THINGIES!

156869 Views 649 Replies 77 Participants Last post by Spurman, 30 d ago

howmet tx

Discussion Starter · Nov 6, 2004 (Edited by Moderator)

Maybe these days with just about every dream car you can think of available as an RTR or kit from some manufacturer or other, is it time we revived the Thingie?

I know they almost tore the hobby apart back in the old days, but I must admit to a high degree of admiration for those imaginative souls who designed wholly orginal shapes for slot cars. What would be the perfect shape for a slot car these days, if all prototypical accuracy was ignored?
Lets carve some wild cars, suck some zombies in those home-made vac-formers, get the creative juices flowing into some wild shapes and bizarre colour schemes!

Back then, I seem to remember some pretty serious real car designers threw up some shapes for commercial track slot-racers. Why not try it again now, when the hobby seems to have hit new heights? Or are we just scared of a new schism?

By the way, this is actually just a very thinly disguised ploy to get some more vintage slot car pics posted. Where are those great West Coast Thingies of yore?
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Coopdevil

· #8 · Nov 6, 2004

Some of us still race thingies! This was taken at Christmas 2002 at the Oaklands club in Smethwick. To comply with homologation rules for BSCRA these cars are supposed to be models of real cars but generally at 1:24 scale they are shapes designed to be aerodynamically efficient with a rough layout configuration and/or headlamp designed borrowed from a real sports car.

Any guesses as to what they are called?

Coop

P.S. Love the Stinger. I think it is one of the coolest things to have ever been vac-formed. Patto in Oz offers re-pops of many of these 60s thingies.

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Coopdevil

· #51 · Nov 11, 2004

QUOTE (mac p @ 11 Nov 2004, 12:09)most hobbies relyed on the participant making most of the componants of his/her hobby, cars railways, aircraft and such, this was possibly a left over from more austere times.

Good point about the 'austere times' Mac, one common theme that seems to run through most recollections of 50s/60s slotting in the UK is the lack of funds to buy stuff and the scavenged origin of much of the stuff - metal 'borrowed' from workplace, bombsight motors etc. My current scratch build is approached from a 'want to give it a try' attitude rather than a 'can't afford an RTR'

QUOTE (mac p @ 11 Nov 2004, 12:09).make the choice, bsrca or rtr please dont try to run both mac p
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't agree with you here Mac TBH. Firstly this thingies discussion above is about thingies as in late 1960's futurism rather than BPA BMW Eurosports. Secondly like many people I have a fairly catholic taste across the whole of the slot spectrum, from el cheapo 1:43 cars to BSCRA, stopping at Scalex and TSRF on the way so am basically prepared to race anything with at least two wheels at the back and a guide. Also running both BSCRA and Scalex doesn't seem to do the North London club any harm.

If I didn't know you better Mac I'd suspect what you were really saying is 'don't run BSCRA!'

See you friday mate

Coop

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Coopdevil

· #89 · Nov 17, 2004

If anybody is keen on scratchbuilding a thingie, Andy at ABSlotsport has reproduction Classic Asp bodies for £6.40 and an original Asp for £60.

http://www.abslotsport.biz/page68.html

Coop

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Coopdevil

· #205 · May 1, 2005

Is that the "Chota" body? If it is I've only ever seen it in a photo that was almost a plan view - so I didn't know it dipped in the middle! I can see how one would end up with the wing car body from following this line of development.

Coop

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Coopdevil

· #231 · May 12, 2005

I know it's kind of traditional to call any wide and extreme car a Batmobile but the first thing I thought of when I saw the Italian Unicar Superaereodinamica Barchetta (try saying that ten times fast) was this;

the 1989 "Keaton" movie Batmobile. Wonder if the thingy inspired the film designers?

Coop

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Coopdevil

· #311 · Jul 4, 2005

QUOTE (vfr750 @ 4 Jul 2005, 08:21)There was a Thingies class at the Oaklands 1/24 Retro meeting on Saturday.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"Was".

Oops, I was still under the impression that it should say "will be" in that sentence. Was it really this weekend? I was sure it was in August! Arse!

Coop

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Coopdevil

· #351 · Aug 5, 2005

The fronts do look identical to those on my Classic Manta Ray

http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7087&hl=

Coop

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