Never seen this before...

[njmlondon]

I have just come across this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1926118042

I knew kyosho did a "Historic" series but was not aware Tamiya did.

Does anybody know anything about this? If so, does anybody know if there were any other types made?

[loopjuice]

VERY SMART !!!

Wow looks superb !

According to the text it's a collaboration between Mercedes and Tamiya all factory assembled. Limited edition of 722 and in the shops they are priced at 510 Euros.

Very tempting indeed...!!

[netsmithUK]

taking TY Beanie Babies as another colletin example the ones that are fetching silly money now days are not the ones you bought in the shop but the ones that were done 'in collaboration' with other companies like, MasterCard as marketing promotions - small runs...

Might be worth getting

[netsmithUK]

NJM - why did you have to go and do that? I was well in my spend limit for this month and now I've blown it.

Still can't wait to get it though

Thanks for the tip

[DJTheo]

German Tamiya importer did this series, they usally fetch half of the stated price. The body is lexan and not very detailed, so nothing really special, am sure Miramair will have more to say about it...

[netsmithUK]

gee Theo - you spoil all my fun []

Guess I'll just have to stick it in my loft until it becomes 'special'

Chris

[DJTheo]

For the price you got its a good buy and since its yours it is now special []

[netsmithUK]

BTW - the guy has another one if anyone wants it and he'll let it go cheaper if you deal direct.

[TamiyaRacer]

I would love to get one of those. Are they in Europe only? I can't read German so can anyone tell me the terms of the sales, ie, how would I go about getting it sent to the US? Also, anyone know what the chassis is?

Thanks,

Wayne

[netsmithUK]

Email the guy (and tell i sent you - might give me some discount [] )

His auctions say will ship to Germany only but his english is very good and he told me he ships quite regularly to many countries

[TamiyaRacer]

Thanks, email has been sent, I'll post if I get a response.

[Shodog]

Chris you gonna have to do some splainin to the wife. That is a very nice piece you got there. Post some more detailed pictures when you get it

Jim

[netsmithUK]

Tell me about it...

Guess its time to put one of my spare SS chassis together and stick it on the bay.

[njmlondon]

Delighted you got it chris... sorry about causing cashflow issues!!! Looking forward to seeing it in your showroom. This morning he had 5 for sale - all seem to be gone now though.

[miramar]

There is no reason to hype this one up. It's just a badly built M02L chassis with a badly painted and very low quality body with equally low quality decals in a wooden box. It's NOT a Tamiya original, but actually made on order in Germany for the German Tamiya distributor. The body can be bought loose (low quality though, but I had to buy it because of the uniqueness), and is the cheap and by far most sensible way of getting the Mercedes 300SLR Mille-Miglia.

I'm quite sure this is NOT a future valuable collectible, and though the distributor claims there were made just 722 of them, they can be found in hobby-stores in Germany at heavily discounted prices. Anybody that pays more than 300 Euro / USD for this model must be crazy.

My advice; stay away from this model, it has virtually nothing to do with Tamiya (except the poorly built M02L chassis).

[TamiyaRacer]

I've been called a lot worse things than crazy over R/C items. What appeals to me about this item is, according to the Alta Vista translator, that it's

A really exclusive and rare id="blue">weihnachtsgeschenkid="red">

That's what I'm talking about !!id="size3">

[miramar]

Sorry Tamiyaracer, I don't literally think you or anyone who buys this model are crazy! [] Also, I think you should spend your money on what you want, I surely don't want to be the dictator who forces collectors to buy certain models and stay away from others. If you like it I'm happy for you and wish you a lot of fun with it, whether you're going to drive it or just keep it in the box.

