David Mincica vintage slotcars collection - DMI/Elmodan info

[Scalex]

Offtopic Odd and strange slot car

Carve your own slotcar from balsawood

One little box .......


...and....


....voala....

[Crewe Alex]

Hi guys, first of all, Crewe Alex, yes please : I'm interested in everything, even a single wheel, from elmodan at the moment ..it could be useful later, maybe, if i have to complete a not totally complete set, if ever..!

I will contact this Danish guy and introduce you to him briefly and then it's better if you have direct contact with him. When I know I will write you a PM through that function here on this forum. Then we can have separate contact with that.

I don't want to interfere with the rules here on this forum and ask the administrators to correct if we make too much business of this. Myself I find this thread very educating and entertaining and look forward to what will follow.

About the idea behind my collection, i prefer sets because they give you a stronger "vintage" feeling, with all those bits and bobs..and also, some pictures or drawings on the box lids are just wonderful: think about a VIP set or a Policar one..when you look at them you just go back in time..! I collect 100% or 99% complete sets, not just one per brand but at least one of each type a brand made. And they're not few..!

I just like your attitude. Lot's of the graphics from the 60's are great. I totally agree. And you can look forward to a biiiiig collection if you want every type each brand made. I collect battery driven slot sets from the 60's and early 70's. Preferrably Speedking and there are lot's of different sets just for one brand.

But recently i started to collect also single slot, with the criteria that they should be unusual or rare: between the most recent i bought, there's a Jouef go-kart MIB (beginning of the 70s), two H0 Eureka Ford Taunus (spanish brand which made copies of the german Rasant) and, ABOVE ALL, a H0 Heras Opel Kapitan MIB.. ! For those who don't really know this brand..: Heras was a small german brand that operated just for a couple of years (1962-64), and produced a slot-car like system which made possible to have moving car models on the modelstreets. Just 5 slots were produced (Mercedes 220, Opel Kapitan and three types of bus), as single slots or inside single-lane slot sets. At the moment, i've got two sets with bus, one set with the Mercedes, one with the Opel and this single Opel Kapitan totally untouched in its paper box since 1962..! And, would you believe it? I found it in Spain.. !

Congratulations to these great treasure findings. And by the way thanks for all the information you provide us with.

But i've never heard about Pengo/miniflex..any information?

Hi, about the help for posting a picture, if i've got them saved on my desktop (they're not on the internet) how can i attach them.. ?

There are servers on the internet where you can upload your pictures for free. I use my own homepage to place the pictures. If you don't want the work to find a place on Internet you can email them to me and I can put them on my server.

Later
Anders

[Jormungandr]

Hi, about the help for posting a picture, if i've got them saved on my desktop (they're not on the internet) how can i attach them.. ?

david

You can try to use imageshack at: http://imageshack.us/ it's free to use, just register. there are plenty of similar other sites out there. you just upload you image to their server and then link it from there.

/Marcus

[Ravajack]

You can try to use imageshack at: http://imageshack.us/ it's free to use, just register. there are plenty of similar other sites out there. you just upload you image to their server and then link it from there.

Sorry to interfer, but I've got mixed experience with imageshack. It's quite simple to upload pics, but the site is in my opinon less reliable over long terms, i.e. pictures and links may suddenly just disappear and never to be seen any more. It has happened to me more than just once or twice over ther years and I just don't use imageshack any more.

I've found photobucket to be just the ticket for long time storage of web pics, and also very reliable links over time. I've yet to see a broken link with photobucket. And just like imageshack, photobucket is completely free, and also comes with a quite generous amount of storage space.

[Ravajack]

... and, ABOVE ALL, a H0 Heras Opel Kapitan MIB.. ! For those who don't really know this brand..: Heras was a small german brand that operated just for a couple of years (1962-64), and produced a slot-car like system which made possible to have moving car models on the modelstreets. Just 5 slots were produced (Mercedes 220, Opel Kapitan and three types of bus), as single slots or inside single-lane slot sets. At the moment, i've got two sets with bus, one set with the Mercedes, one with the Opel and this single Opel Kapitan totally untouched in its paper box since 1962..! And, would you believe it? I found it in Spain.. !

