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Tycopro Slot Cars

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A New Design from Tyco

Perhaps taking a design cue from the larger 1:32 and 1:24 scale designs of the day, the Tycopro and other "brass war" era slot cars (like Dynabrute and Cobramite) relied on heavy brass "pans" on the underside of the chassis for a handling advantage. Later Tycopro cars also came with White Silicone Tires, called "White Boots". Perhaps copying the success that Twinn-K was having with its AJ's line of "Gum-Drops" silicone tires, "White Boots" offered improved traction for the relatively heavy Tycopro slot cars.

Outfitted with a Mabuchi HT-50 Can Motor, Tyco's new design was fast and did indeed offer superior handling over other popular HO cars from arch-rival Aurora and its then current Tuff Ones cars. Like Aurora, Tyco also now offered a few "lighted" Tycopro slot cars that featured working headlights.

An in-depth article covering the origins of the Tycopro is available at the Riggen HO website.

An article covering Tycopro performance tuning is also available.

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Tycopro and Tycopro II Catalogs and Manuals

• 1972-1973 Tyco Road and Rail Catalog
• 1974-1975 Tyco Road and Rail Catalog
• 1970 Tycopro Competition Guide
• 1972 Tycopro II Competition Guide
• 1972 Tycopro White Boots Brochure

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Original Tycopro with Wipers

The original Tycopro chassis used two thin, flexible pieces of copper colored metal to pick up electricity from the slot car track. Acting the same as braid would on larger scale cars, the foil wipers were prone to wear and difficult to adjust for optimal electrical contact.

Tycopro parts shown above:

• 8872: Mabuchi HT-50 Motor with pinion
• 8873: Rear axle with crown gear and two hubs
• 8877: Two front hubs and tires
• 8878: Rear tires (sold in sets of four)
• 8885: Standard 1.5" chassis, brass pan and weight for use with cars #8801-8818
• 8886: Long 1.7" chassis, brass pan and weight for use with cars #8830-8835
• 8887: Guide shoe
• 8888: Replacement wiper, lead and terminal assemblies (sold in pairs)

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Typcopro with Drop-Arm

The revised Tycopro II was outfitted with a weighted drop-arm to allow better contact with the electrical slot car track rails. If you've had the chance to try both early and late Tycopros, you know that the later Tycopro II design produced a vast improvement in performance.
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Typcopro II with "Button" Style Pick-ups

The final variation of the Tycopro chassis was the Tycopro II with "buttons". Essentially spring loaded contact points, the buttons were designed to last longer that the fast wearing wiper design prevelant on most brass-bottom HO chassis designs of the day.



However, as fate would have it, the "buttons" actually had more problems making good electrical contact than the design they replaced.

The Tycopro II Roadster slot car pictured at right is outfitted with track-grabbing Slicone "White Boots".

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Tycopro Parts and Accessories

Increasingly harder to find, your typical best bet for Tycopro cars, parts and accessories is (surprise) ebay...