POWER CRAZY!

Right, I am recovering from an email I received regarding the power output of Counterlane transformers. I am grateful to Ben for clarifying it because I've been working on a huge assumption ever since 1982! Allow me to explain...

The transformer supplied with Powertrack and Speedtrack sets is rated at 6v output. The cars are referred to as 6v cars.

The transformer supplied for Lanechanger sets is rated at 10v output. The cars are never referred to in voltage terms because they never changed. I suspect the USA RPS sets were also 10v if someone can confirm?

When Powertrack Plus came around I was always sure these were 12v. I don't know why, but I had a PP-9000 in 1981 and never questioned it. Sure, the transformer wasn't rated at 12v but that meant there was no drop when two cars were racing. The references I had seen at model shops and the oft quoted Model Engineer Exhibition must have referred to them as 12v cars too because I'm damn sure I would have noticed - and remembered.

Since acquiring Dapol information I too noticed the reference to 18V power output. Alarm bells rang and I would look into it. Ben's email has rather embarrassed me now so let's have look...

I've just checked my Powertrack Plus transformer and its rated at 16-18v output. The box art and instruction manuals for my PP-2000 also make no reference to any input or output voltage whatsoever.

The cars chassis do not have a voltage written on them, neither do the motor or the bulbs. The only reference is the 'HVT' - presumably High Voltage something or other?

The thing is, all the Powertrack Plus items I have seen have been rated at 12v. I think this stems from the fact people have run these cars on Scalextric Micro with no problems.

I should be editing my blog to show 12v as 18v and this would certainly make Powertrack Plus a very powerful system. However, I have a very large layout and run it with the 18v transformer and I get no power drop off or surge when one of the cars go off the track.

I suggest that the cars are rated at 12v but the transformer can work above this to compensate for power demands and enable longer set layouts.

As ever, my thanks to Ben for raising the issue but please let me know your thoughts on this before I change anything.

By the way, there is a service sheet available showing a Powertrack car split apart to show the serviceable parts inside. I saw one once and I'm sure it was supplied with my Race & Chase, the car was likely to have been a Corvette. If anyone has a copy they would like to share please email me.

RACING CAPRI

The last Lanechanger car is the excellent Racing Capri. This is better known as the Zakspeed Ford Capri and is a heavily modified group 5 racing car. The Capri is a good choice for a Slot car model and Matchbox again proved to be spot on, albeit on the wrong chassis!

The Capri is known in Europe as LC-105 and in the USA as 10-39-56.

I think it came with both A & B pick ups.

BMW M1

Now I'm really not a BMW devotee but there is no doubt Matchbox produced two very fine bodyshells for their slot racing enterprise. The M1 was in real life a failed sportscar that was relelgated to a few one make race series the generally accompanied the European F1 races in 1980. The Matchbox one is even rarer!


To my mind this is a great car that was perhaps better suited to the Powertrack chassis. It has appeared on ebay a few times in the last year and so far appears to be only available in this livery.





Although clearly referenced in the 1979 Speedtrack Catalogue I have a firm belief that most of these went to mainland Europe. Note the French text on the side of tis packaging.

The BMW M1 is LC-106 in Europe and 10-39-55 in the USA.

I believe it was issued with both A and B type pick up shoes.

CHEVROLET MONZA

Oh c'mon! Look at this! Isn't this just so chunky and funky? Well, I like it, I love it!

Maybe it's the sumbliminal 'Engerland' footie colours? I don't know. One thing's for sure, it wasn't the real car that lit my fire, far from it I'm afraid.

I really wanted a Lanechanger 1000 when I was little and as much as the head wanted the Porsche my heart wanted the Monza. This Monza, in full red and white. I bought one last year on ebay and I loved it. It is useless to me (for I have no Lanechanger track) and I used it as a desk top toy for a few months. But hey, so many people picked it up and looked at it...

I was always a fan of it's more expensive sister, too. The blue and yellow Monza was the blue eyed blonde and totally out of my league in a set costing £50 plus... It too looks good but I think familiarity (in the US at least) has dulled my affection for it.

