Tyco BMWs have two round holes in the trunk. Anyone know why?

spoiler?

Hmmm, this 1982 catalog page shows the Tyco BMW body with the spoiler and the holes...

http://www.supervipersystems.com/VargoSpeedway/HO_History/Tyco82d.jpg

To quote Homer Simpson; "Speed holes..." :p

The AFXs have those too. Maybe the real cars do too.

I dunno, but look at the upper right of the page, that black #49 Charger is one of my all time favorite cars, sweet looking.

The HP7s were such sweet chassis.

'Doba

Did a google search and found several diecast and 1:1 cars also having the trunk holes. Reminds me of an old proverb. Women, can't live with them, can't keep them in your trunk for more than three days.

The HP7s were such sweet chassis.
Really? That is a shocking statement to me. The HP7s are, in my opinion, the lowest form of junk chassis that can be installed on a slot car and still qualify it as being a motorized toy. Yes, they are slightly faster than JL pullback chassis. But comparing the HP7 to Tomy's low end chassis, the Turbo, is a stark contrast in quality and design that leaves the HP7 looking mighty lame. The HP7 pickup and spring system is awful. The gear mesh is usually very loud and the chassis plastic is flimsy. The traction magnet is there mostly for weight. It's always annoyed me that some of the nicest Tyco bodies come on that hideous HP7 chassis and are still listed at full price. The only good thing about the HP7 is that it is a good chassis for putting on collector wide body Tyco cars that will never leave the display case.

Well, They WERE looking to lower production costs. I enjoy the tycoPro chassis quite a bit. What I really like is the HP2! Good grip, right amount of slip and quiet! :thumbsup:

The TycoPros are a handful to drive. Lots of power but very little handling. I have several of these but few in 100% working order. The chassis plastic on the TycoPros gets very brittle with age. The little tabs that hold the pickup wire tabs against the brush tubes break off very easily, especially on the TycoPro chassis with the standard wipers, which can last as little as 15 minutes of use, and required frequent changing. The chassis with the button wiper system seem to last much longer because the button shoes are rarely replaced. The rear of the chassis also breaks and the rear axle holes get too large. I love the rear wheels on the TycoPros. They are very good looking but also crack easily and tend to slip on the stock smooth axle.

I don't have any of the Tycos that came out between the TycoPro and the 440. Tyco was the first manufacturer to come out with high downforce magnet cars. Seeing those TV commercials with the Tyco cars climbing walls and going through loop d'loops was very disconcerting to me at the time. Jaw agape in total disbelief. It turned what I thought was a legitimate racing hobby for children and adults into a cheesy toy for 6 year olds. I've since come around to appreciating the newer magnet cars (440 and later) of all brands for what they are, especially from a high speed racing standpoint. But that initial impression kept me away from that form of slot cars for several years and I missed out on a lot of nice Tycos that came on those earlier magnet car chassis. Live and learn.

If any of you think the magnet car vs. slider car camps are at opposite ends of the spectrum today, it's nothing like it was in the early 70s. Even Aurora Magnatractions were considered deviant in some racing circles. I only had a handful of Magnatractions and no G-Plus cars from the 70s in my collection until just a few years ago. Now they are my favorites.

Really? That is a shocking statement to me. The HP7s are, in my opinion, the lowest form of junk chassis that can be installed on a slot car and still qualify it as being a motorized toy. Yes, they are slightly faster than JL pullback chassis. But comparing the HP7 to Tomy's low end chassis, the Turbo, is a stark contrast in quality and design that leaves the HP7 looking mighty lame. The HP7 pickup and spring system is awful. The gear mesh is usually very loud and the chassis plastic is flimsy. The traction magnet is there mostly for weight. It's always annoyed me that some of the nicest Tyco bodies come on that hideous HP7 chassis and are still listed at full price. The only good thing about the HP7 is that it is a good chassis for putting on collector wide body Tyco cars that will never leave the display case.

I will not dispute some of what you said but I still think overall it is a decent chassis. It is so basic and simple -- I guess that is one of the reasons I still race them today. A simple can motor, no pick-up shoe springs to lose, and ample power and low enough grip to be able to power slide the skinny stock rear wheels. Magnetic downforce is minimal -- but it is there if you need it.

