[TSRF]

Philippe, thanks for sharing these nuggets of history with us.
My original question still remains; how to identify the KM-1 and KM-2 and what are their differences.

Unfortunately, I would not know since all this AMRAC/RoKar things happened well after I had left the toy industry to concentrate on my business with full-size car racing.

 

[RichD]

I think that I will let this thread run a little longer before I update my Life-Like article. I would like to include the pictures in posts # 7 and # 18, if that would be OK.
It would be great to have good shots of the KM-1 chassis. I have not seen shots of the chassis that uses a slide-in guide.

 

[model murdering]

I have a Cox 240 Z. Dark Blue, with white stickys. Somewhat rare, and sharp looking. I acquired it from Tom Stumfs extensive collection. He had 2 at the time and took pity on me.

I'll dust it off, and have a look see

 

[RichD]

Question, were the cars that Leisure Dynamics sold still marked with the Cox logo?

 

[model murdering]

China



XXXXXX
Made in

****

I got the cars out and dug through my big shoe box of many chassis.

I've collected a handfull over the years, until the prices got more stupid than usual. I still watch "AMRAC" auctions. I've never seen even a pic of the KM-1 with the odd style guide . (TFX just re-treaded the idea somewhat, ha!)

The lore went that, Cox examples H0 had the grey/pewter colored rims. Seldom seen in the wild, examples are getting near unobtanium these days. You still see many of the other models available.

There is no "Cox" logo on the chassis. I cant exclude the possibility that the hubs may have been changed. The car was loose, not MIP. I still take Tom at his word. There are no gerfs or garges on the rims.

A unique/helpful quirk. They labeled the glass inserts.

With or without the large rear "AMRAC" logo, the Hong Kong is blanked off. The "Made in" remains. The word China was added up and away, near the contact patch of the drivers side pick up shoe. Essentially they scribbled out HK and crib noted the "China" bit. Seems odd, but I wasnt there that day.

Spare working chassis produced the variation below

Just the word "China".

The lighted version.

Extra weird! The word "China" replaces the Honk Kpong blank out and the centrally located "Made in". "Made in" was moved up and sideways, and quite a bit larger. Note the tiny bit of the AMRAC logo that oozed out from their efforts to block it! Early Rokar?

I've always liked the AMRAC. Light and nimble. Unlike the G-plus. They've got gobs of giddy-up. The extended flux condensers work great, for what they are. Converted from sponge to silicones they're, ferocious right to the limit, then yer gone! A flux car, you still have to put your sandwich down, and drive them.

 

[RichD]

I did locate a picture of a chassis with a slide-in guide pin. I presume that is the chassis that Philippe designed for Leisure Dynamics, it has the Cox logo. The Cox/Leisure Dynamics sets were only sold in Canada, the cars are likely to be rare today. I have several pictures of Cox Leisure Dynamics sets. Jim Russell seems to have bought the rest of the Cox slot racing business, that did not include the Cox trademark. Since both the Leisure Dynamics and early AMRAC cars both used Cox bodies there must have been some sort of interaction between the two makes. I have not seen a picture of an AMRAC set.

 

[Steve-E-D]

I've always liked the AMRAC. Light and nimble. Unlike the G-plus. They've got gobs of giddy-up. The extended flux condensers work great, for what they are. Converted from sponge to silicones they're, ferocious right to the limit, then yer gone! A flux car, you still have to put your sandwich down, and drive them.

I am quite enjoying these, too. I have one white Porsche that is a survivor from my youth. It needed tires and pickups that I have just recently acquired. They are very different animals with the silicone tires. Two of my recent additions have sponge tires that are in very good condition and I really like the way that they handle. I have never seen a slot car that recovers itself from spins the way these do quite often. I will have to catch some video clips of this. I chalk it up to flux capacitor voodoo. I don't think that this is happening with the silicone tires.

 

[model murdering]

Behold!

NEW OLD STOCK 7 AMRAC CHASSIS | eBay

SALES IN THE USA ONLY.

www.ebay.com

 

[Glock24]

China



XXXXXX
Made in

****

I got the cars out and dug through my big shoe box of many chassis.

I've collected a handfull over the years, until the prices got more stupid than usual. I still watch "AMRAC" auctions. I've never seen even a pic of the KM-1 with the odd style guide . (TFX just re-treaded the idea somewhat, ha!)

The lore went that, Cox examples H0 had the grey/pewter colored rims. Seldom seen in the wild, examples are getting near unobtanium these days. You still see many of the other models available.

There is no "Cox" logo on the chassis. I cant exclude the possibility that the hubs may have been changed. The car was loose, not MIP. I still take Tom at his word. There are no gerfs or garges on the rims.

A unique/helpful quirk. They labeled the glass inserts.

With or without the large rear "AMRAC" logo, the Hong Kong is blanked off. The "Made in" remains. The word China was added up and away, near the contact patch of the drivers side pick up shoe. Essentially they scribbled out HK and crib noted the "China" bit. Seems odd, but I wasnt there that day.

Spare working chassis produced the variation below

Just the word "China".

