What vintage R/C regrets will you have in the end?

[Hibernaculum 933]

There have been topics here in the past about what will happen to people's cars and collections, when they die.

But imagine you've lived your life. You're near the end, for one reason or another.

What cars haven't you owned, collected, restored or driven yet, that if you don't before you die, you will regret?

I'm particularly interested in this from a vintage angle I suppose. Anybody can get the modern or reissue stuff, finances allowing - ie. there are thousands of them everywhere, so availability is no barrier or challenge.

But vintage collecting and ownership can present challenges, sometimes huge ones. If you have vintage goals, which ones would you regret if they were not fulfilled by the time your life was over?

Perhaps it's:

• A restoration you hope to finally complete.
• A car you simply hope to drive, in any condition at all.
• A NIB you hope to own. And even perhaps build.
• A car (or spare part) you want that is so rare, you cannot even find one.

Stories welcome

For me, there are many.

There is one particular Nikko model I hope to find NIB, but I think the chances are near zero. And there also things like - I want to accurately perform speed tests on a lot of cars, to know once and for all what their top speeds were (in kit standard form). Just for my own amusement. But I'm very fussy about how this should be done, so it may never be.

And many other goals. I am probably destined to end up not doing them all.

[Nitomor 2122]

An RC bucket list!

Not strictly vintage but kind of, for some reason I really want to get my Bruiser and Mountain Rider Rere's finally finished to a very high standard so they will pass down to my two boys, one each, eldest gets the Bruiser, youngest the Mountain Rider. That aside I don't feel anything else that pressing that it would bother me for not achieving it in the face of death.

That said I'm only just getting into the vintage side of the hobby because the ReRe's kept me happy and scratched that itch to a point. The recent purchase of a 4x4 vintage Hilux has opened the Vintage Pandora's box so we'll see where that leads. I caught myself looking at 58001's the other day but had to stop myself. Beautiful one on ebay at the moment in red/red chassis which has been worded as a special limited type version, not sure if that is true.

[Percymon 2184]

at this point in time there's nothing that I'd really hanker after, although a 58001 would be nice to own purely on the basis of it being the first Tamiya rc car.

I've thought about a Blazing Blazer for 5 years, but now that I have a Hilux on the rejuvenation path I'm not desperate to own both (although a Blazer re-re would be nice). I've done the SRB series, the Boomer/Hotshot series, the vintage race buggies (Avante, Egress, Dyna Storm, Top Force) and dabbled in the TRF and DB-01 buggies.

My biggest concern is that I'll leave a log queue of projects, but then i still have some time left

[Darat76 265]

only things I'd regret collection wise would be not getting my original bear hawk and my 58129 castrol celica 93 monte carlo back from my mates in aus.

I have a super manta ray arriving soon courtesy of the bay, I have a super clod buster which covers that, and I have converted my blitzer beetle into an almost exact replica of a bear hawk (just missing the red parts, also I've said it before, but I'm saying it again, I really dislike vw beetles). Everything else for me now is just gravy *lol*

[chevelle 997]

My regret would be not completing all my projects I have my grail car (Egress)

[Wooders28 4723]

My major one is not running them enough!

I've made inquires with a localish club,so hopefully get some competition track time this year.

The weathers starting to get better (although scraping ice of the car at the weekend?!?),so it's time for some run time after work.

All the cars I've wanted to own from BITD, I have,some have been a let down, and kind of wish I hadn't have bought.One I wouldn't mind would be a HPI baja 5b,but not enough to spend that much money on one.

[Nitomor 2122]

I really fancy one of those HPI Baja 5B FLux brushless buggies but I think it would ruin me for everything else, so I think I'll stick to the modest 1:10!

[yogi-bear 2321]

There are many projects I have on the go at the moment and there will be more. Plus there are many cars I'd love to collect or build and I doubt I'll ever finish all of them. But thats ok, I would only have regrets if I didn't at least try.

[Frog Jumper 3658]

This whole hobby is a regret! $100 of dollars, countless hours of work, taking time away from my other hobby...

Its like smoking crack. I hate myself for it, but I can't stop! Argh!!!

Terry

[MadInventor 3884]

Regrets really only are selling my first car (Sand Rover), and my first hotshot, and destroying all the original boxes I had as I didn't have room to store them all (Sand Rover, Hotshot, Hornet, Thundershot, original Ultima, Mud Blaster).