This Heras/Wiad brand is of particular interest here in Sweden, as one set box actually depicts
one of the most famous ”traffic jams” in the country, the Slussen carousel, a vital transporatation
junction in the middle of Stockholm: (I guess the early 1960s German box designers found the
Slussen quite ”picturesque” for the box art... )



Some more of the Heras/Wiad stuff here, for those who haven't seen this brand:

[racefun]

Ah, yes please, Racefun! I've already called the auction house you told me, but they said they never heard about Elmodan..so, if you can write in some slot car forums or websites in Denmark i'd really appreciate it..and a free tour of London will be yours !

Cheers, david

thx David, I will remember next time we go to London I was there last x-mas so i might take some years before we come back.

there is only one danish forum (more offcourse but all local for clubs, and they all look at this)
http://www.scalerace.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=551
I all ready posted there about Elmodan, in danish but you can just write in there in english too.

[largasso]

A friend turned up today with some cars his children played with some 40 years ago

Among them was this : A Jouef BRM F1 car, felt I had to show it here in "the historical thread"

[slotcar7]

Hi guys, sorry if i didn't keep in touch recently, but i've been really busy..i apologize, my friends..!

Anyway, i started to finally buy also on tradera, and today i just bought something that, i think, can come from Elmodan ..please, give me your advice..the first two cars i think could be some early elmodan models, but i don't have any idea about the third one..

http://www.tradera.com/gamla-bilar-aukt ... _112076944

And i've seen maybe something else quite interesting on tradera, even if at this moment the most desired item on sale it's this, in my opinion:

http://cgi.ebay.fr/RARE-ALFA-ROMEO-NORE ... 414f510cf6

I think blood will flow to get that set..

[Scalex]

I don´t think the two first cars are DMI/ Elmodan. I think they are homemade with French Behco bodies amd early MRRC chassies. But that´s just a guess form my side.



And a picture from the DMI/Elmodan Maserati set from 1963-64

[slotcar7]

It's right.. ..for sure they're not elmodan but behco, but at this point, an even bigger question jumps to my mind? What's Behco? I tried to google it, writing "behco slot", "jouets behco", "behco plastique", etc..but nothing..is it something so rare?

iIcan see the quality is not so good, but..and how can i know for sure that it's an mrrc chassis? That one in the picture looks exactly like those ones in the cars..is that an mrrc?

But there's always an open question about the third one..it looks like a vanwall or brm (overall for the british racing green )..

But what's behco? What's behco..

[Ravajack]

I don´t think the two first cars are DMI/ Elmodan. I think they are homemade with French Behco bodies amd early MRRC chassies. But that´s just a guess form my side.
And a picture from the DMI/Elmodan Maserati set from 1963-64

Quite interesting magazine/book/brochure you've got there, Scalex. What is it?

And about the Behco bodies: What is the French connection?

I've got some info pointing in a quite different direction...

[Scalex]

The book is "Allt om miniracing" by Jan Jangö from 1963. About Behco ......you mean the Swedish connection ?? I only think that was the trackparts. But i´m not 100% sure. Maybe you know more "Rava" ???

[Ravajack]

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):

”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:

[Harry Lime]

Detta är kulturhistoria !
Tackar, mycket underhållande att läsa.
Ännu en gång tack, det var bra förr.
Harry

[Scalex]

Bara att lyfta på hatten "Rava" Dina kunskaper är fantastiska. Och ÄNTLIGEN fick jag svaret på vad jag har i min gamla låda Balsabilen............ Känns som den skulle vara rätt udda idag. Blir att jaga fram ett nummer T.f.a från 1958 nu då.