I wouldn't (and didn't) compare the HP7 to the Tomy Turbo.

We race HP7s under metal bodied stock cars and have a blast. The added weight really hooks them up off the turns and you have to carefully balance the car under braking. I recommend it to anyone.

If you have HP7s you don't want and want to give away, by all means PM me and our group will gladly take them.

One of the great things about this hobby is all the different options you have and you can still be called a slothead whether you race T-jets or Patriots or anything in between.

'Doba

"Speed holes" (LOL)... Oh Homer, you so crazy!

I think the idea of having different price/performance points in a slot car manufacturers product line is a great one. I'd like to see a lot more of it. Manufacturers that only have higher end offerings end up driving the costs upward. As much as I like the BSRT G3 as a vastly improved SG+, I really wish they also did something like a "SG++" that fixed the primary weaknesses of the SG+, like the brittle chassis and weirdo rear hubs, with a much smaller incremental cost bump up over the SG+. The same goes for the Slottech Thundercat as a replacement for Tyco or Tomy chassis. I want something less expensive and I am willing to live with less performance. The HP7 equipped cars are simply too expensive for the level of performance they deliver.

The reason I brought up the Tomy Turbo is because it is a prime example of a well made lower end chassis that also sells at a lower end price. Turbo cars sell for about one half of what Super G+ cars sell for. Tomy got it right but Tyco didn't.

I feel the same way about the Life-Like T chassis. The T is no better than the HP7 quality wise but it is still sold at a premium price. That's a bad deal.

i kinda like the t chassis 8-(

Really? That is a shocking statement to me. The HP7s are, in my opinion, the lowest form of junk chassis that can be installed on a slot car and still qualify it as being a motorized toy. Yes, they are slightly faster than JL pullback chassis. But comparing the HP7 to Tomy's low end chassis, the Turbo, is a stark contrast in quality and design that leaves the HP7 looking mighty lame. The HP7 pickup and spring system is awful. The gear mesh is usually very loud and the chassis plastic is flimsy. The traction magnet is there mostly for weight. It's always annoyed me that some of the nicest Tyco bodies come on that hideous HP7 chassis and are still listed at full price. The only good thing about the HP7 is that it is a good chassis for putting on collector wide body Tyco cars that will never leave the display case.

I really like the HP7 chassis also. I find that the stick is nice I can spin the tires and fistail very nicely and control my fishtailing with these chassis. I do like the Tomy Turbos too, but i like the HP7 better. The plastic HP2s are nice too.

We use to race HP7 stockers on 6v with stock tires and they were a blast to drive and at the time Cheap too :)

Roger Corrie

What I really like is the HP2! Good grip, right amount of slip and quiet! :thumbsup:

The plastic HP2s are nice too.

I'm with you guys on this. I think HP2s are kinda fun to tinker with and drive. The pickup system is a little fussy to work on, but they're just the right speed and they slide a little.

--rick

i kinda like the t chassis 8-(
No need to feel guilty about it. My opinion is just my opinion. I admit to liking some of the Life-Like bodies, such as the Taurus and older Monte Carlo even though they are kind of wide and stubby and a lot of people hate LL bodies. The LL M chassis has a lot of critics as well. I'm just very sensitive about price-vs.-performance/quality. With the Johnny Lightning XTs, Tyco 440-X2s, and Tomy Turbos I think I'm getting a pretty good deal. If the price of some of the other products was more in line with their performance I'd snap them up in a heartbeat.

I'm intriqued by the HP2 discussion. If I could I would like to aquire a few of every chassis ever produced. Racing the same species of chassis against one another is always fun.

I'm with you guys on this. I think HP2s are kinda fun to tinker with and drive. The pickup system is a little fussy to work on, but they're just the right speed and they slide a little.

--rick

What kind of pickups are on your HP2s? Isn't there two versions of the HP2, one that is a black metal cahsssis and one that is all gey plastic? I will have to pull mine out and look.

Roger Corrie

Racing the same species of chassis against one another is always fun.[/QUOTE]
EXACTLY........we use to call hp7's guardrail smashers.