finish and detail, better durability, working lights, and can run on conventional tracks or in programmable digital mode. For next year Carrrera has lowered prices! It IS, increasingly and very adffordable hobby.

[@rrrrkoop2776]

in the 60's these were pricey, But In our 60's they are easily affordable. lol

[@paully1227]

I knew these two bothers that built their own chassis and motors, they designed chassis that today would be custom built car’s. They missed their calling

[@matiasmarlo8758]

Let's race!

[@Petemonster62]

Was the Batmobile offered in 1/32 scale? I saw an HO scale Batmobile slot car on the History Channels' " Pawn Stars " show.

[@sheldonbrunn6445]

I have the ho bat mobile, and a 24th scale bat mobile made by K&B

[@Moondoggy1941]

1:09 If that is Hobby City I used to go to that track when I was a kid.

[@WilliamJOHNSONJR]

Hobby City ? Joy Rd just east of Grand River in Detroit ? Mr .Cromwell owned the joint ??? Yeah ... I was there it was great ...until the whole block went up (probably starting with the F.W. Woolworth's that was on the corner ...😢

[@Moondoggy1941]

@@WilliamJOHNSONJR i am sorry Hobby City, Stanton Ca. Off Beach Blvd.

[@m.mohammad4545]

IS it the braids that gives the electricity to the motors, which then starts to spin and makes the backwheel spin

[@earthlingjohn]

yes

[@matiasmarlo8758]

Well!the pixar cars next generation racers go to this speedway

[@TheDabeavis]

Good Ol' Lovable Slot Cars! Too Bad They Recently got expensive over the years

[@onlythewise1]

you socialized to

[@LOBmcguire]

Where is the steering wheel tack you click baited on you video.

[@shawnhall2755]

This is how the roads need to be for electric cars. Only the stupid people can't use them. Travel from Memphis to Panama city in 4 hours.

[@Moondoggy1941]

Then the slot car industry started to come out with SUPER fas cars and they looked like a piece of paper, they did not resemble any car, I think that is when it killed the hobby for a lot of people. I do not remember the train manufactures doing this kind of stuff.

[@WilliamJOHNSONJR]

The "Wing" car ? There are guys that run stuff like that on the 2 joints in the Chicago area that still have commercial tracks. Me, ??? I've gone totally scale, are are only interested in accurate scale models of significantly historical race cars ...

[@Moondoggy1941]

@@WilliamJOHNSONJR Exactly what I like as well, to each there own.