Rarity List

Here's one mentioned above - altho this should probably go in the "cars announced and never released" bin... fascinating idea in any case!
Don

Gee.. i have sooo much to learn.. where do i start ?

I was scanning the pix of the T59 today and was gob smacked by the advanced engineering incorporated into that car.. Rack & Pinion steering !!
Is Scalextric just skimping in terms of development these days. If you look at a cars front end its practically empty. Soon we'll be getting better quality reaching into a box of Corn Flakes.

Rack & pinion, eh?
Sounds to me like they had their act together except for the choice of model since no one wanted it then...

QUOTE Wasn't there someone on eBay a couple years ago selling an IMC Lola? Not in the box of course, but still...
Don, unfortunately, while the the IMC Lola T70 static kit was and is still sometimes available, the slot car kit was more than likely announced but never issued. There is an actual picture of ONE in its box in one of the Xmas slot car mags in 1966, so at least they made the box and prepped the parts, but then... ???
Another mystery that will likely never be resolved. If there had been one on eBay, trust me we would have jumped with both feet on it!

QUOTE PS: Can I have the Unicar?
No... Belongs to the LASCM, and once there, only a direct frontal assault by a SWAT team might get it...
But loose cars do come up time to time... Ezio Scisco had about 6 or 7 of them beautifully built in his collection... I took pictures of all of them, they are on file. But no boxed kit.

PS: to get back to the original question, in a way, it still seems that the two most "iconic" cars in slot racing are the:

- Scalextric Bugatti (race tuned I guess)
- Cox Chaparral 2E mag frame

They combine relative rarity, desirability, recognition and prestige.

For pure rarity, the above gives some idea of the many obscure models floating around - and why this is such a difficult subject to tackle.

And actually, if you want to see the ultimate, check out Bernard's slot car museum in the UK/Patrick Kennedy section - now that's rare! Not to mention incredible that it still exists. (see also his early Joma sets, Bub and many, many others...)

Kind of makes those "rare" Fly models look a little foolish.

Don

QUOTE How do these CK cars actually run? Were they successful at the time, or poor sellers?

They don't run that well! The Cobra isn't to bad being quite wide but the Porsche suffers the same problem as all models of this car, it's just too narrow.
By the numbers of built and partially built cars around I guess they sold a fair number, it's quite a strong car and as it did not run to well all those that were built have mostly survived.

QUOTE Seems like they are not that rare loose... is this one of the cars with the greatest difference in value between an MIB and loose version?

Must be Don, built cars go for about £45 in VG condition (most are, not many mint ones around as they were generally glued together by 12 year olds!) and the one and only sealed new kit has changed hands for well over £2000 just recently. Opened but unbuilt kits seem to fetch around £200 max.

I've had two Cox 2E mag frame cars go through my hands this year, both built cars, so these are around, but never had nor seen an unbuilt kit.

Yes your right Don, the two cars that stand out are the Bugatti (doesn't really matter if it's race tuned or not) and the Mag frame 2E, can't really think of anything that comes close, yes there are rarer cars and rarer variations but these two are the Holy Grail that every one wants to find at a market for a few pounds!

@ Don,
I am finding this all very interesting
Kind of makes those "rare" Fly models look a little foolish. = however there is just something that bothers me, most of the cars discussed are of yesteryear, I can see they are very nice, however there are models being produced today that of equal "rarity, desirability, recognition and prestige" or are there? Or is that just the question that we'll never know the answer to untill it's too late?

A lot of people have speculated on which slot cars they think may be worth more in the future, quite a tricky thing to do, if it were easy I'd be a very rich man indeed.
I knew one guy who bought up as many of the blue CV1 Pinkcar Bugattis as he could get his hands on when they first came out thinking they would be as much as the Scalextric ones after a couple of years!
He ended up selling them back to me, when the market for these was suppressed a few years ago, at less than half the purchase price, shame he didn't keep them longer as they are now worth about double that!
Then there was the Ninco Harrods Mclaren, everybody kept them thinking they were rare (they weren't) now they are the least valuable of the releases!
Why?, 'cause none were raced and therefore more have survived than any of the others,

Vanquish MG cars especially the GP cars, who could have predicted their astronomic rise in value.

My tip for the future? Scalextric Moto GP bikes

You might have a point about the MotoGP stuff as it was a huge sales failure, an almost certain guaranty odf later success, as with the Bugatti and Scakex 1/24 scale venture...

QUOTE Be interesting to see if it is MIB Philippe, but I saw Scott by one of these on eBay a few years ago that was described as MIB but it wasn't! Scott paid quite a lot for it but it had been opened, not sure he realized this though.
The LASCM had 3 of them, two were mediocre and were later sold.
The one we retained is perfect and came from my own collection, acquired before 1990.

