Kowalski86 5020 Posted February 15, 2023 I still have my restored Grasshopper. When I initially bought it I also grabbed a used TT-01 to get a taste of modern and old Tamiya. I still have the Grasshopper, sold the TT-01 not long after buying it. I don't get the appeal of on-road cars with terrible steering. I've replaced the frame, added a driver, new wheels/tires, new bearings, and added modern electronics. Much of the rest of the car is still from the 80's. 10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
El Gecko 1673 Posted February 15, 2023 After a small Nikko Cyclone RTR, my first hobby-grade was this Frog. It was the first RC I ever built and brought to life, and it was gifted to me in a big box of RC junk along with a well-used and abused Traxxas Sledgehammer (seen in other threads here, still sporting its junk body from back then). I recently gave it a light restoration with fresh bearings, as well as a fresh new servo, ESC, and Rx. I also restored and painted the front wheels, and the servo saver and tie rods have since been reverted to the vintage Kimbrough/Dubro setup that was fitted to my Brat. It still has the original gearbox internals and hex driveshafts, and it will do a 3-wheel drift on tarmac with that Trinity 17t motor. After experiencing the truly supple nature of this suspension, it was definitely a surprise to drive a Grasshopper for the first time a few years later. It has never had a body shell, although I hope to remedy that eventually 10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OnTheTrail 1417 Posted February 16, 2023 5 hours ago, El Gecko said: .... It still has the original gearbox internals and hex driveshafts,... Wow, the original hex dog bones? Man, I rounded those off on my Blackfoot within the first hour of running it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moffman 6101 Posted February 16, 2023 My first rc was the Ford ranger when it was first released so to still have it would be absolutely superb! But it was raced to absolute destruction and many bodies followed suit! It was a pile of bits when I upgrade or should I say modernised to the hotshot mk1 as its know now but I didn't really get on with that because of its having to take it completely apart to do minor repairs and fixes so I sold it to the local postmaster at my local post office and I then got the boomerang and that was much easier to race and again raced it to an inch of its life! Long story short I then grew up got a real job other side of the country so I give the boomerang to a you lad who turned up every week at the club just to watch and clearly couldn't afford a car but the enthusiasm in his eyes said it all! 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PoD2k2 99 Posted February 16, 2023 Still got mine, dragged it out of the loft a few weeks ago. Bought somewhere between 2001 - 2003. Slowly acquiring the parts to put it back to how it was, also trying to find box art painting instructions, I have the decals. 9 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
El Gecko 1673 Posted February 16, 2023 16 hours ago, OnTheTrail said: Wow, the original hex dog bones? Man, I rounded those off on my Blackfoot within the first hour of running it! I think maybe the smaller diameter tires saved mine? Also, the only tires I ever had for it were bald! Until I got these vintage tractor tires shortly before it went in storage for 20 years, but even now there's not much load on it, especially sans bodyshell One of the reasons I kept and drove my Tamiyas more than anything was because the axles were reliable, unlike some of the Traxxas stuff I had. Even the Brat with its locked diff managed 30-odd years before the hex shafts became truly unusable. But thanks to the trickle-down of parts, the Brat benefitted from the old Mud Blaster axles when I upgraded that one to rere universals. So yes, technically I'm still driving on two sets of original hex shafts! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Novamadcars 230 Posted February 17, 2023 I wish I still had my first tamiya which was a ff01 with Volvo 850 body. I will get another ff01 chassis one day I hope 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cycledude 34 Posted February 19, 2023 Here is my restored 1984 Grasshopper! I saved for months to get it. I restored in in 2017 and it sits on a shelf in my office next to a Rough Rider and my first RC10. 16 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ddaenen1 278 Posted February 19, 2023 Unfortunately i don't. It was an original Sand Rover with a 540 installed and i sold it on a 2nd hand market. I still regret it until this day. I do still have the 2nd one, a Hornet which i actually found back on the attic at my parents year ago and got me back into the Tamiya world. It did have quite a number of hopups and i did equip it with a rere body as the original one was toast and at the time i used the rere decals but i do have an original decal sheet which is waiting to be applied (and so are the lights). It has got a Technipower installed and is RTR but living a life on the shelve. 10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kalsh 58 Posted February 20, 2023 sure do….unrestored…badly broken body after rolling down some stairs…..it is staying this way for the rest of my life at least…good memories 11 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
