Calling Pioneer - Jules and Tom

[zilger]

Yes, THAT is the car. Love that Candy Orange car.

Personally, being a lifelong Mustang fan, I detest stripes on non-Shelbys. Twin stripes are way overdone on Mustangs. Now a lower rocker panel GT stripe would be fine. Thanks, Jules.

Brian

[mattb]

Good discussion here and really good to have manufacturers input so available.

There are a lot of different facets of the slot car hobby and just in manufactured 1/32 rtr's there are diverse interests. Some guys see a car only as a race platform as it comes in the box. Some see a new car as a piece of canvas they can turn into what they want, real or imagined.

Still others just want a complete collection of MIB cars to look at on the wall. Others want to put a field of "real" classic race cars on their track to recreate something that may have existed on a race track in the 60's or 70's.

It has to be a hard decision for the manufacturer to decide which way to go. Seems that decorated, known, cars must be the most important, but that white kits should be pretty close behind.

The real market here should be for decal guys! I see these new Monte Carlo stock cars and figure the second purchase should be decals to model the real cars. Those decals are probably out there in 1/24 and can be scaled down pretty easy. There is the matter of rights and royalties, but in our basements does that matter much?

This is probably the best climate 1/32 guys have had in the last 35-40 years. Probably one reason basement 1/32 racers will keep slot car racing alive.

[JULES]

Drat, double drat and triple drat, Brian. You don't like stripes!! I just spent a couple hours in the paint shop laying down some nice fat silver ones over it.

Maybe some cellulose thinners and a gentle buff will get them off.

Stripes A.jpeg

stripes B.jpeg

stripes C.jpeg

[zilger]

You must have been a busy guy, Jules. You also changed the Torq Thrusts to gold and the tires to Goodyear!

Brian

[frank9129]

You guys. My '69 Chevelle was just a car until I put the two 6" stripes on it.
They it became a muscle car. Even though it wasn't.
The wife bought it while I was in VN. 1969 Chevelle 300 Delux. YUCK! Some stripes, L-60 tires and air shocks did the trick.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Slothead...check PM. Car is wrapped and goes out Monday morning. Well....IF Broomhilda at our local PO/Feed Store/Gas Station shows on time.

[williamg]

any chance more ''white'' plain notch backs and camaros coming out?

[frank9129]

Slothead,
Don't listen to me. No one ever does.
I have been racing by myself here in Annapolis for years. The only time I get to race with anyone is when I have a charity race.
Between setting up and the event starts there isn't allot of time to try out new cars. I did have a race at the house once. The three who came over had a good time on a brand new routed track. They never found their way back. So sad. I even offered to transport the track to them.
I support anyone who enjoys slot car racing. That's why I do what I do.
Sorry if I came on a little strong. I have a problem with getting passionate with things I believe in.

[slothead]

We're all blessed to have a hobby we care about and a place to share our 2 cents worth about it.

I was basically a solo racer as a kid too because of where we lived. A racing buddy I did have suggested we set my cars on fire as we drove them on the track - those cars outlasted our friendship. If I'd of known as a kid that 50+ years later I'd have a barn with 2 routed tracks and over 150 cars it would have made me very happy. And, with HRW to exchange slot car thoughts, info, and passion, I guess I'm not as much of a solo racer as I think I am. Thanks.

Jules - I think the Legend cars are going to create their own niche in the hobby and go over very well. Kids will think of them as cute toys while we both enjoy them as is and tune them for racing. Shortly after we have them in hand I know someone is going to propose a proxy that will feature both modeling skills and performance. That olive drab car you have us looking forward to is a great choice - a livery I love but would never have imagined. As soon as a retailer featured here (right now only Cincyslots is listed as an authorized dealer on Pioneer's website) has them in stock I'll be placing an order and searching for livery ideas to customized some to create my own series.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Just a side view...since we are referring to passion.

We have slowly lost a few "ready to run" manufacturers over the years. Some that were basic staples of our hobby and they are missed.

