Aurora Plastics Corporation
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Company type | Private (1950–69) Subsidiary (1969–80) |
---|---|
Industry | Entertainment |
Founded | 1950 |
Founder | Joseph E. Giammarino |
Defunct | 1980 |
Fate | Sold to private investors in 1969, then other owners, becoming a brand |
Headquarters | Brooklyn, New York United States |
Products | Scale model cars, airplanes, action figures, slot cars |
Brands | AFX |
The Aurora Plastics Corporation was an American
Established in 1950, the company was first sold in 1969, being then acquired by other firms until then-parent company Dunbee-Combex-Marx ceased operations in 1980. Since then, the Giammarino family have tried to reintroduce the Aurora brand, but their attempts never carried out.
History
Aurora Plastics Corporation was founded in March 1950 by
With the hiring in 1952 of
The first kits came in late 1952 and were 1:48 scale aircraft models. One was a
By 1953, six more dies had been made for new airplanes: the
Product lines
Aircraft mainstay
Aurora Plastic's first kits were aircraft and this was a backbone of sales through the 1950s and 1960s. From early on the company's Famous Fighters line was popular. Included were World War I, World War II, jet age aircraft and a variety of whirlybirds. A series of aircraft from the 1930s were also offered. Sailing ships, warships, tanks and other military vehicles were available as well.[7] One World War I airplane was the DeHavilland Airco DH.4. Many planes, like the Blue Angel F-4J, McDonnell-Douglas Phantom II and the LTV A-7D Corsair II, were offered in a larger 1/48 scale. Others were smaller scale such as the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker in about 1:100, because it would have been over two feet long in 1/48; and even smaller, like the Convair B-58 Hustler bomber in a diminutive 1:200 scale, or about 6 inches long.
Automotive kits
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Studebaker_Avanti_model_%286193521162%29.jpg/220px-Studebaker_Avanti_model_%286193521162%29.jpg)
By 1965, Aurora had many automobile kits in 1:32 "slot car" scale including the
Media tie-ins
Aurora probably had their biggest success with their kits of figures. These included a series of popular historical
Aurora acquired a
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Comic_Con_Experience_-_2014_-_Batmobile_%281966%29.jpg/220px-Comic_Con_Experience_-_2014_-_Batmobile_%281966%29.jpg)
Licensed models based on characters from
Model motoring
In the late 1950s, Aurora acquired the rights to the Model Motoring slot car racing system from UK toy manufacturer Playcraft. Aurora's first HO-gauge racing sets appeared in the fall of 1960.[citation needed]
The cars were originally driven by a unique, vibrator drive system based on a door "buzzer." This motor comprised a wire coil around a vertical iron plunger which very quickly opened and closed a contact which fed power to the coil, and also drove a reed up and down that engaged a toothed drum on the rear axle, causing it to turn. When these early cars ran down the track they produced a loud "buzz," which many users found irritating. The vibrator car was produced until 1963 when the Thunderjet
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Aurora_tjet_chassis.jpg/220px-Aurora_tjet_chassis.jpg)
Part of the popularity of the Pancake motor cars was that they could easily be disassembled by the hobbyist with the simple removal of the brass gearplate clip which gave ready access to the armature, brushes and magnets, and serviced with readily available factory original replacement and upgrade parts. These upgrades included silver plated electrical parts for better electrical conductivity, and gears to raise the gear ratio to achieve higher speeds. Third party hop up parts and specialty tools soon came into the market, including stronger motor magnets, wider axles, wider wheels made of precision molded plastic or machined aluminum, brass axle weights to hold the front guide pin in the guide slot at higher cornering speed, and wider soft silicone tires that had better traction. Tools included pickup shoe benders, miniature gear and wheel pullers, gear and wheel presses. Another factor was that Aurora produced updates to the Pancake motor cars like the Thunderjet Tuff Ones, including hotter armatures, wider stance, wider tires, and later, magnatraction added to the A/FX chassis.[citation needed]
Magnatraction was accomplished by equipping the A/FX chassis with thicker motor magnets which extended lower into openings of the chassis, using magnetic attraction to the electrical rails in the track and pulling the chassis down which gave the tires better traction, resulting in higher speed and harder cornering. Many enthusiasts liked the higher speed, while others preferred the non-magnatraction cars. The non-magnatraction cars, although slower, allowed the rear end of the car to slide, or "drift" through the corners, creating a danger zone that allowed drivers to drive the car hard into the danger zone before reaching the crash point. Another part of the fun was the ability to slide the rear of the car and "nerf" a competitor's car off the track if the two went into a curve side by side. The magnatraction cars did not have this drift, and while cornering faster, the driver did not have this danger zone. The car would without warning crash off the track if the driver went into the corner too hard.[citation needed]
By the end of the 1970s, however, the slot car craze had passed and modeling in general was on the decline.
