In 1968, Tamiya entered into a commercial arrangement with Stabo of Germany for the supply of Lotus 40 and King Cobra kits, that included an FT16D motor for the Lotus and an FT36D motor for the De Tomaso, sealed under a modified chassis blister. The last of these two Tamiya kits produced for Japan and export were also supplied with a motor, but instead of the large Mabuchi, received an FT26. These updated kits are today, quite scarce.
Production numbers are not known but Tamiya slot cars have proven to be the most collectible of the Japanese 1/24-scale “Classic Era” cars and kits, and their values have often matched or surpassed those of the most sought-after American kits – especially the rare stockers
Tamiya also produced 1/24 and 1/32-scale home-racing sets, with 1/24-scale Lola T70s molded in red or blue and the Ferrari 330P2 and Lancia-Ferrari in yellow. The 1/32 Ferrari 275P and Lotus 30 bodies molded in red and green were mounted on simpler 2-piece brass inline chassis. All of these cars were marketed in large boxes with track, controllers and a large power pack. Few have survived in any condition.
Several of the 1/24-scale body molds were later converted for use in free-running battery-powered model kits, their body-mounting posts shortened for the new purpose.
Tamiya eventually became the world’s largest plastic model kit company, bringing molding precision to unseen levels. Their slot racing days show hesitant progression, typical of a country long immersed in old traditions, fast learning the ways of the modern world.
In the early 2000s, Tamiya reissued the two 1/32-scale Lotus and Ferrari models as static body kits. In 2005, they reissued most of their 1/24-scale slot car bodies in their later motorized kit versions, now with the shorter mounting posts. All were molded in white plastic, but in a simpler form without plated parts. In the current Tamiya line of the most precise kits ever produced, these reproduction body kits show a crudeness and inaccuracy not seen since the 1960s, but were welcomed with open arms by the thousands of slot car collectors worldwide, mostly to restore genuine kits.
Today, most Tamiya employees have little clue that their company was once deeply involved in this fascinating hobby.
POSTNOTE: In his personal recollections, Yoshio Tamiya describes his 1966 visit in the United States, where he claimed that he demonstrated “the superiority” of the Tamiya slot racing cars over American machinery. Mr. Tamiya encountered, according to his description, widespread hostility against his ethnicity at the many raceways he claimed to have visited during his tour. In this author’s opinion, while the 1965 and 1966 Tamiya slot cars were of good quality, they presented little or no advantage over the production models manufactured by many American companies and powered by the same Japanese Mabuchi motors, and the mere presence of “component” cars built from Dynamic chassis kits and parts would have humbled all of the Tamiya production models anyway. By 1966, such “component” models already dominated the scene in most raceways in America. This author regrets that Mr. Tamiya, whose company became so prestigious, chose to express such disdain of the American slot car racing scene and racers in his memoirs, and finds such comments rather unfair and especially, unwarranted.
