1912 was a busy year: the Republic of China was established, the Titanic sank, and the Girl Scouts organization was founded. Another big event for some of us is that in 1912, the first slot car and track were said to have been introduced. This 1972 Aurora A/FX Model Motoring Penske Special Race Set is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Garnett Valley, Pennsylvania, and the seller is asking $200. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Gary for the tip!
The seller is very light on photos, sadly, but here is one showing inside the box. Most of the photos show the box rather than what’s in the box, which seems a little strange. It does include the “unused” poster seen above and some additional unopened track and is said to all be in excellent condition. The box has seen better days, but it’s probably better than most, or for sure better than not having one at all, which is often the case with 50+ year-old toys.
My apologies for the weird photos, but this is all they had to choose from, for the most part. This may end up being a total bust, but we’re hoping you folks can fill in any blanks and most of all, flood this one with your own memories of having slot car tracks as kids, or even as adults because I know some of us/you still have them either in a box or set up in a permanent display. Aurora AFX, sometimes seen as A/FX, stands for Aurora Factory Experimentals, and was a division of Aurora Plastics Corporation. If that name doesn’t scream 1960s toy company, I don’t know what does. Aurora A/FX existed from 1961 through 1983. I’m guessing that as with today, computers were taking over kids’ dreams and spare time, so actual play time with things like race sets was falling off of wish lists. What a shame.
Here are the other two sides of the box… Sorry again for the photos, I really wish the seller had included more actual photos of what’s inside. We had a Strombecker Monza racetrack setup, exactly like this one on eBay for $1,200 (!), and there were many others in the 1960s and 70s before the bottom fell out of the industry. I just opened the listing again now, and they’ve dropped the price to $175, so that’s good, right? I’m hoping you folks can fill in the info here, and tell stories about the racetrack sets you had. Start your engines!
Cool, $175 now.
Without the cars….. $20-$30 for the set. Lots of these sets out there in original boxes. Without the cars, basically not worth that much. Now the cars, $5 to $100 or more. Depending on condition/rarity. Just like HotWheels.
Been collecting these for 50yrs and these sets are pretty common. If the cars and box were perfect/mint condition. $200 or so on Ebay. Still fun to play with… that hasn’t changed!
I still have a couple A/FX cars. The track is long gone. This is a blast from the past.
Wow!!! This is a blast from the past. I remember the Aurora AFX boxes with Jackie Stewart on the box. I still have my slot cars from back then, I even have some of my older brothers ( Shhh..Dont tell him).
I couldn’t tell you how many hours we spent. My older brother was great at making large layouts on 4×8 sheets of plywood. What a great memory and write ip Scotty!! Thank you!!!
I had no idea slot cars went back to 1912. I know Lionel trains go back over a century. I used to get a book from the ’60s on slot cars in my elementary school library all the time with larger scale ( like what you had Scotty) cars.
I got into the commercial track stuff for a while in the late 80’s early 90’s but just got too busy and and got away from it. Aurora had some neat stuff in the 60’s with their TJets and HO scale trains. I think they even had a RR crossing slot car track too if I remember correctly. Some of my best memories of my childhood revolve around slot cars. I always lost (except for once, very proud moment for me). Thank you again for having this on here Scotty. As a side point, from personal experience, AFX tracks used to break at the tabs, it was a weak point. Theu used to have little metal clips to use at those broken joints.
Again…. Great memories Scotty!!! Thank you!!!
It was Lionel that made the first slot car set in 1912, they were made for about three years. The cars come up at train shows and auctions occasionally, but the track is pretty hard to find. MTH reproduced the Lionel slot car set a few years ago, complete with track, but even those sets are getting hard to find.
https://www.appletreeauction.com/auction-lot/lionel-prewar-race-car-set-with-7-pieces-of-curve_2304A79BCF
When I saw this I immediately recalled the broken tabs. As a kid I didn’t know there was a repair and that was pretty much the end of the track as there was no longer continuity..
I was a TYCO kid. Always looked forward to
seeing the new sets in the Sears Christmas catalog.
@Chris. You reminded me, We had them too. Remember Tycopro? They had the white silicone tires and the (brass?) Belly pan. More memories!!!
Thanks again, Scotty! My brothers and I started with an Aurora Model Motoring race set, Christmas of 1965, and now we all have AFX and Tyco gear as well. Still love this stuff!
Too cool 😎
I had a track in the late 60s early 70s bought a lot of extra cars and track I had the Little Red Wagon It would accelerate so fast if you jam the throttle fast it would jump right out of the slot I had to tape a small weight on the back to keep it down I still have some of the cars
Don’t want to be a total noodnik, and Scottys submissions are always worth a shout. If this comment doesn’t make it, quite frankly, I don’t care anymore. They certainly have a problem. When I moved to Colorado 7 years ago, a local thrift store had a set just like this, complete, they wanted $40 bucks. Since I needed a kitchen table first, when I went back, it was gone. As a kid, I was lucky enough to have a Hobby Horse nearby, and they got most, if not all my grass cutting money. Silver pickups, gooey tires, and interchangable bodies, and all for mere grass cutting money. Controls, too, I remember several. This has the “trigger” style, but there was the “gas pedal” ones, the push button ones, that left a dent on your thumb, the “steering wheel” ones. We combined sets for one mombo set, with 2 transformers, banked curves, dragstrip, and about as much fun as a kid could possibly have. I was disappointed, mom gave mine away, but some lucky kid got a neat set. Great find.