However, if you still haven't seen the model for real, I unfortunately think you're in for a big disappointment. OK, so the Altavista translator translated the (seller's?) text to "A really exclusive and rare weihnachtsgeschenk", but what is so exclusive and rare about it? To call something exclusive it has to have certain qualities, right? The body and driver heads are quite unprofessionally painted, and I've seen absolute beginners cut out bodies with much better quality. The mold quality and proportions are way beyond Tamiya standard, as are the stickers. The wheels have cheap stickers to simulate wire wheels. The M02L chassis has been built with rather poor quality (for instance, I've seen several with "toe-out" on the rear axle (left and right uprights mixed up)), and the parts are mostly not cleanly cut out. OK, so maybe a collector can live with that?!

Then what about "rare"? This model flopped in Germany, so it can be found in hobby-stores at heavily discounted prices, sometimes well below half of the original retail price (999,- German marks = 510 Euro,-). Nuff said.

Dickie (the VERY unserious German Tamiya distributor) have tried their luck on similar models before. The 58173 VW Beetle was offered in a similar way (built in Germany with radio in a wooden box), and no wonder.....flopped. The 58118 Benetton B192 was offered (extremely poorly built and painted) in a plastic showcase with a plaque signed by the driver, formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher. This model should appeal to formula 1 fans as well as Tamiya collectors, but it didn't sell well back then (though limited at 999 pcs.), and even when hyped up on German eBay, you can mostly get it for about 100 Euro. As for rarity, Tamiya-based "Dickie specials" have proved to be bad investments before, and the SLR will surely do no better. Dickie also sell "Tamiya Exclusive" unbuilt models, which are just a suitable Tamiya kit packed with a (as ever low quality) Carson bodies and decals with a new (low quality) box lids.

The Dickie folks have no sense for quality whatsoever, and are just in it for the money, which is OK from a business point of view. To produce and build models with quality, you have to be an enthusiast with a sense for business (like Mr. Tamiya and his people) though.

As for "Weihnachtsgeschenk" (= christmas gift) I think you're right! The SLR is special in the sense that it's not really a Tamiya product, and as I suppose it was never offered outside Germany, it will be quite exotic anywhere else. I wish you a merry christmas and hope you will be happy with your purchase.

However, all Tamiya-collectors should keep in mind that anybody can buy a Tamiya-model and a non-Tamiya body, do a bad job painting and building it and slap it into a wooden box. Buy doing so, you might have created something unique, but is it "exclusive and rare" from a collector's point of view, and thereby collectible? If so, I can offer any current Tamiya-model with your choice of for instance HPI, Kyosho or Carson body (I will do my best to destroy it when cutting out and painting it), I can limit the production run to whatever figure you want, and you can have them all for....let's say 5000 USD a piece! Talk about rare and exclusive! []

Conclusion: My recommodation stays the same as before. If you want a Carson-bodied model (their choice of bodies are often unique), buy the unpainted bodyshell, paint it yourself (I'm sure all of you do it better than Dickie), do your best to make the terrible decals stick, and have fun! You can see all Carson-bodies at www.tamiya.de and most of the Carson bodies can be found on German eBay (www.ebay.de), and as they are easily available here in Germany, they can be bought at below retail prices at eBay.

[RETRO R/C]

I think the point here is that it is officially liscenced by Tamiya - AND presented in a genuine box - it does not matter whether or not it is "crappy" - as Tamiya have made plenty of crappy models all by themselves ! []

As for making your own - and having it "rare" - well - it would not have been liscenced by Tamiya and Mercedes Benz would it - it is this that makes this particular model special.

As for costs - they were running out Blazing Blazers for 99 USD at the end of their run =- does that make them any less desirable.

I agree with the sentiment's of what you say - I am sure the quality may be suspect - however beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and well, it may just happen that in 20 years time - Mercede's models of this type will be very popular?

Who would have though that the humble 60 Dollar run out special Sand Scorchers way back then would be worth 1200 USD on average now?

Not to say that we collect for money values anyway - there are much better ways of making money ! []

Cheers

Darryn

[sparky(2)]

I think this "package" is sweet and is a good deal. Chris, I found when you buy what you want - you are never dissapointed. I also happen to think that the value of this will increase substantially over the next several years. This is something NOT seen in the US at ALL. CONGRATS!!![]

Sparky.

