The Hong Kong Connection, Slots & toy cars Options

[dgersh]

Anybody else notice this auction?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Vintage-1960-s-7...73644%26ps%3D63

Any idea why it went so high? Nice cars, and not all that common, but still - Hong Kong for over £200?

Don

[Pechuga_VLC]

it is a couple of cars sold as SpeedMaster from Hong Kong. It may have some relation to SpeedKing and SpeedTrax.

The red car (Maserati?)
I had never seen one like blue (Cooper-Climax?)

[SAMPSON]

Hi Don,i bid on the 2 cars,but the winning bid was too high. Who is the guy who bought them ? Hes new to ebay,& maybe a little strange( see his question to the seller).Hi Jose,your right on the company,i have the red car which is a Ferrari.These cars are rare but not that rare.I wonder whats the story on the buyer ? Bernard

[tomwysom]

That's probably David the Swedish guy who lives in London. He's an avid collector and apparently speaks little or no English.

See here:

David the Swedish guy

Cheers,

Tom.

[tomwysom]

That's probably David the Danish?? guy who lives in London. He's an avid collector and apparently speaks little or no English.

See here:

David the Danish guy

Cheers,

Tom.

[tomwysom]

As you can see I have no idea if he's Danish or Swedish and I don't know how to use the edit feature....

[tomwysom]

Got word from David that he is in fact neither Danish nor Swedish but in fact English and does know how to speak the language very well.

[Rob J]

A bizarre price. What motors do these SpeedMasters have, Bernard? Low-voltage cans?
If the red car is marked as a Ferrari, so be it, but it looks more like a chunky Maserati 250F than any 1950s Ferrari I can think of. Besides the body shape, the exhaust is probably meant to have headers for a 250F-style straight-six engine (there seem to be five, one of them thick, in the ebay pic and one on SF a few years ago). None of the 1950s Ferraris had straight-six engines.
Still, I shouldn't take it so seriously.
From memory, the red car appeared on SF when a member got one (free) along with some Scalex FJs from his brother's attic. Perhaps 12V after all.
Rob J

[SAMPSON]

Hi Rob,heres a photo of my Ferrari.Bernard

[Rob J]

Thanks, Bernard. Yours is the best-looking of the three I've seen photos of. Even the tyres seem good.
Why do you say it's a Ferrari? Is that stamped on the body (perhaps not, as the SlotForum owner didn't know which his was) or marked on packaging?
It might be seen as an chubby model of the early-mid-1950s 500 or 625, but they had 4cyl engines. Next, the ex-Lancia cars had V8s and then the last front-engined F1 Ferraris had V6s, and the body shapes don't really match.
We needn't take accuracy too seriously here, but the SpeedMaster people probably modelled this on one car and I'd guess it was the Maserati 250F.
Do you know what the power supply was – 12V or less?
Anyway, if a SpeedMaster ever comes up in an auction here, I'd be surprised if it raised a ripple. I just might bid on it myself. The Cooper looked quaintly reasonable.
Rob J

[slotcar7]

Interesting topic, this one about these two vintage Hong Kong slot cars..but i think the first question is: how do we know they were made by Speedmaster..?

So far, I've seen just four of these slots, including these two, and they don't have any reference and they're also unboxed..so..? If someone has some piece of evidence of their birth, he's gently asked to provide it to us..because, to me, they just look just some early Speedking models..but of course they could be Speedmaster, or Speedslave, or..

And me too i think the red one is an F1 Maserati 250F, that won the F1 1957 season, at least comparing it with the photos of the real car you can find on the net..no doubt, i think, for the other one, that clearly looks an F1 Cooper T55, used in the 1961 F1 season..

I think they're really rare cars, because if we look at the bids' history, at least three people put huge offers for these "poor" Hong Kong slots: someone offered almost £80, someone else about £220 and another one even more..i guess because of their rarity (the Cooper is the only one i've seen so far, compared with the other three Maserati) and that because is easier, sometime, to find a good quality vintage slot car that was well treated since its very beginning, due to its price for instance, rather then to find some cheap slots, maybe bought by some not really wealthy parents, that, after a fast and intense use, were just destroyed or simply put in the bin..

I also think they were produced in the first half of the 60s, let's say 1963/65, due to the cars' models they represent..

But the most important question in this case remain: how do we know they're Speedmaster?

david

[SAMPSON]

Hi,i think you all are right,its a Maserati. My earlier understanding when i bought mine was that it is made by Speedmaster. The drivers,casting ,wheels are different from Speedking & others. They are not worth the price they went for,but they are rare & since someone else bid high they maybe worth it for those folks. You may not see another one for several years(when you do it might go for 20lbs !) Iwould pay perrty good money for the cooper since i dont have it & its rare.Bernard

[slotcar7]

Hi,

many thanks for your reply, but i didn't understand your answer about the brand's name..

You wrote that your earlier understanding was that your car had been made by Speedmaster..ok, but how did you come with this name? Have you read about it somewhere? Have you seen some photos, catalogues or anything else that refers to a "Speedmaster" brand? Have you heard about it from someone? Or is it just a fantasy name you created.. ? Because i've never been able to find anything about a slot cars' manufacturer called "Speedmaster" on the net, and all the few references to it come just from you..

Intriguing mystery..

david

[Rob J]

Fair questions, David.
Not definitive, but supporting Bernard's diagnosis is that the similar car shown on SlotForum a few years ago was identified as a Speedmaster by another SF member (in Europe).
See http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=40545
The thread was "... bag of goodies"; ID in post #9 by Jaak.
However, he didn't give any proof either.
Rob J

[slotcar7]

Hi Rob, thanks for your explanation, but if you look at this thread in slotblog, I think you'll understand that everything always comes from Bernard..

http://slotblog.net/topic/14811-what-is-this/

So.. ?

david