Sold a couple of other cars I wish I hadn't, walked past a few bargains I should have bought, but I enjoy my scratch builds, and like old blue eyes, 'I did it my way'

[markbt73 5315]

Funny... I just did a bucket list for 1:1 cars. Guess I can do an RC one as well.

In no particular order:

- Add a Marui Big Bear to my collection. My brother had one in the 80s, but he had all sorts of problems with it, and gave up and it sat in a box. I presume it ended up in a garage sale somewhere... anyway, someday, the right one will come along.

- Mess around with one of the old 4WD/4WS buggies. I briefly had a Nichimo Exceed in my possession, but it was so fragile I didn't dare drive it. But if I run across a Kyosho Progress/Gallop or a Mugen Bulldog for cheap, it would be fun. I just want to see how they drive.

- Build one NIB vintage kit. Prefer an on-road car, ideally one of the early Tamiya hard-body 1/12 scale cars or an Associated RC12E. Build it from NIB, completely stock, with period-correct gear, and drive it. Just to see how far we've come.

- Restore an early Tamiya 3-speed. Blazing Blazer in a perfect world, just because I'm not overly fond of Toyotas. But even if I found a chassis with no body, I could come up with something.

[XV Pilot 1936]

So far my only regret has been not stocking up on FF-01 A sprues when they were still readily available and sensibly priced.

[Pablo68 1049]

Oh I'd like to own and run....

Bruiser
Sand Scorcher

Wild One

one of the shots
Fox

Frog

I'd also like a TRF onroad car at some time.....

I'd love to get my hands on a Traxxas xo-1 and an X-maxx. That Baja 5b flux would also be good.

aaaand now I think about it a Durango DEX410 and 210.

Yeah I'm a tad greedy. It's a good thing that I have no money.

[Saito2 6686]

Funny you bring this up, as I was just wondering the other day where I have left to go in the hobby. I own just about every Tamiya vehicle I truly lusted after as a kid. This has got me looking at other brands like Marui, Kyosho, Nichimo and even "cheap" stuff like Royal. I might go this way but I'm afraid my collecting might get out of hand. One only has so much room . I suppose, deep down I would like the first 100 Tamiyas (or at least the first 50). Not only would I simply want to own them but I would like them to be properly displayed, museum-style. Barring that, I also always wanted to re-create a hobby shop front counter atmosphere with a glass display counter and new kits wall mounted above and behind it. A spinner rack with MRC/Tamiya spares would help complete the look along with spaces for spare body parts sets and those wonderful old tire boxes. Really need to finish that time machine I've been working on...

[chickenman242tk 266]

I usually set myself a goal for the year as to what cars I want , so far its only april and I have 3 of the 4 on said list lol.

most of the cars on these lists are what I had bitd , kinda started with the 58129 Castrol celica , stadium blitzer and a bear hawk, but in the last year, with some help from mr muffin ,I have exceeded what I could of expected to have .now I have the full blitzer based family ,grasshopper/hornet gang and just finished a sonic fighter to complement the striker it sits next too.

the next load of arrivals will come there is a wild willy and a king cab which now almost finishes my bucket list , just need to find a decent m01 mini and I could die a happy man lol.

as for running them ,most of the cars I have ive atleast tried to run , most get a pack through them just to relive them but usually that's it, I remember that they are mostly around the 20-30 year old mark and fear damaging them ,I have set runner that cop what I can dish out , usually being the good old bear hawk.

[Hibernaculum 933]

Funny you bring this up, as I was just wondering the other day where I have left to go in the hobby. I own just about every Tamiya vehicle I truly lusted after as a kid. This has got me looking at other brands like Marui, Kyosho, Nichimo and even "cheap" stuff like Royal. I might go this way but I'm afraid my collecting might get out of hand. One only has so much room . I suppose, deep down I would like the first 100 Tamiyas (or at least the first 50). Not only would I simply want to own them but I would like them to be properly displayed, museum-style. Barring that, I also always wanted to re-create a hobby shop front counter atmosphere with a glass display counter and new kits wall mounted above and behind it. A spinner rack with MRC/Tamiya spares would help complete the look along with spaces for spare body parts sets and those wonderful old tire boxes. Really need to finish that time machine I've been working on...

Expanding to other brands - this is something I have tried to do in a big way, over the past 10 years.

