Slot Car Collecting and Reflecting

[Dangermouse]

We all have our own approaches to the hobby - I had the pleasure of checking out a chaps slot car box the other day he has some beautiful 1/24 and 1/32 metal chassis race cars - I looked longingly at the quality of the finish and I know how smoothly these cars run.
Cars like these
more pics here
https://plus.google.com/photos/10040079 ... banner=pwa

The thing is these cars work out at a couple of hundred dollars each - and I thought I don't want to spend that much on a slot car.

I have worked out I am a collector - thankfully I don't have the need to get every livery of a car that has been released (not anymore) but I do collect cars and frankly I have a few.

It then struck me this box of very nice cars - maybe a dozen or so race set up cars - probably cost no more than my collection of GT40 cars.

made me think a bit about how I spend my slot money, there are so many options out there and we are really spoilt for choice. Lots of shiny baubles to catch the eye.

Lately I have focused more on making resin kits.... and have about 20 sitting in various stages on my shelf

So for me I think my collecting will become a little more selective - I might have to weigh up do I get 3 or 4 RTR plastic cars or one of those historic metal chassis cars - hmm lots of thinking to do

While I am waiting for all the new releases to be announced I think there is probably only one group of RTR cars I am keen to get next year and that is the Policar/slot.it 1970s F1 cars..

I am trying to picture what car Scalextric or Carrera or Ninco could announce that hasn't been made already that I would be interested in buying - maybe a 1/32 Ferrari Breadvan by Carrera - and they could do a 1/24 Ferrari 250LM
but otherwise nothing really comes to mind. Perhaps they will surprise me :)

What are your reflections and slot collecting dreams for 2015 ?

[miveson]

DM,

Great photo and the link has some very nice photographs. I'm assuming it was Werner's slot box you were looking at.

I'm probably done and dusted collecting thing from the past (probably only about 5 cars I need to acquire)

Only the future releases from the manufacturers will be entertained in 2015. I actually can't believe the quality of some of the 2014 releases, absolutely outstanding.

I think 2014 has been an interesting year where historical slot cars have become a lot cheaper to acquire than previously. The market for most manufacturers has tanked (just look at the slot.it, ninco classic and fly classic prices of late).

Anyways - onwards and upwards for 2015...... I can't wait to see what awaits.....

[RazorJon]

I like to build cars that you cant buy, my last chassis build was around $55.00-$65.00 and they are 1 of a kind :banana-dance:

[Retro Racer 44]

I have been buying cars for the last three and a half years, since I got back into the hobby. I buy them to race and do not have any shelf queens. I never could understand why someone would bother to buy slot cars to keep in their boxes on a shelf. To me, that is a role for die casts. Recent years have not been kind to slot car collectors who are trying to liquidate their collection. Newer cars are so much better than a few years ago, that the older ones are not returning their original value in most cases. Still the people who collect slot cars continue to support the hobby for those of us who race the cars, as well as for those of us who spend more on parts and resin bodies for scratch builds.

3D scanning and printing is set to revolutionize our hobby. When a person can take any car in any scale and scan it and reduce it to a different scale, the whole world of model kits and die casts will be available to be made into exact scale 1/32 bodies. I suspect as 3D techniques improve, it will be possible to print a body and set it right on the chassis with all the colours, decals and details printed right in. Get your body wish list ready, eh?

Cheers,

Keith

[Gameover]

I have a few cars that I consider shelf queens. They still get raced by me when no one else is on the track. But I have a fair share of cars that I race with no regrets. I also started the scratch build and find that really enjoyable! I like all things to do with slots. I've been doing 1/32 for almost a year now and find I like a lot of the old discontinued cars. It's hard cause they cost more then I want to spend. But then there are the new ones that keep coming out lol. What does a guy do? :)

[miveson]

I had a very quiet year - probably only bought 100 cars....... :)

Some excellent bargains out there - Ninco Autobacs NSX for a mere $50............

[Dangermouse]

I have very few shelf queens myself - I mostly buy cars to run - and will go through a phase where I run rally cars - and then classics etc... a couple of the shelf queens I have were more expensive cars - which I took the plunge on buying and then went hmmm do I really want a $150 car.... thus I left it in the box because I might sell it again for $150 new but I won't if I run it...

Yes Mark - it was Werner's slot box - some fine cars there

DM

[scatman]

I started back in 1999 and have been buying cars with one rule. Buy one of each type for each lane. I have so many cars that some will never see the track. Well, now that I have met Blake(Regalman82), we have used some of the cars that have been collecting dust.

