Home Racing World

I picked up some vintage model magazines at a local model swap meet this past Saturday. Most of the slot articles were geared toward the commercial track racer but the slot ads were pretty cool.

So cool! Thanks for sharing!

I had three of those 1/32 Monograms by the end of 1966. I still have bits of one, the rest were lost long ago when my folks moved. I remember counting my paper route money week after week to see if I had enough yet.

Thanks for the pics. I remember drulling over them adds. And saving for months to get the cash to buy more models, slot cars, and all of the paint, glue and other supplies to go with them. Remember when a bottle of Testors paint cost only 5 cents. [printed right on top of the cap] The oldest bottle of paint I still have says 30 cents on the top. Now it's like a $1.50 for the same tiny bottle of paint. I all so remember shoveling snow for a dollar [sidewalk and drive], and mowing yards for about the same, and selling night crawlers for 25 cents a dozen to get the cash to feed my addiction to toy cars.

In the small town of Highland Il, we had a Schwinn bicycle shop. It was also the hardware store AND Official Aurora dealer. You could buy your track and get the lumber to build your table. The "old" guys that worked there knew as much about slot cars as they did the tools. There was official races there every Friday night.

I would work at the farm across the road during the week in the summers. Shoveling you know what from stalls, stacking hay bales, cutting grass...etc. All for the lucrative fee of $5.00 a day.

Boy...with $25.00 WHOLE dollars you could get some cool new cars. I would wear my "official" Aurora hat when I went there on Friday. That was the day Mom and I "went to town". All the cool kids had that hat you know. She would throw me in the back seat of our 65 Toronado. 455 CID front wheel drive, 11 MPG monster.

She would drop me off there and she would go out doing her Mom stuff. Next door was a Drug store complete with a soda fountain. If you were smart, you would walk down the curbs looking for nickels people would drop near the old meters. This way, you could get a good fountain without dipping into your precious slot car poke.

I would spend all day listening to those guys talk about speed secrets, look through catalogs, and finally get the hot rods I had been thinking about since last Friday :)

Once a month I was allowed to race. Dad and Mom went out to dinner like they are supposed to do, and I was ready. IF I did my "duties" fast enough I could race in the "stocker" class. Duties consisted of making sure the older guys had plenty of beer, whiskey and smokes. That meant going over to the package store and getting what they needed in a box that was packed and ready by the owner. I would pay him and out the door I went.

What? I was 10. Double digits...that was big stuff man.

Glad everyone has enjoyed the old ads, sure does bring back some great memories of the old days.

I have some more that I'll post after I get them scanned.

Harry, great story!!!

Better yet, I love going through the boxes of old slot cars and parts I have and looking at the
pricing on the packaging. 98 cents for Mille Miglia wheels, $2 for a Russkit Spyder chassis, motors
$1.98 to $2.50. Dem waz da good ol' days.