Slot Car Orphans

[Fast Co.]

Ever since Slot.It released their first models of the Audi R8C and Porsche 956 they've been committed to producing cars within particular racing series - GT, Group C, Le Mans Classics, LMP, DTM.

This started a trend as other manufacturers followed suit and also began to produce cars that could compete together in specific series. NSR targeted GT3, and '60s /'70s sports prototypes. Racer Sideways released a superb line of Group 5 machines. Policar brought us Le Mans Classics and vintage F1. Pioneer brought us vintage Trans Am and Legends cars. And filling a glaring void, ThunderSlot gifted us Can Am.

This is a great trend for the hobby, enabling us to assemble realistic grids of competitive cars just as they raced back in the day.

The big box manufacturers, understandably must appeal to a broader market and so their offerings span many classes and eras.

But every now and then a company releases a body style for which no natural competitors are subsequently produced (by the same company).

Not to knock any particular manufacturer, but this one, released by Scalextric many years ago, comes readily to mind - the Jaguar XKRS that competed in the Trans Am series back in the early years of this century. I had always hoped that Scalextric would release a Corvette or a Mustang, or maybe even a Mangusta or a Panoz Esperante of the same era to compete with this car.




What other orphans can you think of that could use sparring partners?

[Dave Kennedy]

SCX Cuda...

[Fast Co.]

Good one Dave! And by far my favorite SCX release. I'm sure there's a story why SCX never did other T/A models. Probably has something to do with the size of the American market and the lack of appeal elsewhere.

[Dave Kennedy]

Because I left... a Javelin was planned and I had researched liveries.

[Fast Co.]

[Dave Kennedy]

Yup I still have those 2 prototypes right next to me here at my desk.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Well I will add two...

First from Scalextric again...(not picking on anyone)



This Williams car was a great running car. Yet...no series. A waste of tooling. They could have made and entire series in this era. Yes....they did great work on the older Legends...but this could have been so much more.

Part 2....here we go



There isn't a day go by when I look at these cars from Carrera and see the huge potential missed.
Not making at least the 56 or 57 Ford to run against it was simply ridiculous.

[Dogsbody]

Harry, they did #5 Mansell Williams and two McLarens (Senna and Prost) to go with that #2 but yes, more of that era would've been welcome.

[Fast Co.]

Yes, a '56 or '57 Ford would have been awesome!

[Fast Co.]

Harry, have you ever seen a movie called "Pit Stop"? Beautifully filmed in b&w in 1969, it's the story of a hot-shot street racer who gets lured into the world of figure-8 racing. Lot's of actual footage of late 50's iron banging it out from Ascot Park in California. It's a great story. The film is a real classic. Look for it on Amazon Prime.

When I was a kid my uncle used to take me to the demolition derbies and figure-8s at Islip Speedway on Long Island. Awesome times!

[Fathead59]

You would think so , safe to say that it was an opportunity missed

[docdoom]

Fly Panoz GT-LMP

[Mitch58]

Got one of those Doc. Interesting car, doesn't handle too bad for a front motored car, Quite a bit of gear noise though, I might have to swap some around to see if it makes a difference. But like you said it really has nothing to go with it.

[Slottus]

But Fly also made that Lola:

https://protinkertoys.com/products/lola-b98-10-24h-le-mans-2002-96069-fly-car?variant=19042680406078

which was part of a set for the forgotten movie "Michel Vaillant" from 2002:

https://youtu.be/g2KCkO1dU6o

[Mitch58]

Slotus, that is the Fly

[Slottus]

Yes, that's what I wrote. So it's not an orphan like stated in the OP: "a body style for which no natural competitors are subsequently produced".

[Fast Co.]

I loved watching and hearing those cars race the BMW V12 LMRs in the American Le Mans series back in the day. The contrasts were extraordinary - An American front-engined V8 with it's thunderous deep bass grunt battling it out with a European mid-engined high-pitched V12. Some great racing in that series!

[Fast Co.]

Harry, Carrera did do this T-Bird, but yes a 1957 Fairlane would have been most welcome.

[Mitch58]

They exist, but you have to build them yourself.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Yes they did the Tbird. But LONG out of stock (by a decade) by the time the 57 arrived.

Yes Mitch, we CAN build but not really what I thought the original post was about.

The car needed a running mate that average enthusiasts could buy. Not search and pay EPay prices or force them to build their own.

[Fast Co.]

This one by Ninco...

[WB2]

Ah...one of the best looking paint jobs ever done.
Ninco had a number of liveries of this car. I managed to pick up five of them.
Sorry, no virus jokes.

[Wobble]

Scalextric DP