the beatles, playing with now considered vintage slot cars back in the 1960’s

john lennon approved! need we say more…

history of slot racing PART I

scalextric out of UK was the first manufacturer of what we know today as slotcars.

here is a little history about how these toys came to be and how they died out on a mass level but flourished in cult communities after the invention of video games. scalextric are quietly flourishing today under hornby. but they are beginning to come back in a strange way, from car commercials featuring slot cars (audi even making a experiential track complete with ipad camera view), to barneys new york using a slot  car track in their NY window displays, to pierre hardy using slot cars for their campaign, to a $300,000 model offered at neiman marcus created by slotmods!!!! and all the way down to a simple set for under $200 that you can pick up online at carrera toys.

cars meant something beyound bling and power. before alexander mcqueen designed looks for lady gaga, his older uncle, steve mcqueen, drove around in the coolest cars… actually im joking doubt they are related.

a very rare “Fly” slot car model of steve mcqueen’s porsche 917K in gulf livery… yes thats a camera in the front. Steve used that to shoot his film “le mans” worth a watch.

history of slot racing PART II

there are still several manufacturers besides scalextric such as carrera slot cars out of germany, slot it out of italy,  AFX and autoart out of the US an many from places like australia, spain, and even france.

a blue buggatti type 251 by cartrix made in recent years…

and here’s a little natgeo video of how this stuff was made.

a recent issue of a vintage lotus in high detail by scalextric 1 of only 4000…