Its good to hear from you Howard. I remember having Tycopro thumb controllers ( still have them) the AFX style you see here and I remember steering wheel ones too but I was so little I dont know where they came from. My older brother did the same thing, sets just kept growing. Buying extra track etc.
My brothers and I had a set similar to this one. Hours were spent racing our cars around the track. What a blast, except every once in a while our cat wound pounce on the unsuspecting car on the track and would run off with one in her mouth. Super mad back then but now its kind of funny to think about it. We live near a Tyco R&D center and 2 times a year they would open up the center for kids to go in and play with new toys under development. You had to sign up and they would pick random kids to go in. When our kids would get picked and we took them for the event I would always head for the slot car R&D room. What a blast! Was able to talk to a lot of the designers. Unfortunately Tyco closed the center down.
My best friend and I saved our lawn mowing moneys until we had enough for the first versions that came out and we each bought one and combined the 2 sets in his basement into an awesome race course. We had the ones with the vibrator motors and quick;y learned that by shortening the push rod, the wheel speed doubled, followed by the addition of dual truck tires for more traction.
I am more tolerant of video games than most old guys, because I spent many, many, many hours in the basement with the Aurora cars. Had a 4×8 piece of plywood. Lots of tracks, lots of cars, lots of modifications to the motors, wheels, etc. I guess I learned a lot about electricity, friction, tools, etc. All in a box right now. Never had the space to break it out for my kids. Maybe I’ll set it up for the grands…
In 1912 were they slot horse races?
I grew up a few blocks from their factory in West Hempstead NY. We used to dumpster dive for stuff back then.
My intro was the 1963 Aurora Model Motoring set with Stirling Moss on the box. The steering wheel on the controllers soon broke off and the guide pins on the cars broke. We fixed the controllers and they soon came out with nylon guide pins and my BF and I had a lot of fun with that set, customizing the cars. I still have it. I considered parting it out for $ but instead I attached 1×2’s to the back of the track and hung it on the wall with a Ford GT and a Stingray (wired down) fighting it out in turn one.
That’s the set my brother and I had. After the steering wheel broke off, we discovered that a “Tinker Toy “ wooden spool piece fit perfectly on the plastic piece that was left.
I still have the original set. Great times!!
I, too, had that very same set and still have it, all intact, minus the original box.
In the mid 70’s my friends and I had a large set up in their basement. We needed multiple transformers to get even power throughout the whole track, but what a blast! We tried our best to wreck the other guy, even made up our own game of it! Miss those days, wish I still had those cars, but alas they are long gone. I loved the AFX cars as they seemed to hold the track better. I remember having a 77 Trans Am, a VW Beetle in candy purple, a Chapparal with the tall wing, a 41 Willy’s in dark blue and a couple of the smaller Aurora cars (68Firebird and a Barracuda). Had more than that, just can’t remember them all. Great times for sure!
I have my AFX, GPlus and old T-Jet cars. Tyco 440s too. And Auto world repros too. Get sone new silicone slicks and a little lube are they run like new. Parts are still available.
Also have little metal “clips” to fix broken tabs on tracks. The grand kids love to race. Takes them a while before I raise the voltage to speed things up.
I can’t believe this, I used to go to the slot car tracks back than, I still have my Jim Hall Chappelle, and 2 other slot cars and my H.O.cars I wonder what they are worth now, what a grt time those was the days, I really miss that way of life.
My two brothers had a track in the late 60’s and placed light posts with low volt bulbs alongside the track and wired from the transformer , shut the basement room lights off, turned on the car track lights and had night races. Clever and totally cool. Sure miss them days. I remember the sixties Mustang and Camaro cars with different (hard black rubber to do burnouts or white softer rubber rear wheels for traction now) replaceable wide rear tires for better handling going fast. These cars had the flat rotary copper motors with the little carbon conductors for the front electric underside copper slides.
I’ve still got a lot of track and about 50 cars and parts, 20 would run if they had new tires. My son and I used to have a blast running them.
Back in the late 60’s, my parents were either too poor to afford and electric slot car track or they were too concerned about me with electricity! I ended up with a battery operated Motorific Torture Track! I still have the parts and a few cars!
We I got older, I found some nice slot car tracks and cars at the thrift shops! I’ll have to dig them up and check their value!
Great nostalgic article! Thanks!
I had this same set when I was 6 years old. Blast from the past-I had entirely forgotten about it.
My first two Aurora cars were a red ’64 Riviera and a blue with black stripes ’65 Mustang top-down convertible.