[slotcar7]

Hi guys,

i see National Toys slot cars have some fans here, so i'd like to show you what, in my opinion, is the most beautiful slot car they ever produced: the 1/30 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale, also called Alfa Romeo Giulietta SS. It was made in 1963 and i think it's a kind of car that gives you the sensation of speed even when it doesn't move

It's a really rare slot car and here i show you two of them with their original boxes..

And, actually, just two vintage brands produced a slot car model of this amazing car, National Toys and Policar, so together with the two 1/30 there's also a rare Policar H0 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SS, produced just in 1965..in my opinion, that's one of the most beautiful H0 slots ever produced, even if the real scale is about 1/66..but it's wonderful for me

And take a look at the front lamps: they're two small brilliants..

Enjoy..

 

[dgersh]

Beautiful cars David!

Was there any relationship between National Toys and Policar? Also, National Toys is one of those brands I had never really heard of before the Net... Is it well known in Italy, or also a bit obscure?

Is the Policar a definite HO, or closer to 1/43? Hard to tell from the photos, altho that last one should give us a clue!

Like you say, these have to be some of the rarer ones out there...

Don

 

[slotcar7]

Hi Don,

well, National toys was founded in Turin (we can say it's the capital of models' hobby in Italy) in 1962 and as said in a previous post, they actually produced the very first Italian slot cars at the end of the same year. They were a quite small business, family run, and they also produced other kinds of toys..anyway, at the beginning of 1970, after the founder's sudden death, production was stopped.

Policar and later Polistil (a brand name of the biggest APS Politoys) was for sure a lot bigger and with a better quality production company..they produced their slot cars in Milan, starting in 1963 and ending at the beginning of the 80s about..actually, they continued even later, but in association with other companies, so they weren't anymore the "original" Policar..

In 1965 they produced a H0 range that, as said, was more in the 1/66 scale, to compete i think in a market were Faller and other German brands were doing quite well..they called this range Policar Mini, there were 4 GT slot cars - Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Porsche and Jaguar - a basic set and some accessories. These cars and track were actually produced to integrate them in a wider road/rail layout..imagine that the hand controller had a button you could push to let the slots run always at the same pace..But, sadly for them, they didn't meet any success..i guess because in Italy slot racing was seen more like a competitive racing, so two cars that could go quite slowly even at their top speed weren't something really interesting for the average enthusiast..

So, the production run for just one year and they later disapperead from the catalogue..

david

 

[Jaak]

You should write a book so that more people can enjoy your wealth of knowledge of the old slotcars.

Thanks again for sharing!

 

[slotcar7]

Hi Jaak,

thanks for your so kind words..actually, some other people already asked me to write a book (and some other ones already offered me to make some exhibitions) but I feel it's still too early, there's still so much to learn about vintage slot racing..

Anyway, if you like my way to show objects, you can go to this webpage and you'll see more photos and stories from the collection..

http://www.bilbaneforumet.se/viewtopic.php...a&start=255

It's just a very small part of it, but finding the time to upload words and images is not that easy for me..

imagine that quite often it takes me ages to open a parcel I receive with a set or a slot car..in this way, I've got not just vintage sets or slot cars, but even vintage parcels..

david

 

[Jaak]

Vintage parcels

You won't find any at my house, takes a few seconds after coming in the house and there open.

I hope you realize that the learning never ends

Will have a look at your thread tomorrow, it is way late and need to get some sleep.