Scalex skrev:The book is "Allt om miniracing" by Jan Jangö from 1963.
Of course!
I've must have had a severe brain fart, as I've got a few copies of this old book in the shelf here behind me...
This pioneering feat by Mr Jangö is also a little infamous for being titled ”Part 1”, although there never was a ”Part 2”...
And the ”French connection” with Behco is of course a reference in this old book, a paragraph in the chapter
”How to motorize a plastic body” on page 72 (in translation):
Jan Jangö skrev:”In scale 1:32 and 1:24 the home scratch builders have great opportunities to build-in motors and steering units, as there are a lot of excellent plastic kits in those scales. It is very common to use the french Merit kits in scale 1:24 or the french Behco kits in scale 1:32, providing them with motor chassis from Expert Racing, Behco, MRRC or VIP.”
This old reference is a bit odd, to say the least. I've got quite a few old Merit car kits from back in the day, with no indication that they should be of french origin as stated by Mr Jangö. Each and every old Merit kit I've got have instructions in english and clearly written ”Made in England” and manufactured by ”J&L Randall Ltd. Potters Bar.”
This Merit issue of course also leaves some doubt also about Behco and its ”French connection”. Is it really a french brand? According to this old book it is, but so is also the Merit brand according to the book — which is obviously quite wrong...
It's not easy today to trace down the origins of Merit on the web, and confirm that it actually was a british brand. You'll have to have physical access to an actual kit to make sure.
It's even harder to trace the elusive Behco and its alleged french origin. I've never seen this info anywhere else than in this old book, and the web today appears to contain zero connection between Behco and France. As our friend
slotcar7 already have experienced...
What I have seen, and also remember, is the pioneering kind of slot racing track that showed up here in Sweden in the late 1950's. The Behco-track was marketed/manufactured by a veteran hobby enthusiast and slot racing pioneer named Bertil Beckman and his company, Bertil Beckman & Co. — hence Behco...
The first mention in Sweden of the new hobby, Model Car Racing, was in the bi-weekly mag ”Teknik för Alla”, in november 1958:
This is the very first article about the new hobby on swedish ground:
(Also compare with the content in
this post...
)
And Bertil Beckman & Co was right up there at the front from the very beginning:
See the ad in blue frame, bottom right on the page below.
In the next issue of the ”Teknik för Alla”, Stirling Moss and his wife demonstrates the new Scalextric slot car racing system. Bertil Beckman himself also writes an article on how to build a ”miniracer” from scratch, using parts that his company sells (see ad on second page below), including balsa wood for carving the body. Those were really pioneer days!
And in the last issue of ”Teknik för Alla” in 1958, the Christmas issue, the new hobby already appears to be a huge success:
And in this issue is also the very first mention of BEHCO (red frame below left).
As can be seen in the ad, the two first available Behco bodies are Mercedes and Vanwall. Strangely, these two models aren't even mentioned when the crude Behco bodies are presented in the Jan Jangö book several years later...
Finally, another little tidbit to tease (or please)
slotcar7, and connect to the original topic of this thread: