The Day Slot Car Racing Died…
By Philippe de Lespinay
February 1967 was a very bad month for the slot car racing industry in
America. After two years of uncertainty, the business was now rapidly
vanishing as thousands of franchised and independent commercial slot car
raceways were closing their doors after experiencing declining interest
and sales.
Slot car racing had experienced the biggest bubble ever seen in the
history of any hobby, and it would take nearly 30 years for it to
regroup and be prosperous again.
Classic Industries of Culver City, California, had seen its sales
growing from virtually nothing in 1964 to millions of dollars by the end
of 1966, boosted by the sales of one of the most successful slot cars
ever produced, the Manta Ray. Designed by stylist John Power, the
rather odd-looking model appealed to younger enthusiasts. It was fast
and rugged, handled reasonably well and was available ready to race with
no need for assembly like most other models produced in 1965. Its
success was simply prodigious and over one million of them were sold.
After a business dispute with John Power, causing his departure from the
company, Classic continued on their success by hiring Robert Cadaret, a
former General Motors artist who worked under Bill Mitchell at the GM
Design Studio. Cadaret delivered in the form of truly awesome models
that again, were targeting the young, while frowned upon by grown-up
scale enthusiasts. But sales success was soon followed by increasing
difficulty to gather new orders from distributors who themselves had a
problem collecting receivables from raceway owners now in trouble. By
the end of 1967, Classic, as many other slot-car manufacturing
companies, was looking at bleak revenues and had no ideas for new
products able to reverse the trend.
Classic president Sam Bergman and general manager Ilmars Kersels needed
something new to save the company from impending financial ruin, and
looked to Japan for quick help. Inspecting reports about the evolution
of the hobby, they saw their possible salvation in what was supposed to
be the new big thing, radio controlled model cars. With no manufacturing
capability of their own since Classic had always been an assembler of
subcontracted parts, they analyzed what was available and could be
quickly turned into a Classic product without actually investing in new
tooling. It just happened that the Masudaya Toy Company of Tokyo, Japan,
had been producing a large 1956 toy of an Oldsmobile “88” made of
pressed steel, and controlled by a non-proportional remote system named
“RadiCon”. Masudaya was later absorbed by another Japanese toy maker
also involved in slot car racing, Nichimo.
By the late 1960s, the large tin car had given way to smaller 1/20 scale
models of American cars, especially Chrysler products for which Nichimo
had obtained a license. These radio controlled models were now made of
plastic material with a tinplate base, fitted with basic features such
as non-proportional steering as well as forward and reverse command
buttons for the on-board electric motor. The “RadiCon” name was changed
to “ProCon”, and the large cardboard boxes were now smaller plastic
cases featuring a carrying handle.
The Nichimo people were all too pleased to make a deal with Kersels, who
ordered a small number of display models for the oncoming 1968 Chicago
Hobby Show. The clear-plastic boxes of the sets included the control
unit, a receiver wired to the unit, a long coil of insulated wire
necessary to limit the car’s travel inside a circle formed by this wire
and the car. These were identical to that marketed by Nichimo, but with
the Classic name embossed on the top of the boxes in black letters, in
the manner of the previous Classic clear-plastic boxes. At least four
samples were produced, and one of the samples bodies, that of a Plymouth
Barracuda, was vacuum plated with aluminum metallization. Other
identified samples were of a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere of which body was
molded in white plastic.
Picture: The Classic booth photographed the day before the 1967 Chicago Hobby Show
Classic received the samples just in time for the show, and period
photography obtained by the author clearly shows the new product, one of
the new Plymouth Belvedere models being actually run on a small track
fitted on a specially built table, and at least three racing sets
displayed on the walls of the built-up booth. Things were looking up
again, that is, until an attack from nature ruined their hopes.
Picture: the Nichimo Plymouth Belvedere ready for demonstration to distributors and retailers.
Picture: the three samples on the Classic display shelves. From left to
right: a Plymouth Belvedere, a Plymouth Barracuda and an unidentified
model.
Two days before the show, the winter skies opened and Chicago
experienced one of its worst blizzards in over 50 years. Deep snowfall,
ice and wind forced the entire city and a good part of the state of
Illinois to a grinding halt. No flights could land or take off, no
trains or road vehicles were able to provide any transportation. Only a
few local distributors and retailers were able to attend the show, and
the repercussions upon the entire hobby business were huge. With no new
orders, dozens of already financially wounded slot car companies went
bankrupt, while others with other product lines pulled the plug on all
slot car production.
Two months later, Classic also called it quits and sold its remaining
inventories at pennies on the dollar to RehCo, a large distributor in
Cincinnati. The new radio controlled cars never made it past those few
samples. At this time, a single survivor is known to exist, that more
than likely was given to Trost Hobbies in Chicago by Classic at that
very show as it was common practice. Trost was one of the largest hobby
distributors in the country and one of Classic’s best customers. In
1995, Trost Hobbies began liquidating their remaining 1960s inventories
and created a bonanza for collectors, who were able to obtain pristine
slot cars sets, parts and cars that had been dormant in the company’s
vaults for decades. The Classic/Nichimo Plymouth Barracuda is suspected
to have come from there. Brokered to the LASCM by a well-known toy
dealer, it is now one of the stars of the world’s largest slot car
museums on the face of the earth.
Pictures: the sole known survivor of the four samples at the LASCM
Pictures: A surviving Nichimo/Classic Plymouth Belvedere and its control unit.
Copyright LASCM.com
Tags: Slot Cars
...