RC10 Team Car

[F-150 635]

On 11/6/2024 at 11:21 PM, RichieRich said:

 or the green goblin.

I'm seriously considering the green goblin 

[guggles 295]

45 minutes ago, F-150 said:

I have a chance to get an original, RC10 TQ, 

It's not a gold pan, has the flat graphite chassis. I searched it and it says associated made the TQ just for horizon hobbies to sell.. I guess it's just an RC 10 graphite with a different shaped chassis.   

Why do companies do this?  

I dunno ..it's never been run and has an unpainted body 500 dollars 

While the TQ is a more rare car and arguably has a greater collectors value, if you do decide to sell it down the line its really only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it. The rarer and more obscure the car, the higher the collectors value but in my experience it gets harder to find a buyer. Just something to keep in mind. 

[F-150 635]

1 hour ago, guggles said:

While the TQ is a more rare car and arguably has a greater collectors value, if you do decide to sell it down the line its really only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it. The rarer and more obscure the car, the higher the collectors value but in my experience it gets harder to find a buyer. Just something to keep in mind. 

Here is a pic of it.  Emmm not sure about it really.... She said it's never been run and the only thing not original is the wing.  I dunno, I'd be taking a chance as I cannot see it in person.

I might ask for a lot more detailed pictures and cross reference to see if this is the real deal. Also ask for other things ...original box, manuals, documents spare parts ..  to me 500 for just the car is....well...  A bit much?  Then again if I get this and it's real and never run, then I can bypass buying the re release graphite and team cars coming. So in reality I am saving money, haha.

Or I might just forget it all.

 

Here's a pic of it, I'm sure you can use it to find the listing. Please buy it before I do, lol.

[Wandy 1573]

Confirmed. With the emphasis being on the 'Gold Edition'. I guess, with the way they are hammering out the various iterations of the RC10, there will likely be a 'Black Version' too.

https://www.associatedelectrics.com/news/latest_products/2896-new-team-associated-rc10-team-car-gold-edition-kit/

I cant really fathom why they didnt release this gold version as the Championship Edition, then release the Team car with its period correct black chassis.

[RCvet 68]

I feel like the photos on the box highlighting Cliff Lett's car are the answer to that.  This car matches what the "Team" was running at that race.  Gold chassis and black ano shocks.  The black chassis "Team Car" for sale was not yet. 

 

[Jonathon Gillham 4697]

I'm really interested in this one. Whats the expected price though? The Jay Halsey version is NZD799! Thats USD480 or GBP370 ish. I'm hoping this one is going to be more realisticly priced, or am I being unrealistic and thats what they cost now?

[scoobybooster 341]

I am somewhat divided in my enthusiasm. I'm not really an RC 10 expert, but as I've written elsewhere, I think, at least for my understanding and memory,  an RC 10 team car should have a black chassis. Even if this version has apparently taken part in races, the team car / Gold Pan combination is somehow incongruous for me.
If I already knew that a black chassis version would be released later, I would wait for it and buy it instead.

[scoobybooster 341]

3 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

I'm really interested in this one. Whats the expected price though? The Jay Halsey version is NZD799! Thats USD480 or GBP370 ish. I'm hoping this one is going to be more realisticly priced, or am I being unrealistic and thats what they cost now?

According to the "Press release" in the link it says MSRP 573.99$, MAP 389.99$. So this should give you a rough idea 

[mtbkym01 4245]

4 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

I'm really interested in this one. Whats the expected price though? The Jay Halsey version is NZD799! Thats USD480 or GBP370 ish. I'm hoping this one is going to be more realisticly priced, or am I being unrealistic and thats what they cost now?

I’d be expecting very similar pricing down this way unfortunately

[JimBear 1013]

What is really behind the relentless stream of variations, apart from FanRC and general money-grabbing?

It struck me that perhaps China is a growing market asking for all of the stuff that never showed up there in the first place? There must be some sort of demand outside of Europe and North America.

[Saito2 7650]

On 11/28/2024 at 4:01 AM, JimBear said:

general money-grabbing?

There's the answer, lol. No, that's a bit facetious.

Part of it is the 40th anniversary of the buggy. In an interview last year, someone from Associated stated they had plenty planned to celebrate and they weren't kidding from the looks of it. AE's former president said in an interview a few years back that not a day went by that they didn't get some inquiry about a second return of the RC10. Demand seemed to be there.

On the rumor side, it was floated that AE wasn't all that keen on doing another re-release, being more interesting in moving forward. This rumor postulated that parent company Thunder Tiger saw the money laying on the table and pushed for another re-release.

The first re-release of Classics, over a decade ago, sold well here in the US, actually requiring a second batch to be made. They sold for $250. The second re-re, the Worlds Car had some transmission related manufacturing issues and sat of shelves before finally being sold at a loss. Much later, after both cars had disappeared,  yet another batch of of the Classics was "found" by AE. They sold them exclusively on their site for an inflated $450. Reports from other counties were that both the Classic and Worlds Car sold poorly back then.

Its possible this relentless stream of variations serve multiple purposes. First they are all "special" and "unique" as a way of really celebrating what a monumental product the RC10 was for AE.

