Collectors’ Corner

Carrera Universal arrived in 1963 with cars at 1:32 scale. Four years later, Carrera added the larger 124 system, with cars at 1:24. Those numbers describe quite a noticeable change in size. For the same full-size subject, a 1:24 model is one-third longer than its 1:32 counterpart. A car measuring 4.8 metres in real life would be 15 centimetres long at 1:32, or 20 centimetres at 1:24. The slot-racing business…

A collision was not always a failed lap. In Carrera’s 1998/99 catalogue, the Crash Derby set deliberately sends two little cars towards a narrow section of track where they can collide. The accompanying illustration shows a red car and a green one meeting nose-to-nose. The caption explains that their bonnets and body panels come away in a crash. Those loose pieces were part of the game. Crash Derby sits in…