My custom layout / Hello from France

[AlexP]

Hello, My name is Alex and I'm an avid slot car collector. Among the many themes I collect, I have a special fondness for the US-1 Trucking system.

I remember playing with my father with the Coast-to-Coast set he ordered for Christmas from JCPenney in 1981. Later, he bought the Fire Alert set and many other accessories that he either ordered from the US or found in France.

During the 2010s, I also picked up a few items on eBay and through French classifieds.

I wanted to share with you a new layout I just built on a ping pong table — my daughter and my nephew are having a lot of fun with it!
Thanks so much for creating and maintaining this site. It’s wonderful to see other people’s layouts and collections, and to read so much information about this beloved system, which is now pretty rare in France.

I’ll soon share some pictures of my collection, including a few items with European and French packaging.

Cheers

 

[biddle]

Love it! I just did a video featuring the Lime Green Dump Truck! It needs more love!

512 reactions · 37 shares | If you were a kid in the 1980s, this specific truck needs no introduction! We're talking about the iconic lime green Peterbilt dump truck that hauled its way into nearly every Tyco U.S. 1 Trucking set. ✨ Did you have this

If you were a kid in the 1980s, this specific truck needs no introduction! We're talking about the iconic lime green Peterbilt dump truck that hauled its way into nearly every Tyco U.S. 1 Trucking...

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[Patrick1972]

Hello, My name is Alex and I'm an avid slot car collector. Among the many themes I collect, I have a special fondness for the US-1 Trucking system.

I remember playing with my father with the Coast-to-Coast set he ordered for Christmas from JCPenney in 1981. Later, he bought the Fire Alert set and many other accessories that he either ordered from the US or found in France.

During the 2010s, I also picked up a few items on eBay and through French classifieds.

I wanted to share with you a new layout I just built on a ping pong table — my daughter and my nephew are having a lot of fun with it!
Thanks so much for creating and maintaining this site. It’s wonderful to see other people’s layouts and collections, and to read so much information about this beloved system, which is now pretty rare in France.

I’ll soon share some pictures of my collection, including a few items with European and French packaging.

Cheers

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That really looks great Alex. I'm a litte bit jealous. I know that it is really difficult to find this items in Europe.

 

[carroljobummer]

Looks great, well done. Also a little jealous of that pinball machine in the back.

Out of curiosity, did you purchase your trucks locally, or order them online and have them shipped to France?

 

[AlexP]

Hi, thanks for the kind messages.

The Pinball machine: that's another one of my hobbies. I love 80s arcade games and I enjoy building things, so I built this Pincab a few years ago. It's still WIP. I haven't painted it yet. But it plays great! It's a lot of fun.

Regarding availability of US-1 items in Europe: they're not very common. Some sets and accessories were sold here during the 80s, but it seems not everyting from the US catalog was released. Today, they rarely show up on eBay or similar sites. And it's usually fairly standard items: green dump trucks, yellow/orange Peterbilt, basic accessories like the Gravel Hopper, etc.

About half of my collection comes from my late father. He ordered sets, accessories and vehicles from the US during the 80s. I guess from the JCPenney or Sears catalogs that my grandmother, who lived in the US at that time, would have sent him. And he bought a few additional accessories in France at the same time.

The rest of my collection comes from purchases I made on eBay (US and France when I was lucky enough to find items locally) and from some slot car shows (Circuits Routiers in France or Slotmania in Germany). I drastically reduced my eBay US purchases about 10 years ago when international shipping costs became outrageously expensive.

In addition to the layout above, I have enough track and accessories to make another layout which I'll show you in another post.

Thanks!