Don points out the more "iconic" models, one for the Euro markets, one for the US and Japanese market. And with the general knowledge as it is, he is 100% correct.
Thing is, and this will soon change, these two are far from being the rarest and/or more desirable until one knows about the "better ones", of which few even know the existence. An "ultimate rarity" listing is of course subjective, but I can think of a lot more desirable models than these two.
Personal opinion of course...

As far as Bernard's museum rarities, what he collects is so odd that it revives the point I made earlier, that of mixed rarity/desirability factor.
Bernard's collection is unique and extensive, but does not do much for me other than as a document of what was produced on weird corners of Planet Earth.
Bernard's love is not mine, but his passion is intense, we just have vastly different interests, which makes his museum very special indeed.

I will try my best to remember taking pictures of it next time I go to Los Angeles.

QUOTE (TSRF @ 31 Jul 2011, 20:28) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>In my opinion, a "rarity" listing cannot include any factory prototypes or hand-built cars

A "rarity" listing can only incorporate, genuine PRODUCTION cars available for purchase to the public.

QUOTE 1/ 1/32 Aurora Buick Demolition Demon RTR (if ever sold to the public) None known to exist at this time.
2/ 1/32 Aurora Mercury Demolition Demon RTR (if ever sold to the public) None known to exist at this time.
3/ 1/24 Carrera Ferrari 330P4 (if ever sold to the public) None known to exist at this time.
4/ 1/24 MPC Dodge Ramcharger (if ever sold to the public) None known to exist at this time.

Philippe, I am confused here; surely the first 4 in the list do not meet the criteria set for production cars, do they?
"None known to exist at this time" says to me that they were announced but not released, therefore not available for purchase. (Confirmed by the fact that none have ever been found?)

Joel

Joel,
I understand your concern and at this time, we simply do not know. I placed them there on top of a listing I compounded in a few minutes, because prior discoveries have often proven me wrong when I assumed that something shown in period catalogs, and that no one had ever seen, suddenly showed up on the marketplace.
This is the case for the ultra-rare Pactra Meyers Manx Dune Buggy, of which a SINGLE example showed up in about 1999, and I assumed that it was a factory one-off until several identical chassis showed up, then another complete car.
Also in my first book written in 1996, I assume (or affirm?) that the announced Lindberg Porsche 906 was never produced, but we got since two mint kits from Australia and a couple of assembled cars have eventually surfaced in the USA...
We also recently found a body of one of the Aurora demolition cars in the 1/24 scale (as they supposedly produced them in both 1/24 and 1/32 scale), so at this time, I am not saying one way or the other!
Hence...
However, I get what you are saying and one is of course, free to dismiss those from a serious list.

QUOTE (TSRF @ 2 Aug 2011, 21:00) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>However, I get what you are saying and one is of course, free to dismiss those from a serious list.

Philippe not so much dismiss them, more a case that they don't qualify (never produced) until we find one.

My contention is that, as a class, "Announced but not Released" are actually quite common (there are 6 in this thread alone).

Much rarer are "Released but not Announced", now, how about a list of those?

Joel

Hi All,
I`m still green when it comes to the world of slot car collecting... so I hold no authority whatsoever when it comes to debating car prestige but in some respects I guess that grants me a free ticket to make loads of loose statements such as...

How does a seasoned collector react to a car gaining prestige from sponsors at a race event simply by slapping a few stickers on a case & claiming the car as Limited Edition.

Such actions I presume must get the blood pumping... no?

Makes one ponder... TOP 5 on a Collectors VOODOO List when it comes to cars being pumped illegitimately to rarity status.

The 2011 TOP 5 are... drum Roll .....

QUOTE Much rarer are "Released but not Announced", now, how about a list of those?
Good point... just wait for the book for that one!

A sample:

-Aztec 1/24 scale Chaparral 2D RTR...

QUOTE How does a seasoned collector react to a car gaining prestige from sponsors at a race event simply by slapping a few stickers on a case & claiming the car as Limited Edition.
Seasoned collectors are discriminating fellows who stay away from any "limited editions" as a complete fraud perpetrated upon them and less discriminating collectors.
In other words, "thanks but no thanks".
This is pretty much what customers told to that former Spanish company that based its business on "limited" rehash of their molds issued in elaborate boxes and sold at highly inflated prices to formerly eager customers. Even the most foolish eventually realized that there is no end to this game, until the customer himself decides that enough is enough.
What will happen to those thousands and thousands of "rare collectibles"? Not much, and if anyone hopes of cashing in by sitting on some, good luck to them, but dumping them now at a loss might be their best hope, because in 20 years from now, the currencies will have lost so much value that the losses will amount to a lot more.