Second, there's limited numbers of each variation. The product doesn't get stale and sit around like the first re-releases did. The market was so thirsty, that the limited production runs seem to be eagerly gobbled up by consumers, limiting the risk of unsold stock. The limited numbers drive FOMO in consumer's minds. The multiple variations not only keep things fresh on the shelf but also are geared to the pokomon collector mentality of "gotta catch 'em all" that is prevalent in the completest in our hobby. For instance, I'm not overly excited about the Boomerang, but I have one because it completes my set of having all the early Tamiya 4wds in my collection.

Its clear at this point there is no rhyme or reason to AE's methods. We have models that make an attempt at mimicking the originals like the Classic and Halsey car. We have models that are slightly off (at least in comparison to the original releases) like the RC10T and this Team Car. We also have models that are totally new like the clear and green versions.

For those that like it, enjoy the ride. There seems to be something new around every corner this year at Team Associated.

 

[JimBear 1013]

A well-thought out and informative answer, @Saito2. Of course there is probably multiple reasons why a specific product reaches the market (some of them not known to us), and I think the answer lies somewhere there in what you wrote.

And, of course, as long people like and can afford the variations, enjoy it as much as you possibly can!

[Saito2 7650]

Thanks @JimBear. Just as an aside, I don't claim to have any insider info and these are just theories on my part. I've just always been interested in motives in life. There's always an angle, so to speak, particularly in product marketing and advertising.

[Kowalski86 4270]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

On the rumor side, it was floated that AE wasn't all that keen on doing another re-release, being more interesting in moving forward. This rumor postulated that parent company Thunder Tiger saw the money laying on the table and pushed for another re-release.

At this point, I think the re-res are an important part of AEs income.

Outside of race-grade kits, AEs line-up is a bit hit or miss. Theres a lot of re-badged Redcat/Helion/Thunder Tiger stuff in there, and most RC guys aren't going to venture out of the Horizon Hobby/Traxxas bubble.

In the most recent edition of Radio Control Action AE is quite absent, only having an ad that says "hey guys! We bought back some oldies!". Plenty of space dedicated to Tamiya, Traxxas, and Losi though.

The re-releases, while certainly inflated and gimmicky, give them their own niche with less competition.

[IXLR8 1282]

2 hours ago, Kowalski86 said:

At this point, I think the re-res are an important part of AEs income.

Outside of race-grade kits, AEs line-up is a bit hit or miss. Theres a lot of re-badged Redcat/Helion/Thunder Tiger stuff in there, and most RC guys aren't going to venture out of the Horizon Hobby/Traxxas bubble.

In the most recent edition of Radio Control Action AE is quite absent, only having an ad that says "hey guys! We bought back some oldies!". Plenty of space dedicated to Tamiya, Traxxas, and Losi though.

The re-releases, while certainly inflated and gimmicky, give them their own niche with less competition.

While probably true, that certainly doesn't bode well for the company's future. 

After all, unlike Tamiya, AE doesn't have an enormous catalog of vintage models to re-release.

Anyway, I wish AE all the best and hope they will make choices that sustain and keep them relevant long into the future

[GToddC5 2002]

I'll be down for a black pan version if they do one. I don't need another gold pan next to the 40th, regardless of other differences.

[timjz 6]

Same, bought a new Team Car in 1991(?), still have it. Tried to paint it like the Cliff Lett car pictured. Black chassis. I'll wait for either the black frame or graphite chassis potentially on the way.

A graphite team car would be pretty sweet.

[Kowalski86 4270]

On 11/28/2024 at 11:32 AM, IXLR8 said:

While probably true, that certainly doesn't bode well for the company's future. 

Didn't Shawn Ireland recently leave AE for Amain Hobbies?

I have the problem where I genuinely want to like AEs products (and even reccomend their 2wd platform over a Traxxas), but their prices and models are all over the place.

Will they be going back to real manuals soon or sticking to QR codes?

[tamiya3speed 513]

2 hours ago, Kowalski86 said:

Will they be going back to real manuals soon or sticking to QR codes?

As I understand, they did paper manuals for the Halsey cars (I have yet to get mine open to confirm).  Still not quite sure why they skipped the manual on the 40th anniversary edition as the clear edition had an included manual too.

[Idaho 57]

27 minutes ago, tamiya3speed said:

As I understand, they did paper manuals for the Halsey cars (I have yet to get mine open to confirm).  Still not quite sure why they skipped the manual on the 40th anniversary edition as the clear edition had an included manual too.

The RC10T rerelease comes with a manual, I think they saw that people complained about the lack of the manual in the RC10 40th.

[RCvet 68]

At this point I am glad AE even exists and offers anything like this.  This is not Tamiya, they are a division of a much larger company, that's it.    All this talk of greed and cash grab seems kind of comical  They are a business after all and in grand scheme of Thunder Tiger or RC industry as a whole, these RC10's are barely a blip on the radar.  

None for these are an exact replica or that close to an original if one wants to get picky about hardware, finishes, shocks, tires, and well, everything.  So I will enjoy the time we have where this stuff is even being offered, it won't last long.