Description
In 1967, the Hong Kong based Chinese branch of Cox Hobbies, named Cox International, issued a model of the Lola T70 on their own. Cox did not own the actual business but leased the facilities as needed. Many items were produced there that included all the ready to race Cox slot cars. The Hong Kong complex also produced bodies and parts for several other American slot car and toy companies such as K&B. As K&B had ditched their now-obsolete injected 1965-issued kits for newer kits using lighter vacuum formed bodies, the creative business owner, Mr. Wai Shin Ting, had the K&B Lola body mold modified so as to receive a proprietary gold-anodized stamped aluminum sidewinder chassis with an ackerman steering mechanism. The motor was the Cox “NASCAR 3500, a copy of sorts of the successful but now too expensive Mabuchi FT36D motor. Wheels and tires were unique to the model. This first issue of the Lola T70 was always produced in blue and received the standard and ubiquitous Cox driver as seen on the “La Cucaracha”. Most of these models were sold in Asia, Australia and Europe. A few were also sold in the USA by the Cox Center, but it never made the catalog. That changed for 1968 as a new version was issued, now using a nickel plated brass-tube chassis similar in design to that of the Cox Ford Galaxie. The body mold was once more modified to clear the inline-mounted Cox NASCAR 3600 motor, a clone of the smaller Mabuchi FT16D. The chassis was acting as a large drop arm articulated directly from two molded lugs in the body, and the front axle snapped into more lugs set under the front. Wheels and tires were standard IFC fare as in “La Cucaracha” models. These “series 2” bodies were molded in yellow, white or blue plastic, the blue color being especially scarce today.
The boxes used for the sidewinder version were recycled, using added stickers depicting the newer chassis. When the box supply ran out, a new box was made using new illustrations of a purplish-pink model, the last model in the series and today the most commonly found.
All the Lola models used a modified version of the Cox Cheetah decal sheet.
