Aurora's Hop-up kits gave instructions on how to use an Xacto knife to cut the wheel wells, and few of his cars were spared. "I cut some of my cars big time, put big tires on them, and loved every minute of it." And regrettably, like most of us, Bob doesn't have one piece left from those formative years. "Then, when I turned 14 years old, I discovered girls and suddenly slot cars weren’t fun anymore. So I went off on that tangent and my cars stayed at my friend’s house".

About twelve years ago, Bob got back into hobbies. Through the mid-80's Bob's passions ran to trains. The advent of reproductions, and the risk of spending thousands on a forgery, scared him away. Luckily for us.

Bob sold off his train collection and bought a 1959 1:1 Cadillac convertible that still takes up space in his Connecticut home. But this left our hero without a hobby.

Two years later the seeds are planted, At a party a guy takes out a small box with three or four T-jets in it. The two men start to sniff the cars as if they are fine cigars. They reminisced about their past experiences.

A couple of months later, talking with yet another ex-slot enthusiast, this guy offers Bob two Pit Cases full of cars for $25. Can anyone say "Mainline!"

Bob spent the next several years collecting Aurora slot cars at every ocassion. Running ads in papers and newsletters, calling friends, canvassing shops, days, nights, weekends.

But then Bob began to realize that a comprehensive history of the hobby was missing. He spoke with his friend Bruce Greenberg, and the two decided to write a book on the topic. Bob began collecting posters and promotional material to gather the information. This culminated in "Greenberg's Guide to Aurora Slot Cars". The cars you see in the book came from Bob's collection.

Bob, as with many of us, including me, started his slot car experience on Christmas day 1960, with his first vibrator set. And again, as with all of us, family and neighbors would bristle and stew everytime we started the little cars up due to the interference it caused on their TV's.

Bob continues his love affair for everything Model Motoring. His basement is full of collectibles and memorobilia. Recently he added a race track to start his son Jeremy on the proper path to manhood. How to play with toys.

I can tell you this, I know a lot of people in this hobby, but none have the passion, or the knowledge, of Bob Beers. He truly is the reigning monarch, as this anecdote from him will indicate.

"Two nights ago, my wife was upstairs studying for a nursing exam, the kids were in bed, it was 10 p.m. I came down here to the basement and I’m sitting in a chair in front of my three drugstore-type jewelry cases, admiring the cars. I can do that for hours on end. Not a problem. My wife comes downstairs at 10:30 or so and sees me sitting there. "What are you doing, she asks". I say I’m looking at my collection. "You mean you can just sit there and look at that stuff?" she asks. And I say yes. She looks at it for about five seconds and says, "I don’t understand it, I just don’t understand it".

"It’s a hobby. My guess is it’s always going to be a hobby to me". Need we say more.

Bob was like us in many other ways, too. He had a paper route to suppliment his hobby, and soon had three Pit Cases full of cars, and some extra track to go with it.