I found this on 1stSop...Intersting indeed.

Tom Lowe of Playing Mantis / Johnny Lightning Fame has bought back the Slot Car Division of Johnny Lightning from RC2 and has gone forward with a new line of Slot Cars! Round 2 will Produce a new line of Slot Cars under the Product Name Auto World.

We are very happy to Announce that we will be a Distributor for this entire line, and glad to continue our relationship with Tom which started in 1995.

Product Improvements: Beginning with the new announced releases the chassis's on both the T-Jets and XT's will be molded in a stronger more rigid plastic. You may have noticed that the old style had a lot of flexibility and were perhaps a little flimsier than we would have liked.

Tom is also putting large tires on the front wheels as well as the back which will be beneficial in keeping the cars on track longer and at higher speeds. Limited Edition quantities of 3,600. 2,000 of these will be packaged in clam packs and 1,600 will be in jewel cases. The cars in the jewel cases will be sequentially numbered (1 of 3,600).

10/19/05
Stock is now available for these Johnny Lightning Releases:
Thunderjet 500 - Mopar Madness (http://www.1stopdiecast.com/AutoWorld/ThunderJetSlotCars2005.htm)
X-Traction - Back to the Future (http://www.1stopdiecast.com/AutoWorld/XTractiontSlotCars2005.htm). Announced the AUTO WORLD RELEASES OF:
Thunderjet 500 - Bowtie Brigade, Thunderjets R1, and Pop Culture Release 1 (http://www.1stopdiecast.com/AutoWorld/AutoWorldThunderJetSlotCars.htm)
X-Traction - Dukes of Hazzard, Mopar Muscle, and X-Tracton Release 1 (http://www.1stopdiecast.com/AutoWorld/AutoWorldXTractiontSlotCars.htm)

Ouch! RC2 was selling those for a buck each at LFest. I'm glad the slots are being "reborn" but I still have feelings over the whole PM issue. I didn't realize collocting would later require the need for threapy. LOL

Ouch! RC2 was selling those for a buck each at LFest.

Ouch back! Really Mark? For a dollar each? I blew it...Where was I? Waiting in the Sheridan Hotel lobby 3 hours for the pizza perhaps?
:(

I guess I am a little slow. There is a Round2 lovefest over on the Slot Car boards;)

Ouch 3x

Sweeet! They are making a new bronco slot!!! The lineup looks pretty good IMO

Those guys were hitting Tom with rocks last year. Now they throw flower pedals at his feet.

Ouch back! Really Mark? For a dollar each? I blew it...Where was I? Waiting in the Sheridan Hotel lobby 3 hours for the pizza perhaps?
:(

It was a pretty good pizza,of course by the time it got there I would have eaten the cardboard box it came in..And it was WAY better than that 40 dollar steak:p

Those guys were hitting Tom with rocks last year. Now they throw flower pedals at his feet.

First of all, I could be wrong, but I'm not sure the guys with the flower petals are all the same guys that had the rocks.

Second, we're not THROWING the flower petals exactly, we're kinda spreading them gently so as not to get them all over our tracks and jammed in our little motors... :tongue:

--rick

Good one!

Looks like someone owes someone a apology. DOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Boy, is this gonna be great or what!":)

Certainly anxious to see how these develop. Might hafta get me some...

:)

Looks like someone owes someone a apology. DOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apology for what?

Apology for what?

I believe this is called "creative editing"

I believe this is called "creative editing"

It's been moved to a un-moderated forum, and no longer my problem.

It's been moved to a un-moderated forum, and no longer my problem.


LMAO!!! Ill keep the rest of my comments about this one to myself though.

-----

But the bottom line is: The road to forgiveness is a snap together plastic track with new slot cars running on it. Anyone who can make that happen is welcomed back to the good side.

You said it

I'll pop in with the HT Sponsorship. Any company is welcome to inquire about Sponsorship. That could be Sponsoring an exsiting forum or having a forum for their own products. At this point few have asked and I guess they don't feel it is worth spending $25 a month on.

There are a number of reasons for the dedicaded R2 forum. First is that I have worked with Tom in the past when he started PM and I believe that R2 will become something at least as big as PM. I believe that R2 will give something to the slot car community that it has needed for a long time.

Next is being "first" is always best... if other slot forums would happen to start and grow an R2 forum it is always hard to gather momentum if you start later. Just as the Polar Lights and Johnny Lightning forums were started and helped all of HobbyTalk grow, I feel the a R2 forum will do the same here.

Next, I have considered carrying R2 products. A popular R2 forum would be an ideal place to grow that part of my business.

Lastly, R2 never asked for me to start this forum. I did it on my own and some of those reasons are stated above.

I'll pop in with the HT Sponsorship. Any company is welcome to inquire about Sponsorship. That could be Sponsoring an exsiting forum or having a forum for their own products. At this point few have asked and I guess they don't feel it is worth spending $25 a month on.

There are a number of reasons for the dedicaded R2 forum. First is that I have worked with Tom in the past when he started PM and I believe that R2 will become something at least as big as PM. I believe that R2 will give something to the slot car community that it has needed for a long time.

Next is being "first" is always best... if other slot forums would happen to start and grow an R2 forum it is always hard to gather momentum if you start later. Just as the Polar Lights and Johnny Lightning forums were started and helped all of HobbyTalk grow, I feel the a R2 forum will do the same here.

Next, I have considered carrying R2 products. A popular R2 forum would be an ideal place to grow that part of my business.

Lastly, R2 never asked for me to start this forum. I did it on my own and some of those reasons are stated above.

