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Because I have been bitching about and seeking out Ninco ripoffs to warn people about around here for so long, I would like to point out something really surprising that has happened. Ninco's 7 year habit of gouging us on the prices of cars that come from 10-12 year old molds may be on the way out. Three gorgeous cars are available for (the dreaded) pre-order right now that are from the old molds with nice looking new liveries, and they are listed all over the internet for $43-$44, not $70-$85 that we have been seeing for quite a while. Maybe its too much to say that they finally got the message, but the fact remains that these are really fine looking cars and they cost just about what Scalextric does. Only Carrera beats that price consistently, and frankly, the $10 or so difference belies the fact that you will spend money to get the Nincos to run properly... like Carerras! So it really is a greater difference in price, but a fraction of what it was.

So what do you think? Has Ninco finally caught on? Or is that overly simplistic? Granted, European manufacturing is flaky in our eyes (that's probably overly generous), but I discount that by the European cultural coolness, and the fact that they have been intermittently more or less established about 1400 years before we were.

Rob,

While the $43 - $44 range for a new slot car is cool, just how much money are we talking about to tune it to make it run properly.

Recently I bought a set of the Ninco 1 GT cars of Mustangs and Camaros. The idea was to put together a "fleet" of cars for IROC racing. Of the 4 cars we received, only 1 of them would run well enough to circumnavigate our MDF track.

Granted most of the stuff was poorly fitted axles / bushings and a lot of 'tweaking'.

Unfortunately one of the motors went out during our playtime. To replace the motor cost more than the car was being sold for. So we simply bought a set of parts in a plastic box for less than the cost of a replacement motor.

Myself, I am kind of stuck on Slot.It as in my opinion provides the best value in the hobby - at least at this particular time. That value is determined by what you get for your purchase price. To me, just about any Slot.It can be taken out of the box, put on the track and it runs. Actually most of them run very, very well.

I think this is something each and every person needs to determine. Support the manufacturers that provide the type of value you expect in your purchases.

Good discussion topic. Thanks for starting it up.

Ninco has finally moved production to China. Saw that in a newsletter from a vendor today.

Let's see if they have the same problems that Pioneer had.
China is a different animal.

Ninco has a new distributor in the US who is taking less profit on cars than MRC did... simple.

BINGO!!

As I rarely buy a "new" car (last one was a Slot It Lancia white kit off Amazon) I'm somewhat detached from the market. I will buy used/blemished/etc or "horsetrade" to get what I want. On the other hand, the era I love the most (50s/60s) is where the most expensive Nincos live at, even now. If they have moved their manufacture offshore I wonder what kind of quality will be seen for the reduction in price. As far as the motors go, I will stick with the "clones" (M/T, BWA, H&R Jackrabbit), much better value for the dollar.
To my eye, it looks like the whole "toy" industry is going through a change....many of the companies that moved to China are now returning home or moving to other countries. Time will tell how this effects our little niche.