But that did not mean the end of the legendary pancake motor cars. They had their enthusiasts that kept them alive, along with a large supply of new old stock, and companies continued to make third party parts. New body designs and reproductions of original bodies and chassis were produced under the names of Johnny Lightning, Playing Mantis, Round2, Auto World, and Hot rod. These reproductions were embraced by enthusiasts because they could modify the reproduction bodies instead of cutting vintage ones. These mods included grinding excess weight off the inside of the body, and cutting the mounting posts to lower the bodies in order to lower the center of gravity. Wheel wells would be cut to allow wider tires and lowering of the body. Reproductions were produced as recently as the year 2020, and some of them are still on hobby store shelves as of 2021. There is a vibrant community of small sellers on internet market and auction sites, and a few remaining shops with multi lane professional tracks still exist along with clubs whose members travel to other states for national sanctioned races. Some of these events are run with the name of "The Fray", and have a specific set of rules on how cars can be modified, and what parts must be in the original configuration. These races have a tech inspection afterwards for the cars that win prizes or points towards a national championship.[citation needed]
Cigarbox competes with Hot Wheels
In 1968, Aurora introduced its Cigarbox miniature cars and the timing could not have been worse. These were developed to compete with Matchbox in the year that Mattel's Hot Wheels were introduced. The Cigarbox car line was a combination of rather bland plastic slot car bodies with metal chassis.[17] Models were claimed to be HO scale, but the cars were larger than HO – yet a bit smaller than Hot Wheels.
Cigarbox cars were packaged in small yellow cigar-like boxes which had fancy red serif lettering and gold trim. The boxes were slightly larger, flatter and more rectangular than those of Matchbox, measuring 4" x 2.75" x just over 1" deep.[18] If Lesney could have "Match" boxes, Aurora figured it could have "Cigar" boxes. The popular rumor was that Matchbox took Aurora to court for copyright infringement over the similar marketing approach. Today the idea skirts the boundaries of the culturally acceptable. Was smoking being promoted? In any event, the Cigarbox marque soon disappeared.[19]
Some of the cars offered, however, were unique and not often seen in miniature, such as the 1967 Ford Galaxie 500, 1963 Buick Riviera, Mako Shark Corvette concept, Cheetah Chevy, Lola GT racing coupe, and the Porsche 904.[20] Several Formula 1 cars were also offered in the series.[21] Initially, most cars were offered in rather plain colored plastic bodies with high friction ('squeaky') wheels, though their rubber tires were more authentic than hard plastic – making them somewhat similar to Matchbox tradition. Some of the cars, such as the De Tomaso Mangusta, had working steering. Eventually, thinner, low-friction wheels (some chromed and some not) were added and chrome-like shiny paint finishes were introduced, making the cars flashy, but competition was keen and financial troubles loomed. These improved versions were sold under the Speed Line name, and also as slot car bodies and in kit form, but the line was discontinued by 1970.[citation needed]
Logo use and retooling
Aurora's founders retired in the late 1960s and the company was sold to outside investors in 1969. After expanding into the toys and games market with limited success, the new owners sold the company to Nabisco in 1971. Nabisco received unwanted publicity when Aurora introduced a line of “Monster Scenes” which included torture devices and a scantily clad female victim; newspapers reported negatively on the line, and the National Organization for Women voiced their objection.[22] Seven years after their acquisition, Nabisco sold the company to the Anglo-US toy company Dunbee-Combex-Marx who also owned the Scalextric racing system and Frog kits for $11.5m.[23] Aurora had been loss-making for a number of years but Dunbee-Combex-Marx failed to turn Aurora around and ended up failing itself in 1980.[citation needed]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Polarlights_brand_logo.png)
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, toy and hobby company Playing Mantis created a division called "Polar Lights" (as a reference to
In the 1990s, the family of Joseph Giammarino announced the return of Aurora Plastics Corporation as a manufacturer of hobby kits under the name LAPCO, or Lost Aurora Plastics Corporation, with a product line to include reverse engineered reissues of long-gone kits. Nothing came of this. Again in 2007, Giammarino's family announced the return of Aurora, with their first offerings stated to include aircraft and figure kits from their original 1960s line.[1] This web site lists products to be made available in May–June 2012, but as of November 2018, none are available to order and the site appears to have not been updated.