[TamiyaRacer]

Miramar, thanks for the information and education. I wasn't taking offense, although interested in this item, I was having some fun with the translation. Having not seen these in the US, I was unfamiliar with the chassis and body set. I presumed from the translator that the chassis and body were Tamiya, although I agree it doesn't look like a Tamiya body. I thought that perhaps is was like the Tamiya XB series. I have never seen a Dickie body but have heard concerns about their quality and detailing. Anyway, it would cost me over $300 to get this delivered to the US, so I'm going to pass even though I would probably be the only one in the US to have one.

[DJTheo]

quote:The body is lexan and not very detailed, so nothing really special, am sure Miramair will have more to say about it...

id="quote">id="quote">

So right I was, Miramar had lot to say about it [][] I also agree with him, you can forget Dickie (Carson) Tamiya, only like their quality of their cheap plastic toy RC, like the Unimog or some 1:16 sports cars...

quote:As for costs - they were running out Blazing Blazers for 99 USD at the end of their run =- does that make them any less desirable.

id="quote">id="quote">

quote:Who would have though that the humble 60 Dollar run out special Sand Scorchers way back then would be worth 1200 USD on average now?

id="quote">id="quote">

Of course their cheap price didn't make them less collectible, but these 2 cars had great qualities and rare characteristics (body detail, realistic chassis, waterproof radiobox, 3 speed gearbox) which you cannot find in other cars, what does the SL have in comparison to them? You can find a cheap lastic chassis and lexan body everywhere. Also if you notice, usually normal "cheap" items become more collectible, not "special" models which were produced to be collectible by some fast moneymakers, like also the Subaru TL01 in Ebay.uk .

[netsmithUK]

I appreciate all the feedback and info - to be honest it makes me even more keen to get my hands on it. First and foremeost I bought this car because I liked it - as simple as that. Secondly I'm of the school of thought that it value will only go up for much the same reasons Darryn gives.

For me anyway, from a collecting point of view quality is not really the reason that drives 'collectability' it is how 'interesting' the item is and I find this item interesting - limited availability, only produced in germany - if it is tamiya approved great, if its not then that could make it even more interesting!

I could have spent my money on another SS or some other massed produced Tamiya car, which everyone else has sitting in thier showrooms but decided to spend on it on something a little bit different

If I could get my hands on one of the Beetles miramar talked about I'd be interested in one of those too! PLMK

In fact I already have a new Tamiya Beetle body packaged and distributed by Volkwagen - I can see a whole new part of my collection growing - any one know of anymore ?[]

[Bibbo]

I have seen these cars too and must say they are nothing very special. It's a shame actually because the real Mercedes was a nice car but this model is way off the mark, specially for a Tamiya.

I think the colloectabilty issue is a bit of a misnomer because you could buy something that is already more collectable for the same price. How about a NIB Blackfoot? they are around $270 and this should be collectable much sooner than this "car in a box".

The other side of the argument is that you like the car and want a model of it, well if thats the case then there are many other models of this car that are much better quality. I feel that calling this car collectable or future collectable is just playing into the money making hands of the German importer/distributor.

I hope anybody who buys one of these enjoys it. But to be honest I am with Miramar because I think you will be dissapointed, a lot!!..

[BiggusDitchus]

That does look nice, sometimes thats all that is needed I think doesnt have to be perfect, I mean I personally think the sand scorcher is a perfect example, really isnt anything too special when you think about it but it has that certain something that most people like and want it looks nice.

[netsmithUK]

Maybe we should lock this thread now and re-open it in 10 years time [] and find out who is right.

I can hear what everyone is saying but i think some people are trying to bring logic and commonsense into the debate, but as we all know these are two things which just don't come into collecting (anything)

- I'm back to the $4000.00 beanie again.[]

But seriously if anyone has or knows of any other 'officially' licensed collaborations like this one, or the beetle, please can you let me have more info on them. Better still if you have some and don't like them or think they are not 'collectable' and want to sell them to me cheap - then let me know[]