Sand Scorcher car show find.

[Tbird232ci]

Every year, I go to the All Ford Nationals in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. For 3 years in a row now, I find some RC related gear. This year, I went to find where the particular seller was sitting. I find the guy, and sitting on the table was an original, slightly rough looking Sand Scorcher. I did the slow walk past to get an idea if it was something I wanted, and how much I'd be willing to pay. I'm not particularly attached to idea of an original release, so it would have to cost less than a new or used release would cost. 

Since it's a multiple day show, sat on it for a little while. I saw most were going for 350-500 in varying states of condition. I thought I'd me willing to spend 300. The next day, I went to go back and see what he wanted for it. At first, I didn't see it in the booth, and I was both heart broken, and relieved. After looking around, I found they had it tucked behind their chairs, where it couldn't get rained on. I crouch down to look at it and the seller immediately recognizes me from buying the RC10 last year, and a bit of other RC stuff the year before. We talk for a few moments and he tells me, it has everything to go with it, and it's all original. He then says "I'm asking 300, but I'm flexible. Very flexible for you." I offered him 260 and he didn't hesitate to take it. We talked for a few more minutes, and he admitted that he brings RC stuff now because he knows if no one buys it, I likely will. 

If you're still with me after all of that reading, I'll indulge you with pictures. 

It's in surprisingly good shape. The shocks still had oil until I decided to disturb them after being buried in someones basement for nearly 40 years. 

This was pretty clever. The previous owner wanted to run a 7 cell battery that didn't fit in the electronics compartment.This was a fairly tidy solution. If the double-backed tape held, and it didn't need a steering ball cup, I would try to run it as-is. 

Now, the cool part. 

This came with everything. I flipped through the manual and found the original parts list from the shop he bought everything from. It had every piece of documentation, mail order envelopes, options part list, warning paperwork and even the cards that were stapled to the parts baggies in the kit. It also came with the body parts not used, spare hardware, chargers for the rechargeable batteries for the transmitter and other doo-dads. 

My favorite part was that it was purchased directly from Model Rectifier Corporation in person in NJ in 1982. 

I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. Likely clean it, fix it and put an ESC and modern receiver in it so it could be run if I so choose. I likely won't do a proper restoration. 

 

[Saito2]

Very cool find! I remember getting that red reply card with the hand drawn Sand Scorcher on it when I bought my first Lunch Box. I love all that extra paraphernalia.

You know, I went to Carlisle multiple times a year for three decades and never got lucky enough to find a Tamiya, lol. I haven't been back since my dad passed over 13 years ago now. My first boss in the restoration field was good buddies with Carlisle founders Bill and Chip Miller. He declined to go in on the venture when the started up and decided to stick to his restoration business. Whoops, lol. At least he and Chip did buy a Corvette together that wound up being a reasonable valuable old race car called the Purple People Eater.

[MadAnt]

That's freaking sweet! The bodyshell looks decent and the front bumper is looks surprisingly straight. It's goes to show that sometimes you find some goodies at swap meets and flea markets. Some day I'd like to go to Carlisle for the Mopar Nats, but I don't feel like taking a long trip lol. 

[Tbird232ci]

On 6/8/2025 at 7:32 PM, Saito2 said:

Very cool find! I remember getting that red reply card with the hand drawn Sand Scorcher on it when I bought my first Lunch Box. I love all that extra paraphernalia.

You know, I went to Carlisle multiple times a year for three decades and never got lucky enough to find a Tamiya, lol. I haven't been back since my dad passed over 13 years ago now. My first boss in the restoration field was good buddies with Carlisle founders Bill and Chip Miller. He declined to go in on the venture when the started up and decided to stick to his restoration business. Whoops, lol. At least he and Chip did buy a Corvette together that wound up being a reasonable valuable old race car called the Purple People Eater.

I've gone to Carlisle off and on for probably 20 years, but have finally been going consistently for the past 7 or 8 years. These past 3 years I have found RC stuff, but I also hadn't looked too closely for it. The 87-88 Thunderbirds like mine are fairly niche, and my 2018 Mustang is too new to find useful things for a cheap enough price so I never really walked the vendors area until recently. 

That Corvette is a very cool piece of history. It's in the Corvette museum now if I remember correctly. That's totally cool.

On 6/8/2025 at 8:09 PM, MadAnt said:

That's freaking sweet! The bodyshell looks decent and the front bumper is looks surprisingly straight. It's goes to show that sometimes you find some goodies at swap meets and flea markets. Some day I'd like to go to Carlisle for the Mopar Nats, but I don't feel like taking a long trip lol. 

.The body is surprisingly nice. It's up on the shelf for now since I'm trying to prep a few cars for a race. It looks like a good scrubbing may be all it needs.

The guy I purchased this from did say he would have some Tamiya F1 cars at the Mopar Nats. It might make your trip worth it! 

I have a friend who comes down from Long Island every year. He and I both put cars on the show field, so we get rooms and say from Thursday-Sunday usually. It's a good time if you know some people and enjoy just wandering around, looking at stuff and talking to people. 

[simensays]

I love reading these stories - the backstory to a specific find. Congrats on your find - but you probably should not play poker

[Snappy1]

Great looking original car, enjoy……..