If Jules decides to chime in, he will certainly tell you that I am his least favorite product tester :lol: Devils advocate, jerk, or whatever family friendly name he would repeat here: that would be me. :dance:

Because I am passionate about this hobby and when I see a company that has even a slight chance of making a go of it...I cannot help myself. I have to speak up.

Pioneer has had some setbacks. Sometimes the choices they make do not impress or please me. The years it has taken to even see these Legends have angered more than a few people. I get that. Me too.

AND I will admit right here that these cars do not shake the Earth for me like some here. Some talk about these cars like they are life changing. Well...I guess we can just hope for the best.

But I am hopeful for the success. I hope Jules and his team deliver these cars soon and that they really take off. I want to see clubs racing them in droves. I want to see Pioneer get back into the mainstream of this hobby.

Because I am tired of seeing brands in our hobby disappear. I may or may not like the cars a company makes, but if most others do and they can keep making more? GOOD.

[mattb]

Good post Harry. The best a manufacturer can hope for is honest criticism. If honest criticism is taken into consideration it is invaluable to the manufacturer and the consumer.

Being into vintage stuff so strong, it is really funny to read the reviews of the 1960's slot cars in the major magazines. Every turd they put on the track was the new, best thing! In reality very few were actually competitive at the local slot track. Made the advertisers happy though.

[slothead]

I'll have an informed opinion about the Legend cars in a few days, so what I have to say at this point is based on hope and desire.

I'm preparing myself for how small they will be as 1/32nd scale replicas of a car that itself is a 5/8th version of coupes from the 30's. I did the math and that will make them slightly smaller than a 1/43rd scale car. Just looking at an image lets your eyes play tricks on you, assuming things are 'normal' in size. It's not until you have a frame of reference you see these are miniature race cars, as will be the versions Pioneer releases.


I dabbled in 1/43 scale stuff for awhile, then gave it all away to Ol' Mike (remember him?), 'cause I just couldn't adjust to them. No offense to the guys here who build and race 1/43 and love it, I just couldn't get my fat fingers to handle the size of the parts. These will definitely be cars that can only be raced against themselves. If silicone tires will be available and I can get them to handle on my oval, I'll be satisfied because otherwise there's nothing on the slot car horizon I'm looking forward to.

And, as Harry mentioned I want to see Pioneer remain viable. I have all of their Trans Am replica Mustangs, and one Camaro, and love them all. While these cars are outnumbered by Scalextric's Trans Am replicas in my series the Pioneer cars are the top performers by a slight margin. I want a reason to keep buying Pioneer cars for years to come.

[Fathead59]

Shouldn't Pioneer do other cars than just the Camaro, Charger and Mustang . I feel , and maybe I wrong , but I feel that they should branch out and do others makes and models then the big three so to speak. I mean we have a guy , on a different tread , making a mold of a different model of a car , and it is one of the for mentioned brands that I for one have not seen in any of the slot car stores I have looked at online . So if someone can do it on his own I think one of the big manufactures could do it also , I would still buy it off of this guy here first and build a car , fantasy or real, just because we need to have others doing it also . Always going to try a support the little guy .

[Fathead59]

And other than Chevy ,isn't Ford , Lincoln , Mercury and it isn't just Dodge, you have Plymouth and Chrysler , you also have AMC . So there is other types of cars, maybe they are not as popular as some, but you do have other models to make . I think when hot rodding first started out most kids at the time didn't have the money to just go out and buy a car , they made due with what they had . Maybe it is some of those type of cars could be good. Just a thought .

[HomeRacingWorld]

Well that is just not as easy as it sounds.

Tooling costs for models are breathtakingly expensive. You might want a certain car or cars...but that's just YOU. There is a vast market out there and you have choose your molds carefully.

All of manufactures are overseas. Britain, Italy, and much less important, Spain.

Pioneer is the odd company as they made American iron right off the bat. The Euro based companies that have forgotten the USA market are mostly gone, in trouble, or make almost nothing that anyone wants. (Spanish brands)

If I could, Pioneer would forget any and all prior plans and make 1979 NASCAR. But that is just me. Somewhere, someone is saying make another MGB or Porsche 9whatever we have seen over and over.