But of course, the sexy twins also had a long lost oriental cousin, a foxy babe who slipped back in to the limelight last year. Again, notice on the Monza that the car product numbers stay largely unchanged regardless of body colour.

The red & white Monza was dubbed 'Super Monza' in the UK and was LC-102.

The blue & yellow Monza was tagged 'Monza GT' in the UK and was LC-103.

Both cars were 'Type A'

In the US it is the exact opposite:

The red & white Monza was dubbed 'Monza G.T.' (10-39-51)

The blue & yellow was tagged 'Super Monza' (10-39-53).

In 1980, the Monza was revamped to include headlights. The Yellow Monza replaced LC-103 in the UK but the Red & White version continued as 'No. 8' in lieu of 'No.1'. This was still known as LC-102.

PORSCHE 935 TURBO 'FLATNOSE'

The Porsche 935 Turbo is the definitive 70's racing Porsche. Derived for the Group 5 racing era it produced several class wins in Sportscar racing all over the world. The Matchbox version was to my mind one of the best reproductions of this scale. The proportions lend themselves to the chunky wheelbase and track that the real life car had.
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The green and brown version (top) was supplied with the UK LC-1000, but the Martini version (below) was much more prevalent - seemingly the only version to be supplied in the USA.
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The silver/red version (below) appeared in 1980 and also displays the lighted front headlights introduced in that year. I think this is a stunner!

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Also unveiled in 1980 is this blue, green & yellow version (below). It is still referred to as an LC-104, so Matchbox replaced the previous versions. This is an odd move when Matchbox were woefully short of alternative cars for Lanechanger. .

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Lastly, this little gem (below) was kindly donated by Eddie. It's yet another variation but check out the box. Yep, it's a Counterlane. The significance of this cannot be ignored. Did Dapol have stocks of Lanechanger cars too or did this unique car find itself in the wrong box?

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Note this car is a variation of the Red/Silver Porsche so perhaps these bodyshells were awaiting overspraying in silver when the orders were cancelled or terminated.



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In 1979:

The Porsche 935 (green & brown) was LC-101 in the UK - (10-39-52 in the USA)

The Martini Porsche was LC-104 in the UK - (10-39-50 in the USA)

In 1980:

The Red Silver Porsche was LC-101 in the UK and came with lights.

The Blue/Yellow/Green Porsche was LC-104 in the UK and also came with lights.

Both cars were originally Type B cars.

LANECHANGER & RPS CARS

Right, thanks for staying interested Lancechanger fans! Here I get to the cars at last.

From launch, both RPS and Lanechanger featured the excellent Porsche 935 Turbo and the Chevrolet Monza (above).

It's a very curious mix, not least because the Porsche in real life was a thumping great 700bhp monster that won races, while the little Monza was a 700bhp monster that didn't.

To be fair, the Monza did produce results but generally only stateside. One wonders if the Lesney tie-up was a marketing opportunity by General Motors to raise the profile of the Monza. The car did run in Le Mans in '77 and '78 but to no avail - it's international glory denied.

Whatever, the Monza certainly looks the business. I have spent several hours trying to graft a Monza shell on to a Powertrack chassis but forget it, it's not something for the casual modeller. (If you have successfully performed such an operation please let us know!)

In 1978, the US catalogue showed preview renderings of the cars for RPS 2000 & 4000 (above).

The cars operated by having 3 pick up shoe positions. Cars would have a common shoe (the LH) and the RH shoe would either be normal (Car A) or have a club foot (Car B). Matchbox certainly began by calling Porsches Car A and Monzas Car B. When I found out that two Car A's couldn't be raced together I was very disappointed. It made the limited range of cars even more limited.

However, I bought a mint boxed Monza last year and was relieved to find out it was supplied with both A and B type pick up shoes and a pair of spare motor pinions. Matchbox must have corrected this after launch.

In 1979, there were two more additions to the range, a BMW M1 and Zakspeed Ford Capri. There were also more variations of Porsches & Monzas on the way.

