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.



TURBOSPRINT PT-200

 

 

 

Non UK ebay sites bring up all sorts of treasures - not least this PT-2000 Monza for the Italian Market. 

 

 

I'm suggesting both the green Porsche and the white Corvette were the supplied cars but it's highly likely these were substituted with stock fluctuations.

 

 

The box art is a long way from the excellent UK packaging, using photos from contemporary Group 5 Racing.

GOLD ESCORT BREAKS RECORD!...Or can you beat it?

 

 

Thanks to a number of enthusiasts who tipped me off about this gold Escort (PP-143) that sold for a substantial £490 on ebay back in February this year (2012).

The seller, Darren was chuffed with the sale. I have yet to acquire a Gold Escort in my collection but it looks like this sale puts it even further from my grasp!

SKY FIGHTERS 'CARRIER COMBAT'

 

 

 

Well this Blog hadn't been up and running 24 hours before I got some interesting tip offs from some of you. My thanks to Jonas Norlindh for putting me in touch with this set currently for sale on ebay in Germany. 

 

I have a bit of studying to do but clearly it heralds from 1992 and there looks to be very little - if anything - carried over from 1980's Matchbox stock.

 

The track is clearly different in colour but while the size of the track sections seem familiar the connection tongue and spring conductor rail are markedly different to that found on Powertrack.

 

 

As seems the norm in post Powertrack times, the packaging lacks vac moulded trays for a 'slung in the box' approach.

 

The paperwork details track cleaning guidelines so familiar to us Powertrack afficionados but I do cringe at the standard of presentation. Of immediate interest is the fact this heralds from the UK and Matchbox offices at Rugby. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Of course, the raison d'etre of the Sky Fighter set is the rather funky F14 Eagle. Pitting Navy against Marine is not something I think the US would approve of but I think it would bring out the "Maverick" or "Iceman" in you!

 

The chassis seem to utilise a development of the MR1 chassis used in the Canyon of Doom Jeeps below.  A neat touch is to used the headlamp bulb to power the glowing afterburner.

CANYON OF DOOM

 

Another slot car find was this Matchbox branded slot racing set. Curiously it has none of the associated parts from Powertrack or Speedtrack and yet Matchbox at one time branded this as a 'Precision Engineered' product...

 

 

Does anyone recognise this track?

 

Cars are interesting - a rare type for slotcars.

 

Distinctly un-Matchbox - does anyone recognise these chassis?

 

Branded 'MR-1' as in Matchbox Racing... we need a year of manufacture!

 

This looks like a catalogue special - but from when and where?