I feel a deep association with Tamiya in particular. But long ago I began to realize that it's the era I love - not just one brand. All of the R/C cars of the 1980s are related in style - in that, you can easily see the same technology and body style influences of the day, reflected across most brands. But despite different brands all looking like they were created in the same era of design, they often had vastly different technical solutions when it came to actual construction and engineering.

So on one hand - they all share a certain "80s aesthetic" that I love. Yet each one is also very individual - thus collecting them is filled with variety.

(I sometimes wish more Tamiya devotees weren't quite so 'locked in' to Tamiya, like I used to be, as I feel as though they are missing out on the joys of the wider family of vintage R/C - though I think this has definitely improved from what it used to be like 10-15 years ago)

And I too absolutely plan to have a hobby shop style counter display one day - I will be truly disappointed if it never happens, as I've been saving lots of vintage parts (that I don't even need) just for this purpose

[Nitomor 2122]

Other brands, there's about three cars thst appeal to me outside of Tamiya; the Marui Big Bear, Marui Ninja (what a cool looking car - a friend had one bitd) and Kyosho Turbo Optima.

[berman 5315]

Biggest regret is not keeping one of my rc's from my youth.

2nd would be that elusive Mammoth (not really vintage, but rare all the same). Although I feel I will sell off all it's brethren before that happens.

[Pablo68 1049]

Expanding to other brands - this is something I have tried to do in a big way, over the past 10 years.

I feel a deep association with Tamiya in particular. But long ago I began to realize that it's the era I love - not just one brand. All of the R/C cars of the 1980s are related in style - in that, you can easily see the same technology and body style influences of the day, reflected across most brands. But despite different brands all looking like they were created in the same era of design, they often had vastly different technical solutions when it came to actual construction and engineering.

So on one hand - they all share a certain "80s aesthetic" that I love. Yet each one is also very individual - thus collecting them is filled with variety.

(I sometimes wish more Tamiya devotees weren't quite so 'locked in' to Tamiya, like I used to be, as I feel as though they are missing out on the joys of the wider family of vintage R/C - though I think this has definitely improved from what it used to be like 10-15 years ago)

And I too absolutely plan to have a hobby shop style counter display one day - I will be truly disappointed if it never happens, as I've been saving lots of vintage parts (that I don't even need) just for this purpose

Kyosho made some awesome cars back then.

I have a couple of Ultima's. An original in need of refurbishing, a turbo, an RB type R and an RB5.

I also have an Associated B4.

Ok, the last three are from after the time period of which you spake, but on the whole design angle......

I like far too many cars.

[Palfertronic 74]

For me it's not hanging on to some cars, or "losing" them in transit between RAF bases and after my first marriage broke up...

So far I have owned and lost, Martini Porsche 935, Astute, Sand scorcher (that a neighbour gave me), and a Grasshopper2.

Actually, I regret selling any of the others, but sometimes space (or money) got a bit tight, and I slimmed down.

But I still have some nice cars, and the memories of the ones that are not around any more....

[beefmuffin 1156]

Primarily, I regret throwing out all my childhood Tamiyas when I went away for university. I didn't think I'd ever really care about them again at the time, and was living in a van so no room for things I didn't want. My dad was alive and estranged. The unpleasant parts of my youth were close memories and drowned out the parts I'd later want to remember.

Hindsight is 20:20 as they say... if that applies. My advice to anyone would be to hold onto things you might not yet realize will later be special to you.

[njmlondon 570]

1) letting my mum take my Sand Scorcher to a jumble sale

2) selling my new built 959 after just one drive

3) selling my restored Hilux before I at least drove it once

4) not yet owned / driven a Blazing Blazer

[Palfertronic 74]

are you and Mum reconciled yet?

[Wooders28 4723]

Other brands, there's about three cars thst appeal to me outside of Tamiya; the Marui Big Bear, Marui Ninja (what a cool looking car - a friend had one bitd) and Kyosho Turbo Optima.

PM sent!

[Grastens 2795]

The two vintage RC regrets I have are:

- never experiencing a vintage 3-speed (probably unlikely given the money involved)

- not being around during the hobby's infancy

The latter is part of the reason I am drawn to re-releases and old models. I marvel at how far the hobby has come, but feel as if I would have somehow enjoyed being a part of it in the past.