Playing Mantis has recently introduced a line of push-cars that can be used on the original Aurora Model Motoring ThunderJet 500 chassis. They also market a line of push-cars that can used with newer Aurora AFX and Tomy AFX chassis.

Update - Playing Mantis was sold to Racing Champions Die Casts. The Johnny Lightning brand was discontinued and production rights to all Johnny Lightning slot cars was sold to Auto World.

The first in the series are called Johnny Lightning ThunderJet 500s and can be mounted on the older Aurora Model Motoring ThunderJet 500 chassis. These models come with a push-car chassis that can simply be removed and replaced with a regular T-Jet chassis. At $3.99 each they make a great Thunderjet slot car. A New-Old-Stock (NOS) chassis is available for as little as $14.99 making is possible to create a running Thunderjet for only $18.98. Now you can save those older and rare bodies and replace them with these inexpensive replicas.

The picture below illustrates the current body styles offered. These cars can be found at most toy stores and hobby shops. They're also available at Toys R Us.

The ThunderJet 500 push-car chassis comes with chrome plated wheels and wide rubber tires that can be used on your T-Jet chassis. The wheel's axle mounting holes will need to be enlarged slightly though to fit the original T-Jet axles. The wider rubber tires make for a more authentic looking car when used to replace the original thin ribbed rubber tires.

The second in the series are called Johnny Lightning ThunderJets and can be mounted on older Aurora AFX, AFX Magna-Traction, G-Plus and Tomy AFX Super G-Plus chassis. These models also come with a push-car chassis that can simply be removed and replaced with any AFX chassis. At $3.99 each they make a great AFX slot car. A brand new Tomy AFX Super G-Plus chassis is available for as little as $14.00 making is possible to create a running AFX Super G-Plus slot car for only $17.99.

The picture below illustrates the current body styles offered. These cars can be found at most toy stores and hobby shops. They're also available at Toys R Us.

The Dodge Viper GTS-R illustrated above, when mounted on a Tomy AFX Super G-Plus chassis makes a great GT racer.

Finding the various body styles and colors offered by Playing Mantis can be a catch-as-catch-can situation though. It always seems that the really nice body styles sell out very quickly at local hobby shops and toy stores.

Playing Mantis recently introduced a line of ready to run T-Jet replicas called Johnny Lightning Tuff-Ones. These slot cars include a brand new T-Jet chassis manufactured by Johnny Lightning. A dozen different models are available for $12.95 each

The Johnny Lightning Tuff-Ones chassis is similar to, but not exactly the same as the original Aurora T-Jet chassis. Some motor and magnet parts are NOT interchangeable.

Playing Mantis recently introduced a line of ready to run Aurora A/FX Magna-Traction replicas called Johnny Lightning X-Traction. These slot cars include a brand new A/FX chassis manufactured by Johnny Lightning. A dozen different models are available for $14.95 each

The Johnny Lightning X-Traction chassis is similar to, but not exactly the same as the original Aurora A/FX Magna-Traction chassis. Some motor and magnet parts are NOT interchangeable. The over-all performance of these chassis is not quite as good as a well-tuned Aurora A/FX original, but the bodies can easily be removed and mounted on a vintage Aurora chassis or better yet a Tomy AFX Super G+Plus.

Playing Mantis has also released a series of cars from the movie The Fast and the Furious. Van Diesel's red VeilSide Mazda RX-7 and blown Dodge Charger and Paul Walker's Mitsubishi Eclipse and Toyota Supra along with several other cars are now available for $14.95 each. The Yenko Camaro driven by Paul Walker in the sequel is also included in this release.

Playing Mantis recently released a second series of The Fast and the Furious models in a new range of colors. The body styles remain the same; i.e. Dodge Charger, Yenko Camaro, Mazda RX-7, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Toyota Supra and Nissan Skyline R34. Two of each model in different colors are included in each release.

These "tuners" come mounted on an X-Traction chassis, but can just as easily be used on a modern Tomy AFX Super G+Plus chassis to better match the performance of the real thing.