The Sledge

[ferrari1950]

I had the pleasure of recently hosting the F1 Proxy reported here at HRW. I had a good feeling about HRW while reporting on the event and enjoyed the other topics in the Forum. Although I have posted at other forums and have a blog under my ferrari1950 handle at a British slotforum I had slowed up feeling overall that interest was waning a bit and my contributions did little to help. HRW has stirred my posting urge so do put up with my ramblings from time to time. :text-thankyouyellow:



I sometimes have a desire to relish the products of the past. Over the years I have assembled these 3 examples of Scalextric cars from the late sixties. A Matra, Ferrari and Lotus Indy car. I realize that purists will not appreciate the fact that I clean the cars up, repaint if need be, add or change decals and detail and switch out drivers' heads for slightly more realistic ones. The cars are runners, and shockingly at twelve volts 50 years into their lives run smoothly and well.


Here is the under view of the brilliant sledge chassis. The cars handle so well why Scalextric did not use this chassis under more cars is a shame.



The concept of the sledge explained in the Scalextric Ultimate Guide (Adrian Norman and Roger Gillham)



Two of the five cars were imaginary F1 entries. The Europa and Panther which I recently acquired and detailed up to my liking.



The fleet looks great and one has to wonder if today's offerings will be running Fifty years from now. I'll be about 119 so I know I'll slow down a bit :mrgreen: !!!

[Dangermouse]

Great classic cars - I have the Lotus and am on the hunt for a few more. Would love to find a Ferrari

I love the extra detailing you have done - I did the same to mine - looks so much better than the original :)
David

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I remember all those, I'm afraid. I'm soooo old.

[mattb]

Nice cars and looks like a nice track. I like rambling posts! I'm an expert at it.

[ourwayband]

Great looking vintage rides!!

[Xr4ti]

What kind of a weird azz purist would complain about what you've done to those cars? Their beautiful!
I've never even heard of Sledge. Scalextric wasn't well known here back in the sixties. Our 1/32 F1's were Monogram.
Scalextric couldn't afford to produce a car that well made and keep it within the price point. I'm finding a lot of the vintage
would be cost intensive to try and recreate today. Besides I'm still trying to wear my vintage stuff out, same as you :D

[32lbking]

Those cars look great. Personally, I prefer to see the vintage cars detailed and cleaned. Having said that,I also have a Gilbert Autorama set that has the original worn patina and am leaving it that way just because it shows its age.
Randy

[williamg]

Great looking cars.
And any purist that complains is in the wrong. They are ours to do as pleased.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I was living in Ontario when I saw these cars, and I had the crazy idea that the British cars had to have some kind of special wiring in the house to run them. I was 12 or 13, and since the subject never came up in conversation, no one ever corrected me. So the way it turned out, my first Scalextric car was from a box of toys a lady gave my mother after her son grew up and moved away. There was a Hornby HO locomotive in there, too.

[mattb]

I would like to see more pix of your track. It looks great in the background of the car pix.

[chappyman66]

These are pretty cool....the full length drop arm, basically. Nice job!

And I agree with Matt, it would be nice to see some more pics of your track.....the background looks pretty nice!

[waaytoomuchintothis]

HA! I just realized that the cars I saw as a boy were not these jewels. I would have been 17 or 18 when these came along. I have to say, I am less amazed at your restoration and detailing now that I know the rather toylike cars I remembered are not these. I wondered at the narrowing and lowering of the body... Ha!

[Dogsbody]

Nice work. I haven't heard the word sledge in a while... Yanks would call it a sled. Policar has modernized this concept recently as well.

[strummer57]

[vonsirius]

Cool cars, indeed and a good job !!!