As
a model car builder and slot car racer from the 60’s, it is a real
treat to see the American company, Monogram, in the 1/32nd
slot car business! Monogram
is a known quantity: a quality, detail-oriented and price-conscious
firm.
While we all love the detail offered by many of the other
1/32nd slot car makers, Monogram has entered the market
with an obvious concentration on American Iron!
Hey, I grew up drooling over ‘Vettes and Cobras! Now, Monogram has produced (and hopefully
will continue to do so) some of the most awesome racing machines
on the planet: the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupes and the, can-you-believe-it,
early 60’s Corvette Grand Sports! (These are the REAL Grand Sports,
not the name-sakes used by Chevrolet on some special-edition, stock
Corvettes in later years).
Although
this is an article on the Monogram slot cars, it is an important
part of our racing heritage to know that there were only FIVE of
these Corvettes (some say 6, the 6th one having been
destroyed by GM) built and raced.
Let me put it this way: if you see one of these cars (all
5 are still around), you are looking at a car worth about a million
dollars! Yes, these
cars were produced in secrecy at a time when the “big three” had
a pact that they would not participate in racing, and the production
of these ‘Vettes almost cost Zora Arkus-Dunov his job! Oh, and a recently discovered Cobra Daytona
Coup found in a garage sold for a cool $3.7 million! Both the Cobras and the Grand Sports were
driven by the biggest names in racing at the time (including Roger
Penske, Jim Hall and A.J.Foyt), during one of the more exciting
times in sports car racing! OK, OK, enough about the real cars as
there is plenty of information available about them out there on
the Internet, and in several racing history books.
The first comment to be made about the Monogram version
of the Cobras and Grand Sports is: WOW, what incredible detail! These are some of the most beautiful cars
you can have in any collection.
Honest. Detail,
detail and more detail are the traits of these Monogram cars. From
the scoops, paint finish, wheel and tire detail, right down to the
painted pupils in the eyes of the drivers!
Pictures are worth a thousand words: you can take your own
pics to the maximum close-ups your camera/computer can handle, and
you won’t be disappointed with the results! These cars look R E A L!
Price? Perfect!
No overcharge here.
Fly has been on the high side lately and Scalextric has been
very generous to us slot car fanatics by offering detailed cars
at very reasonable prices. Monogram is right in there with a reasonable
price for these quality cars.
Quality?
Well, here is where I have a bit of a problem.
While the cars are the some of the finest looking in my collection
(front row in the pits!), the pick-ups could be improved.
Unless I just happen to have some weak components, the braids
have actually fallen out while the car is in motion, particularly
on the Cobras. I finally super glued the braid in on
one car (one of the Cobras). The braids also seem just a fraction
low, as the front wheels just barely touch, and sometimes don’t
turn right away as the car is starting up.
The wires to the pick up are also just jammed in to the plastic
pick up, and can (and have) come loose, thus causing the car to
stop mid race. I have had no other quality problems after
running my four Monogram cars (2 Cobras and 2 Corvette Grand Sports)
for, perhaps, 300 or so laps.
Performance?
Decent. Very
quiet. Slow on the pick up. My course is tight and that causes a fair
number of corners where the car is slow to pick up speed, or conversely,
where the car has flipped or spun going in due to a rather high
center of gravity and narrow configuration (these cars are true
to their design, and are narrow by modern race car standards…..just
compare the Grand Sports with the width of the Fly C-5 Corvettes,
for example, and the Cobras are even narrower).
However, the lap times are good when I do make it without
a spin, for 60’s era sports cars. They are a touch slower than the Fly and
Scalextric 60’s race cars (the Ferrari 512’s, the Lola’s, the Porsche
917’s etc.) and do NOT slide well around sweeping corners like the
FABULOUS slides performed by the likes of the Fly Ferrari Coda Lunges
and the Slot-it Porsche 956 Cannon and Kenwood cars, just to name
a few great sliding, graceful performing 60’s-80’s era sports cars.
The
Monogram cars have been compared with Carerra cars, in terms of
handling and performance, and I agree with that. They are certainly
no match for the Scalextric Ford GT’s.
Of course, every slot car owner sets his or her own standards
by making modifications to the cars, one of the many enjoyable aspects
of this great hobby (which, if you “dropped out” in the 70’s or
80’s as I did…make sure you come back…you won’t BELIEVE today’s
slot cars!).
Although not the fastest cars on the track (and I don’t
want them to be), I never get tired of sitting low (eyes just above
track level) and watching the Monogram cars run the track….I can
“hear” the roar of the American V-8’s and taste the rubber dust
as they blast through the corners and accelerate the straights!
Poetry in motion!
Oh,
and Monogram folks, if you are reading this: PLEASE
continue in the direction you are headed (American Classic
racing cars) with some of the Can-Am classics: McClarens and Chapparels…can’t
you just hear the roar of those monster engines in an era where
there were racers with lots of ideas and very few rules limiting
their creativity!!! I
promise you will sell every car you produce!!!
You aren’t just making GREAT cars, you are perpetuating the
memory of TRUE LEGENDS of a time gone by, but NOT forgotten.
I
probably bore half the people who come over to see my “toy cars”
(yeah, right) by telling them the stories of the real cars and real
creators, owner and drivers of these legendary racing machines.
I can grab three cars (the L&M Porsche 917 by Fly, the
blue Ferrari 512 from Spirit, and the Scalextric blue Donahue Camaro)
and show them Mark Donahue’s name on the door, and SHOW them just
how versatile and skillful a driver has to be to handle cars which
are of totally different configurations.
This is a collection of toy cars to some.
But to me, it is MUCH MORE THAN THAT!
Steve
Harms