DAPOL, EBAY & CHAOS THEORY...

Okay, the Dapol theory is set in place but then we have these two ebay beauties. Typical of all the Dapol photography that ever seems to appear the exact titles never photograph very well.



Both sets appear to be the J5 'Super Race & Chase'. The photo on the box front bottom right clearly shows the layout, but the set contents appear to be woefully short.

The polystyrene tray appears in both cases to have no recess available for the banked curve or cross over - unless they are on the underside? In which case the photographer might have made reference to their inclusion.

While I could speculate that these were more likely to be the junior J4 Race & Chase sets, both items are clearly packed with 12v cars, throttles and transformers.


For now, I have to conclude that the set is a made up collection of random parts. The tray is from a J4, the box lid is from a J5 and the seller (or previous seller) has provided the 12v electrics. Further evidence is provided by the fact that the hand controls are not the Race & Chase versions - (the black button on the top is not fitted).

I will be looking at Dapol more closely so I'm sure these curiousities will become clearer as time goes by. Watch this space!

COUNTERLANE CARS - 3

COUNTERLANE CARS - 2

COUNTERLANE CARS - 1

COUNTERLANE CARS

The Counterlane cars are re-issues of the Powertrack Plus cars. Broadly speaking, Dapol had significant 12V chassis stock and where possible supplied these cars with the 12v sets.

The 6v Race & Chase set came with the 6v police car from PT-6000. The pursuit car must have been fairly random and possibly explains the existence of various Counterlane 6v cars out there. The red escort, green Saab and white Jaguar are such examples.

As for the 12v cars, it's business as usual but I suppose the biggest surprise is what cars are not featured in the line up. The Stingray (PP-141), Fiat (PP-142), VW (PP-140), Escort (PP-143), Saab (PP-139) for starters. Bizarrely, the Bandag Bandit is not included either, but the Super Boss is titled as the 'Tyrone Bandag Bandit'.

Yes, I know the Saab (PP-139) has appeared on ebay this year in a Counterlane box. However, I have to at least keep things factual and clearly the Saab could have been a Powertrack Plus car that got thrown in a Counterlane box by a collector. Such is the limited availability of this Saab it is early days to conclude its origin.

One other thing to notice on the Dapol cars is the other stated 6V car is the orange & yellow BMW. This could suggest Matchbox had produced several stocks of European PT-6100 sets before their eventual collapse.

COUNTERLANE J5

The J5 'Superfast Race N Chase' is a real first. A proper 12V Race & Chase!

The fascination for me lies in the 12V hand controllers. They have a black button on the top face for the U-turn feature. But is this how Dapol bought them from Matchbox or is this Dapols own modification to make the 12V surplus a little more exciting?

If Dapol bought them from Matchbox then Lesney clearly were planning to launch the 12v Race & Chase (the stillborn PP-4000?). If Dapol undertook the work then good for them, they did a great service and have really bought my layout to life...

The set features the 90 degree intesection again, but this time they use the 15" version. This all looks like sensible product planning by Dapol and one wonders if ex-employees of Matchbox were maybe involved in utilising all the old stock?

The set comprised:

2 x 12v 'Lighted cars'
2 x 12v Race & Chase hand controllers
1 x 12v Transformer
1 x 12v Terminal track 9"
4 x 90 Degree curves
4 x 45 Degree banked curve
5 x Straight 9"
1 x Intersection 15"
4 x Track aprons
2 x LH apron ends
1 x RH apron end


The set retailed for £43.12 - an odd sum surely?

COUNTERLANE J4

Now things start to get very exciting. Counterlane junked the idea of re-packing existing Powertrack sets and created their own creations.

The J4 U-Turn Race N Chase is a case in point. Interestingly, it was a 6v set and presumably created to use up stocks of 6v electrics. The naff 6V battery box even puts in an appearance!

The 6v cars hinted at in Dapol literature are the yellow/orange BMW and the Police car, though I suspect Dapol would have used whatever cars they had at their disposal.

