[Farnham Nerfee]

Can anybody please tell me what this car is?
It has a strange drive system that appears to rely on a solenoid drive pulling the arm down to engage the teeth onto the rear drive.
It is definitely a slot car as it has a pin beneath the front but the pin is steel so would need an insulated slot?
How is it controlled? Is it a.c. driven with speed controlled by frequency?

It looks like it would have had a driver in it as well at some stage but if anyone can give me some info I'd be grateful.

Thanks,

Nerfee.

 

[sacesta]

I'm not certain. Could it be one of Derek Brand's Highway Pioneers? Derek Brand was an Englishman who emigrated to the US in 1948 and went to work for a toy industry design house in California called Gowland & Gowland. He's credited as being the father of the HO slot car, the first of which were called Vibrators, because they used a vibrating door buzzer as a motor rigged to a ratcheted drive gear. Before Mr. Brand developed the HO Vibrator he worked on 1/32 scale cars marketed as Highway Pioneers. The car looks very similar in concept to an HO Vibrator car hence my assumption that maybe this is one of the HP cars. I have never actually seen an actual Highway Pioneer car. Just a guess.

Steve

 

[GRAH1]

the set up looks the same as mechano circuit 24 although I dont remember any gp cars being available at the time they were sold .steves description of how it worked is correct the early aurora cars also used the vibrator system and worked on ac.

 

[philsmith]

Yes, it is a French Circuit 24 car, although they made 12 different cars (too many to list

) only one was F1, the Cooper.

Steve, I think you are getting Highway Pioneers mixed up with the Playcraft Highway cars!
Highway Pioneers were a range of 1/32 static kits
whereas the Playcraft Highway were HO cars powered by a vibrator motor
they were the basis for the first Aurora HO cars
4 cars were made

Jaguar XK120
Merc 300SL
Chevy Sedan
Truck

If anyone has either the Chevy or Truck I am always interested in buying these?

 

[chofar]

This site :

http://circuit24.stools.net/ details all that's to know about Circuit24. It's made by the son of the founder of the brand. You will be able to see that they made other F1's even if the cooper was the most produced one. At the moment, they try to put 100 coopers on one photograph, if you are interested.
Circuit24 remains for the common people in France, the generic name for slot racing. It still has some addicts.

 

[philsmith]

QUOTE You will be able to see that they made other F1's even if the cooper was the most produced one

Yes, but I think the Cooper was the only F1 with a vibrator motor the others had more conventional DC motors

 

[sacesta]

QUOTE Steve, I think you are getting Highway Pioneers mixed up with the Playcraft Highway cars!
Highway Pioneers were a range of 1/32 static kit

Thanks for correcting me Phil. I'm familiar with the Playcraft Highway cars (I got my start as a kid in HO), but did not know that the Highway Pioneer cars were a range of static kits. I did know that they were 1/32 scale and developed by Derek Brand. Anyway, I have confirmed what you said. There are several paragraphs pertaining to the subject in the Thomas Graham book Greenberg's Guide to Aurora Slot Cars.

Steve

 

[chofar]

QUOTE (philsmith @ 22 Nov 2004, 12:25)QUOTE You will be able to see that they made other F1's even if the cooper was the most produced one

Yes, but I think the Cooper was the only F1 with a vibrator motor the others had more conventional DC motors
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>


By checking the site , I noticed a Ferrari Dino 246 which could be a stable-mate for the coopers. But it might be rarer. The later F1 cars were 1/24 and made in Germany. In fact they all wear the same body with cosmetic differences. Motors on these are Carrera lookalike Buhler motors.

 

[Farnham Nerfee]

Thanks to all of you for your assistance.

Chofar,
Its interesting to hear that the system is still used in France, but one thing I couldn't get from the site (because I cannot speak French!!) is how the cars are controlled. Is it switch controlled for on-off control only or is there a form of speed control like a throttle? If there is a throttle for a.c. control then does it control the frequency of the a.c. supply?

Interesting system though. The tracks seem a bit narrow, as the picture of the karts show, it would have been wheel to wheel racing!

Nerfee.

 

[chofar]

There are definitely throttles. I don't know how they work but if you want you can ask the webmaster or I can do it for you

 

[ProfFate]

Hi

Definately an AC vibrator.

Highway Pioneers:Was a line sold by Revell in the 50s of 1/32 cars, A bunch of cars ranging from about 1908 to the 50s. The only ones I have(and use as slot car bodies) are the most modern of them, the Ferrari 212 Barchetta, 32 Ford 5 window coupe, Jag XK 120, MGTD.

Fate

 

[Fergy]

Those vibrators were the noisiest slot cars I've ever heard. Put four of them on the track and it sounds like a herd of electric razors!