The Slotcar Outhouse

Check this out guys

Now where did I put that old steering wheel?

A bit of Retro racing


Slotcar racing in suits.... WOW! What a concept!! Now where are those Legends guidelines!!

Phil, I have that track, minus the steering wheels. It took two big trucks and a lot of friends to bring it to my house from the tobacco barn where it had been stored for many years. Its a 1965 American Model Raceways Imperial, the forerunner of the "King" track we see today, made by various folks. Its actually rare version with scenery, which doesn't have the "whoopdedoo's", a pair of humps at the start of the straightaway. There are 23 pieces to the track, each with two stainless steel legs. I have been restoring it a bit at a time, but a major obstacle came up a couple of years ago when the builders of the huge, metal cabinet, tube transformers that power it reneged on providing the wiring diagrams that would let me rebuild them. It was pretty ugly for a while there, but I still have all the equipment, including two of those huge number drum style lap counters you see in the video. In addition to the 8 lanes and 150 feet of track, there are timing units, race director remote stands, handicapping switches and timers, those huge transformers, a box of equipment that includes a drawstring bag with colored wooden balls for lane assignment, fuses, all kinds of stuff and a notebook full of manuals, advertisements, including those crazy steering wheels, and how-to's in brochure form, all about things like where to put snack machines, cigarette machines, soft drinks, etc, and what kind of carpet to use, how much exposure is needed through big windows on the front of the store... Its amazing. I don't know what I'll do with it. My outbuilding is big (40' X 40'), but not big enough for this fully assembled. The footprint is around 56' X 23', including the walk space around it. Anyway, there is still at least one in existence.

Hi Rob,

I was just trying to figure out how the steering wheel worked and the only conclusion I came to was that the corners were powered independently of the straights, and when the wheel was in the right position, maybe some sliding contacts under the wheel would complete the circuit for the corner rails??? The track shape itself is very reminiscent of some 'Blue King' tracks we have here and which are currentlly still in use!!