THINGIES: A Retro Futuristic Slot Car Story

FOREWORD by Philippe de Lespinay (Los Angeles Slot Car Museum Curator). Thingies stand proudly as slot-car rebels in this newest work by author and slot-racing enthusiast Carlo Tonalezzi. Vibrant photos of these classic model cars adorn the pages as a brief history explains how they helped to propel the hobby into a global phenomenon. Enjoy images of the BZ Banshee, Classic Industries ASP, Dynamic Bandit, Cox La Cucaracha, and many more. All photos taken on American Model Car Raceways vintage tracks. "Coffee Table" style photo book with over a hundred big size color pictures. As model car racing refined itself and became more competitive, enthusiasts started to make their own chassis, wire their own motors, and pursue faster and faster cars. But with this heightened spirit of serious competition came a decrease in the number of fans who could keep up. The pool of racing enthusiasts who had the time and money to keep pace with slot racing technology was shrinking. Hobby companies, themselves competing against one another for the highest profits, were spitting out chassis, gears, and kits faster than the average racer could put them together; and by the time they did, an even faster car had made their new model obsolete again. To the newcomer who wanted to be competitive on the racetrack but didn’t have the time or means to build a model from scratch, enough was enough.The hobby industry knew something had to be done. The void was filled by an industrial designer named John Power. His efforts materialized as a Ready-to-Run slot car released by Classic Industries. The Manta Ray was extremely well received, and other “rebels” soon joined the gang: the BZ Banshee, Classic Industries ASP, Dynamic Bandit, and Cox La Cucaracha, to name a few. So the futuristic dream cars, or Thingies, were born. Ready to race right out of the box, they were aggressive looking—and, most importantly, they were fast! Read more