The 1st ever rc car?

[mr_lister999.]

What was the 1st ever rc car? There must be older things than tamiya around. Just in an historical mood tonight! []

[robysoldtamiya]

My first RC car was in 1980.

it was a RE-EL police car (similar to Lancia Stratos if I remember well). The radio had 1 single button. After that I had a Polistyl F1 Lotus (it was big, maybe 1/9), a RE-EL BMW M1 (1/18) very fast and the best of all was the Mountain Man (1/12), a Chevrolet Blazer with selectable 2WD/4WD by moving a switch on the car. This last I stll have.

Roby

[RETRO R/C]

WOW - this is a super tough one - as there were cars (that I have seen) that were produced in the late 50's !! They had electronic valves (I am not sure exactly of the electronic components used - therefore I am probably not using the correct terms..)- and were very simple - .....

No way I could give any dates - anyone else there in R/C land have an idea - this is an interesting topic.

Here is an awesome link to the "FIRST R/C ever" :

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ins/lab_remotec.html

Cheers

Darryn

[RETRO R/C]

Also a few other to raise some eyebrows:

Mardave's website - not alot of detail - however they have been around since the early seventies:

http://www.mardaveracing.com/

GO HERE : http://rcvehicles.about.com/cs/rchistory/ For a whole HUGE history lesson !!

That should keep ya going for a while !! [8D][][]

Cheers

Darryn

[bholio]

Team Associated created the RC1 in 1969. It was a gas car.

http://www.teamassociated.com/basicshub/aboutae/aboutae.htm

My first car was a Galoob Porsche in the early 1980s. Not a good car. I believe that it only went forward. I don't even think it could stop, all you could do is steer it. I remember paying alot (for a kid) for this car. I also had a 'Fat Wheels'. Better then the porsche. It hid pneumatic tires which you inflated yourself. I also had a sand-rover-style dune buggy.

I remember bringing the Dune Buggy with me to Germany when I visited my cousin. He had a Sand Scorcher which was the first real RC car I ever saw. Somehow, the Dune buggy didn't match up well with the Scorcher.

A few years later I got a used Rough Rider...

[sparky(2)]

I had the "Fat Wheels" too - it was Awesome! You inflated the cars tires yourself so it provided a very fun "bouncy" ride too. It was also pretty fast for the time. I would love a NIB Fat Wheels. Mine was a "jeep" style. I bet a working one now is harder to find than a NIB SAND Scorcher.

I think it had my "Fat Wheels" in '78 or 79.[:I]

Sparky.

[Shodog]

I remeber lusting for a Fat wheels jeep. It was too expensive and my parents wouldn't go for it. About a year ago I saw one on Ebay that was in very good shape. I missed the auction by about an hour. I was bummed as it only went for $17.00

[WillyChang]

Is that "RC" to mean "Remote" or "Radio"??

Some early toys have used various non-radio methods for control, eg ultrasound waves and sharp sounds (eg TV remote 'clicker'). These were good for short range. Not sure if valves were ever used in toys, given their high voltage requirements & fragility.

In the air it was a different matter. Prior to quartz xtals, the airplane crowd (?) used reeds to generate & decode RF; Fairchild's invention of the transistor (!) brought about useful minaturisation.

(anyone remember paying $200 for a pocket calculator??[])

[J3cubfan]

Wow!!! the very first one that I had was something called a "Max Machine". It used some sort of clicking device to make the left and right forward. I believe that it was click once right, twice left or something like that. I think, I was 8 or 9yrs old when this thing came out.

Then came a radio shack Lancia Racer that could go backward/forward left and right.

After that the Holiday Buggy. The rest is history.

John