Does Anyone else enjoy restoring cars that have been abused and forgotten?

[2Dover3D 589]

So this was basically free with latest car lot I received and it was the worst of them. Both rear and right front axles are broken, missing gears and diff, stickers are peeling, tires have flat spots, missing front shocks,cracks, rusted, missing screws, bolts and more but I must say  im excited to start working on it. I always wanted one of these as I am a Ivan Stewart fan but it wasn't top priority. My challenge to myself is to completely restore this one without buying anything for it just using everything I have in my inventory. I enjoy restoring builds that had been beaten up and forgotten. I appreciate it more when its finally done. Lets see how this turns out. 👍

[Dakratfink 1026]

I sort of do enjoy restoring a lost and forgotten car . 
Your above example is a pretty beat up example. I don’t know if I enjoy finding them that rough, however.

Another thing I actually do enjoy is finding an example with one or two small things wrong and trying to play forensic detective and try to determine what go the car parked and shelved. 

[Kowalski86 4758]

It depends, sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes I hate it. My attempt at sorting out a Monster Beetle burned me out a bit.

[2Dover3D 589]

1 hour ago, Dakratfink said:

I sort of do enjoy restoring a lost and forgotten car . 
Your above example is a pretty beat up example. I don’t know if I enjoy finding them that rough, however.

Another thing I actually do enjoy is finding an example with one or two small things wrong and trying to play forensic detective and try to determine what go the car parked and shelved. 

I totally understand what you mean. I do come into some headaches when trying to find parts but when I do finally find the part or substitute a part that works is really satisfying. For example I had some vintage sees wheels that only fit on team losi cars as they where pin drive and my car was hex so I took the exles to work and carefully driled holes into the axle pin and boom the wheels now fits perfectly and the excitement of wanting to get home to try it out after searching ways to get it to work for weeks was incredible and now it sits on my shelf look awsome lol

[2Dover3D 589]

41 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

It depends, sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes I hate it. My attempt at sorting out a Monster Beetle burned me out a bit.

I have had some I gave up on really due to the lack of resources for vintage parts. But I usually just set it aside and every now and then the part would pop up when im not looking for it then I would go back right into the headache again lol

[Kowalski86 4758]

10 minutes ago, 2Dover3D said:

I have had some I gave up on really due to the lack of resources for vintage parts. But I usually just set it aside and every now and then the part would pop up when im not looking for it then I would go back right into the headache again lol

In the case of the Monster Beetle it was the old plastics constantly cracking on me...but the worst restoration I ever tried was on a Texas Rustler that had been driven underwater (I think), I can't work on something when the screws strip!

[junkmunki 869]

Most of the vintage shelf queen cars in my collection have been wrecks when i first got them.

I enjoy the chase of finding the new old stock parts, and then the resoration process. I have no interest in buying a new kit and building it.

J

[Grumpy pants 5549]

Sourcing the parts and bringing them back to life is great.

The cost is horrendous though 🤦

[Gebbly 846]

I'm not in a position where I could renovate old cars but I'm always riveted by watching the process when others take it on. I find it so satisfying seeing something old and loved brought back to life and used again. Like watching people restore old hand tools and getting them working again.

So if you do carry on with this renovation please do let us know how it goes

[Dirt-540 79]

Yes definitely, I've given many a tamiya a new lease of life after a lot of hardwork, persistance and of course cash. I've recently started working on polycarbonate shells which to be honest are virtually impossible to return back to near new condition unless theyre already in great condition when you buy them second hand which then really thats not restoring is it. So I have a few poly shells that still have lots of imperfections and will never be shelf-queens again but regarding the state I received them in they are now far more respectable and looking pretty good. For me its like buying something that will never ever be what it once was but still I like to lavish them with love, care and attention and making them as best as they could possibly be and take them as far away possible from the sad state they were left in.  

[AshRC 213]

I find restoring much more satisfying than building a NIB kit. The worse condition, the better IMO. This is probably the worst I've started with

which ended up like this

[Pablo68 1233]

Actually it's a lot of what I do with this hobby.
I have a bunch of Tamiya and other cars that had been put away somewhere and forgotten about, often after an attempt at repair. I pick them up as cheap as I can, stip, clean, repair, get new bits If I have to, put together and get em running.
It's really rewarding.
I often keep the OG bodies, even inexpertly painted and decalled ones. I tend to look at those as an expression of the former owner, what they could do or thought was cool at the time. That it was once someones prized possession or somesuch.
It's probably overly sentimental or whatever.

[Willy iine 18842]

All of these were restored..  I am not certain whether I 'enjoyed' some of the restoration as they were quite horribly damaged and filthy (dirty), but at the end it was all worth it.      I actually built a new one (due to NIB had box mold and could not save the box) and I still have one NIB displayed on my shelf.

[simalarion 2552]

@Willy iine “Free Wild Willy” ? 

[Willy iine 18842]

37 minutes ago, simalarion said:

@Willy iine “Free Wild Willy” ? 

I did call it the “mission Willy rescue” originally as a lot of them were abused and looked horrendous.  

[bRIBEGuy 3406]

16 hours ago, Grumpy pants said:

Sourcing the parts and bringing them back to life is great.

The cost is horrendous though 🤦

I feel like this ^^^ largely sums up my thoughts too. 

I used to really enjoy the restoration process (and sometimes still do), but it is something that can be a tough pill to swallow if you are being honest with yourself about it.  I've passed on a large number of great restoration-candidate vehicles in the past year or two, just because the cost of replacing a few key parts would end up costing more than just buying a new kit.  At the end of the day, it's whatever makes you smile (and I do have a stack of "To Restore" projects squirrelled away, so I certainly realize that I'm complaining while dressed in a cloak of hypocrisy).

