[SAMPSON]

Hi,

Here's a race car used in a pay track in an arcade. This car raced against 2 other cars (white & blue). There was another race track which used 5 cars. The car is 11 inches long! The base is made of wood, the body is metal and the seat is upholstered. The motor could be handmade and uses a worm gear drive. I was told everything on the car was handmade except the wheels & tires. It has brushes underneath which hinge for electrical current. I included a photo of the race car next to a 1934 Marklin railcar just to show the size. its nicely built & sturdy. The front steering is well engineered.

This French car must have been built only a couple of years after the UK Kennedy cars & their commercial pay track. The cars & track were made near Marsallies.

Thanks,
Bernard

 

[Wbb1978]

That's a vey nice piece of history. Thanks for sharing.

 

[SAMPSON]

Thanks,there is still very little known about early electric car pay tracks.

i have cars representing 3 different ones. don i know has one. but our information is spotty . some were used in arcades,some in arcades,& some were used in toy stores .there was just little in the way of articles written about them.perhaps putting this on the forum will help bring more information to light.(like our discusion on the early Strombecker ). thanks,Bernard

 

[Mirrorman]

It certainly looks beautifully built ... thankyou for sharing it with us.

What are the markings on the wheel centers ?

 

[dgersh]

Bernard, hope you don't mind if I add a couple more arcade style cars for comparison purposes.

The first I don't have myself, unfortunately, but two of these turned up a number of years ago and were bought by French collectors. Made in Italy and very, very professionally done! I think there's even a patent number on there if I remember right, but don't remember all the details. They were found without bodies, but were probably with GP type bodies in a commercial pay track type layout. AC motors. These are by far the most "serious" of all the arcade type slot or rail cars I've seen. If I remember right, they were also about a foot long.

And here's the one I found last year here in France, supposedly from an arcade game in Belgium - stock car style. A rail outfit this time, complete with zonkers. Well done, but probably home-made as well. The car is about 9 inches long.

 

[SAMPSON]

hi Don,the Italian ones are slot cars but they couldnt come out of their grove.too bad the bodies are missing.

it seems the arcade owners knew something the toy companies didnt,the profit they could make from people competing on electric raceways!it took till 1957 when scalextric & vip did it right.thanks,Bernard