History of the Bolink Digger

[terry.sc]

As the fugly car thread has raised confusion over this car and my name was brought up as most qualified to sort it out here is Plenty of examples of the ugliest buggy chassis here is a very brief history of the Bolink Digger.

The first Digger around 79/80 was based on a Jerobee 1/12th chassis, with 2 extra holes drilled in the rear to lower the axle.

The front suspension is installed upside down so the steering blocks were under the arms instead of on top. The front of the chassis has been sawn off to clear the steering linkage.

The first proper Digger, released in 1982, was a successful off road racer, especially in the uK after Schumacher had developed it as their race car long before the CATs saw the light of day. The suspension was crude but it was so much lighter than the SRBs and Scorpions so had a definite performance advantage. It actually looks alright with the body on, a Bolink Rough Rider replica.

When you take the body off it's a different matter.

Flexible fibreglass for rear suspension, single wishbone front suspension cobbled together from on road parts. Ideas that developed into the very successful Schumacher C car. But the radio box is a definite afterthought, especially the pvc tape to keep it closed. Above is actually an official publicity photograph, racer versions were even cruder. Here's one of the team driver's cars with pvc tape "waterproofing"

In the 90s the Digger name was resurrected when Bolink took the successful Bolink Legends chassis, which was a very successful cost controlled formula, and made a simple almost indestructible and cheap stunt car from it.

A Bolink Legends car

The Digger stunt car

This Digger was a brilliant design for its purpose. Virtually indestructible and can wheelie on demand it was great fun and great value as it was unbelievably cheap. it was available as a pickup or beetle. It was also available as a replica of the Little Red Wagon wheelie drag car. Schumacher also copied this design for their Vyper and Mini wheelie cars and their Wildcat beginners touring car chassis.

[MISFITS]

Oh man nice topic, I had one of those 90's Digger stunt cars and LOVED IT !!!!!