Saturday 12 January 2008

IMMORTAL: Slot.it 956C

IMMORTAL SLOT CARS
Slot.it Porsche 956C

From time to time, ManicSlots is going to take a look at some of the 'immortal' slot cars that have been produced since the 'Fly' revolution of 1996. In 1996 Fly released the Viper, a slot car that would change the direction of the 1/32 slot car industry forever! Fly let us know that slot cars could actually resemble a racing car and introduced the slot car industry to the 'D' word, detail!

The longest running and arguably most successful model release by Slot.it has to be the Porsche 956C. Probably the most desirable of the Slot.it 956 releases is the 1984 New-Man livery. The New-Man was Slot.it's first limited edition release, (Le Mans winners) and this makes the slot particularly collectible. The slot was limited to 6,000 units, this car is number 344.

The New-Man Joest Racing Porsche 956 won Le Mans by 2 laps after completing 360 laps. The New-Man car was driven by Henri Pescarolo and Klaus Ludwig. There was a second New-Man car, (#8) but this did not finish due to an over-heating problem after 170 laps.

When the slot was initially released it had incorrect tire branding. In true Slot.it form they produced a free set of replacement tires for all cars with the correct Dunlop branding. The car also comes with a LE cardboard card with release number. Expect to pay in excessive of $US150 for one.

Another very popular Slot.it Porsche 956C is the Kenwood livery.

The Kenwood Porsche 956 raced at Le Mans in 1983 and finished 3rd, 6 laps behind the winning car, (Rothmans Porsche 956 #3). The Kenwood car was driven by Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti and Philippe Alliot.

As the Kenwood was one of the first of Slot.it's 956 releases it is very difficult to find one in mint condition. As a result, expect to pay in excessive of $US150 for one also. There is actually an error in my Kenwood 956 compared to the released slot, see if you can spot it.


You can find out more about the 1984 Le Mans race here:
http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Le_Mans-1984-06-17-photo.html

You can find the Slot.it specifications sheet, (PDF) here:
http://www.slot.it/Download/porsche956.pdf

ManicSlots Collectibility Score: Extremely High!


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2 comments :

BK-Racing said...

I am very jalous, when I am looking at these two great cars. I (re)dicovered slotracing just a little too late to be able to buy these cars in the shops at the time....
When I look on e-bay, the prices have gone very,very high. A bit to high for me, I really am not going to pay over 100-200 euro for one car.
Thanks to the white kits you can recreat any livery you want and I have started to do so. At the moment I finished a Camel and Marlboro livery and I am working on the nr 14 Canon version right now.
I am thinking of the Newman livery to paint next.

The "error" on your Kenwood, is that perhaps the white disk on the rearwheels and is there goodyear sponsoring missing ?

Best regards, BK-Racing

Manic said...

Hey BK,

Thanks for the comments,the early Slot.it 956's really are something special.

You make a very good point regarding the white kits, Slot.it have made it easy for everyone to own a Kenwood, Canon or New-Man 956.

I'm currently working on a new section for my blog that will feature reliveried slots. If you keen I'd love to feature your two 956's? If your keen send me some pictures of your cars and I'll add them soon with full credit to you or your site of course.

Thanx again mate.
Cheers ManicSlots