Big Score of the week!

[btaylor]

I had watched this auction on ebay for several days. The buy it now price was $144.00 plus shipping. It was way to rich for my blood, even in the condition it was in. Thursday rolls around, and I get an email alert saying the price had dropped, so I went to my watch list and sure enough, the price was dropped by half! I could not pass this up at that price. So Saturday comes around and the mailman drops off what is probably the best example of these old Cox Lotus cars that I have seen in quite a while. Many of the small parts had never been taken off the trees, both roll bar options were there, as well as two sets of pipes, and all the wheel wrenchs and instructions. The controller works, and looks like it had never been used. Other than some drying of the tires with age, the car is complete, and functioning. I have wanted one of these since I saw them in the showcase at the local hobby shop /raceway when I was about 10 years old. They were way over my paper route budget then, and I almost waited till they were over my budget now! Either way, I own one now, and am as happy as I would have been in 1968.

[mattb]

Good buy. The Lotus is probably the nicest looking of the 4 early mag frame cars. They have great detail and the green/yellow paint is a classic. One of my buddies in Oz used to go to another guys place for weekend races once or twice a year. I guess 10-20 guys showed up and camped out and they raced vintage stuff all weekend He said the Lotus was always the best handling car and winningest due to its lower COG compared to the other mag frame cars. One class they ran was the first issue S/W Cox hardbodies with non-adjustable gear ratio.

[chrisguyw]

Good score Bob !!,........My first "serious" 1/24 car was a Cox "Team Modified" Cheetah,....or at least I thought it was serious, until I took it to the local track and was humbled by the Russkit Carreras', Dynamics, and scratchbuilt cars of the day. At that point, the Cox went into the box, replaced by some more competitive machinery. Years later the fascination for the Cox cars returned, and I have managed to collect/build quite a fleet......they are gorgeous to watch going around the track, equally gorgeous on the shelf, and with some work, can be made to run very very well indeed.

The attached shots are of a modified chassis/motor I built for a vintage racing class. This chassis sits under a Lotus 30/40.

Cheers
Chris Walker

PS If you need any bits, I do have some, so please feel free to ask.

[btaylor]

Wow! Chris, that chassis is a work of art! I have all of the parts for the car, plus some extras. but I appreciate the offer!

Bob

[chrisguyw]

Hi Bob, Here is a picture of a Lotus 40 built using a Fein Design body kit from Germany. The master was a Cox 30/40 with lots of photo etched and resin bits added..........all very well assembled/painted by its German owner.

Just posted this to humble us both....... ;)

Cheers
Chris

[mattb]

I remember Chris building that Cox chassis. At that time I decided I would never again show any of the junk I build. I am humbled by the talent some of you guys have.

[kidvoltage]

Dang, I need one of those chassis adjustments. Chris, help a brother out!

[Dangermouse]

Looks in better condition than the one I picked up recently Bob - don't mix the boxes up when you are sending mine on to me..... :)

[btaylor]

Lol. David, once i stripped yours of spares, i cant mistake them! Seriously, yours is pretty nice, i would have been proud to get it!
Bob

[BIG E]

btaylor - I love hearing the stories of these scores.

The late Misters Jim Clark (driver) and Colin Chapman (designer) would no doubt be proud of all the great work done on slot car racing replicas of probably the finest sports car they ever raced together.
I know that I very much enjoy viewing pictures of both the survivors and the restorations shown by our forum members.

Congrats all, and... Enjoy! -- Ernie :>)

[BARC 1]

The prototype was a horrid car. Some quipped it had 10 more problems than the Lotus 30.Regardless they are my favorite slot car.

I love the Old cox mag chassis cars and have collected all of them except the Dino. I have used the chassis under other 1/24 scale cars as well. I have a box full of rims that are still on the card,as well as more tapered axles then I will ever need.

One day I will have to sell this stuff.

[RBPhillips]

Utterly beautiful - and man, that Cox chassis is more corrosion-free than any other I've seen!! Wonderful! Loved the Lotus cars and eventually owned one of the Competition/Pactra ones with pre-painted body.

Like you, my first "ride" for commercial tracks was a Cox Cheetah at age 13. It ran OK on the 220 ft track down the hill from my house (track opened, delightfully, at the end of school '66, so lots of time for research). By switching to U-Go foam slicks on a standard axle, I eliminated the Cox hop; then, I found there was another combo besides 16:48 that would fit, yielding something near 2.7 or 2.5:1 with some big spur, possibly a 20 tooth. Quite fast!

At times I made the Cheetah a wheelstander, adding weight in the rear body valence a la Hubert Platt.

[RichD]

I bought the Cox Lotus 30 when it came out, it was not any more competitive than the 1:1 version. I suspect that the lack of weight down low and the flexible plastic front suspension was the reason for that. Both issues have been addressed with that beautiful modified chassis. Back in the mid '60s things were changing so fast that a winning car one week would be a backmarker a month later.

[kidvoltage]

[mattb]

I only spent one summer racing on the little commercial track we had here, but that period, summer 65, there was never a competitive Cox car at our track. The Ford GT was their big seller, but they never handled at all out of the box and none of the kids at our track had any abilities to fix them. This was before the Cuc or the Dino Ferrari, which came out after I was done slotting for a few years. The high center of gravity of the chassis, the heavy body with it's high COG, the lack of an easy gear change, and the lack of good rubber all made them poor competition for the Classic Manta Ray, BZ Banshee or any scratch built or Dynamic chassied car with a hotter motor.

But in retrospect, the great detail and model kit quality of those cars has made them the number one collector car.

I even have one I painted blue!

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