So I walked into a local antique store 2 days ago, and here's what I found....

[Hibernaculum]

G'day,

First up, a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

Last time I posted, it was not under the happiest circumstances as

my father was coming to the end of an 18 month battle with cancer. Many

of you replied and wrote messages, for which I am eternally grateful

(I've even printed out all the replies to keep in a photo album/scrapbook).

My father passed away on December 12th, a couple of weeks after I

posted here, so I have been taking a long break from everything since

then. He died peacefully and without pain. He was barely conscious during the final days, and

I had spent the day before and the morning of the day he passed,

telling him things that I wanted him to know - even though he may not

have heard them. You know, things I was sorry for. Things I forgave him

for. And so on.

The nurses had commented to me that during his final days, he seemed to

be 'waiting for something'. He died the afternoon after I spoke to him.

I wonder if he was waiting for the things I said (there were continued,

sporadic signs that he was hearing/understanding).

For anyone who recalls my old post, it related to my Dad being a great

fan of Tamiya/RC, as well as a great friend. Dad's Christmas gift to me

was a

NIB Mugen Bulldog II kit - something incredibly rare that we had both

always wanted. I like to hope he was able to see me open it on

Christmas morning.

After he passed, I spent a nice Christmas with my girlfriend and the rest of my family.

Then, something cool happened that I figured you might all enjoy hearing about.

On December 30th my girlfriend and I decided to go for a drive

and wander around some local shops in our area that we rarely visit -

you know, antique shops, book shops, and so on. We live in an area near

some natural attractions that get a lot of tourists, so naturally there

are lots of the little shops around that survive on the tourist dollar.

But when you actually live here you rarely tend to visit or appreciate

them.

It was a really hot day, and little shops don't tend to have any air

conditioning. So we were getting tired, when I suggested we enter one

more antique shop before going home.

So we walked into a shop that was filled with second-hand stuff of all

kinds. Not so much an expensive antique store - more like a second-hand

wares store. Within seconds, we turn to the immediate right, and my

girlfriend spots what looks like a Tamiya RC kit under a stack of old

plastic model kits.

She grabs my arm and points, and when I turn....my jaw drops.

I carefully take the box off the shelf. It is partially crushed, but not in terrible condition. And it feels heavy!

I open it to find most of the contents still sealed in the blister

packs! Everything is brand new, except for the rear tyres which are

used. My mind immediately resolves that this is clearly a case of

someone who bought 2 kits, built one, and used the other for spares -

only to never really make inroads into the second kit. Years later, the

owner probably gave away the built car, and then didn't know what to do

with the spare kit - so they sold it off at a second hand store.

So what did I find?

Here's the box it came in...

I then took the contents out, fixed up some of the blister packs (a

couple of blister pack parts had escaped and just needed to be put back

under the correct blisters and the edges of the blister plastic glued

down to keep them in place), and put in a brand new pair of original

rear buggy spike tyres.

I also just so happen to have a spare, good condition kit box, which

was completely empty. So I put all the contents into the better box,

and here's the result...

But here's the kicker. This 99% complete, NIB Super Champ cost me a mere $65 (Australian)!

For folks in the US, that's the equivalent of US$48.

The shop where I found this is 10 minutes drive from my home, and

located in the main street of a fairly large town. It was the LAST

place I would ever have expected there to be a classic, NIB Tamiya kit.

As a matter of fact, I often joked to my girlfriend about walking into

an old store and finding a NIB vintage kit of some kind, for a

pittance. I had always joked, but always remained hopeful too - I mean,

you just never know, right?

Imagine if I had walked right by and not entered this store. Someone else may have got it. Maybe one you ******s!

As you can imagine, I didn't even bother haggling the Antique store owner.

Instead, I caught my breath, and asked him to hold the Super Champ for me, while I looked around the rest of the store.

I ended up buying two more items from the store. First, I found a 1981

Nikko Sand Eagle in decent condition (but missing the remote - still a

nice display model though). The Nikko Sand Eagle is a beautiful car,

ahead of it's time, and worthy of any collection IMHO. When I asked for

the price, he said "$45". I got the feeling that he may have inflated

this a little, due to my eagerness to hold onto his $65 Super Champ.

Nevermind, it was still worth it to me.

And besides, I soon got my own back again. Because under some

magazines, I found a NIB Sanwa Dash S2 radio set, brand new in box. It

probably dates from the late 1980s. Lovely piece of kit....

On the side of the Sanwa box was a half torn sticker, which read  "...29.95".

The shop owner looked the radio over, and said "I'll give it to you for $15. I think the sticker used to say $29.95".

In reality, the sticker probably had once been "$129.95". But I agreed with him nonetheless

The moral of the story?

Well, I think the days of finding lost vintage RC bargains at Hobby

Stores are nearly over. I haven't seen any decent vintage RC leftovers

at a Hobby store for years....it's all new kits, new parts, and most of

it is unappealing rubbish. I often walk in and out of hobby stores in a

matter of minutes.

Traxxas? Flame stickers? Lexan bodies in plastic bags? Please. I'd rather play with a tumble-n-turn buggy in a cardboard box.

However, this incident proved (or at least fueled) a theory I've had

for a while - that the RC hobby is still young enough, and the ebay

collectibility of vintage RC even younger, such that antique and

second-hand dealers are often unaware of the market value of vintage

RC.

By contrast, pity the poor collectors of vintage model trains. Model

trains have been around since our grandparents were kids, and therefore

just about everyone knows that the old ones must be valuable.

Vintage RC also benefits from the fact that many people see all RC cars

as being the same. Cheap RC cars are widely available, and have been

for years. The layman sees them all as being the same and doesn't

necessarily realise that the older ones are now highly collectible.

So anyway. I know others here have scored some great bargains before. How does mine actually compare in terms of luck?

cheers,

H.

[PandaBear]

Fantastic luck!! Good to hear the finds are still "out there". [H]

Condolences on Dad.

[XanderP]

I am so sorry to hear about your fathers passing and I am glad he passed away peacefully with his family. I am sure he would be very happy to see that super champ and hear that story so enjoy it, build it, keep it nib or run it he will be proud of you.

My condolences for your loss of a great man and father.

I think I am going to visit some second hand, antique shops!

Yours faithfully,

Alexander Papandrianos

[RETRO R/C]

Great story mate,

A couple of my kits came to me in the same manner.....I share the excitement !

Cheers mate - hope to catch up soon on the phone!

Cheers

Darryn

[MikeT]

Great deal, for any brits here, that works out at £28.80 GBP. That is one badword of a deal!!!!!!!!!

 

Condolences about your father.

[jonny_bravo]

Hmmm,. you seem to have acted out one of my re-occurring dreams there!,. the best find ive heard about in ages []

 

Condolences on the loss of your Dad. 

[Shodog]

Wow what a fantastic find.  You need to take your girlfriend out to dinner for that eagle eye spotting. 

I think your right.  there are still lots of deals out there.  Vintage car collecting is not as popular as you might think.  I know a lot of the shop around me thought I was crazy for buying up their old stock. 

[mr_pushrod]

Wow, that is a find and a half!

[DeeMiller]

Condolences. (not on the car though).

 

Grtz Dee.

[HunterZero]

Very sorry to hear about your dad.

But WOW, what a find! Where was the antique shop, out of interest? (not that they're going to have any more treasure like that!)

I'm in Aus too.

- James

[Hibernaculum]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Shodog - my girlfriend will definitely be getting that dinner. And flowers.

James - it was in Katoomba. But yeah, I pretty much cleaned them out in terms of bargains []

Darryn - haven't forgotten you. I'll be in touch.

Lastly....I thought I'd see what happened if I clicked the star rating

thingy at the top of this page, thinking I could undo my vote later.

But sure enough, I can't, and now I've given my own thread 5 stars! So

just so you all know I was only fooling around. Though someone else had

already voted for it at the time []

cheers,

H.

[akemag]

Congrats!

I SO wants something like this to happen to me!

 

 

[DJTheo]

Condolences for your dad, but on the other side maybe he send the car or you there? [] Those finds are the greatest, also love searching old stores for those, have also found a couple of NIBs but not so valuable ones, can only compare yours to a NIB SS in ebay for BIN $75 which another TC member got []

Cheers

[Tamiya1/10]

Several years ago I saw this unpainted but stickers applied Rough Rider  (at the time I did not know what it was or paid much attention to it) in someone's apartment bookshelf.  About 2 years ago, after gotten into this hobby, I realized what it was and decided to ring the door bell and ask if it for sell since I noticed it several years ago and is just seating there.  The gentlemen answered the door and indicated it was his grandson and not sure if he can sell it to me.  But his wife, I pressumed, just picked up the RR and handed over to me and said take it if you wanted it.  I offered to paid but she insisted no payment was necessary as her grandson will not likely touch it again or anyone in the family will and is just taking up shelve space.  Needless to say I was very happy even the RR has not been cleaned since ages.  To make a long story short I spend a few hundred US$ to get a new bumper, replaced all the tires (still has full treads but noticed cracks when squeezed) and the plastic steering spring plus a lot of elbow grease to cleaned her up and painted her. I believe someone, her grandson, at the time drove it a few times, damaged the bumper and parked it on the shelve until I noticed it and decided to ask for it a few years back.  But I must say your find was much better unless I didn't put new bumper and tires on her.

[Wireless]

Please accept my condolences with regards to the passing of your father. Ever thought perhaps that he couldn't resist one little extra after the Bulldog and it's wasn't by accident that you walked into that old store to find the nice toys...?

He's obviously looking after you...!

[Hibernaculum]

Wireless - yeah, I have to admit it crossed my mind. It was such a fluke, yet somehow I feel like it was a gift.

Truth is, Dad used to absolutely love wandering into second hand shops, and he did so nearly every time he went out somewhere by himself. He'd always say "you just never know what you'll find". [] Occasionally he'd find RC bargains by himself, and he was always on the lookout for anything 'Tamiya', or RC in general. He never found anything as precious as this Super Champ, but this was the kind of 'find' that you always dreamed was out there, and which kept you motivated to look around.

It's a bit like a story about a gold prospector who searches his whole life for that one giant nugget, but never quite finds it. Then he passes away. And no less than two weeks later his son hits the jackpot.

Come to think of it, Dad did find some bargains and rarities over the years though. With my constant chatting at home about RC cars, he developed a keen eye for vintage things. Here are some of the things he found....

- A very old 1/10 electric RC buggy that it took me a while to identify. I've since discovered it's a LaTrax buggy dating from the Sand Scorcher era (late 70s/early80s). It's mostly metal and the decals on the body suggest it's might be called 'The Hustler'. This was a pretty unique find...only one other TC member appears to have one in their showroom. Dad bought it for around $5.

- A number of used Hotshot parts (gearboxes and so on). Usually for no more than $10 or $20.

- A Shinsei Range Rover, which is basically the same car (underneath) as the Shinsei "Mountain Man", but instead has a Range Rover body with Paris Dakar rally decals. Cost about $2.

Lovely car, with switch selectable 2WD/4WD, and so rare that even Google can find no mention of it. I was in the middle of restoring this for Dad for Christmas, when he passed away.

- An old, used Marui Hunter in need of repair. Nothing really missing apart from the rear wing. Cost him about $5.

- Various vintage RC radios and things, in used condition, but potentially useful as companions to vintage built models.

- A Radio Shack Golden Arrow, near new in box, for about $30.

Another bargain we once found together was a Nissan King Cab in very good condition at a local flea market. The seller said it was not working correctly - something was wrong with it's pickup of the radio reception, and it would always 'twitch' when you tried to drive it. I bought it for $20 complete with radio (Futaba Bionic Gold), battery and extras.

After getting it home, I simply checked the receiver unit, and discovered that it has mismatched receiver and transmitter crystals. So $10 for a new set of matching crystals from the local hobby shop, and it was as good as new. []

cheers,

H.

[WillyChang]

"Super Champ" could be New Built as a fitting tribute to Dad.

Apt name too, aren't you lucky you didn't find a "Sand Scorcher", "Rough Rider" or "Brat". []

[bangstick]

wow! what a story, a bit like the rare occasion when you see a 10 or 20 pound note on the floor and your eyes start watering where you dont want to blink as you think its gonna be gone when you open them. A very rare situation nowadays as anyone who thinks they might have something worth even a few quid will check out the bay to see what that particular item is fetching. something to do with ying and yang or karma if you like, your dad was a tamiya fan and sadly hes gone but a very small compensation is this miracle find to remember him by. I too know what its like to lose a dad as mine disowned me a month before my wedding because his wife (not my mum obviously) hates me.

[Drewboyaus]

G'day H,

'Very sorry to hear about your dad, but really nice that you got an opportunity to sit and talk with him before he passed.

That find is such a great story.....I can't help but think your dad was showing you the way.  I bet he's pleased.  Personally, I'd love a 'Champ', that and a Wild One would round out my 2WD buggy collection very nicely.

I always enjoy reading your posts mate, and I reckon you're pretty spot on about the new buggies and cars....some of the on-road bodies aren't even real vehicles (a generic lexan blob with 4 cutouts for the wheels)....so many are pre-built, and hold very little appeal for me also.

The off-road situation is even worse, all the various new off road buggies, stadium trucks or monster trucks all look the same give or take paint colour or decaling. So many of the chassis' are also fairly generic too, even between brands.  I used to be able to spend half an hour to an hour wandering around hobby shops....

These days, I have a quick browse in the R/C section for any consumables I might need for my vintage cars and then have a trawl through the static car kits for about 5 minutes.  I also like to collect the Fujimi Enthusiast series 1/24 scale car kits, but even they are disappearing from those dusty shelves, being replaced by endless reproductions (and liveries) of Skylines, Subarus, Silvias, Supras and the like...all good cars in their own right, but not that exotic (not like a Ferrari 288 GTO anyway) and really don't float my boat. 

'Shame really.......

Cheers,

Drew.

 

[Gixer Jay]

Great find!! I love those shop find stories!!

 

[Hibernaculum]

WillyChang - yes, very lucky on that count. Imagine that -  a Brat []. Nice call. As always though, older kits are the hardest to build. And I will have to ask myself the question that men through the ages have been asking themselves for millions of years...."Should I build my NIB vintage Tamiya 1/10 off-road buggy kit?"

bangstick - very sorry to hear about your Dad's attitude. Perhaps there'll be time to make amends in the future.

And yeah, the feeling at the moment when you first see something like that. When I first saw the Super Champ sitting there, my immediate instinct was to look around and note the positions of all the other people in the store - in case someone else should touch it before I did. Then I calmly made my move.

Carrying the kit box to the car in a garbage bag felt like I was carrying a bag of gold bullion that I had just stolen from the nearest bank. The thought that I'd just got away with such a bargain made it feel like a crime - I felt like I should walk quickly, avoid eye contact, yet remain aware of other people in the street - as though at any moment one of them may turn out to be an opposing Vintage Tamiya collecting operative, working undercover, ready to snatch the Super Champ out of my hands []

So be aware of men walking quickly in the street, carrying large boxes hidden in bags. They're probably rushing back to their cars with Vintage Tamiya kits. []

Drew - thanks very much for that. The Wild One is one of my favourites also. Such a fascinating and  unique (with the exception of the Fast Attack Vehicle) and realistic car.

And of course, I agree with the lament about the Hobby Stores of today. Even the names of new kits, brands and chassis seem like a blur of meaningless numbers and acronyms. Gone are the days of great names, great cars, great realism, and great character.....as I've rattled on ad infinitum.

Not sure where you're located Drew, but in days of yore there was a great Hobby Shop over in Yennora, near Sydney. It was there for many years, and my Dad and I had the pleasure of visiting it many times during it's final good years. It was an inconspicuous shop in an industrial area, with a small door for entry and a small sign out front. But people who knew their hobbying, needed no directions to find it. The shop had been there so long, that it was well known.

Inside, it was big. And what made it special was that as you walked in, there was a glass cabinet to the left which was full of built RC cars, some new and some second-hand, and often many spare parts and so on. Most of this stuff was being sold on consignment - private goods being sold by the store, with the store taking a percentage of the sale price.

It wasn't always, but on many of the occasions I visited, they had vintage tamiya cars and parts available there in the display cabinet. This was in the mid-late 1990s. Pre-ebay of course. I bought several things there - whole Hotshot gearboxes for $20, a Wild Willy manual for $3, body shells, new tyres, and so on.

I remember seeing a new-built Kyosho VW Beetle there. Grasshoppers, Hornets. Possibly a Sand Scorcher too. I remember when they'd got an oversupply of NIB Dyna Storm kits too, and were selling them off at about $150 each. They had them stacked from the floor to my height (6ft).

I also remember seeing a Lamborghini Cheetah, new-built, there for $100.

In all that time, Yennora hobbies was my only source of retail-store vintage tamiya parts. Then eBay came along, which was very much for the better for all of us. But it probably snuffed out the last flickering flames of vintage Tamiya trading in hobby stores like that one.

And by 2002 or so, Yennora hobbies closed it's doors.

But to me, that was a real Hobby Store - a place to reminisce and see older items, as much as buy new items. Hobby Stores these days seem to ignore the past, and only focus on the latest and "greatest". Yet hobbying, as a passtime, is steeped in nostalgia. We adults only play with these toys to relive childhood memories. And if anything, you wonder if there's actually a bigger market in satisfying retro-hobbyists, than the kids of today, given that Hobbies were more popular in the past (as proven by eBay).

cheers,

H.

[Live Steam Mad]

Nice post H! I enjoyed that! Well written and full of good points and interesting stories. Keep 'em coming! []

Cheers,

Ali.G.