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[Hepcat]

The high price tag was surely a factor in low sales, but also, at least to me when the kit came out, it was a "comical" take on Frankenstein that I didn't really care for, much the same as the monster hot rods.  It was Frankenstein, but in a funny abstract form that was more toy-like....

Yes, that it was. This ad that ran on the back covers of DC comics hitting newsstands in December 1964 contributed to creating that impression in the minds of young monster enthusiasts:

On a rarity scale though, I'd much rather have my MIB Godzilla's Go Cart back, or even a King Kong's Thronester. Next to impossible to find compared to Big Frankie.

True! Those two kits are beyond the pale when it comes to toughness. Just another thing you and I should have stocked up on back in the sixties with a view to taking a very tidy profit indeed after a few decades.

[skully]

Hey Hep!!!  Yes, so correct!!!  Although honestly, I really can't recall seeing either of these 2 kits when they came out, and believe me, I built a LOT of model kits in my day, I went to ALL the stores here in Reading that sold kits!!! I remember seeing Monograms "Ghost of the Red Baron" kit at Haines, and on a whim, just bought it and built it, should have "socked" away a dozen!!! I even once in my collection had the store display for this kit that I bought at an Allentown toy show, yet another item I wish I had back!!! Just too, too, many "horror" stories for me!!!

[skully]

And, just an "ad-lib" to the above story Hep,  it is both happy, and sad, when I write this,  sometimes I go for walks here in Reading, maybe not the best thing to do crime wise, but, I do it anyway.  Especially now, close to Halloween.  I really don't live far from where our family used to live here, on the Southeast side.  I'll walk down Spruce Street, past my old elementary school, and just remember, when I was young, running home from school, so excited, and just remembering Halloween back in those days, it was just so different, and so much fun, I'll walk by those very same houses where I trick or treated, same old houses, but different families now, I'll walk past my old house where we used to live, up on the third floor of an apartment, and just gaze up at the windows now and remember how it was years ago, so sad.  It was a lifetime ago, but it doesn't seem it, time has gone so fast, there are even a few stores left that I walk past and remember buying things in them.  I really wish my parents were still here with me to share these very memories, but, they're not. I'll walk down South 7th St. where my grandmother lived, they have since knocked down the house, but I still walk by the empty lot, and still get a warm feeling like it was still there. These are the very things that drive me to remember the good old days, but sometimes it really gets tough, and very emotional. 

[Hepcat]

I built a LOT of model kits in my day, I went to ALL the stores here in Reading that sold kits!!!

All of them? How many stores were there in Reading that carried model kits then?

For me checking out all the stores with model kits would have been impossible since when I was growing up in London, Ontario (which had a population of about 150,000) model kits weren't just found in hobby shops and the toy sections of department stores. They were sold in the Coles book store downtown, every hardware store and many corner variety stores. Granted the selection was limited in the corner variety stores, but I still ended up buying many a kit at Les' Variety and Ken's Variety (as well as Tuckey Hardware which was less than two blocks away).

[Hepcat]

... sometimes I go for walks here in Reading, maybe not the best thing to do crime wise, but, I do it anyway.  Especially now, close to Halloween.  I really don't live far from where our family used to live here, on the Southeast side.  I'll walk down Spruce Street, past my old elementary school, and just remember, when I was young, running home from school, so excited, and just remembering Halloween back in those days, it was just so different, and so much fun, I'll walk by those very same houses where I trick or treated, same old houses, but different families now, I'll walk past my old house where we used to live, up on the third floor of an apartment....

What? Walk? That would be a strange concept to kids today. Kids don't walk anywhere anymore. They're driven everywhere by their helicopter parents.

...and just gaze up at the windows now and remember how it was years ago, so sad.  It was a lifetime ago, but it doesn't seem it, time has gone so fast, there are even a few stores left that I walk past and remember buying things in them.  I really wish my parents were still here with me to share these very memories, but, they're not. I'll walk down South 7th St. where my grandmother lived, they have since knocked down the house, but I still walk by the empty lot, and still get a warm feeling like it was still there. These are the very things that drive me to remember the good old days, but sometimes it really gets tough, and very emotional.

Perhaps my most emotional moment in that regard was back in 1987. My father was born in 1911 and had grown up as the youngest child with five brothers and one sister on a farm back in the old country. My uncle, the sole surviving sibling, took my sister and me to see the old homestead. When we found it, an old woman came out to see who we were. She looked at my uncle and said "Anthony!"

My uncle said "No, I'm Vytautas but these are Anthony's children." She had been their servant girl pre-World War II (there was a shortage of women/girls in the family for women's work) and ended up inheriting the homestead and living there with her husband after my grandparents died.

An exceedingly poignant moment for me.

[skully]

Hep, great memory, very moving.  I'd bet that many of the "older" members here might have their own similar stories of their memories, both happy and sad.  Yes, I like going for walks, there are a few good steep streets here for walking up-hill, I'd much rather get this type of cardio than walking on a treadmill at the gym.  And yes, I would frequent all the known hobby shops here in Reading, Haines on South 6th., Otts on North 10th., Iron Horse on South 4th., (and yes, I used to walk to them all), along with going to Boscov's, Pomeroys, Grants, Greens, McCrorys, Castles, and many other department stores of those times, food stores too, they would have a few toys at times, along with kits, and the countless mom and pop corner stores. As sure as you remember, much like me, model kits were really the "in-thing" back then, they even had magazines devoted to them, such as Model Car Science, and a few others. In the later 60's I liked going to Tom Thumb Raceway, located just outside of Reading, on 5th St. Highway, it was a huge slot car track, you paid for your time and raced your newest slot cars, great fun. Wish I would have salted some of those away too!!