The last time the auroraplasticscorp.com website was crawled by the Wayback Machine website was May 23, 2019.[31]
Bibliography
- Gosson, Scotty (2015). Show Rod Model Kits. A Showcase of America's Wildest Model Kits. ISBN 9781613251560.
- Ragan, Mac (2000). Diecast Cars of the 1960s. ISBN 978-0760307199.
References
- ^ a b "Aurora Plastics Corporation - About us". Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ISBN 0-7643-2518-3.
- ^ Gosson 2015, pp. 68–9.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bussie, Alan. 2007. Aurora Plastic Model Kits – A Brief History. Old Model Kits Blog.
- ISBN 0-7643-2018-1..
- ^ Soviet Aircraft - Cold War Phantom Fighters. Globalsecurity.org.
- ^ a b DeHavilland. 1957. Aurora DeHavilland DeH-4 World War I plane. Kit instructions and kit listing.
- ^ Coopee, Todd (November 12, 2015). "Gigantic Frankenstein". ToyTales.ca.
- ^ Castile, Raymond. 1996. Aurora Classic Monster Models.
- ^ "King Kong model kit".
- ^ Boyle, Brad, ed. (1976). "Ghidrah". Japanese Giants # 2. Brad Boyle. p. 20.
- ^ Boyle, Brad, ed. (1977). "Rodan". Japanese Giants # 4. Brad Boyle. p. 8.
- ^ Gosson 2015, p. 69.
- ^ Batmobile model kits on Collecttoys.com (archived, 4 Apr 2018)
- ^ a b Maribeth Keane; Brad Quinn (March 26, 2010). "When Slot Cars Were Kings of the Arcades". CW - Collectors Weekly.
- ^ Why did slot car racing fade so quickly in popularity in 1967–68?. (2007). Slotblog.
- ^ Ragan 2000, p. 38.
- ^ Breithaupt, Doug. Cigarbox by Aurora - Diecast, slot-cars or both?. planetdiecast.com.
- ^ Ragan 2000, pp. 38–9.
- ^ Ragan 2000, p. 39.
- ^ "1967 Aurora Cigarbox Formula 1 Ferrari Toy Race Car". southwestspiritantiques.com. Archived from the original on September 17, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
- ^ Rossen, Jake (August 10, 2016). "Nabisco's X-Rated Toy Scandal of 1971". Mental Floss. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
- ^ "Dumbee-Combex aims to revive US acquisition Aurora". The times. February 23, 1978. p. 23.
- ^ Gosson 2015, p. 72.
- ^ "Moebius Models". moebiusmodels.com. Archived from the original on November 2, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
- ^ Powell, Todd. 2009. Monarch gears up to become 21st century Aurora. Resin the barbarian.
- ^ The End of Monarch Models. CultTVman's Fantastic Modeling.
- ^ Atlantis Models website.
- ^ Powell, Todd. Atlantis rises on a tidal wave of plastic to bring back more of the model kits from hobbyists’ past and future. Resin the barbarian.
- ^ "2010 ZorroTM Model Kit". Atlantis. Archived from the original on December 27, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
- ^ "Aurora Plastics Corporation". Archived from the original on 2019-05-23. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Official website (archived, 6 Aug 2018)
- Aurora models on Collecttoys.com (archived)
- Aurora Godzilla's Go Cart 1966 - Godzilla Monster Gallery on DonCapone.org
- Aurora Stunt and Drag Race Set Commercial — Public Domain, Prelinger Archives.
- Aurora Speedline Commercial