c64orinoco 670 Posted March 4, 2023 I still have a Sand Rover that was techinically my brother's car, but bought at the same time I bought a Super Champ in 1984. I don't have the Super Champ any more, but somehow I ended up with the Sand Rover. The paint job is original and the dirt is circa 1985-6. 14 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beetlemankurt 779 Posted March 10, 2023 On 2/19/2023 at 4:57 PM, Cycledude said: Here is my restored 1984 Grasshopper! I saved for months to get it. I restored in in 2017 and it sits on a shelf in my office next to a Rough Rider and my first RC10. Now that's a good looking hopper! Very nice. Love the colour scheme. Kurt 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naturbo2000 1492 Posted March 27, 2023 Nope. I sold my Hornet after about 2 years use back in 91/92 so I could go buy a Madcap. I still have that, but I went a bit overboard on the "restoration". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
T-StudioWorks 306 Posted April 4, 2023 I still have my original Boomerang. Love that car as I took it apart & put it back together again so many times. Saved up bit by bit to add bearings until it was fully ball raced. Unfortunately it’s +8000km away, as my whole collection is not under one roof. I’ve broken a gearbox & some arms. Made an antenna tube holder out of balsa, there weren’t that many aluminium aftermarket parts back then. Maybe one day I will have a chance to consolidate & have enough space to display them all. Enjoy your hobby guys. 😊✌🏻 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonboy1 3787 Posted April 11, 2023 sadly not - as with @MadInventor I had to sell one to buy the next, so my first, which was a Blackfoot, got sold to buy my second, the Astute, which I did get back : https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=134978&id=33463 and this is going nowhere!! At the time I always thought I got the wrong truck, as I'd see the massive chunky tyres on the Lunchbox and wish mine were that big..... In hindsight I don't think I appreciated how good the Blackfoot was as it is arguably a much more capable chassis. My first first rc car was actually a Taiyo white jeep, probably around 1/24 scale, which was actually brilliant. It had a high/low range gearbox and a working winch and would pull great wheelies if you ran it in reverse and then slammed it in forwards..... I was only 8 or 9 at the time ok! Anyway, that was the cause of its demise as the gears got shredded. I know it sat up in its box in the attic for years, but I am wondering now if it ever made it over to my attic. I might have to go and have a rummage at lunchtime..... just checked it was one of these! https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=99525 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sgt.Speirs 1629 Posted April 23, 2023 My first (Grasshopper II) and second (Manta Ray) RC car from the mid 90s. The Grasshopper waits for his restoration and the Manta Ray is still in use… 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wooders28 5140 Posted April 26, 2023 Urm, kinda.... 3 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Erol27 79 Posted September 29, 2023 I still have my Hotshot from Christmas 1986 although it's nowhere near standard! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blissard 359 Posted October 3, 2023 Yes, here it is, the day I built it back in 2006. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ferruz 13721 Posted October 9, 2023 Not a Tamiya, but yes I still do have my first hobby grade RC car. A second hand Kyosho Big Boss from around 1989/1990 that I got gifted from my parents as a kid. I used it a lot back then, then it ended up at the back of a garage in the Alps for over 25 years. I retrieved it a while ago, and after a light restoration the Boss was ready to go again. It's seen a lot of action since its rebirth ! 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cooltoys 129 Posted October 11, 2023 I still have my first rc frog fortunately. Gone through a new chassis since it was driven through by a bicycle and cracked the front part of the chassis.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
J@mes 2353 Posted October 17, 2023 Swapped mine for an air rifle. Forget what I swapped the air riffle for… 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
urban warrior 976 Posted October 24, 2023 (edited) Still got my first RC car, a Bruiser 4x4 which I bought in late 1986 or 1987 and I must quote Charlton Heston: "From my cold, dead hands!" Admittedly, I never really ran it. With the "custom paint job" done by a good friend in several hours of work in the late eighties, I did not want to risk any damage. Actually it needs quite some TLC. I swapped a contemporary Wild Willy for a RC boat at that time, never got happy with it and had always regrets about it afterwards. That's the reason why I will keep the Bruiser until I am far too old for the hobby! Well maybe one or two decades. Who knows! Glory Days 1988: Today it's waiting for some TLC: Edited October 26, 2023 by urban warrior Test to upload image 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites