Motorific

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Motorific is the brand name of a line of battery-operated slot car toys and related accessories marketed by the Ideal Toy Company from 1964 to the early 1970s. It differed from traditional slot car sets in that the cars were powered independently by a pair of AA batteries, rather than by an electrical connection to the track.

The cars ran on slotted plastic track which was snapped together in various layouts, ranging from a simple oval to elaborate patterns, some featuring jumps and hazards.

Although some playsets were marketed to feature competitive play between two operators ("Racerific"), in truth there was little allowance for competition since there was no operator control over speed.

Motorific vehicles and accessories remain popular as collectibles, particularly with baby boomer toy aficionados.

1 Marketing
2 U.S. Customs appeal
3 Notes
4 External Links

[edit] Marketing

Ideal introduced the Motorific line in 1964 as "The New Quick-Change Motor Toy" ^[1], offering a variety of popular car body styles that were interchangeable with common snap-on chassis and electric motors. Each of the three elements were sold separately and as sets in various combinations, as well as being packaged with a variety of track layouts. In the first two years of distribution, there were 18 different Motorific car body styles offered for sale ^[1]. Subsequently, a large number of styles became available in a "Motorific Custom Cars" line. ^[2]

Ideal later introduced a smaller-scale car line more suited to racing ("Mini-Motorific"), as well as sets featuring Motorific trucks ("Action Highway") which ran on wider-sized track, and a line of motorized boats ("Boaterific").

[edit] U.S. Customs appeal

In 1970, the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals denied Ideal's request to have Motorific plastic car bodies and chassis reclassified as "parts" rather than toys. Such a reclassification would have significantly reduced the importation tariff charged to Ideal (10%-17%, versus 35%). The appeal document revealed the company's two-year sales unit figures for Motorific: in 1964, Ideal sold 935,928 chassis; 1,761,186 car bodies; and 695,805 electric motors. In 1965, they sold 3,749,561 chassis; 4,260,793 bodies; and 3,937,201 motors.^[1]