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I read Harry's review of the Slot.it Porsche Evo. I was going to post this as a comment, but I didn't want to jack the thread. These comments are based on Harry's review, and in particular, Superslab"s response.

I am constantly amazed at how good, and ahead of their time, the original Fly cars were. Slot.its have been top-tier since they were introduced, and Maurizio continues to tweak and improve the line, but it is still a ten year-old Fly that stands as the solid comparison to this modern model. (that is without even mentioning that their body work totally changed the hobby of slot racing, for everyone) As Superslab points out, with a little work, the old Fly models will compete with most anything out there from today, or yesterday, and probably tomorrow too (my own comment). I own a lot of Slot.it cars, several NSR models, a couple of Scale Auto slot cars, and two Black Arrow racers. They are good slot racers, but I think Fly still stands as the pinnacle in slot cars.

.... and the ProSlot Toyota GT One. My GT One's are still the Bar, by which others
in the category are judged. They are so easy to drive fast that few can compare
on my track.

Just say'n....

as far as detail and overall appearance ,I will agree with you 100% They are freaking beautiful!!.......but as far as quality control......ehhh not so much...
.. Purchasing a Fly is sorta like a crap shoot.....Example , years ago I purchased two of the 917 /10s ....out of the box the L & M liveried car was good ,with very little work it became, and still is one of my best handling and fastest cars. The other one ,Hurley Haywoods car, was a dog. after major work, replacing rear axle ,gears, wheels and such , it was on par with the L & M car.
Now by no means am I bashing Fly . They are in the majority in my collection. Because I love the aspect of "developing" a race car..tinkering with it , a slight adjustment here, a little more weight there. and again they are beautiful !
I guess my point is ...or question is what is your pinnacle? if you want consistency, fast, smooth and responsive right out of the box and best bang for your buck, Slot it , NSR , Sideways would be on top ... But if you love the developing aspect, the overall appearance/ attention to detail .....Fly ,by far , would be on top... just my 2 cents ...

John

I also think Carrera has stepped up there cars quite a bit in the last 5 years or so

Recently acquired some older Fly models from a friend of ours who is no longer with us. Sending them out to our local racers to tune and enjoy as they were intended.

Somehow, it never mattered that they needed work. Regardless the level involved. These models will always be some of the most fun this hobby has seen for me.

There aren't too many more than 20 FLY cars in my garage but I do have 2 x Slotwings 512BB's (and I include them here as they have FLYSLOT printed on the chassis) and 1 Flyslot 512BB which is exactly the same car but different livery and I love them, so much so I entered one in a proxy a few years ago and it finished in 7th place with 1 3rd place podium. A totally underrated car in my opinion but then I do enjoy attempting to make a silk purse out of a sows ear..

A few years ago while putting together a World Sportscar series (Le Mans type cars) I purchased a bunch of new-in-box Fly cars and complained on HRW that just about every other one wouldn't even run the first time on the track. Despite being great looking cars I swore I'd never buy another Fly slot car. I've since got them all running well, and out of 20 cars 14 are Fly cars. The remaining ones are a Carrera Porsche 917, 3 MRRC Chaparral 2E's, a Scalextric Ford GT40, and a Scalextric Ferrari P4.

They are all competitive cars in the series, but then again there are no Slot.It, NSR, or Thunderslot cars to compete with. My new Can-Am series is dominated by Slot.it cars and they are the smoothest and fastest I own. But I still have to admit that the Fly Lola T70's and Ferrari 512S' are beautiful replicas I just had to have.

And yes, I've broken my promise and purchased more Fly cars for the Can-Am series and no complaints so far.

Sure, Fly had QC issues, and everybody knew that pulling a Fly car out the box could reveal some unexpected and unpleasant surprises. But that didn't stop me/us from buying them. The QC got to be something of a joke as racers took pride in overcoming the problems Fly cars manifested, because the models looked so good and could be made to run really well.

The quality of finish and scale of Fly and other bodies is really high. They are really nice looking scale cars. If you like running magnets, most are OK out of the box. Most of the cars I had ran Indy Grips from my buddy George Lowe, which really improved them.

I have just finished a new/old Monogram brass chassis with threaded axles for my Monogram purple Charger. I just have a problem with push on wheels and snap in axles. To me that is typically cheap junk. The Chrarger is a beautiful car, but junky chassis.

For out of the box, none of the plastic cars are really bad and for guys that don't build cars, they feel a need in the slot car market. There is also a segment of the market that just buys them to collect and put on shelves, performance is not an issue.

I am a huge Fly classic fan! I think there is no prettier sight than 3 or 4 Fly Ferrari 512s (long, short, doesn't matter) running on a layout. They are absolute gems and can be made to run very quick and smooth.

The Porsche 6, 917 LH, GT1s, 908/3 and 908/2s are all great classic racers.

QC