Historical Accuracy - Is it important

[Florida_Slotter]

As I go back and re-read this entire thread I am just so happy that I spend my time here on HRW. There is no name calling, no cheap shots or anything else. We are having a very open, very definitive discussion on what is important to us. That is just so cool.

I do believe it all comes down to your "vote". You know the one you get tallied each time you purchase a new slot car? That's the one that really counts now, isn't it?

[Indy500Lee]

The Only Thing That I Worry About Historical Accuracy Is The Car And Paint, One Example Is The GT-40 In Gulf Colors, Allot Of Slot Car Manufactures Make Them And I Have Most Of Them, But Growing Up And Seeing This Car Race In Real Life And Then Having Them Slot Cars To Race, Brings That Memory Back! I Think That What It Is for Allot Of Us, I Know There Are Guys That Collect Them And Put Them On The Shelf And Thats OK!! But Me I Love To Race Them!! So I Guess Historical Accuracy Is Some What Important, But Its Not Going To Stop Me From Buying That Car!! I Hope This Makes Sense!!

Lee :D

[downtowndeco]

I'm in the hobby industry (model RR & 1/35 military diorama structures) & here's my take. It does cost more to get it right, because it does take more time, and as the old saying goes, time is money. There are also tooling/manufacturing issues that have to be weighed on a case by case basis. Finally, almost every single time a model railroad rivet counter claims on one of teh forums that something is inaccurate someone will invariably be able to produce a picture of an actual prototype to prove them wrong.

Even if cost were no object you're always going to get someone complaining that the shade of green on the oil pan is off slightly (or whatever).

Have fun racing!

Randy Pepprock
www.downtowndeco.com
www.dioramasplus.com

[JESIV]

Not to me..I just want the car to be the basic shape and livery of the one in the pictures. Heck, I'd take them all in solid white if it meant getting the bodies I wanted.
When/If I need complete scale/historical accuracy, there is always die-cast to fill that need.

[Mayberryman]

One of the wonderful aspects of this hobby is that there are many reasons that people come to purchase these little powered models of racing cars. Nobody is right or wrong in his or her beliefs as to what makes a car correct or not. Some love to have that as perfect representation of a particular car reside on a shelf safely inside of the case with mirrors and wiper intact. Others sacrifice period correct rims for ones that run more true and fit better tires during their search to bring lap times down that extra tenth that will make them have a better chance at winning the next race.
All this being said, I would think that many of the original owners and drivers of these "Historical Cars" would look in complete amazement at the many debates over correctness of width, livery and paint. I spent more than one enjoyable day with Mr. Junie Donleavy who once told me that his most used color combination of mostly blue with red and white often was decided by what small blue shade variance was obtained when all of the partial cans of blue in the shop were combined to paint a particular car. Before cutting machines and paint was still king in the lettering department I once knew an A Production driver by the name of Hansen who had all of his sponsors painted on a shelving type of paper and then placed on his car instead of the lettering placed on the car. I once asked him why and he told me that if the sponsor did not pay for that particular race than it was easy to remove the lettering by pulling the paper off of the body, so in effect you might have a car that looked one way during practice, one way in qualifying and yet another way during the race. Pictures and other reference tools are great for a short term snapshot of how a car looked on a certain day but the next day it most likely changed some. Don't even get me started on todays racing cars where they change wraps more often than I change shorts.

[choc-ice]

[Retro Racer 44]

The answer to this question to me is based on whether you buy a slot car to be raced, or to do parade lap only, or to be a shelf queen in a diorama.

For the second and third of these, I can see the desire for a car to be accurately scaled and finished.

For an all out racer, a little antenna or mirrors, etc are gone the first time the car is raced in earnest. I usually remove these before it happens. I don't care if a car is slightly wrong. I buy cars that I like, and that I know from brand experience can be made to race well, period.

I do a lot of scratch building, but I have neither the skills or steady hands to make masterpieces like some do. My cars look realistic and usually run well, without "counting rivets".

Slot cars should not be expected to have the same degree of scale and finish accuracy as die-casts. That said, if manufacturers can get it right without compromising cost value and raceability, then go for it.