Slot Mods is a Detroit-based company that creates handmade, completely bespoke slot car tracks for some of the world’s most high-end clientele. If you want a Slot Mods track, you typically have to commission one to be built, and clients usually choose an iconic race track of some kind, with their own personal touches added. However, if you don’t mind getting a used one, and you have at least $87,000 burning a hole in your wallet, you can snag this one, built inside of a Porsche 917 replica, that’s currently for sale on Bring a Trailer.
This 1:32 scale slot car track is made to represent the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as seen in the 1971 Steve McQueen movie Le Mans. The two-slot track itself is made from wood, while the surrounding details are made of foam, all of which are hand crafted by Slot Mods founder David Beattie and his team.
Slot Mods’ attention to detail is obsessive, featuring a pit lane full of 19 period-correct slot cars and their pit crews. One of the slot cars depicts the gulf-liveried Ford GT40 camera car used in the making of movie. Figurine people fill the stands, realistic looking foliage lines the outside of the track, and even period correct advertising litters the billboards. If there’s a more realistic slot car race track, I’ve never seen one.
All of that is housed inside of a replica Porsche 917 race car. Its body is made from composites and is mounted to a tubular steel frame with three hinges. It opens from the side like a clamshell, revealing the slot car track underneath. Even more impressive is that the opening is power-operated. So, in the ultimate car-nerd power move, the owner can pop its 917-shaped hood via either a switch or remote control. The frame is also mounted on a steel dolly with metal casters, so it can easily be moved around.
As for the replica 917 itself, it features functioning headlights and taillights, a roof-mounted fan, and even has center-locking wheels wrapped in worn racing slicks.
There are still two days left on this auction, so the price will likely go up, but the current bid (at the time of writing this) sits at $87,000. For the record, you can by a new Porsche 718 Cayman S for less than that. However, as Beattie says, his clients are the sort to own 30,000 square-foot homes and are usually racing team owners or extremely wealthy business people. So they’re not the sort to worry about cost.
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