Slot cars

Slot cars....you remember those, right?  Aurora, Tyco, electrically powered through the track.  Zoom, zoom!  Some hobbyists have made molds of a 1971 Monte (perhaps from Lindberg) and you can purchase these resin castings and make your own slot car.  They even sell the wheels and sheets of little decals to make Nascar cars that actually existed.

First there is "MEV Originals", seems they've offered this since 1998 or so?  http://www.tjets.com/index.html
They call these 1/76th scale Aurora T-Jet bodies.

And there is (what appears to be) a very nice kit for Aurora slot car chassis' as well,  from "Road Race Replicas", perhaps new in 2011: 

http://www.ho-slotcars.com/2068.htm

  

I have to make me at least one of those!  These are non-year specific as it seems they have no park lites in the bumper or grille.

Here is a picture is picture of a modified one with cut wheelwells, etc - nice!

And another one I found is Jim's Custom Rod Shop has a 70 Monte.  It is also for a T-Jet chassis.

http://members.tripod.com/jims_customs/id14.html

Here is a picture of the resin casting with which you can do your own finish work or have him make a custom one for you.  However now I don't see this on his site anymore.

And, this one, but I'm not sure about where to get it.   The ad stated Auto World (a hobby store), who does have resin slot car bodies, but they don't have this one that I can find.

There are also some clear bodies that have been made...don't have much information on these but I imagine you can trim and paint these to your liking:

And just because I like it so much, I'll have mention this car again, that someone else made for me of the #12 Allison Monte.  It just goes to show you could take the set of decals that are sold by RRR and put them on a Hot Wheels or Johnny Lightning if you are not interested in slot cars....

Lindberg Line/ Mini-Lindys

Now this one is new to me, and I am still researching it.  A company called Lindberg started making small plastic snap together models in 1968 called Mini-Lindys.  (68 was beginning of Hot Wheels, you'll remember).  These were the Hot Wheels size typically referred to as 1/64th today, but they stated they were 1/87th scale (HO scale).  

They made 32 models in an initial line called Mini Lindys but after those they did not call them that...In a series called Super Sport, they released a 1971 Monte Carlo...I assume this was released in 1972 as thats what the box says, even though the car is a 71:

It also seems that this is the car that a few people have made molds from, to make Aurora slot car replicas that you can buy.  They refer to them as 1/76th scale, so that may be what they really are.  I'll be covering those in another post.  Here is another picture...

Here is another picture, of a yellow Lindy:

I am not sure at this time, if this is just another color of the same Super Sport series, or something else.


Here is a yellow one without whitewalls, compared to a hot wheels car.  You can see they are the same size basically...

 And a nice green one with black interior....

And a few more.... evidently there were many colors:

Ertl: The 1/18 scale diecasts

Now we have the bigger diecasts, with much more detail in the 1:18 scale.  Made by Ertl, these had opening hoods, opening doors with detailed engines.  Some the later ones had an opening trunk.  These are by far the most detailed of any diecasts of 70-72 Monte Carlo's that there are.
I used to collect these but I don't anymore, just because of space.  I never thought they would make so many Monte's in all these scales!

The first were American Muscle Series in Maroon and Black...

And of course where would we be without a Chase version...it was chrome, well, chrome-looking anyway:

Then came the American Muscle Elite editions, in red and blue, marked 1 of 5000:

And the corresponding chase version in a nice "Black Chrome":

Next came a Silver American Muscle version with mag "torque-thrust" type wheels, marked 1 of 2500:

 And a chrome chase version:

Whew!  Thats a few.  But wait...there's more.  Ertl then released a 1971 model!  And got a little trickier with the chase models.  These are American Muscle Elite editions.  Here is the bronze/gold one, marked 1 of 2500:

 and its chase car is the same, except it has a bronze interior, instead of black:

and here is the orange 1971, released in 2007.  This is where they started the opening trunk on these. They were marked "1 of 1302", and I have a note that there were 217 Chase models.  Just take a look at the detail of these here:

http://www.diecast.org/diecast98/html/asp/list_reviews/xq/ASP/id.ERT39484/qx/reviewpix.htm

And its chase car is the same, but with a black vinyl top:

Here is another model, that was only released through Matco tools.  If you are not familiar with these tools, they are sold to shops and mechanics by dealers that sell them out of specailly outfitted trucks. Similar to Mac or Snap-On tools. Note the opening trunk!  These were marked 1 of 1200.

