You would think that after collecting Aurora originals for well over 2 years now, I would have had a little fleet of examples of one of the later innovations of the original T-Jet era, the lighted “Flamethrowers.” Well, no; I have several FL chassis, but none (save one) of them have a working light. And it is here that I have to admit something embarrassing: I don’t believe that I have the skill to repair a Flamethrower chassis with a light that isn’t working.
It can’t be that hard, right? It’s a simple tiny incandescent lightbulb with two wires: how hard can that be? But have you seen the gauge of those wires? I don’t even know what gauge it is, but I know its incredibly fine, and its insulated besides; even though I have small and steady hands which have been a godsend in this hobby, my eyes and my abilities with a soldering gun do not extend to wiring that fine: I have 3 FT chassis on my bench right now with lightbulbs that may be good, but the wires are broken, and I can’t see even attempting to fix them with the tools I have.
Maybe I need to learn; maybe I need to buy the right tools! After all, if I started successfully fixing these little features I might make some good money, since collectors are paying some pretty amazing sums for working Flamethrowers these days, but what I’m talking about here is likely the exact reason why: few people have the skill to fix something so small and delicate!
That’s why, when this very clean bright blue Ferrari 250GTO Aurora T-Jet Flamethrower came up for sale at a reasonable price, with the seller’s description saying that everything about it was good except the light, I jumped on it! This represents the very first Aurora Ferrari 250GTO body I’ve bought. If that seems strange, you’re right: it is! And the only thing I can think of that explains why I’ve refrained from so long from buying one of these is because of the amazing Road Race Replicas version of the same model of car, which overshadowed this one so badly that I never had an interest in owning an original.
Which makes no sense…primarily because all the RRR versions of the 250GTO I’ve bought and built up to this point are members of the Ultra G numbered racing fleet and race on Drag City Raceway, the big Tomy AFX track: it was always permissible to run an original Aurora version of the same model of car on “The HO Highway” with The Road Crew, and yet, up ‘til now, I’ve never bought a single one. Fear not, for I am working on fixing that right now!
But the other motivation I had for jumping on this very nice example with a very fair “B.I.N. price” is that, for well over 2 years, I’ve had a working Flamethrower chassis sitting on my workbench without a clue of what to do with it. When this car became available, a light went on…pun intended.
Now that I finally have one, I have to say this li’l Ferrari is a lot cooler looking than I thought! It’s a small car that uses the short wheelbase (unlike the RRR version which is a much bigger, almost 1:64 scale body that uses the long wheelbase) but that makes sense; the Aurora renderings of the Cheetah, the Ford GT-40 and the Jaguar E-Type are the same way-and all those cars would have been roughly in a similar class-at least on a racing track-back in the day. Sure its nowhere near as awesome in its detail as the RRR creation, but that’s not a fair comparison; on its own its not half bad, and I think this bright blue one with the double white stripes is particularly keen looking, especially since its in such great condition! While the chassis had some corrosion and some of the silver on the wheels was worn off, the body is almost pristine, with completely in-tact wheel wells and screw posts and showing almost no scarring or battle damage from track use. I think I got it at a steal of a price, and now that I’ve added a working light chassis to it, I think it may be one of the coolest cars in The Road Crew!
Which leads to the opening of yet another Pandora’s box: FLAMETHROWERS! Is it time for me to make an earnest effort to repair the few I have, and to seek out others that may be working? Maybe! I don’t usually race in the dark, but isn’t it always a comfort to know you can?!
Wow, this is just super cool and had no idea they ever made slot cars with lights. From the video, the lights are a great effect and it doesn’t look like the bulb shines through the body. Sometimes with lighted plastics, the whole things glows and you loose the effect. If your like me, I like things to work properly and if something (like a train) has a light, it needs to work right. The care itself is a beautiful model and was worth it just for that. This is a great car and appropriate as one of the slot car options to have in the collection!