Slot cars you wished you hadn’t bought

[Dangermouse]

Hello
Perhaps like me you have a good collection of cars. Do you have any that after buying them you wished you hadn’t and had sent the money on something else instead.

Here are a couple that come to mind for me but there are several more:
1)The scalextric pro car kit I got an Aston Martin - weird wheels and 3mm sized axles 3 motors none of which can run in our classes. big waste of money

2) Teamslot Alpine A110 - noisy, oversized, under-motored, bad tyres the list goes on.... I should have bought another scx one :D

So any you regret buying?

[Czar]

I kind of regret buying so many digital cars. I have converted my track back to analog.

[Racie35]

I think they all have their place but ..those AMT 1/25 cars a few year back...not so good

[chappyman66]

The Monogram Cobra coupe.
Tall skinny tires, way too much motor, crappy skinny wheels.
Takes a wholesale rebuild to make the car into anything remotely quick.
Pretty....but non functional.

[slothead]

While buying cars for a World Sportcar Championship Series for cars from the 1965 - 1975 era, I found out Fly had produced many great looking replicas. One of the first I went for was a Fly #6 Porsche Lola T70 MK 3B for $80 at Electric Dreams. That was about the most I'd spent on a slot car at that time, but I couldn't resist those Penski-Donohue colors and the heritage of the team.

However, when I put it on the track and it wouldn't even move an inch I was very disappointed. Both the pinion and spur gears were cracked which prevented the rear axle from turning. Having to repair a new car right out of the case was not what I expected. When I complained on HRW Harry basically replied, "welcome to the club", and I found out this was not uncommon for Fly cars. I got it running but swore I'd never buy another Fly car.

However, Fly's great looking liveries have indeed seduced me many times since then and I probably have about 20 of their Le Mans and Can-Am cars now. But, it's always possible you're gonna regret buying one right out of the case.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Fly was such a bargain for excellent bodies that were tough and sufficiently detailed to have the potential for a great car. I probably have 250 of them, bone stock (most of mine were bought for $35-$40 quite a while ago). I have easily 100 more that were screwed up to some degree, and I used that as an excuse to build a brass chassis or refit another plastic chassis under them. The great thing is that when you replace the chassis, you get a bagful of spare parts for other cars. One other thing- When Fly gears are polished with compound and run a long time for fun on an afternoon, something happens to them and they become the smoothest, most quiet car in the box.

And to be fair, the Revell Daytona Cobra Coupe can easily be one of your best cars- no problem. I even did an article for HRW on them that had these cars modified by multiple HRW guys and how they modified them. It was an eye-opener for me and Harry. Unexpected results.

[Pappy]

[Audi1]

[FC47]

R/M Mclaren M6. But I have learned a lot since fiddling with that car, I should revisit it.

My Daytona Coupe though ran great since I got it...like that car.

Cheers

[Pappy]

[JamieB]

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I tried to get a link for that Daytona Coupe article, and its on the old Yuku site. Maybe Harry can pull it up from archives, but I hit a dead end because Yuku is gone, bought by someone else.

I still have the photos, if he can't find it, I can post a few of them you give you an idea.

[Wobble]

When I 1st started out in slots about 10 yrs ago I bought a Monogram Daytona Cobra Coupe simply for its looks and while I was running it on Scalex Sport track it was OK. When I went to magnet-less wood I discovered it was a pig so I moved it on. Now that I've worked out how to 'fix' chassis and make cars work better I decided to buy another from a bloke here on HRW who had 'started' on it. Now with a rearward move of the motor and some serious lowering it's as sweet as and capable of podiums in our 18k pre 65 class.

[slothead]

To show how "individual results my vary" a topic like this can be - while I had to put a R/M McLaren M6 chassis in the oven to flatten it out and have to leave the rear body mount screws out so the body doesn't warp it again, otherwise in box stock condition (except for PG tires) it's the 2nd fastest car in my Can-Am series. A Slot.It Alfa Romeo did qualify faster, but the R/M McLaren out did 4 other Slot.It cars plus a Policar Ferrari 312B, plus multiple Fly and Carrera cars.

The lesson arising from this thread seems to be that many initially disappointing cars can be saved with a little work. Now I'm inspired to select a poor performing car and make a runner out of it while still keeping the stock components.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Well, yeah. That's right.

I have a Pink Car Ferrari 250 GT that looks stupid and toyish, and the chassis seems to have been designed by people who never heard of a slot car. Wheels are wonky, so are the tires, the color of the body casting never occurred on any car ever, much less a Ferrari, etc. The only part of the whole car that seems good is the little bitty motor. I've been threatening to build a brass chassis with my favorite motor (NC-1), favorite gears, (Slot.it), and favorite guide (Scaleauto), and paint the body in a fantasy privateer sceme so wild no one can notice how screwy the scale is. Ain't slot cars fun?!?