The J4 featured the 90 degree intersection too, though the 9" section in lieu of the 15" Speedtrack version. Dapol referred to this as the 6V intersection...

The set comprised:

2 x 6v 'Lighted' cars
2 x 6v Race & Chase hand controllers
1 x 6v Grandstand battery box
1 x Terminal track 9"
1 x Straight 9"
1 x Intersection 9"
4 x Straight 6"
6 x 90 Degree curves
6 x Track aprons
4 x LH apron ends
3 x RH apron ends

This set retailed for £34.50

COUNTERLANE J3

Okay, the Counterlane J3 is referred to here as a 'PP-3000 - Cross Jump Rally Set'. Which indeed is what it is, except Matchbox never referred to the PP-3000 as that, but the US Powertrack Positraction product was called 'Jump Cross Championship'.

Well, whatever, this is a virtually identical PP-3000 in every way.

Set comprised:

2 x 12v 'Lighted cars'
2 x 12v Hand controllers
1 x 12v Transformer
1 x Terminal straight 9"
1 x Cross jump 24" (3 pieces)
1 x Straight 6"
1 x Crossover track 9"
10 x 90 Degree curve
10 x Crash barriers
Bridge supports

The set retailed for £52.75

COUNTERLANE J2

The Counterlane J2 is a blown over Powertrack Le Mans (PT-4000).

Again, it utilises 12v electrics which is what this set needed from day one. Curiously, the set has no 15" straights and the contents do not appear to create the suggested layout. Either this means the contents are wrong or the layout is - who knows?!

Set contents:

2 x 12v 'Lighted cars'
2 x 12v Hand controllers
1 x 12v Transformer
1 x Terminal track 9"
11 x 9" Straight
2 x 6" Straight
12 x 90 Degree curve
12 x Crash barriers
Bridge supports

Retail price: £52.75

COUNTERLANE J1

The J1 Counterlane set was essentially a revamped Powertrack Monza (PT-2000).

The major difference is Dapol obviously had stocks of 12V stuff to hand so the set contents were:

2 x 12v Lighted cars (No specific car mentioned).
2 x 12v Hand controllers
1 x 12v Transformers
1 x Terminal track 9"
1 x 9" Straight
2 x 6" Straight
8 x 90 Degree curve
8 x Crash barriers
Bridge supports

The recommended retail price for this set was an astonishing £34.50!

LIFE AFTER LESNEY - COUNTERLANE & DAPOL

While Proops were offering bargain basement Powertrack, Dapol certainly had other ideas. Dapol are a well respected Railway modelling company, producing various trains and accesories for the HO rail enthusiast.

I had not heard of them until I saw an ebay add last year offering 40-50 12V Powertrack Plus cars that had been damaged in a fire. It transpires these smoke damaged cars were from stock left over from Dapol.

I had been curious about the emergence of Counterlane branded Powertrack cars on ebay and it was with help from Steve at slot Car Wales that I was pointed in the direction of a Dapol Powertrack set that had just sold on ebay.

By some cunning good luck I have now fleshed out the basis of what Dapol were offering and can tell you all I know for now. I am also aware that there are people out there who know a great deal about these things but have no wish to share it with the rest of us.

LIFE AFTER LESNEY - PROOPS BROTHERS LTD

In 1983 I was aware that Matchbox Powertrack was no longer stocked. Being only a lad I remember spending my pocket money in bargain bins at model shops up and down the country on odd bits of track.

I remember a local toy shop had a Lap Counter (PT-221) for sale for £10.99. It never sold in five years! One day I went in and got it for £5. How chuffed was I?

That January '83 I attended the Model Engineers Exhibition in Earls Court, London. There was a company there called Proops Bros, based on Tottenham Court Rd. who sold hardware items. They appeared to have bought a significant amount of Matchbox stock and were selling off sets and cars based on Powertrack Plus.

