[RichD]

What confused me when I did the first version of my article was that the Leisure Dynamics cars were a dead end in that they did not lead to the AMRAC cars. Leisure Dynamics only bought the Cox trademark, not the tooling. Philippe de Lespiney did new tooling for the Leisure Dynamics cars, when Leisure Dynamics went out of business the tooling was not passed on to anyone else as far as I know. Jim Russell bought the original Cox tooling and that was used for the AMRAC and early Rokar cars. Philippe moved on to other things after his work for Leisure Dynamics, Jim Russell would have been the one to ask about the details of the AMRAC story. Possibly someone that works for Racemasters has more information.
I have updated my article, I will hold off making it available for a while in the hope that more information will turn up, especially with respect to the KM-1 and KM-2 cars. As it stands, I felt obliged to qualify the part of the article referring to those cars.

 

[Glock24]

I was going trough some boxes and putting some order on my slot car stuff and I stumbled upon 2 more AMRAC chassis, one that only says "China" and the other one with the slide-in guide pin hole. Seems like I have one of each variation.

The "China" chassis seems to have better moldings and is better finished.

This would be The KM-1 according to the info on this thread. It does not have the "wing" flux collectors, probably the previous owner changed them or some KM-1 didn't have wings?

The later ROKAR chassis didn't have wings according from what I've read.

These were incomplete, I have a lot of parts there to repair a couple of them. What I'm missing if the wing flux collectors.

 

[Steve-E-D]

I believe that you are missing the flux collectors, but that certainly is the KM-1 chassis.

@RichD I will have a NOS KM-1 sometime next week. I will be happy to provide photos and any info for your history article.

 

[Glock24]

I believe that you are missing the flux collectors, but that certainly is the KM-1 chassis.

It has flux collectors but are like the ones on the G+ or later ROKAR chassis (before the M chassis), not the "wing" type.

 

[RichD]

Having pictures of a complete KM-1 chassis should clear things up. I have sent an e-mail to Steve Russell to see if he knows anything about the early history of 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.

In the box where I had all the AMRAC stuff I found an armature with green lacquer, but not as smooth as that one, just a fine layer. It's possible some cars shipped with a gree painted armature.

 

[RichD]

If you look at the picture of an original Cox car that I included in my Life-Like History article you will see that the stacks have a green coating and the wire is red. Leisure Dynamics may have used the same armatures in their Cox branded cars. Even today most armatures are made by the same company, probably that was the case back in 1981 with both Leisure Dynamics and AMRAC using the same armatures.

 

[Steve-E-D]

@RichD the photo of the incomplete chassis you posted looks to be different. It lacks the guide pin holder and the cutout option to install the rear axle in the opposite direction. The photo of the pre-production chassis posted by Phillipe has those features.

 

[Steve-E-D]

Another historical blip:

KM-1 packaging:

KM-2 made in Hong Kong packaging:

Made in China packaging:

And what does "KM" stand for???

 

[RichD]

I can't wait to see what the bottom of a genuine AMRAC KM-1 car looks like. I believe that the KM-2 chassis is marked Made in Hong Kong and AMRAC. The KM-1s may have had Hong Kong blanked out and have had no markings where AMRAC would be. We shall hopefully see.
I suspect that anyone that could tell us what KM stood for can only be contacted using a Ouija board.

 

[TSRF]

More confusion?

"Leisure Dynamics only bought the Cox trademark, not the tooling. Philippe de Lespiney did new tooling for the Leisure Dynamics cars, when Leisure Dynamics went out of business the tooling was not passed on to anyone else as far as I know. "

There never was any "Leisure Dynamics" tooling. Leisure Dynamics was a holding company which owned several toy companies, including Eldon and Cox, which they both purchased as virtually bankrupt entities in 1970.

The tooling for the Cox HO car was engineered by Cox employees (including me) and manufactured in Hong Kong by "Cox International" (Sanda Kan).
When Leisure Dynamics collapsed in 1982, they took both Eldon and Cox into bankruptcy, and there was an auction for the companies assets, in which Jim Russell purchased the Cox HO car tooling. The tooling remained in Hong Kong and was modified there to reflect the AMRAC name and the few changes to the magnetic wings. The bodies remained the same, just painted in different colors.
I hope that you get it right now.

 

[Steve-E-D]

@RichD I will send you a full spread of photos later.

 

[Steve-E-D]

I can definitively say that the KM-1 chassis has the rectangle opening and saddle on top as a leftover from the slip in plastic guide pin design.
It has the Made In Hong Kong markings. ~>1981
The earlier KM-2 chassis also have the Made In Hong Kong markings.
At some point, the KM-2 switched to China manufacturing and dropped the KM-2 designation.

I believe the chassis with the blanked out Amrac logo was the transition to the Rokar years ~1987.