In  2009, they released another 1971 Model, this time in Green.  Boy, if that doesnt look like how they looked back in 1971, I don't know what does.

I do not know if there is a Chase version of this...you would have to think there is, I just haven't seen it yet.

Also there is a version of the Silver Monte that Chip Foose designed on the show Overhaulin'.  There is also a 1/50 scale version of this:

And I've got one more to share, and that is the "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift" movie car:. If I remember right, the movie car had a cowl induction hood, but these don't.

1:25 scale - the original promotional models

Back when these classic cars were new, when the new model year came out, a promotional model was made and given away at the dealer.  Well, actually I'm not sure they did much giving away of them, but maybe.  These are 1/25 scale plastic models.  They are different than the kind that you built as a kid, as they did not have an opening hood and were cast in nicely colored plastic.  And they were fairly monochromatic, that is, if it was a red car, the interior, dash , seats, etc were red too.  These are expensive to collect, and have been as long as I can remember. Here are the ones I know about:

1970:
Citrus Green Metallic

Medium Blue Metallic:

1971:

1972:

More Hot Wheels: 2010 and on

In 2010, Hot Wheels started releasing First Generation Monte's again.  The only problem is many of them were only available at Walmart, and I try not to go to that place. :)  Well, there's always eBay!

The first is a Hot Wheels Classics, series 5, in red and green "special paint".  It must be - after all, it says so!  Actually it is called 'Spectraflame'.  These do have racing stripes on the hood, it doesn't show up that well in my pictures:

here is a chrome spectraflame version that was only available in a "Classics" 30 car set. 

Here is the set, I believe it was only at Wal-Mart:

and here is red Chase car, not many made... The Green one had a chase version too.



 It has different wheels/tires, same ones at the chrome car above, like this:

Here is the green....

And here is a rare one.  It is the one of the 2010 Collector's Edition cars.  This is a "mail away" promotion from Toys R' Us.  You had to buy something like 20 cars, send in the proof, and they sent you this mail-away promotion.  It came in a clamshell to protect the card /package.

Now thats a neat car!  Here is the Hot Wheels news article about it: http://www.hotwheelscollectors.com/news/news.aspx?archive=true&news_id=1041


In 2011, and Hot Wheels released another series of Monte's, all pretty much the same but different colors, it was called Muscle Mania (series#106) :

I'm pretty sure the orange was a Walmart only color:

You can find some error cars of these, with missing stripes, wrong color stripes, etc.  I suppose they might be letting that happen on purpose, who knows.  There were also some subtle differences in ones sold at Walmart and Target.  I'll include those in the "Errors and Chases" post I'm planning.
btw, Hot Wheels seems to call their model years like the auto manufacturers, like a 2012 is released at the end of 2011.  And it seems we have some 2012 already.  Like this "Mystery Model" which came in a foil pack like baseball cards do, where you cannot see what you are getting.  So you won't find a carded version of this car, at least not yet.  It looks very similar to the Muscle Mania series.

This "Mystery Model" came in bag like this:

Backing up to 2011 again, Hot Wheels had a series called "Hot Wheels Garage" and it included 2 Montes with some nice paint and wheels:

Here is the card:

Then there is a 2012 series of Hot Wheels Muscle Mania, series 107 in metalflake gold.  These stripes remind me of something that should be on the next generation Montes (1973-77)

In April 2012, there is a in purple/black one in this series....

and silver/blue (Walmart-only)....

And new for 2013 (Nov 2012) is a new HW Showroom model (#239), an SS 454 in metallic blue:

Now, mid-2013, there is also a ZAMAC 1970 Monte, in the HW Showroom line:

ZAMAC is an acronym for the Zinc, Aluminum, Magnesium, and Copper that diecast cars are made from.

Also it refers to an unpainted car or base and in this case these cars are just clearcoated with no paint.

This might be a Walmart only car.