Slot Car Clock
Every so often here I will post something which I assumed already existed. Well much to my surprise, there is no such thing as a Slot Car Clock.
There are probably three reasons for this: 1. A clock using actual Slot Cars would eat a ton of electricity, even if the cars are crawling forward slowly. 2. Cars that move slowly is the antithesis of racing in general - a blasphemous display! 3. Slot Cars are a popular toy of yesteryear, currently kept alive by a community of enthusiasts - so a niche market for such a product.
I’d like to think that Slot Car clocks possess a nostalgic appeal many guys would dig - even beyond the NASCAR crowd. This little clock would bring back fond memories of that big cumbersome track that engulfed your floor when you were a kid.
There are a few power solutions: the cars could be affixed to standard clock hands which are beneath an open-grooved track. The cars could be smaller and thus lighter. Each car could have it’s own lithium battery supply, and can be pulled off the clock to recharge (swappable cars!).
One feature I’d like is for the cars to race a few laps at every top of the hour - so 3 laps for 3 o’clock for example. Or the cars would always be in a pause state, only racing to the current time on request. LED lights for the cars would be awesome. This could be a wall-mounted clock, or something that sits on your desk.
Posted on July 31, 2011, in Cars, Gadgets, Toys and tagged Automotive, Design, Toys. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
I, too, was surprised no one made this. My guess is that, like you said, using real slot cars might prove impractical, and if they are simply scaled down plastic cars on a hidden hand it may as well have any generic car theme (even if the track is painted like a slot car track, you’re still just relying on artwork and not core design). The idea of swappable cars got me thinking: what if this clock were able to use real slot cars instead of proprietary ones? You could include 2 cheap cars (maybe even re-brand existing ones) and heavily advertise that owners can use “most” HO scale slot cars.
Sure, the slot car community is kept alive by enthusiasts, but those enthusiasts are dumping money into their hobby, and I’m sure many would love to have something like this on the wall by their home track. Aside from enthusiasts, it would appeal to car buffs, the nostalgic, kids, or even people who like slot cars but don’t have room for a track. Sure, something like this is sure to be scooped up by slot car fans, but I imagine with proper licensing and marketing it could sell well at Walmart/Target (NASCAR clock with real working slot cars!).
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