Sunday July 18, 2004

It’s Boss Man! 
Scalextric Boss 302 Mustang Hits the Street!

For those that are familiar with Scalextric’s ’69 and ’70 Trans Am Boss 302 Mustangs you can look at the photos and see how these cars came out as street versions.  For others that have not seen these cars you will find them to be very good replicas and great slot cars of these well known muscle cars.

Two years ago Scalextric brought us the ’69 Trans Am Mustangs of Parnelli Jones and George Follmer, later came ’70 versions of their cars, unpainted all white versions, and Peter Revson’s blue #1 from ’69.  But no street versions until now. I have converted some of these into street cars and know how much effort it takes, in other words I really appreciate being able to purchase a car that is already complete. This car has saved me considerable time and expense.

This is a very good looking replica of the 1970 Boss 302.  I know there are some inaccuracies but they do not detract from the overall appearance of the car.  I don’t see the point of detracting from such an attractive looking slot car, I could point out some of my complaints but most people will think of these as wonderful models. The bright yellow paint has a deep clear coat and my example had a few tiny specks of dust in the drivers’ door.  Boss 302 black stripes are on the car along with something not seen on the previous racecar versions, a set of louvers for the back window.  The wheels and tires really help the look too.  A new set of street type wheels adorns this car along with soft tires that say Goodyear Polyglass GT F60-15.

The chrome and stainless trim is well molded and highlighted with argent paint, items such as the window trim, door handles and key hole are detailed in this fashion. On the rear panel Mustang is also painted on to simulate the individual chrome pieces of the real car.  Side marker lamps are also painted on and look marvelous.  Chrome bumpers, gas cap and wipers are added along with body color mirrors on both sides, the passenger side mirror was an option back then.  A photo-etched metal grill has the proper running horse Mustang logo.  Front and rear black spoiler let everyone know this is a serious ride. There are many fine details that add a lot to the appearance of this car.  The rear of the outside mirrors are painted in argent to give the impression of a real mirror and the outside of the red taillights has a little argent around the outside of each lens to simulate chrome trim.  This level of attention to the small details adds greatly to the overall looks of the car.

 The car has a full driver, that has appropriately, rust colored hair, but he does not have any facial features highlighted with paint.  This is not noticeable unless ones closely inspects the interior.  The driver’s body almost disappears in the black interior, for some reason most of his clothes are very dark.  With most cars having grey and taupe interiors today it seems a little odd to see a black interior, but most cars back then had an interior that was either body color or black. Not only that but they were also vinyl!  If your car was parked in the sun it made for a real hot seat.   The nice detail of the interior is difficult without some direct light.  The dual cowl dash area of the Mustang is properly modeled and actually has gauges in the instrument panel.  A steering wheel and shifter also included.  A major omission is the cigarette lighter.

This street car has a new feature has been added- headlights.  A small circuit board is mounted to the inside of the front grill which holds the lights in place.  Apparently Scalextric has planned all along to make street versions like this because the mounts have been in place on all of the previous versions.   These lights are a little bit of a disappointment.  I don’t know what they were thinking about because for some unexplainable reason they are yellow.

The chassis has a side-winder motor to allow for the full interior.  The issue with this arrangement is typically side play of the rear gear and axle but this is not a problem, these cars have very little slop in the driveline.  The guide has a spring loaded self-centering feature, some do not like this as they believe it may cause deslotting and they remove the spring, I leave mine as received.  The guides supplied with the car are easily replaced and two extra are provided.  The guide is the typical blue Scalextric replaceable guide which means it is very shallow.  I would rather see Scalextric provide two different guides and some additional braid with their cars.  I would prefer one of their normal guides and one deep guide for their Sport track instead of three shallow ones.

Scalextric has provided multiple positions for the traction magnet, one under the rear axle, one directly in front of the motor and two mid-positions.  Plus there is a small cylinder to mount an additional round magnet just behind the front axle.  Scalextric has dome an excellent job allowing this much tuning of the magnetic traction but the body must be removed to reposition the magnet.

On the track these cars are very fast. The strong magnet holds the car down to the track and will make it one of the fastest cars in your stable.  They are also very smooth and quiet.  The wheel and tires are round and true. I run all of my Scalextric Mustangs without the traction magnet and they still run very well. This is a great slot car. You really can not go wrong getting one of these cars.  I hope Scalextric produces more colors of these street cars.

- Rich

Rich is a long time slot car enthusiast and contributing editor for several magazines.

You can find him online here in our Message Forums to comment on this article or just the hobby in general.