Hank,
I offered a few months ago to sponsor a slot forum. At that time, you weren't taking sponsors, you said the slot forums were an 'experiment'. I might be interested at this time. I'd like details on sponsoring existing forum, or possibly getting a new forum together, maybe with some of the other guys who produce HO products on a smaller scale.


Regarding you selling R2 products on HT, which products were you considering? Taking into account that there are many sponsors of your forums that have sold Toms products in the past and may be considering to sell the R2 line, they may not view the extra competition in a favorable light. You could end up losing sponsors.

If it was the slot cars you were thinking of selling, the 2 dealers who I've seen that have announced that they are selling these cars have retail prices under $10/car, with one of them at $8/car. Pretty low ball for cars that are brand new with many new body molds.

Seeing as how you are an RC guy, would it be possible that Tom has an RC line planned and that's what you plan on selling?

Dan

:lol:

Didn't think that post would last long. And like I said, don't matter anyhow.

Hank thanks for popping in and explaining whats up with this forum.

-----

Hank, there's probably no way to thank you enough for what you've done for our hobby. This is by far the most positive and upbeat board out there. There is no infighting or backbiting or negativity. It's a fun place to be with a great bunch of people throwing out ideas and thoughts about how we'd all like to see the hobby that we love move forward. The one constant with this board has been it's ability to be self regulating and not need any censorship on the postings. I see no problem with you promoting something that you believe in and want to help make successful. Go for it! If other producers want to step up to the plate you've certainly offered them a way to do it. Thank you for lending some insight into the inner workings of the most friendly slot car site on the Internet.



AFXToo, i'd like to "second" that, this really is a great place to be... :thumbsup:

Hear, hear.

--rick

As I say I'm investigating the possibility of carrying R2 products. I have some prelim. pricing info and I have to take into account the margin available. Over in the Diecast and RC forums there are many competiting sponsors/advertisers and I also sell a few RC and modeling items myself on HobbyShopper. This hasn't seemed to stop those that wanted to gain exposure for their companies... I guess they figure that the 25 bucks a month is worth the exposure the close to 4 million pages views a month gets them.

But you are right, it could turn some possible advertisers off. We have to factor in the possible loss of income against any gain. In this case selling Slot Cars at under 10% margin is not my idea of good business practice. If I would carry anything it would be new releases and not anything that has already been producted such as what is available now.

Dan, Yes, at the time you asked I didn't feel that the Slot Car forums were stable enough or even generated enough traffic to warrant sponsors. I would say that at this time it is and feel free to email with any ideas or thoughts that you have.

Thanks again everyone for the good words but most of the "friendlyness" of these forums is due to you guys, I think staying away from the "racing" end of things have helped some too. :) At this point I don't see any need to presue that end of the hobby.

Sometimes you see an opportunity and just have to grab it by the horns and take the chance. While we have never had a branded forum here in the Slot Car area I just felt creating a R2 forum was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. The Diecast area started with 3 forums and look at it now.

Knowing Tom is a guy that, besides being a business man, really enjoys these things is the main reason he is successful at it. R2 should really be successful and also create some excitement in the Slot Car industry that hasn't been seen in a long time.

But I also think that 5 years or so down the road we shouldn't be surprised to see R2 sold off and to see Tom start something new again. Of course these are just my personal opinions and I have no real facts to back that up.

I have heard nothing to suggest that R2 has any plans for any RC related products and that subject has never come up in any contacts that I've had.

... but we're a very hungry bunch and anyone who's willing to produce some new slot car products to satisfy our hunger will be welcomed with open arms and a smile.


THANK YOU! This is what I want to say whenever people p!$$ and moan that the dang thing doesn't run perfectly right out of the box or the headlights are set a little too far apart or the tailfins are too tall or the tampos didn't register perfectly. People, you may not have noticed, but this market is not exactly as big as the one for DVD players or Honda Accords. Think about the Mattel race sets that just came out. Did you ever see someone on line at Wally's buying one? Okay, maybe one. How many you think they sell a day, compared to, say, music CDs or video games?

All I'm saying is that if someone is "willing to produce some new slot car products" in a market that is tiny at best, we should be willing to work with whatever gets offered. Constructive criticism? Sure, especially since it seems to have improved some of the previous releases. But some of the rants I've seen when PM/RC2 releases came out were less than constructive...

--rick

I think it would be nice to have a forum for the small producers with less influential pinky fingers to promote their slot car products. People like lenny and vaBcHRog and Montoya1 and clausheupel just to mention a few. Maybe that's what HT sponsorship is intended to do and I'm sure Hank would explain that aspect of it very well.


Hank,
I offered a few months ago to sponsor a slot forum. At that time, you weren't taking sponsors, you said the slot forums were an 'experiment'. I might be interested at this time. I'd like details on sponsoring existing forum, or possibly getting a new forum together, maybe with some of the other guys who produce HO products on a smaller scale.


Dan

I am flattered to be included in this list and of course a sponsored forum would be great, I'd certainly chip in the needed bucks especially if it gave exposure to my chassis. But compared to Lenny, BadDog and Richard/Willie at SCI I'm very small fry.

Those guys deserve a forum each. I have been privaliged to see some of the SCI stuff on the way, let me just say you aint seen nothing yet. The BadDog resins look so good you almost think they are poly. And Lenny has the potential to be best of the bunch.

Mix in guys like Roger, Claus etc and I'm very small fry in their company. Having said that I do think ATS is good enough to be on every magnet car henceforth.

just wanted to take a minute and say thanks to thomas lowe for reinstating buds, i spoke with him today (bud) and he said everything is ok now with thomas.

again thanks tom.