In addition, they had a hefty amount of Lanechanger items and were supplying sets at ridiculously cheap prices. I got a flyer for their trade stand which is shown at the top. A Lanechanger 'kit' similar to an LC-2000 was made up of the following and retailed for £12-95 + £2.50 postage & packing:

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1 x Terminal Track: £1.00 each

5 x 15" Straight: £0.80p each

6 x 90 Degree curve: £1.00 (Pair)

2 x Cars: (£2.00 each)

2 x Hand controllers: £1.00 each

1 x 10V Transformer: £1.00 each

1 x Bridge supports: £0.50p each

A 6V Powertrack layout also retailed for the same price and was pretty similar in content.

A bank curve would set you back £3.50 and the 'Branch track' would cost £2.00 for the pair.

Now, some of this was sold loose but I do remember most of the track was sold in Powertrack packaging (carded blister packs). The 6V cars were sold in the usual Powertrack branded boxes.

At the Exhibition, Proops were offering upgrades to 12V for very little money. 12V transformers, hand controllers and cars were available very cheaply but all loose. Further proof that apart from the Powertrack Plus sets (PP-2000/3000/9000) there were no other branded Powertrack Plus items.

It's astonishing now that these things were stacked high and sold cheap but that's how it was back then. One wonders how long Proops continued with their enterprise...

SPIDERMAN Vs THE HULK RACE & CHASE

Okay, my thanks to Mark again for another of his surprises. Again, this is possibly a Canadian variation but this time it is identical to the US Speedtrack release but the Villain Van is replaced with the Hulk Van .

It's kind of inevitable really, but I guess Matchbox had two bites of the cherry. By producing seperate Hulk & Spiderman sets first time round they must have coined it in. Maybe to keep things simple in Canada they combined the two?

Set details as Speedtrack Spiderman Race & Chase, but with the Hulk Van.

SPIDERMAN RACE AND CHASE

There are Powertrack experts and there is Mark! Mark has kindly provided this photo of this Spiderman Race & Chase set from his own collection.

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The key differences here are not just the provision of the red Spidercar but the fact that this is a traditional PT-6000 layout complete with tip-up bridge.

Owing to the large amount of French on the box I suggest this set was produced for Canada.

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There is also a possibility it was sold in the US in 1980. It could have been an exclusive for a high street chain store or catalogue shop?

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Spiderman Race & Chase comprised:

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1 x Spidercar - Red

1 x Villain Van

6 x 90 Degree curves

4 x 15" Straight

1 x 9" Tip-up bridge

1 x 9" R&C start terminal

6 x Web design aprons

4 x LH end aprons

2 x RH end aprons

2 x R&C hand controllers

1 x Mains powerpack

1 x City backdrop

1 x Spiderman backdrop

4 x Crash barriers

Bridge supports

SPEEDTRACK TURBO RPS 2000

This Lanechanger set appeared on eBay this week and is not in any of my catalogues. The RPS range consisted of the 4000 & 6000, the 2000 listed in 1979 was a non turbo set. The seller is in Canada and I reckon this seems to be a find. The box artwork is fairly distinctive and 'turbo' sets in general are fairly hard to come by.

Set wise, the contents appear to be as RPS 2000 although it does look like it utilises two 9" sections of straight track in lieu of the 15" straight.

One particular point of interest is the crash barriers feature sponsoring by both Toyota and Nissan yet Matchbox never produced a version of their racing cars. A Datsun 240Z might have been a good addition to the range.

Set contents:

1 x Martini Porsche

1 x Chevrolet Monza

6 x 90 Degree curve

1 x 15" Start straight

3 x 15" Straight

2 x 9" Straight

2 x Turbo hand controllers

1 x Mains transformer

1 x Control tower

1 x Pit stop

6 x Crash barriers

Bridge supports

Okay - a quick catch up!

Following my small blaze of publicity via ebay there is a significant number of you out there who have visited the site and seem to be impressed with the info here.

Thank you all - its still very much a 'work in progress' though with your help there is definitely more going on out there than I can report right away - keep checking here and re-reading some of the pages for more information. Your notes, observations and photos will be included eventually, though please let me know if you want a mention.

