PP-138 THE HOLY GRAIL FOR POWERTRACK PLUS FANS!

So here it is! The Saab 900 PP-138. I think by consent it is generally agreed this is one of the rarest cars and this one is in fantastic condition!

Being offered with a box (though PP-Plus cars didn't have boxes) is a nice touch

and getting a box from a PT-116 is hard enough!

Condition is excellent but already it has blasted past my best bid!

Fingers crossed it makes a good sale - though I think the 1980 Disco Van is at the top of my list for rarity value...


STOP PRESS! FINALLY SOLD FOR A WHOPPING £460!!

RPS/LANECHANGER CAR SALE!

Fantastic opportunity to keep your Lanechanger running with these beauties!

Simply stunning! I am so thrilled just to see them on ebay and although they are useless to my slot based racing they do have shelf appeal! Hopefully, these will fetch some keen prices so will keep you posted!

GOOD YIELDS ON THIS LOT - A COOL AVERAGE OF AROUND £25-£40 WITH THE CAPRI FETCHING £46 FOR THE ILLUMINATED VERSION AND £56 FOR THE NON ILLUMINATED VERSION. I WAS SLIGHTLY SURPRISED ON THE BMW WENT FOR JUST £26 BUT PERHAPS THESE CARS ARE NOT AS RARE AS I THOUGHT...

RUSH!

Fans of Powertrack will no doubt love the forthcoming Ron Howard Movie Rush which features the excellent 1977 season portrayed with Matchbox's own Ferrari and McLaren F1 cars. By the look of this trailer this is fills a void between looking at the box art as an 8 year old kid and seeing the real thing.

Funnily enough, I have seen both cars up close - a Ferrari specialist near me had a Ferrari 312 T2 in his workshop for a few years which he prepped for the odd track day. And visits to the Silverstone Historic and Goodwood have given me chance to see both cars in action.

I think I may post some details of the real life cars modelled by Matchbox just to expand the content of this Blog. Trouble is finding the time.

Many thanks to the people who email me adding detail to flesh out the pages and I promise I will get around to it in the fullness of time.

Meanwhile - go to this link for the excellent Rush movie...


Rush Movie here...

JAPANESE RACE & CHASE!

Trawling eBay last week and found this Race & Chase that heralds from Japan. Branded 'Matchbox' it does not divulge a year but it's reasonable to assume its from 79/80 - the golden era for this product.

 

Packaging is more european than the sparse US Speedtrack 'thrown in a box' look. Of note here is the the Japanese Police car which I shall comment on further down. Note the Race & Chase controllers branded as Speedtrack. Also of note is the inclusion of the Porsche Turbo - not a Corvette.

 

So here is the rare(?) black and white Police car - funnily enough I always wondered as a kid why the Police car wasn't black and white as most US police cars seemed to be.

As I pondered this I was contacted by Jonas Nordlindh who supplied this shot he found on the web.Of massive interest is the abundance of b&w police cars but also the Yellow cab version! If anyone can supply more information on this I would love to hear from you.

I am also extremely envious of whoever this lot belongs to - not lost on me is the ultra rare Saab and the still to be owned Escort.

I wonder if they have the 1980 Disco Chevy van?...

MELLOW YELLOW!

Aficionado's of Powertrack know the yellow PP-140 Scirocco is a rarity.  Of course the box is superfluous (PP cars did not come in boxes - except I did see a Tyrone Malone 12V on a card once!) However, this beauty seems an absolute minter and I am very keen to see how well it does. (At the time of posting this it was up to £106).

 

Alas! the Scirroco fetched £206 in the end... not bad!

BACK TRACK!

Track seems almost ubiquitous on eBay but carded new track is quite rare. However, to find this lot in one sale is very rare. Although the asking price seems steep at £150 that levels out at around £3 a piece. I think if you have the space and the cash it could be a good way of revitalising your layout.

ONES TO WATCH...

Such is the activity on ebay at the moment its worth pointing you in the direction of some excellent items:

Both the US Speedtrack Trucks have been hard to come by of late and these two are worth snapping up if you haven't already got them. My versions on 12V chassis are a hoot to race with, although as mentioned before they do not like the Lap Counter.

Another nice pairing are the Speedtrack Gremlin & Pinto. A word of warning though - they cannot be fitted with 12V HVT Chassis and also remember to remove the light bulbs.

The Texaco F1 racer is also a nice car to own - for the right price. This version looks as mint as possible.