[Willy iine 18842]

There is a certain level of satisfaction FAR GREATER restoring old cars vs building a modern new car.. there is no doubt about that, as each restoration require specific attention and it is like building a special one-off car.  I learned so much about the hard shell characteristic too, new and old, and how to manipulate it.  

That was why I was able to fairly easily do the comical SandScorchers as I understood how to read the plastic.

[markbt73 6115]

Yes and no. I really enjoy fixing up old cars, but I do it a bit differently than most folks on here. Instead of finding, buying, and replacing a bunch of broken parts and trying to put the model back to exactly how it was, I embrace the patina. I won't replace scratched-up chassis parts or cracked Lexan bodies unless there's a functional reason to. Otherwise it's just a long shopping spree, and that doesn't interest me.

My favorite restorations are cars that are just tired and worn-out, not broken. This, sadly, rules out many Tamiya vehicles. I can re-boil Associated nylon parts to give them some new life, or clean up and polish Kyosho aluminum parts, but if I have to hunt down a D parts tree or whatever before I can continue, I get bored and the car sits unfinished. If I can find two of something and make one good one, then great (my Blackfoot is actually two Blackfoots and a Frog) but otherwise forget it.

Also, I keep the worn-out tires that came with a car on it unless they're actually useless. Again, I like the patina, and old hard worn-out tires keep me from trying to drive a restored model too hard. If I do get new tires for a resto, they're strictly shelf-only.

[Mrowka 497]

I do this with helicopters, buy broken copters on Ebay and then rebuild them.

90% of the time, there's nothing wrong with it.

5% of the time, it requires a few adjustments or maybe a part or two.

5% of the time, more work is required. 

[Kowalski86 4758]

55 minutes ago, markbt73 said:

Yes and no. I really enjoy fixing up old cars, but I do it a bit differently than most folks on here. Instead of finding, buying, and replacing a bunch of broken parts and trying to put the model back to exactly how it was, I embrace the patina.

My favorite restorations are cars that are just tired and worn-out, not broken. This, sadly, rules out many Tamiya vehicles. I can re-boil Associated nylon parts to give them some new life, or clean up and polish Kyosho aluminum parts, but if I have to hunt down a D parts tree or whatever before I can continue, I get bored and the car sits unfinished. If I can find two of something and make one good one, then great (my Blackfoot is actually two Blackfoots and a Frog) but otherwise forget it.

That's how I do it too, it gives something a bit of history when you see yellowed wheels or a scuffed up shell.

Mixing several models to make a good one and selling off the surplus can be cheaper than nickel and diming yourself with each part.

My biggest annoyance is the absurd resale prices of used RCs, sure, I'll buy your dirty old, untested, broken, dry rotted, shell-less Grasshopper 2 for $70 instead of $100 for a new kit!

[Saito2 8297]

2 hours ago, Kowalski86 said:

My biggest annoyance is the absurd resale prices of used RCs, sure, I'll buy your dirty old, untested, broken, dry rotted, shell-less Grasshopper 2 for $70 instead of $100 for a new kit!

Bingo.

[Dakratfink 1026]

I will add another thought . I have found Nitro cars make particularly good restoration projects .

They can often be found in surprisingly good condition. Often they are barely run . It’s not uncommon someone wasn’t comfortable tuning but and shelved it with very little run time .  Or, if they were heavily run and abused, they usually hold up well due to the heavier construction most nitro platforms are built with.  
Other times the only thing “wrong “ with them is they have decades of old caked fuel and grime as just need a good cleaning. 
 I got an old Associated RC10GT for a song at a charity auction with a seized up  O.S engine .The only thing the engine needed to run again was a little heat applied , some fresh fuel and a tear down. 
 

[2Dover3D 589]

On 6/15/2023 at 8:26 AM, AshRC said:

I find restoring much more satisfying than building a NIB kit. The worse condition, the better IMO. This is probably the worst I've started with

which ended up like this

Beautiful!!!

[RC_FunLand 172]

On 6/15/2023 at 12:49 PM, markbt73 said:

My favorite restorations are cars that are just tired and worn-out, not broken

That just about sums it up for me. Case in point: an old Fox I picked up from a friend. It was used,  but not abused and destroyed. My favorite types of repairs are: screw swappings, cleanings, regreasing gears (and getting new ones if stripped), and the likes. For it to be interesting, the car has to be near-functional. Else, its cost-prohibitive nature and disassembled state leads me to abandon the project.

[Kowalski86 4758]

On 6/16/2023 at 2:44 PM, RC_FunLand said:

That just about sums it up for me. Case in point: an old Fox I picked up from a friend. It was used,  but not abused and destroyed. My favorite types of repairs are: screw swappings, cleanings, regreasing gears (and getting new ones if stripped), and the likes. For it to be interesting, the car has to be near-functional. Else, its cost-prohibitive nature and disassembled state leads me to abandon the project.

Same here, new wheels and tires are usually fine, bodyshells and part trees gets expensive.

I'd like to add to my previous comment, some of the ridiculous prices are partly due to Tamiya themselves. When I went to restore my Frog I entertained the idea of installing a proper Frog shell, turns out those simple things are $40 once you tally up everything (as they're sold in pieces). For that same price I can buy one of Tamiyas detailed, licensed, touring car shells.

Monster Beetle? About $90 (but $50-60 for the same exact shell for a Blitzer Beetle), this is an ancient shell that Tamiya has pumped out across several models (note all of the unused holes), its made from ABS, afaik isn't licensed, and it doesn't matter if you buy it piece by piece from Tamiya or as a bundle from a kit breaker.