Here from the museum in Houston is a extremely rare set sold at "AUX Galierics Lafayette in Paris " Jouets-48 in 1905. Its not a slot car set but it is still part of our hobby's early history. The box folds out to become the base for the set. Its all wood with paper glued to it. The 2 tin cars are each around 4 inches long. While the set is French the 2 cars were made by Georg Fischer in Germany. He start making penny toys in 1903. The cars roll down the wooden track and at the bottom they knock down the wood pins . Under the pins are various numbers so you can score. I believe these may have been gambling sets made for adults. Sort of like the 1947 bar game set I have from Italy. Anyway this is now the earliest toy automotive tracked set we have in the museum. The set when set up is 42 inches long (quite big ).IMG_1741.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)IMG_1728.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)IMG_1729.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)IMG_1730.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)IMG_1736.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)IMG_1737.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)IMG_1738.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)IMG_1734.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)IMG_1733.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)IMG_1739.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Hi and greetings over the pond.

Interesting stuff. But I stare at this setup and wonder how it is supposed to work. How are the cars turned around at the turning points? There doesn't seem to be enough room for a curve at the corner "tunnels".

And then, when it finally arrives at the bottom, I guess the pins are targets to be taken down like in a bowling game?

If the car is set in motion at the top, I can't see how any skill or trick of the player can influence how many pins the car will hit way down there after arrival. So the game is sort of a gambling, it seems. It's not a game of skills.

In a nutshell, I don't really get it.

Hello & thanks for showing us this phantastic racetrack !

Might have been a prototype to Mattel's Hot Wheels ? ;-))

greets, klaus