[ChallengerGuy]

This hobby is definitely interesting. I had a large collection of about 250 slot cars back in the mid 2000s. Switched gears a bit, sold off most of the collection to pay for other pursuits (pinball machines for a time - lots of fun was had with those). Then, as the reality of having pinball machines that sat for long intervals and always needed "coaxing" to get back into playing form for gatherings, etc, I knew it was time to sell. So, off they want and back came rebuilding the slot car collection...this time in HO. That was fun. But in the end, I really like analog 1/32 cars so I boxed up my HO cars and concentrated on 1/32. So, my collection is back up to 250 (I've never really counted) and most of the cars were bought at values below what they were going for in the mid 2000s. Most still BNIB. Though I did pay top dollar for a couple of them for sentimental reasons. I found all the cars that were tough to acquire back in what I call the peak of the hobby in 2005. I plan to race them so I am not worried about that aspect. The reality is I may never get to some of them as others have said. I can pretty much guarantee that I will probably end up with about 10 regular drivers and the rest will watch from the shelf. So, at this point I've pretty much reached my limit for cars. Now I just hunt for unique items - BWA wheels, 1/32 figures, etc.

[TsgtRet]

Not a collector, per se of slot cars (that I do with 1/18 diecasts, anyone have an extra house? :mrgreen: ). What I collect in slots is more an era; when I first got back into the hobby in 99 it was whatever caught my fancy, then, when I started racing with our group, I needed cars that would compete in all the different classes we run. Now I'm down to just 1 or 2 cars (sometimes none) for those classes and have started to concentrate on my love of 50s/60s. I'm also getting into the resin thing.....like Shotgun, I like to have cars nobody else has. It's a good hobby, not unlike my model RR passion from years ago. Probably the best thing I've "collected" is a group of like minded friends who, in turn, share other mutual interests beyond our hobby.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I really never intend to be a guy who keeps plastic cvases or any of that stuff. I don't buy the car if I don't intend to run it.

In the last few months I have had an epiphany about the cost of my hobby, though. For years and years, I have hollered in the wilderness about the rising costs of RTR plastic cars and parts. Then I got my hands on this calculator:
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl? ... year2=2014

I just calculated the cost in today's dollars of a $30 1966 slot car, which for the time was fairly expensive- but there were plenty of common rtr's at the time that were $60-$90. But a $30 slot car in 1966 is $218.66 today. I may not buy as much as I did ten years ago, but I sure don't feel bad about the cost now...

[ccobra]

When I first started, I had the Eldon Indy Racers, Ford GT, and a Ferrari GTO. Then I Purchased the Get Smart model car kit and ordered some parts through the mail for my first build. The Eldon cars had quit running by then and were in bat shape from a preteen trying to fix them. But then on the Get Smart Sunbeam, I later cut off the front doghouse and constructed a lighter front end using notebook paper and model airplane dope. It didn't help much for that 16D motor that I had in it took all of the 6 volts the Eldon track could provide before burning up the Eldon controllers. Then I put the track away until the early 90's when I found a hobby store in Victorville, CA and built three more with the Brass frames and lexan Bodies. Then after three years the track was put away again until about four years ago, but this time I bought some good RTR cars and started building again with the Brass Chassis and Plastic Chassis printed from the Printer. As far as shelf Queens go, only the ones that got broken or have a hard time going around my wooden track due to clearance issues but a new set of taller PG tires may solve most of those. Hope everybody has a Merry Christmas and keep the slots from flying off of the track.

[Dangermouse]

Ok well I typed a message and I think it disappeared..

To me there are collectors and there is collecting - I think of slot car collectors as being people who collect cars to look at, they often collect a whole series and sometimes they buy multiple copies with an eye to selling at a profit later.

Not sure if you are into collecting - try this exercise - look at all your cars and sort them into those you have to keep and those you would be happy to sell - if you have more in the first group and only a few in the second group then you are into collecting

I sat down an looked at my collection the other day and tried to work out which ones I would sell. I couldn't come up with many. I always found a reason to keep a car....

I plan to do a couple of things next year - finish all my resin bodies (so I can buy more) and be more selective in my slot car purchases - I think I had the approach in the past of why buy a $150 car when I could buy 3 $50 ones (collecting) I can see a couple of nice 124 scale historic racers making there way into my collection :)

[HomeRacingWorld]

Many different ways to enjoy the hobby. I have a few slot cars here and there, but over the years my focus has changed. The reason? SELECTION.

So much to choose from, and no longer in just ready to run. As a "user" and not just shelf collector, the models I collect now are ones that will see action.

One-off collector sets or stand alone models without running mates have a lot less appeal to me these days. When I make an investment in a new model I am thinking of the fun series that can be created with it.

The "value" the models might offer in the future isn't financial. The real value is the enjoyment I will have racing side by side against my friends.

Building, repainting, tuning...and then ultimately racing together. I look at models such as a Fly Classic 512 or Carrera NASCAR. Some balked at the "ridiculous" prices I paid for those Fly cars back in 2001, yet they are still raced and enjoyed today. They certainly were worth the investment.

If you are having fun, then it's hard to stop buying more :)

[dreinecke]

I went through what Danger described about three years ago: those I'd keep and those I'd sell. Frankly I just got tired of buying cars and not running them. I sold over a hundred and fifty of them and kept those I run and have meaning to me. Does it mean I didn't like Group5? No, just that I didn't need 20 of them that really didn't get run. I'm now down to my Trans-Am, Can-Am, vintage sports cars, Grand Prix from 1967-1977, and vintage stock cars.

I found I only purchased about 7 cars this year and it made things not only cheaper, but I spent more time tuning what I've already got.