[Hepcat]

In the later 60's I liked going to Tom Thumb Raceway, located just outside of Reading, on 5th St. Highway, it was a huge slot car track, you paid for your time and raced your newest slot cars, great fun.

Tom Thumb Raceway remains a popular name for slot car tracks:

Racing at Tom Thumb Raceway

Wish I would have salted some of those away too!!

I assembled a modest collection of slot car kits between 1990 and 2010:









Prebuilt slot cars by companies such as Revell Monogram, Scalextric and Carrera dominate the market these days. Many of these including the 1/24 scale Carrera 1934 Ford Coupes and 1941 Chevvrolets I've pictured here look fabulous:



Kits you can build yourself are also available though:



Unfortunately commercial raceways are now few and far between. There are no longer any in Toronto, but the Metro Slot Car Raceway in Montréal is enough to tempt me to make a special road trip just to run a few hundred laps with the half dozen or so RTR slot cars I have on hand!

[skully]

Hep, quite a collection of slot cars!!  I can remember the wall behind the counter at our raceway, from just about the floor to just about the ceiling, just filled with slot cars and accessories, I really liked the clear body candied colored from the inside ones the best. 1/24th scale.  But I have fond memories of my HO Aurora set too. We used to build long straight-a-ways like a dragstrip. Ordered many items from Auto World catalogs too!!

[Hepcat]

...I really liked the clear body candied colored from the inside ones the best.

I didn't and still don't like the Lexan (clear) bodies. I'm a hard-body styrene plastic purist. I think slot cars should be model cars adapted to racing.

[skully]

Hep, when we used to race, it was the lighter, clear bodies that usually stood up better to abuse and crashes that sometimes happened.  They also fit some of the chassis combinations better also, some of those spongy tires were big!

[Hepcat]

Hep, when we used to race, it was the lighter, clear bodies that usually stood up better to abuse and crashes that sometimes happened.

Well of course they did! That's why they were invented. But that also cut the link between car model building and slot car racing, and that was a major element behind the rapid decline in the slot car racing hobby beginning about 1968.

They also fit some of the chassis combinations better also, some of those spongy tires were big!

There you're putting your finger on the other element that really killed the hobby - the need for speed at all costs prompted technological advances at a breakneck pace and kids could not possibly keep up either financially or technologically. The brand new kit that a kid purchased and lovingly built was already technologically obsolete and uncompetitive with what the more sophisticated racers were bringing to the track. As a result, new nine and ten year old kids didn't step up to replace the fifteen and sixteen year olds who were moving on to other interests. What nine and ten year olds could buy at the track/raceway was embarassingly uncompetitive and they were just intimidated by the more sophisticated older racers and the cars these older fellows were bringing to the track.

Strict class limitations (stock out-of-box kits only) and age classes for races at commercial slot car tracks were the only things that could have kept the hobby alive for a longer period of time. 

[Maceo1]

[skully]

Hey Hep.  Slot cars of the time were always expensive, either for young or old alike.  Honestly,  class limitations wouldn't have saved this particular hobby.  Young and older alike, liked the speed of these things. Model car building and slot car racing was, in my opinion, not the cause of decline in slot cars.  As with anything else, things change with time.  As with model kits, slot cars, monster magazines, monster toys, and everything else "riding the wave" of  "popularity" at the time, interest was turning onto other more important things for us that made us leave, at least for the time being, for more important pursuits, whatever they were.

[Hepcat]

As with model kits, slot cars, monster magazines, monster toys, and everything else "riding the wave" of  "popularity" at the time, interest was turning onto other more important things for us that made us leave, at least for the time being, for more important pursuits, whatever they were.

Sure, you left to pursue other interests (e.g. real cars, girls) as you got older. That's perfectly natural. But the question of why you weren't replaced by an enthusiastic fresh-faced nine year old still remains. That's what needs to be answered.

[skully]

Hep, intimidation never stopped me from pursuing a hobby, it actually helped add to it. I can't answer the above question as to why younger kids didn't follow, if that is an actual fact. Reason being is because when I used to race, there were many different ages at the track at the same time.  To say that the younger generation didn't follow through just isn't true.  Why did building model kits fade, why did reading monster magazines fade, as well as other things of the "past"?  Fact is that there were young, and older, kids all doing the same things at the same times. We all liked riding our bikes, watching our monster movies, reading our magazines, building our models, buying our gum cards, reading our comic books. At least it's sites like this that keep monster collecting alive. Sure, there may very well be arguments here as to opinions about certain items or thoughts, but it's actually healthy, it shows true passion, and this is one of the things that's needed for a hobby, such as collecting monster toys, for it to survive. People still read comics, watch monster movies, collect things, ride bikes, but it's not like the way "we" remember, and that may be the key phrase, we remember these things "our way", but you need to let the next generation do these things and let them remember later on in life "their way".