It’s been over 2 years since I posted about my disappointment with the downgrade in quality with Auto World’s slot cars. One of the things they started doing around that time was abandoning chrome plated plastic in favor silver paint. I speculated a lot about why that might be happening, but I never did a definite answer. Ever since that time, I stuck mainly to buying older Auto World T-Jets from earlier releases and, course, acquring some really nice original Aurora pieces for The Road Crew. Every now and then, though, I’ll find a new Auto World release I do like and will buy. The gold ‘72 Buick turned out great, for instance, and that one does have chrome plating, showing that they haven’t given it up completely. When you are making a really subdued looking car, however-like, for instance, one in solid black-or even in satin black-the silver paint is more than bright enough!
That’s one reason why this pair of Ultra-G’s caught my eye on a recent impromptu trip to Hobby Lobby! They had a few Ultra-Gs on sale at a bargain basement price-$20, when they now retail for over $30!-andof the few they had in the store, it so happened that two of them were recent issues of the ‘59 Chevy and the ‘64 Ford Thunderbolt I hadn’t yet seen. The theme? BLACK! The T-bolt is done up in racing garb including a cool “Hoosier” imprint on the tire sidewalls, but there’s nothing flashy about it. Even so, I like it; I might have preferred chrome or white wheels, but the side tampos are very realistic looking and its a good looking release. Yet, it was the Chevy that was the really cool one! Done entirely in satin black with a hit of silver scallops around the edge, the package labeled it as an Impala (which it is), but they inkjetted the name “Biscayne” in tiny silver letters on the quarters as it to demote it to a lo-end model. To my knowledge all 1959 Biscaynes were sedans, not hardtops, as it was Chevrolet’s cheaper model that year, but even so, this is an awesome looking car!
In addition to these two, I also picked up another Willys! Now, you would think that with 8 of these between my muscle racing fleets and the Road Crew, another Willys was the last thing I needed, but I bought this one for Jason because he liked it, and I’m trying to hook him on slot racing like I did on Hot Wheels. Maybe the yellow Willys with green flames will help, maybe it won’t, but at this price, it was worth it for the chassis alone!
I’ve spent a few days trying to decide what I’m going to do with these cars and, as these things sometimes do, their positions in my collection began to blow up, and they have now been absorbed into a larger, older plan. I’ll go into some more details on that in our next post, dear readers, so stay tuned!
That is interesting that they would even bother putting the Biscayne logo on the Impala. I’ve only ever know them as sedans too. That Ford roadster in the first photo looks pretty cool!