Typically, I found a new set on ebay this week - a Lanechanger 2000 RPS. This means I have to enter this on the blog as the next item and its now out of order with everything else! My apologies, but the nature of this blog being a dated entry list of things means I cannot rearrange the order of things. If anyone knows a way around this please let me know...

I was busy on ebay this week, trying to bid for some Dapol stuff, but being very unsuccessful owing partly to my own clumsiness and to the iron hold Gordon Brown has on my finances!

The Dapol stuff is yet to be 'catalogued' here, but if anyone can help - (or rather, wants to help) -please let me know.

Yet again, a Dapol 12V Saab in boring green sold for £32. It sold to another Saabist who's list of recent purchases included everything Saab. One wonders if his 'other half' works for Saab...

By the way, the latest tip off is the Helicopter Chase set did exist! My informant added that he has seen two in existence.

The hunt is on...

Cheers,

Steve

LIGHTED POSITRACTION CARS - 2

The Porsche Turbo (163901 - above). Isn't this cool? So cool that Matchbox saw fit to advertise it in all of the three Positraction sets it planned to launch. It's good, and definitely worth tracking down because this is a 'widely' photographed example and must be somewhere...

The companion to the Porsche Turbo in the planned sets was the VW Scirocco T/A (164001 - above). Not sure what the T/A nomenclature suggested, was that a VW racing thing? No matter, this livery is very definitely BMW M colours. Not sure who was doing the marketing, but Matchbox clearly saw racing colours as 'any racing colour' rather than a specific racing colour. My internet searches have revealed an excellent orange Jagermeister livery for the Scirocco... oh well.

Lastly, the oft neglected Ford Escort (164101 - above). Yet again, it sits on the bum end of Matchbox's efforts and gets a black and dun brown finish. Not good, and an uninspiring end to the lil' Escorts US campaign.

LIGHTED POSITRACTION CARS - 1

Obviously, the lighted Positraction cars came with lights. Why they all didn't remains a mystery, but clearly Matchbox felt differentiation was worthwhile. The first up is the Saab Turbo (163601 - above). This has a spectacular livery. Not quite as adventurous as the Powertrack Plus version but quite bold non the less. Doubtless this photo has sent Saabists off in a delirium and they are now busy selling shares to fund its purchase...

And the perennial BMW gets a fresh look too (163701 - above). Sort of BMWish, but the silver needed to be white to be truly convincing. Note the Powertrack script on the rear spoiler is the UK Powertrack version, not the planned US script.

And the burly Jay-ge-waargh gets a rude reminder of its BL ownership too. (163801 - above). The Jag is white and dark green, with light green decals. I'm just not enamoured with some of these cars, the liveries are ill conceived - that said, some of them are significantly prettier than the Powertrack Plus versions that were to come.

POSITRACTION CARS...

The Positraction range consisted of 8 cars that did not feature lights but did feature the magnet and torquier motors. Curiously, the Porsche 936, Porsche Turbo, TR7 & Corvette had all been lighted vehicles previously, so a bit of a downward move there - and hardly much of a cost saving.


The Matchbox Formula 1 (160101) (above) features a Penske Indycar style scheme. It also freely advertises Matchbox - not something Matchbox thought of doing very much.

The Ferrari F1 (160201), Porsche 936 (160301) and Porsche Turbo (160501) are unchanged, except of course the latter two have no lights, though still have clear headlight apertures.


The Rebel Funny Car (160401) is given a groovy title and groovy livery - check it out baby! (above).

Next up is the Supervette (160601). This looks a sombre livery but silver is definitely what the Corvette needed. Interestingly, this was not superceded by the Stingray, which was destined never to be sold in the USA.

Well, the unsuccessful TR7 wasn't much better in TR8 (160701) guise. This is a very odd livery for the little Brit, but it certainly advertises what it is - even though it was relatively unknown in the USA.

Lastly the Dodge Van gets a proper 'Custom Van' title, (160801). This is definitely on my hit list, it's what a slot car van should be painted like! Bring it on...