Aurora Collectors Expert Knowledge Sought...

[Ralphthe3rd]

Ok, first off, sorry, no pix.
Ahem, maybe some of you saw my recent Score yesterday of some Vintage Aurora and Tyco Cars. My question revolves around what I *Believe was a Factory Aurora Carded (Hi-Perf) Top Plate w/Arm.
Ya see, in my score, I had a couple of carded items, and one appears to have been a Top Plate for a normally geared(9T) T-Jet, BUT, Came with a Green Wire/Green Tip (Mean Green) Arm, already installed and carded by the factory !?
I say I *believe this, because the card had the take off old gear plate w/Arm in it, and the NEW Plate, with Mean Green Arm, was installed in a Chassis. I examined this Top Plate, and it was barely run and there are no marks (even under EXTREME Magnification) that would show the Mean Green Arm was installed by the buyer, ie- the pinion gear is perfect, and shows no marks from a clumsy install in 1971 -when I believe this was new, as all the items from my Score were stored in an Attic since 1971 !
So my Question to serious Aurora Collectors, like Bob Beers etc. is, was it a common carded item(in '70-'71?), to have a normal T-Jet Gear plate with a Factory installed Mean Green Arm attached and carded ???

[RichD]

According to the reference that I use the "Mean Green" armature was only used with the A/FX chassis.
http://slotmonsters.com/slot-car-afx-ma ... tures.ashx
Timewise there was some overlap in the T-Jet and A/FX cars, it is possible that someone slipped up and installed a Mean Green in a regular T-Jet gear plate wherever this stuff was made or packaged. Back in the day I often substituted a 14 tooth armature pinion for the stock T-Jet 9 tooth drive pinion, I did that with no special tools. I don't recall ever damaging anything. If I understand it correctly the package had been opened, so all bets are off.

[Ralphthe3rd]

RichD, actually my friend, I should have posted the answer to this- as I did get confirmation from other sources on other sites. As the answer is, YES INDEED, Aurora Did install and sell Carded T-Jet Top Plates with mean Green arms, installed with normal 9-tooth gearing. This has been confirmed by collectors, who actually had carded copies from back in 1971-72.
So ya see, Aurora was on the ball, and filled ever niche they could with parts, if there was a public desire. So now ya know the REST of the Story :D

[RichD]

That makes me wonder if Aurora ever sold any T-Jet cars with Mean Green armatures. I have been told that the Magnatraction cars never had Mean Green armatures, but I have several examples of those that I bought when they came out. I never exchanged parts between A/FX and Magnatraction cars.

[BIG E]

Ralph,
The only thing that comes to mind is Aurora's high performance replacement gear plate and armature assembly, which was offered for sale in the T-Jet days,
before even the "Tuff Ones" series (at a hefty price of $1.98). It had an armature wound with dark green wire onto the standard gray two lam poles. The pinion gear was silver in color,
and just now I'm asking myself why I've never put a magnet to one to see if it was steel! (I believe it is). The drive pinion gear was the standard nine tooth type.
I've got a few still in the blister card from back then, a was disappointed in the performance of the couple that I've tried in cars. Again, I didn't think to measure
the resistance of the armature, either! Hope this sheds some light on the situation. -- Ernie :>)

[Ralphthe3rd]

[Ralphthe3rd]

Btw- here is a very Early Standard T-Jet top plate, with the Patent Applied stamping...
Ok, in the following photo, see the bare-upsidedown Top plate(minus the arm), note the one difference, from the bottonside of the standard T-Jet Top plate- above.
The top plate in this second pic is From a Tuff Ones chassis, and note the raised Rib/Crescent Moon shaped Magnet spacers. BUT, like I said in the previous post, there were THREE Variants of the Tuff Ones Top Plate, and this is just ONE of the styles :)

[Ralphthe3rd]

Wanted to BUY ! As I've previously mentioned, I collect odd Pancake Arms and/or top plates. And here is one of the rarest Arms, and also one of THE LAST Pancake Arms ever Wound ! It's the True RED DEVIL Arm ! And btw- too many people in-correctly call any Pancake arms with Red (Lam) tips a Red Devil. No, the ONLY True Red Devils were found in last Canadian(before they closed the factory) A/FX Magna Traction chassis, and were Red Tip(lams)- but also with Red WIRE Windings !
FYI- I only have one poor example in my collection :( So does anyone have a True Red Devil, that they could part with, to add to my collection ?