EditRevell Slot Cars
The corporate history of Revell is one of great passion that began in the America of the 1940s.
Founded in 1943 in California, Revell Inc. started up production in Venice, not far from Los Angeles. Plastic toys, accessories and furniture for doll’s houses and toy washing machines were the top sellers at this time. It was 1947 that the company’s founder, Lewis H. Glaser, hit on the idea of assembling a scale model car from several plastic parts. That was the birth of plastic model kits.
Revell's "History of Automobile Racing"Edit‘ If A Model – Then Revell! ’
As early as 1956, the enthusiasm for the new hobby crossed the Atlantic and revolutionized the leisure time activities of countless modelers and collectors.
That was the year the German subsidiary, Revell Plastics GmbH, was founded in Bielefeld. Just one year later, the company’s headquarters were relocated to the neighboring town of Bünde, where Revell is still based to this day. Initially, only kits imported directly from the USA and Britain were sold in Germany and neighboring countries from a warehouse that was located in a former cigar factory.
Revell began producing 1:24 and 1:32 scale slot cars in 1964 with the introduction of the Shelby Cobra. The Shelby Cobra's classic styling, musclecar prowess and crowd-pleasing domination on the 1:1 racing circuits made it a natural for slot car racing. Revell and others seized the moment and made the Cobra one of early slot car racing's most popular models.
Like
Monogram, the early Revell slot cars were basically modified versions of their static models with an
inline can motor powered aluminum chassis.
At the time,
Scalextric and
Monogram were the market leaders in the early days of slot car racing; However Revell was close on their heels with the introduction of best selling slot car racing sets like the popular four lane 1:32 Americana set featuring the Ferrari 250,
Mercedes Benz 300SL, Corvette Sting Ray and Aston Martin DB5. You'll find the Americana set in the 1965 Revell slot car racing catalog. Revell was also quick to offer 1:24 slot cars, normally a scale found only in commercial raceways, for home use.
Revell is known around the world for their production of a wide variety of static model kits.
In the 1960s, Revell slot cars were a familiar sight on both home and commercial slot car racing tracks. However as commercial slot car track popularity began to fade, Revell decided to stop the production of 1:24 scale slot cars. The last 1:24 Revell slot car of the boom-era rolled off the Revell assembly line in 1968.
EditRevell Today
Forty years later, Revell has taken control of
Monogram and has re-emerged as a quality slot car manufacturer. No longer offering racer applied decals with their cars, today you'll find the race specific graphics (colors, stripes, "meatballs" and other race numbers) are now printed on the models. Due to modern design methods, the slot car models also have better detail in areas such as windshields, lights, rims and tires.
Todays Revell slot car models are designed in the United States but made in China. The designers at Revell-Monogram have obviously taken a close look at
Carrera slot cars, as the new Revell-Monogram chassis share a nearly identical design.
Equipped with a sliding, adjustable traction magnet, todays Revell slot car chassis' has a more modern approach to the chassis itself. Revell slot cars have a traditional
inline chassis but some now sport a more forward-mounted can motor to allow space for a full interior complete with a driver!
Today's Revell slot cars, while beautiful, are unfortunately not as competitive as their
Scalextric,
Carrera or
Fly bretheren. However they do have a detailed appearance with right down to the tires (the Shelby Cobras sport blue lines and Goodyear print). Handling suffers even with the traction magnet, as the tire compound is unusually hard, providing less than perfect "grip" on most plastic slot car tracks.