Old (matchbox scale) toy road system – help me remember (80s kid content)

I have fond memories of having a road set that I used to play with using my Matchbox cars and I can't for the life of me find out now what it was, or who it was made by.

It was a modular system so you could build whatever road layout you wanted, but it was unique in that it actually consisted of the pavements – not the road. The road was actually the carpet/floor, and you built the pavements around it. They all snapped together – straight sections, junctions, corners etc.

It was all very realistic – the edges were moulded to look like kerb stones and there were road signs with square pegs that slotted into square holes. I had a few bits of it, and remember excitedly foaming over the catalogue which features car washes, petrol stations etc.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Can't remember that but remember the awesome Matchbox one they did around the same time – the roads where plastic sections, a bit like guttering, that clipped together with flat connections, about an inch squared. Then you got corners, junctions and all kinds of garages and multi storey car parks and stuff. Need to find some of that on the 'bay for when my little lads older (or for me now!).

Aren't toy cars ace. FInding myself in this nostalgic mood has made me dig my favourite matchbox car out – one I never gave away cos it was just too awesome:

I don't recall that either?
Didn't they do a track like Scalextric, but it had a continuous spring in the slot that was driven by a motor, and you had little adapters to attach your cars?

Edit I'm thinking early 70s.

Didn't they do a track like Scalextric

I had one of these. I think it was called 'Race and Chase.' Came with controllers that had a button on the top that, when hit in mid pursuit, would change the direction of the car – I think!?

For some reason I remember jumping the cars over a sleeping border terrier but that would mean you didn't need to join the circuit and that doesn't seem quite right?????

Race N chase

Always wanted one. 😐

That's him!
The result of 2 paper-rounds and a weekend car washing round.
But for the life of me, I can't remember what we called the dog?

I remember this. There was a loop-the-loop thing you could add to it. Was it Hot Wheels, or was that something else?

I reckon it was Marjoretti (sic) the French mob. There were various lamp posts, buildings etc that clipped on to the pavement. Bloody loved that stuff.

This is defo the stuff I reckon, Majokit, this has got me all misty eyed!

http://www.google.co.uk/m/search?site=images&source=mog&hl=en&gl=uk&client=safari&q=majokit#i=2

Man, I used to LOVE my Race and Chase…

MAJOKIT! That's it!

Nice one, thank you 8)

On flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28577403@N06/4606954415/sizes/l/

awesome!

looks a bit girly

Agreed.
This is what you want………

Is that Race and Chase the thing I'm thinking of? The one I had had a spring that ran the length of the track and a cog used to drive the spring.

I found out in my 30s that an uncle developed toys and I used to get prototypes and didn't realize it and wish I still had them. I had a James Bond suitcase with fold up rifle pistol and silencer and working camera all could be used from the case or on their own. I also was given a custom made double holster with pistols, but then we played with the stuff until it died.
Best though was uncut reels of Hotwheels track must have been about 30 metres long.

looks a bit girly

Haha true, the flowers aren't helping. My layouts were far more masculine, honest…

Now where'd I put my lipstick?

Best though was uncut reels of Hotwheels track must have been about 30 metres long.

Oh my god, way to make a big kid jealous.

I remember once being given a load of plastic wiring conduit left behind when a large extension was built on the University. My mother's ex was a lecturer there and had seen it all in the skip and noticed how it was just the perfect size for matchbox cars. You should have seen the size of the tracks I built in the dining room.

That RS200 flew!

oldgit – Your spring driven thing grabbed my interest. Never seen it myself, but after a bit of browsing, is it this:

Matchbox Motorway was a little like Scalextric but you were able to use your own Matchbox sized toy cars. You slotted the track together, but before putting the final piece in, you had to push two really long springs through the length of the track and join it up to complete a loop – one spring for each lane.

http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=7847

Apparently known as Matchbox Switch-a-Track over here?

That's the one. The centre piece housed the cog that shifted the continuous spring.

I had one of these.

I had this. You had to stick little pegs onto the bottom of the cars so they could spike between the coils of the springs. It was pretty noisy when switched on though – because of the friction of the springs in the grooves.

I had one of these:

I was running a Porsche 911 and a Corvette – they had working headlights so I'd run part of the track under my bed and lie on my front to watch the lights coming through the "tunnel."

I loved it. The lights failed on the 911 so I wrote a nice letter to Matchbox and they sent me five plug-in replacements.

I had (still do, it's at my mums) the spring drive set. Very much a 'poor mans' Scalextric. As has been said, you had to stick a little plastic pin to the underside of the car, then cut a bit off so it was the correct length from the wheels. The one good thing was you could put as many cars on as you had pins, so you could have massive traffic jams going round.
I remember the springs wore out because you could buy spares, and when you packed it away it would end in a huge tangle.

Was there another version of the Matchbox spring thing that had 'm-way' in the name (ie motorway) ? – ISTR a mate had one.

FWIW I've still got a couple of sets of Corgi Rockets stuff in the loft 🙂 – probably ought to get it back out one day and give it a whirl..
A few years ago we had a summer street party, I was in charge of sorting a scalextric track – so I now have a few big boxes of the stuff in one of the bedrooms !

jond,
Yes, mine is the M-2 set. A bit bashed now.

This is the motor and (tangled) spring.

I guess I must have had this in the mid 70's.

I seen to have lost the controllers.

i had Matchbox POWERTRACK – my best pressie EVER – 9hrs non stop on xmas day in a darkened room (cars had headlights)

richmars – that must have been it 🙂

OK – whilst I agree that I the "spring drive set" was very much a 'poor mans' Scalextric, aside from it, I also had a CARDBOARD road layout (matchbox I'm sure) with roads, grass, car parks etc marked out and it even had a pop up flyover!! That was a poor mans Spring Drive set!!! LOL

Edit: Holy Cow – just found this pic! This was exactly it.

I have a question for DaveyBoyWonder: I’m looking for the old Matchbox road system that you mentioned above, with the plastic sections that fit together with little tabs. You could add hills for making bridges, curves, and it even came with little plastic street lights. Do you remember what that set was called? I can’t find one for the life of me! Thanks!

Wasn’t Hot Wheels was it?

Recently given all (well apart from a selected few) of my cars to my lad. Been sat in cases for years, about time they were played with..

Race N chase

Always wanted one.

I had Race n Chase, it was awesome……the police car was faster for some reason and you could jam the tilting bridge to make it a jump…….ah! childhood ingenuity!!!

I remember having a TCR set
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxXTEMSC_w0 great fun. Soooo much better than scaletrix. Being able to change lanes and having to pass the slower ‘jam’ car, which was only possible on a straight, made it seem like proper racing!

I’ve just binned a race and chase set

Anyone ever have one of these, spent many hours with it, you added a magnet to any matchbox car and it would work on it.

http://www.stuffwelove.co.uk/images/steerngo.jpg