Went to our local Friday night auction on a mission last night, and I completed it. I got a box lot of toy cars that I had scoped out earlier in the week. A good bit of cheap dimestore diecast junk--there was more than shown here, but this will give you an idea:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/rwurtz/images/aucjunk.jpg

There were a couple of okay Matchbox cars too, but they weren't the big draw:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/rwurtz/images/aucmb.jpg

Now THIS is what I really wanted. I have no idea how it got in there, and I'm sure nobody else saw it, or if they did, they didn't know what it was:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/rwurtz/images/aucvib.jpg

It came with a complete Vibe chassis, which I got running with a little tinkering. In this pic, it's on an Aurora Tjet chassis... I had to sand the rear wheels thinner and use Weird Jack's Thin tires to get them to fit. I had a Vibe Jag body around with no chassis, so that's where the chassis is now. The way the Vibe chassis runs--it's really fussy and you have to mess with it to keep it going--it's got the character of an old British sports car anyway...

--rick

:thumbsup: Kudos on the great find :thumbsup: Gotta love those "like items" groupings....Jeff

oh man! great find!! I had a good one last year at flea market with a box full of 15 slot car bodies and lots of chassis and stuff but nothing valuable. I remember i only paid 5 bucks for it.

Wes

Congrats Rick! Glad to see it was a nice pile you stepped in. ;) :thumbsup: rr

Hey Rick, nice find ! Just curious, what is that you are using for the
black border around your track that the truck is sitting on, did you
buy it or make already black or painted?
THANKS
Steve

He Shoots, He Scores. Spring Time Brings Out All The Old Slots At The Yard Sales Here, Too.

And how much did you steal this for?? lol

Hey Rick, nice find ! Just curious, what is that you are using for the
black border around your track that the truck is sitting on, did you
buy it or make already black or painted?
THANKS
Steve

It's actually self-adhesive black foam weatherstripping, sold by a hardware supply distributor called McMaster-Carr. Check them out at mcmaster.com . They have TONS of stuff. These are the part numbers:

#93695K88 which is 1/4" X 1" by 50'

#93695K86 which is 1/4" X 3/4" by 50'

There are some other part numbers of similar stuff that might work too, the web site has a really cool system to help search for stuff like this, based on density and hardness and dimensions and such.

I got the tip off another slot car board where a bunch of the guys said it worked great for them. You might think that a soft foam would tend to tip cars that slide onto it, but I haven't had this problem much, and even then it's only with narrow-tire Tjets where the tires sink in. It'll eventually flip the car, but usually only if you're leaning on it so hard that you were gonna spin all the way around anyway. Wide tires seem to slide right over it no problem. It's neat because it also serves to hold the track in place. I only have a few key sections of track nailed down, the rest is kept from shifting by this stuff. Just be aware that you pretty much have one shot to get it stuck right; the adhesive doesn't un-stick and re-stick very well.

Hope this helps...

--rick

Rick! WooHOO!
Don't you just LOVE that rush you get on a discovery of that type? Looking around if anyone sees you, ect...
Way to go!

Another down side of that foam border material is that it doesn't stand up well to guide pins, especially if you are running high speed cars with metal guide pins. You'll end up with little divots in it. However, painting the foam does help a little, giving it a little skin. I painted mine with a semi gloss black paint and it matches the color and texture of Tomy track almost perfectly. It's also slightly lower than Tomy track, which is not really 1/4" thick but more like 5/16".

Oh yeah, nice find on the truck. I'm always sifting through boxes of junk diecast looking for a gold nugget like you found. So far I'm 0 for everything.

The troll is kinda cute too. :)

I tried "finding" some slots at a train show last weekend, what a bust, the train guys think slot cars are worth tons (well some are) but of the 3 or 4 stands I found that had a handful, most were common cars priced at 30-35 dollars.
I did find ways to waste about 100 bucks on trains though...

And how much did you steal this for?? lol

Ah, the whole story. :rolleyes: The truth comes out. Wasn't as much of a steal as I had hoped. Ended up over 40 dollars. The only reason I went that high was that I knew that the last uncut Vibe pickup I had seen on Fleabay went for a hundred and fifty. I know, they don't ALL go that high...

But the way I figure, an RRR Vibe pickup kit is like 18 bucks, and you probably can't get the Vibe chassis for under 10 from anyone who knows what it is, and the 3 old Matchbox cars might be worth 12 bucks together if you're optmistic. So right there you got 40 bucks... and I got the troll for free... :tongue:

Rick! WooHOO!
Don't you just LOVE that rush you get on a discovery of that type? Looking around if anyone sees you, ect...
Way to go!

man, I can't even begin to tell you how antsy I was waiting for the auctioneer to get to that lot... every time someone looked in the box, I snuck back up and checked to make sure the truck was still hiding there to the side of the box where I left it...

--rick

Another down side of that foam border material is that it doesn't stand up well to guide pins, especially if you are running high speed cars with metal guide pins. You'll end up with little divots in it. However, painting the foam does help a little, giving it a little skin. I painted mine with a semi gloss black paint and it matches the color and texture of Tomy track almost perfectly. It's also slightly lower than Tomy track, which is not really 1/4" thick but more like 5/16".

hey, what kind of semi gloss black? Like interior wall paint, or just craft-type paint? I was thinking if I painted it, it'd let cars slide a little better, more like a natural extension of the plastic track...

--rick

The paint I used was just some inexpensive Rustoleum semi-gloss black latex that I had left over from another painting chore. I'd imagine that any brand would work. I was surprised at how much it resembles the track when painted. The paint soaks in a little but retains the texture of the foam and the foam remains flexible, at least after one coat.

Rick! WooHOO!
Don't you just LOVE that rush you get on a discovery of that type? Looking around if anyone sees you, ect...
Way to go!
Rush is right....Thats when you get that cool uninterested look on your face but you dont move too far from where you found some slotcar goodies...and then you say would you take ($) then walking away shaking your head proudly "yea" as he walks away attempting not to look 10 again! :tongue:

Yard & Garage sale season is almost here!

Nice score Rick.Thanks for sharing the pic.I love seeing stuff like that.

The three Matchboxes are pretty cool too!!!!

Mike

i just won this off of ebay i couldnt believe the price ebay item 5961774114

i just won this off of eBay (http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-1606754-2202639)http://www.awltovhc.com/image-1606754-2202639 i couldnt believe the price eBay (http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-1606754-2202639)http://www.awltovhc.com/image-1606754-2202639 item 5961774114

WOW. that's a big bunch of track. and you're right, the price ain't bad...

--rick

I had looked at that one until I was heart broken by the no shipping outside USA stipulation. heheh. If you are willing to part with a few pieces, PM me please. Looking for some 12" 1/8 curves.

Curse this border!! LOL

Real reasonable shipping too. :eek: rr