Tuesday August 16, 2005

NINCO 'Classic' Porsche 356-A
By Shawn J. Smith

It had to feel a little bit like finding buried treasure when the folks at Slot Car World stumbled across an entire case of NINCO 'Classics' just sitting around. With so many slotting enthusiasts loving these classic cars, and with many of them being increasingly difficult to find, there couldn't be a better time to make sure you get your hands on one before they're gone for good... and to hopefully push you that direction we're going to discuss one of these classics right now!

Appearance:



What a great looking car this NINCO Porsche 356-A is. Simple in its silver paint job our 'speedster' is a small little package with some charming qualities. If there is any one feature that stands out the most on this little Porsche it is the abundance of chrome bits and pieces found all over the car. In front the chrome turn-lamp and air vent combination sections are solid pieces of plastic, the chrome headlamp rings are present as is the hood detailing typical to the 1:1 prototype. In addition NINCO has tampo-printed on a Euro-style front identification graphic that again is a common attribute of actual life size versions of the 356A.



Other notable chrome details include the front windshield frame, the driver's side mirror and the front windshield wipers of our little Porsche classic. Of course this 356A Speedster comes with a replicated black convertible top complete with a textured finish and small oval-ish rear window.



In the rear we find the same number graphic that we saw on the front and additional chrome detail pieces like the engine cover grill and dual exhaust tips. Looking closely at the image above you might have spied that one of these is actually a little crooked... I didn't notice it however until I saw the picture myself!



Getting a little closer to track level we can see how NINCO also modeled the chrome 'bar' located under each of the doors and the small 'moon cap' wheel covers that are so mirror-like you can probably make out a few of my fingers and the lens of my camera captured while taking this picture. Now with all of the chrome work NINCO did do they did leave the body side moldings non-chromed and decided just to add on a chrome door handle instead.



Interior wise our shallow pan-style cockpit does get a black labeled dash panel with white-faced gauges and the Porsche name across the right side. The interior also sports our driver figure from the back of his legs and up, silver accents on the spokes of the steering wheel as well as a tiny little shift lever molded in the same color as the rest of the interior.

While the looks of the Porsche 356-A might not be terribly flashy it is no doubt what many would consider to be classically-clean in appearance. Over all I think NINCO has done a great job recreating this small icon of automotive history and I certainly can relate with the cars undeniable appeal.



Performance:



As cute as the NINCO 356-A is it's the driving that most people want to know about. Having been available for some time now we are lucky to already have some knowledge of certain 'aspects' of these cars where it might be beneficial to do a little quick tuning. To do that we must first turn the car upside down where we are then presented with four different screws although only two must be removed to take the body off. The two centered screw holes are the ones to focus on, one in the very back directly behind the crown gear, and the other directly behind the guide blade. The other two screws, easily seen in the picture above on opposing corners of the motor bracket, exist only to hold the cars NC-1 motor pod in place and can be left alone to take apart the car.



Now with the body removed we can get a better look at the bottom of that tray-style interior as well as the popular NINCO NC-1 motor making our little Porsche go. If the NC-1 isn't powerful enough for some of you there is the option to purchase NINCO's adaptor motor pod that will allow you to change the motor over to one of NINCO's larger can motors like an NC-2 or higher RPM versions.



I highly doubt however that the NC-1 will disappoint anyone speed-wise for this car as while the NC-1 is only rated 15,700 RPMs you have to consider that's more than enough with this car being a non-magnet slot car! That's right... if you didn't now already these little cars some 100% magnet free!



Knowing in advance that this car is magnet-free I can't stress enough how a little tuning can go a long way. My first bit of advice would be to glue those rear axle bushings in place as I have personally known a NINCO bushing or two to come free of its mount and that can cause some real problems on the track.

The next few recommendations I have should also allow you to better enjoy your magnet-less NINCO 'Classic'. The first has to do with truing your tires and wheels while the second good advice is to perform a bit of front axle work to assure your car runs as smoothly as possible. Big thanks to Harry Wise for providing both of these helpful tuning techniques as if anyone knows how to enjoy these little NINCO classics he's certainly one of their biggest fans.



When it came time to test this little NINCO Porsche I of course tested it as I do every test car I get and that is 100% box-stock. I did no other tuning other than truing the wheels and tires then set off to see how much of a handful this no-magnet racer is. As you might imagine the 356-A offered no threat to break the tracks top-speed record but what it lacked in high speed it more than made up for in high fun!

Sliding its tail through each and every turn this little NINCO Porsche 356-A was even more stable than I ever imagined it would be. With fellow enthusiasts watching the testing one accomplished routed wood-track racer commented on how effortlessly the car could transition while sliding out of a right hand corner and directly in to an opposing left hand corner. Quite honestly the car was impressively smooth in its actions just so long as I kept my finger smooth in the throttle.

The Final Verdict:



Yes it's the farthest thing from a high-speed magnet missile but that is the beauty of this NINCO Porsche 356-A. The NC-1 motor has more than enough power to toss around this light-weight and magnet free car although you do have the option to upgrade to the higher RPM motors if for some strange reason you were to decide the NC-1 just isn't fast enough. All said and done this NINCO Speedster is a truly fun little slot car with a trunk-load of personality that's easy to enjoy if you can simply appreciate it for what it was meant to be. It's small, good looking, magnet-free and a lot of fun to drive just as long as you aren't in a giant hurry to cross the finish line.


Special thanks go to Slot Car World for providing this NINCO Classic Porsche 356-A for review. As always, please feel free to email me with any comments or questions about this or any other review and I’ll be happy to answer any questions that I can. Happy slotting!