Was going through my cases of cars and came across this. It is made by Aurora. I also have a Riviera & a Galaxie 500, but they have seen some rough play time. Does anybody have any info on them?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/ozmont/DSC00020.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/ozmont/DSC00021.jpg

They came out around the same time as HWs. I believe you could also use the bodys on Auroua Slot cars.

That's what I thought they looked like. The wheels are so thin, they don't roll worth a hoot. Just something else I found in the "Case of Surprises".

I remember buying several of those when new. Came in a neat display box. They were slot car bodies, wheels and tires with a diecast chassis. The mounting posts were the same, so you could buy them for your Thunderjets. Came in colors different from the slot cars. Very neat, wish I had saved some. Think I have one box somewhere tho.

I collect Aurora slot cars, and I have probably 15-20 Cigarbox and Speedline cars. Aurora saw Matchbox and Hot Wheels making big bucks with "push cars", and they wanted to see if they could get a piece of the market by adapting an existing product, but as you noticed, the diecast bottom isn't enough weight to make these comparable to real diecast toys from the same years. Cigarbox cars came first, that's what you have. They have the aluminum wheels with rubber tires. Later releases were called Speedlines and had hard plastic wheels which made them roll better, but the wheels were kind of oversized in diameter and really thin. Speedlines are more likely to have chrome plated or "kandy khrome" finishes.

There are some issues mounting these on slot car chassis. The biggest one is that although the screw posts are in the right location, they're usually too short. That can be compensated for fairly easily. On cars like the Ford J you have, or a Lola or a Ford GT or other race cars without bumpers, you're ready to go once you get the screw post height right. But on cars like your Riviera and Galaxie, there's the additional problem of bumpers. The slot car bodies have chrome-plated plastic bumpers attached to the body. On the Cigarbox/Speedline cars, the bumpers are cast as part of the metal base, so you either have to scavenge plastic bumpers off a slot car body, cut the metal bumpers off and adapt them, make something up, or do without. I have adapted 2 cars to slot chassis by cutting the metal bumpers off the diecast chassis and using the part they're attached to as a screwpost spacer. I'll attach a few pictures...

The group shot is most of the Speedline/Cigarbox cars I have. (Off the top of my head, I can think of a Camaro and a Jaguar that didn't make the pic.) In the middle are the Firebird and Thunderbird I converted with metal bumpers, and the Galaxie that I got already converted... someone found replica plastic bumpers for it. I'll also include a couple individuals of the Firebird and Thunderbird...

--rick

Oh, and you can check values on these on Fleabay by searching for "cigarbox" or "speedline" in "vintage HO slot cars". I'm guessing they go between 5 and 25 bucks or thereabouts...

--rick

I didn't see it and can't tell from the pics. Are they plastic bodies?

Yes, the bodies are plastic and you have to keep an eye on the window posts for breakage.

Here are a couple of links to some info and pictures on Aurora Cigar Box cars.

Link 1 - Tales of Toy Cars (http://www.breithaupts.com/totc203.htm)

Link 2 - More on Aurora. (http://www.joesdiecastshack.com/intheloop6.htm)

Here are 3 pictures of my Aurora 1963 Corvette Split Windows.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b48/Zeezeerider/LotImg15110.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b48/Zeezeerider/DSCF1492.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b48/Zeezeerider/DSCF1493.jpg

Enjoy,
Dan (Zeezeerider).

NUMBER 1 REASON TO COLLECT DIECAST CARS - ENJOYMENT !!! :)

Also the Cigar Box cars came packaged in a small yellow box resembling a ...... what else...... cigar box and the Speedline cars came packaged in a blister pack. Here are a few of mine!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/Mr.Stubbs/Speedline2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/Mr.Stubbs/Speedline1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/Mr.Stubbs/Speedline3.jpg

yowza! nice cars, zeezee and stubbs... :thumbsup: jeez, mine are all beaters/runners but you guys have some nice-looking examples there...

--rick

Hey let's see the Galaxie.