The lighted version.

Extra weird! The word "China" replaces the Honk Kpong blank out and the centrally located "Made in". "Made in" was moved up and sideways, and quite a bit larger. Note the tiny bit of the AMRAC logo that oozed out from their efforts to block it! Early Rokar?

I've always liked the AMRAC. Light and nimble. Unlike the G-plus. They've got gobs of giddy-up. The extended flux condensers work great, for what they are. Converted from sponge to silicones they're, ferocious right to the limit, then yer gone! A flux car, you still have to put your sandwich down, and drive them.

Nice specimens you got there. I have one Datsun and the white Porsche. I have a weakness for Porsches. Today I saw one just like the silver Porsche in the picture, although the listing said Tyco

I am quite enjoying these, too. I have one white Porsche that is a survivor from my youth. It needed tires and pickups that I have just recently acquired. They are very different animals with the silicone tires. Two of my recent additions have sponge tires that are in very good condition and I really like the way that they handle. I have never seen a slot car that recovers itself from spins the way these do quite often. I will have to catch some video clips of this. I chalk it up to flux capacitor voodoo. I don't think that this is happening with the silicone tires.

For some reason I got obsessed in finding a few of these COX/AMRAC/ROKAR cars, still have had no time to tinker with them. I do like the G Plus and variations, the Screechers are very fast but too light and hard to control. Silicon tires make a lot of difference.

 

[Glock24]

Behold!

NEW OLD STOCK 7 AMRAC CHASSIS | eBay

SALES IN THE USA ONLY.

www.ebay.com

Interesting. The photo is very bad quality, but it seems like it says AMRAC and it certainly says "Made in Hong Kong".

Looks the same as KM-2. Who knows. KM-1 made in HK, KM-2 made in China?

BTW, where can I get the " wings" for these chassis? The ones from the G Plus don't fit without modification.

 

[Steve-E-D]

I have not seen the flux collectors for sale anywhere. A sacrificial donor chassis is probably the best bet.
For as much knowledge and info about Aurora history that is out there, I'm almost surprised how little info I am finding about Amrac, although I realize that it is a much smaller blurb in history.

 

[RichD]

Jim Russell would have been the one to ask about AMRAC history.

 

[Steve-E-D]

Flux capacitor voodoo!!!

 

[model murdering]

Glock:
"Looks the same as KM-2. Who knows. KM-1 made in HK, KM-2 made in China?"

I saw it differently on the bigscreen. Open the auction, but dont blow the picks up. Blow the thumbnails up with the magnifier instead.

Study the center chassis. You can make out the front spindles quite clearly. Inbetween the spindles you can also definitively see the unique horizontal "wicket" or strap, which locates the guide.

KM-1

 

[Glock24]

Flux capacitor voodoo!!!

Voodoo indeed! What happens when you reach 88mph?

Glock:
"Looks the same as KM-2. Who knows. KM-1 made in HK, KM-2 made in China?"

I saw it differently on the bigscreen. Open the auction, but dont blow the picks up. Blow the thumbnails up with the magnifier instead.

Study the center chassis. You can make out the front spindles quite clearly. Inbetween the spindles you can also definitively see the unique horizontal "wicket" or strap, which locates the guide.

KM-1

I'll see it on the computer later.

 

[RichD]

Here is the chassis that I mentioned earlier. It is incomplete, the magnets and flux collectors are missing and the armature is suspect because it appears to be epoxy coated.

The chassis plainly lacks the regular guide pin holder, it is marked Made in Hong Kong and has the Cox trademark that would not have been found on the AMRAC cars.

 

[Glock24]

Here is the chassis that I mentioned earlier. It is incomplete, the magnets and flux collectors are missing and the armature is suspect because it appears to be epoxy coated.

The chassis plainly lacks the regular guide pin holder, it is marked Made in Hong Kong and has the Cox trademark that would not have been found on the AMRAC cars.

On the computer the photos look clearer. I upped the contrast a bit. In this KM-1 it has the regular pin holder and also the fixture for the slide-in guide pin. Another difference from the Cox chassis is the holes for the crown gear.

 

[model murdering]

Flux capacitor voodoo!!!

Pretty normal!

 

[TSRF]

Question, were the cars that Leisure Dynamics sold still marked with the Cox logo?

Yes, absolutely. Leisure Dynamics owned Cox Hobbies since 1971.
These are pictures of a pre-production model clearly showing the Cox oval logo on its chassis.

 

[Steve-E-D]

I think I have most of my answers now.
The KM-1 in the enhanced photo from the ebay listing has both the rectangle opening and bracket for the slip-in plastic guide and a clip for a round metal guide just like the last photo of the Cox prototype that Phillipe posted. Thank you, @TSRF
The photos from RichD's article show a KM-2 package in the background and the chassis have the rectangle hole filled in. I would assume that the earlier KM-2 had the Hong Kong marking and later versions had it blocked out.

The chassis with the orange magnets and reversed polarity are likely a later variation of the KM-2.
The only real questions left to fill in the history is what year did each of these changes occur?