Holy Crap. That was one of my first sets. Thanks for memories. My parents over three years purchased. Three sets and I was able to put them all together. Thanks for posting
My brother and I received one of these sets for Christmas. I believe the year was 1973. We thought it was the coolest gift ever. We loved the challenge of keeping the cars on the track, a skill we both honed after countless hours of racing. I remember when the Magna-Traction cars came out they were a cool novelty, but were pointless when it came to competing with someone else. I loved those plunger style controllers.
Great find for you. I can offer some tips on track cleaning sections. I've built three layouts using sectional track from Tyco, AFX, and now gathering Model Motoring. Spent weekends cleaning track and my routine is: I use a folded over paper towel with a small blade screwdriver and run it back and forth in the slot itself. You would be amazed how much 'stuff' over the years collects in that slot. On a hard flat surface I run a nickel on the rails up and down to brighten them up a bit and remove any corrosion. Next I grab my wire brush ( the one that looks like a toothbrush ) rigorously across the connecting tabs and of course check the fit and condition of the tabs. And finally I use a dry paper towel and wipe off the surface of the track. I do not use any fluids or cleaners as some may affect the aging plastic.... Using compressed air to blow off the section doesn't hurt either. Yes, it takes time but I can tell you from experience with a 20' straightaway on a 4 lane layout I have no issues. I also use a separate power source for each lane. Lastly if it doesn't come clean to my standards then I toss it out!! Hope this helps and happy Model Motoring !!! Great video!
I got lazy. If I'm setting up a track on the floor once a year or so, I just grab a sheet of really high grade sandpaper, 1000 grit or more. Hold it flat and rub it VERY lightly across the track (not along it). You can zigzag your way across all the lanes at once, but best of all, I can get around a very large track in a very short amount of time. Some of you might disagree with my methods, but all of my track was purchased used in bulk lots, and I've yet to cause any noticeable damage.
Great video! Very informative! I had this exact set, literally 20 minutes ago! I just sold it to my wife's cousin for $50. It was my brothers' set when they were kids, and i found it in their old closet while cleaning out my dad's house. They didn't want it anymore so it went up for sale. Thankfully, my wife's cousin wanted it, so I held it for him. He plans on restoring it and running it with his grandkids, so someday I might get to play with it again! Lol
I used to use a big pink eraser and scrub each piece of track perpendicular to the rails . Then wipe down with a dry rag . Those rails would be shiny-perfect
I had that exact Gremlin . One cool car . I used to drag race it . Never had the Pinto . Nice set of cars with that track . Didn't they give an extra set of bodies back then . The extra pair to drag race . If I'm not mistaken , the Chargers were a long body , with a longer wheelbase chassis .
One thing I've learned: Denatured Alcohol works better than Isopropyl Alcohol. It has way less water in it and evaporates much faster & leaves less residue on the track. It will also get the gunk off the rails better.
I remember having a set from the 80's. Did the 80's and 90's slot cars go faster than the most recent stuff? I remember not being able to press down the gas the whole way or it would fly off the track in a corner.
No wonder the solder tabs fell apart, did you see that GREMLIN stubbing out every time rounding the bend? Sort like driving into a median at 100 miles per hour every 8th of a mile.
As we all know - the old Tyco Pro chassis and their tin-foil "pick-up" shoes were a horrendous design - decent chassis (actually quite fast) - just crappy pick-up shoes. Impressive it worked as well as it did. Those old chassis can be fun to run.....you just have to be patient and take the time to "fold them back"...carefully. Ultimately, when they went to the chassis "Curve Hugger" design it was a MASSIVE improvement.. Do I like running the old Tyco Pro chassis with the pathetic pick-up shoes? Yes I do...as it adds to the "challenge" of running them. Side note: If your original pick-ups are wasted (consumed), interestingly, the New-Old-Stock (NOS) replacement shoes are actually LONGER and ever so slightly WIDER. I guess someone at Tyco in the Engineering dept actually had a brain... I replaced an original set I had, and I was impressed with what Tyco had produced as a replacement set. The car has been running better than ever. Just goes to show you what a few millimeters or more of "electrical contact" can do.... Side note: Love Isopropyl Alcohol.....it's God's gift to hobbyists and more. Amazing what that stuff WILL clean off and clean UP.... I suggest 91%.....Are my eyes bad, or does the one car (the Gremlin) have 3 -leaf clovers on it? If so, what the HELL was Tyco thinking? (Great car to run on St. Patty's day with a couple of beers though...although, I never stop at just a couple of beers...but that's my thing...which I do not suggest nor condone...) Actually, what's amazing is you didn't clean off the inter-track connections (ie. the inter-connection tabs from one piece of track to the next piece of track) and it still ran reasonably well. Truth is .....from what I've seen OLD Neoprene tires seem to hold up pretty well. Great vid by the way!
I ended up with a bunch of this Tycopro stuff. It didn’t come with a power supply or remotes. How did this stuff connect? Was there a special piece of track to plug in to or something different?
hello, first off and how i dont know my son took chharge of my email address and just for the record i am Ryans father , my name is Thomas Degeneffe and i ran ho's when i was a kid im an old fart now and my older brothers used to let me tag along with them when slot houses existed long ago, now a thing of the past for the most part anyway long ztory short , a hobby shop opened in town and out of bizness presently but during its time and xmas or a bday or something i purchased a carrera 1/32 and although unfortunatly my son whom i purchased it for never developed the habit and as luck would have it the exact opposite in my case and considering building a set with the scale size land scaping, now that i have that off my chest i will get to the point of this msg , that being while going threw you tube model car videos i came across one of yours where you had recieved an ho or some ho's by mail and i just speaking for myself that i couldnt make out what brand it was or what it looked like bcuz to me picked it up , flashed it in front of the camera and set it down and on to the next topic of the program , i like your videos but i guess your too fast for me or im too slow for you, keep up the good work , oh and one more thing i have an old tyco ho set its quite large and came with 2 radius turns along with flat curves glow in the dark
road stripping and the radius turns if im not mistaken do a complete 360 degree turn , i believe the set is complete but 1 controller is broken and i would like to sell or trade for carrera digital 1/32 cars or 2/30 flat or radius banking turns or ramp bridging or components to change an analog to digital set thank you
