#1003 AURORA AFX G-PLUS/G+ – FERRARI 312 B3 (1975)

Sometimes you find surprises like this one. I was in a flea market, searching in a big box in which the seller had indicated “1 piece = 1 euro”, and found this nice slot car. I had no idea what it was, but I simply took it, and put it in the bag. It is actually very rare to see toys "Made in Singapore" these days, so I thought it might be something special. I recall that during my visit to the National Museum of Singapore, I found a small display of toys made there, but I don't have any memories of Aurora cars there...

Several days later I had the chance to search a bit on the internet. What was that strange Ferrari I had bought? I found this fascinating history here.

Aurora is the well-known toymaker from New York,  but this Aurora AFX was unknown to me. These small cars were the first to introduce the ground effect magnet to achieve higher speeds withour making the car impossible to drive. That is how the G+ or G-Plus (gravity plus) series was born. This was premiered in January 1975 and became an instant success, although Aurora was actually not doing as well and in 1977, the AFX line would be purchased by Tomy, that used the license in the Tomy AFX toyline.

The car is slightly smaller than the usual 1:64, and it is missing a mirror, but it is otherwise complete, and I would say it is still functional, I didn’t try, I guess if I apply 9 V to the motor, it will start.

The model represents the Ferrari 312 B3, as driven in the 1975 season by Clay Regazzoni and Niki Lauda, but the RN 6 does not represent any of them. I guess this small f1 was among the first produced. The same model was also reproduced by Scalextric in Spain, but in a different scale.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: FERRARI 312 B3  
• Scale: Approx. 1:64
• Year: 1975
• Company: Aurora AFX G-Plus (U.S.A. / Singapore)
• Size: approx. 5 cm