A carded HULK VAN is also one to watch - not least because as Marvel merchandise it becomes collectable for altogether different reasons.

Update May 2013

Welcome back!

Well, been quite a busy time in my household with moving house etc - and in this time its been quite eventful on ebay this year - at least here in the UK. Here is a snapshot of some of what's been happening...

PP-142 FIAT makes top money!

After 24 bids the little Fiat made £166.66 on ebay - beating the previous price easily. I was drawn to bidding but I'm afraid it is well out of my league at the moment. Suffice to say its condition was fair but it was fitted with a 6V chassis and not a 12V HVT chassis. So, not mint but one wonders just how many of these there are in the world...

PP-143 FORD ESCORT fails to beat recent record!

Alas, the Gold Escort remains highly sought after yet two have appeared recently. Boxed in a PT-109 box it made 18 strong bids of up to £293 but I'm lead to believe it failed to meet it's reserve price.

PP-141 CHEVROLET STINGRAY shows a strong surge!

The seemingly rare Powertrack Plus Stingray appeared out of nowhere and rallied to a whopping £93. This is fast becoming a rare car and probably was had at a bargain. I would expect in better fiscal conditions you could see these late PP-Plus cars fetching another fifty percent or so. 

NOT FORGETTING...

Other cars also made good money this year, the Porsche Turbo Polizei put in an excellent effort - attracting £59. I think this was spot on for a car of this ilk, although rare on ebay it does appear to have been in supplied in large numbers on the continent.

PT-116 SAAB TURBO

The Saab usually makes a great sale on eBay but this superb, boxed example sold for £51. I was surprised it didn't sell for more - given its box - I'd have thought around £80 nearer the mark.

Almost forgotten but always a pleasure, the little Scirocco went for £28 with box. I thought it might have garnered more but hey ho - these are lean times!

Last but not least is this remarkably preserved PT-101 Ferrari. This sold for a startling £16. I say startling because nearly every one of these cars looks tatty these days. This one was absolutely mint. A bargain and one hope it stays in tip top condition for many more years.

LJN LION FORCE 'SPINOUT IN SPACE'

 

 

Also from this period is a set a number of you have mentioned, the Spinout In Space from LJN. I look forward to fleshing out some history of LJN later in the Blog but clearly this is an interesting set.

 

This is perhaps the only application of Race n Chase outside of the Matchbox sets.

 



 

 

The set uses the track layout achieved with a PT-2000 Monza set with 12v terminal and Powertrack crash barriers & aprons. Tooling rights did not extend to the Controllers and Transformer - these being sourced from elsewhere (anybody?). Clearly the apron ends went AWOL too.

 

 

Okay, you may have noticed I am not a big fan of tie-ins and I am even less of a fan of far eastern cartoons! Ignoring my stance on this, these two 'cars' run on 12v HVT chassis complete with magnet and wide pick up shoes. 

These 'Lions' are part of five robots that make a Voltron (I'm guessing). The Yellow Lion is a Leg (apparently) and the Red Lion an Arm (I'm not making this up!) and the Red one should be smaller than the Yellow one. The joys of toy design - you can throw away the script! lol

LJN GOBOTS 'SPACE CHASE'

 

I am becoming educated on what happened to the Matchbox tools and stock post the collapse of the early 1980's. This is proving quite interesting and its helping me me fathom out what has been going on these last 30 years!

 

Contributor Jonas has sent details of this set which heralds from 1984. It features quite clearly the existing Powertrack track section. I suspect its a 12V system owing to the terminal track being from Powertrack-Plus?

 

 

Note lap counter - a new part designed to fit around a standard Powertrack straight section. A simple trigger in slot device that ratcheted a crankwheel to click to the next lap. 

 

 

These two GoBot cars look in great shape and for the enthusiast this would be a great find.

 

 

Note the application of Gobot decals and Powertrack Plus style 12V stickers. Also in evidence is the 90 degree cross section, which was never used in a Matchbox set... though correct me if I am wrong?

 

 

Branded toys are the result of keen licencing and 'Movie Tie-ins'. While being opportunist they rely on heavy marketing - particularly on TV. Timing and opportunity are the key to success and it is doubtful GoBots achieved the success its makers anticipated.

 

 

Box displays the lap counter and cross over clearly. The cars will be featured in a separate feature.

 

 

This set was described as mint and sold for £185 back in June 2012.