1/24th scale commercial track slot cars are built for speed. When most people think of slot cars the thoughts of AFX or TYCO HO scale or Carrera or Scalectrix 1/32 cars come to mind. Although many of these cars are fast and are somewhat collectible, the 1/24th scale cars for commercial tracks are built more for speed than looks. There are places that are commercial tracks that cater to the Sclaectrix or HO crowd, most commercial tracks cater solely to the 1/24th scale cars not made by Carrera or Scalectrix or FLY. When looking to get into or back into slot car racing, the most important piece of the puzzle is to find a good local raceway. The racing programs and staff can point you in the right direction on what you should be looking to buy. There are 4 major sub categories to the 1/24th scale commercial slot cars: Scale cars - These look like the real cars on the road or racetrack. Retro cars- slot cars that either look like or are the actual cars raced in the "golden age" of slot cars. Drag cars - These specialty slot cars are built for going very fast in a straight line only. Wing cars - These are the fastest of the fast, very light, very powerful motors and distinct winged (large plastic airfoils) bodies that are aerodynamics and applied physics at work. The collectability of 1/24th commercial cars is very limited. Most cars are built to be raced and they usually are, unless the car is new in box, some battle scars are a badge of honor. There have been limited editions of commercial cars available on the market, but they are few and far between. The only true collectable commercial slot cars are the original slot cars of the 60's that have been either preserved in their original packaging or lightly used in original condition, But caveat emptor, due to the high prices of some of the collectable bits, reproduction parts and cars have been tried to be passed off as originals. Having a friend (local raceway owner involved since the dawn of time) is a most valuable resource. When in doubt of a car not in the original packaging, ask. The biggest segment of commercial cars available on eBay is the scale cars. Scale cars look like smaller versions of real race or street cars. They usually have stamped steel or "flexi" type chassis, a motor, sponge type rear tires and a lexan (thin plastic) body shell. These cars are run in every class from NASCAR (nascar lexan bodies) painted and decaled like the ones you see every Sunday, to GT1/LeMans Prototype. The class a car in usually has mostly to do with the body used. Check with your local raceway about rules and regulations, about differences in motors, gearing, bodies, and chassis allowed. Most commercial cars in the scale area sell for new between $50 to $100. Any more and you may fall into the area of "specialty scale" like "Eurosport" or GT-12 classes of cars, again speed is a question of money, how fast do you want to go? Eruosports and GT12's do not have flexi or stamped steel chassis, they usually have laser cur spring steel chassis that are hand assembled and motors in a much higher state of tune than most cars come with, these cars are definitely not advised for a beginner, they're too frail for smaller hands and do not take the beating a new driver will administer to it. Besides bending a $20 frame is a lot easier to deal with than breaking an $80 frame. Starter sets from Parma are a great way to get started, for about $130 you get a good car (Flexi 5 chassis) with a body or 2 (usually a nascar & GT1), tools and a good controller all in a nice red toolbox. Are there better cars, chassis, and controllers available? Yes, But as a package to get your feet wet, this package is hard to beat. Besides with the little red toolbox, you can keep all of your slot car parts in one spot. Things to look for in scale cars - New is always best, in the original packaging almost guarantees this item is what the seller claims it is. As always you should give your local raceway the first shot at making a sale but a lot of slot car raceways do have eBay stores as well. Just check first. With chassis, new in package is always the way to go. With used chassis you run the risk of chassis that may need work due to racing or shipping damage. Unless you have the time and knowledge to fix these steer clear of these. Chassis run from $20 to $50 depending on make and type of chassis. Motors are something I have some expertise with. When buying a motor, new in packaging is always best, but motors can be rebuilt. Buying parts for motors is easy and almost anyone involved in slot cars for any period of time can rebuild a motor. Motors run from $10 to $60 depending on the class or type of motor. Bodies - most come painted and decorated. The unpainted ones are clearly for someone comfortable painting bodies in reverse (most lexan bodies have the paint applied from the inside of the body, not the outside like on a static model kits). Good painted bodies should run about 20-40 depending on condition and level of detail. Retro cars -These run the gamut from original cars from the 60's to reproductions done in brass and piano wire with lexan bodies to look like the originals. The original cars from Monogram, Cox, etc.. in the original packaging can get very expensive very fast. For the hardcore collector these are the only cars to get. Prices can go for a rough original from about $50 to a pristine original in box collectable for hundreds or thousands; these are usually to be collected, not run. The runners are the current lot of buildable or ready made "retro" cars. They are built from piano wire and brass kits or scratch built from the same materials. The motors are usually of a smaller variety than what is usually sold. But what everyone sees is the body, these are usually recreations of classic Ferrari's, McLarens or Lola's. A lot of body painters take great pains to detail these bodies well. These cars usually sell for $50 - $100 for a chassis to up to $250 for a well-sorted complete car. Well worth it if you think looking good and having fun are up there with going fast. Drag cars - For these cars are usually all scratch built or very highly detailed hard body plastic commercial kits (AMT, MPC, ERTL) on drag frames, you pay for the detailing of the body (drag racers do like their details) and the type of chassis and motor used. Prices are all over the board here because this area of buying slot cars is more dependent on the sellers ability to have a great looking/great running car and someone willing to pay for all of that time and labor. You can build one for under $100, but the time it'd take you to get it to where it was an object of envy at the raceway may be well worth the premium in price. Wing cars - A.K.A. Group cars - The fastest of the fast. these are bullets with wheels. The Groups from least to most expensive are: Group 12, Group 15, International 15 (open 15), Group 20 (not run so much anymore), Group 27, and open or Group 7. The group 12 to 20 cars usually run with laser cut spring steel or brass and wire chassis and C can motors (size of the motor is in letters) and winged bodies. The only difference is in the armatures (heart of the motor). In International 15, 27 and 7 open, the chassis are now laser cut spring steel or carbon fiber, very small motors that are very high revving and very powerful. Open cars are known to top 100mph on a track in competition. Most of these cars used are in need of work. These cars need such constant attention to be kept in the high state of tune that any novice attempting this is on a fools errand. These cars are for those who have been doing this for a while. New (most group 27 and open cars are entirely built up from parts) cars run in price from $100 for a RTR group 12 to over $500 for a RTR group 27 from a maker such as Koford. New 27 or 7 motors sell for $100+ new. Pro built, you're paying for the craftsmanship in building that motor. This I hope will help you in buying slot cars for that raceway by the bowling alley that always looked like fun to try out. Thank you! Keith