What Is The Rarest Tamiya Classic?

[Malakite]

I was just wondering, after slowly building up my collection of FAB old school RC cars from when I was a child (I currently now have: MArui - Ninja, Galaxy, Samurai!, and Tamiya Hornet, Lunchbox, Monster Beetle!), if there were cars that were for some reason or another, rarer then others? I know my Maruis are all extremely rare seeing as the company no longer make RC cars anymore, but what about the Tamiya ones? Obviously Tamiya now do their re-res so there is always a chance that the car you wanted as a kid but never had, will one day be available to buy and build, but of course its holding out, or trying to get a decent original one!

I was looking for example at articles on the old Bigwig. Now there is a car that was a 4WD and had the technigold as standard! Not many Tamiya cars had that motor as standard did they? (The Toyota Celica is another that springs to mind). One of my friends had one, and it needed that extra power just to get going I think, it was a heavy car yet had special styling even though for me, it always looked a little like a toy car as the shell was not a polycarbonate one! Nonetheless it's got me thinking about it and I though maybe I should try looking for one, yet they just don't seem to be about, which made me think that perhaps this car was a rather rare one? More so than others, after all I didn't see anyone else with one ever again!!

So does anyne know if some were/are rarer than others, and what the state of play is i.e. if there is a list or just hearsay as to what are harder to get hold of than others, or perhaps even stats from Tamiya themselves on how many of each specific kit number were ever made, I guess that would be a great indication hey

[_miga_]

in my opinion the rarest Tamiya is the Black Porsche 934, which was made in 1976-77 for selling

the 100000 Porsche 934 (58001). Don't know how many of these black Porsches were made,

but try to get one - This is nearly really impossible.

This thing is so rare, that it even got no kit number!

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

Tamiya Quick Drive "Low ride Pumpkin" is pretty darn hard to find.

Only 2 in the club

[Malakite]

in my opinion the rarest Tamiya is the Black Porsche 934, which was made in 1976-77 for selling

the 100000 Porsche 934 (58001). Don't know how many of these black Porsches were made,

but try to get one - This is nearly really impossible.

This thing is so rare, that it even got no kit number!

Wow that really does sound rare!! I'd love to see stats on what kits did better than others/more were made etc, there must be stats somewhere?...

[Malakite]

Tamiya Quick Drive "Low ride Pumpkin" is pretty darn hard to find.

Only 2 in the club

Geez NIB too! I wonder if anyone has one built and actually drive them?!

[markbt73]

The Quick Drives were all RTR, so it wouldn't be too hard to sneak it out of the box and take a careful lap around the living room... I know I wouldn't be able to resist.

Probably the rarest cars (aside from limited editions like the black Porsche) would be the sales flops, wouldn't they? The touring cars that no one really got excited about, and the Newman Porsche, and cars like that. Unpopularity then means scarcity now.

[terry.sc]

Wow that really does sound rare!! I'd love to see stats on what kits did better than others/more were made etc, there must be stats somewhere?...

No stats on sale available from Tamiya. They are a privately owned company so there is no need to release any information.

There are the statistics for the Tamiyas in the showrooms http://www.tamiyaclub.com/cars_stats.asp

[B.M.T.]

There is point of sale numbers Vs surviving examples to consider.

TLT - 1's. Oodles would of been sold, but now, how many are stock? (opposed to the only good bits, the axles being used for scale 4x4 or crawling applications and the rest discarded)

The Audi Quatro - Would of sold plenty, but how many have survived? Fragility and truly bazzaro handling is never a good thing.

The Opel Accona - Same problems as above, but who in the early 80's wanted an Opel when you can get an Audi?

The ORV Lancia - 037 - I think there is one in the showrooms, complete that is.

The Street Devil (or what ever it was) It didn't even make it into the guide book, as far as I know because it's production run was so short.

Just some more candidates for title

[Bluefoot]

This one:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...13&id=10777

Only 150 made. Makes the Black Porsche look commonplace.

[B.M.T.]

Fair enough call!

So rare most of us forgot they existed!

Or could I dare say the TRF 410, the dual belt buggy that appeared at the 93 (or was it 95 ) IFMAR's? I have never seen a photo, but in the articles I've read it's designated as what Tamiya entered in 4WD.

[Origineelreclamebord]

Fair enough call!

So rare most of us forgot they existed!

Or could I dare say the TRF 410, the dual belt buggy that appeared at the 93 (or was it 95 ) IFMAR's? I have never seen a photo, but in the articles I've read it's designated as what Tamiya entered in 4WD.

And lets not forget the TRF211X... I think the rarest Tamiya classics are the ones that never made production. Cars that we might not know about, or in some cases, we do. For example the TL01 Schlesser Buggy (58238)... And don't forget that rare is not the same as collectible. Cars that were completely unpopular will be very hard to find - 5-10 years from now that list will be joined by the 1/8th Nitro line from Tamiya I think...

[europro975]

And lets not forget the TRF211X... I think the rarest Tamiya classics are the ones that never made production. Cars that we might not know about, or in some cases, we do. For example the TL01 Schlesser Buggy (58238)... And don't forget that rare is not the same as collectible. Cars that were completely unpopular will be very hard to find - 5-10 years from now that list will be joined by the 1/8th Nitro line from Tamiya I think...

TRF211X (Dyna Storm Prototype) would probably be close, as only a confirmed 60 were produced.

TRF411X (Off-road prototype), no confirmed numbers, but probably less than above (20-40???).

TRF404X (On-Road) Probably only around 15 were produced as track testing prototypes.

Antony

[B.M.T.]

That's right, 411X. I wonder if that was to become the Neoshot?

[Top Force Racer]

Not a classic, not a production model, but certainly rare: Neo Shot (MB-01) 58306. There were probably only a handful of these sent out to various model fairs/toy shows before Tamiya pulled the plug on it.

[Malakite]

So what do you think makes these models sell and not sell? Surely Tamiya did not advertise/distribute some models as much/well as others, hence why some sold and some did not do you think??

Why of why are they not releaseing more of the classics? ESPECIALLY the Monster Beetle, they would make a MINT with that as we would all be buying one!!

Also I really am suprised Tamiya do not have any kind of ball part figures on how many of each model number were produced? Surely there must be a ball park figure we could find from somewhere??!

[Origineelreclamebord]

So what do you think makes these models sell and not sell? Surely Tamiya did not advertise/distribute some models as much/well as others, hence why some sold and some did not do you think??

Why of why are they not releaseing more of the classics? ESPECIALLY the Monster Beetle, they would make a MINT with that as we would all be buying one!!

Also I really am suprised Tamiya do not have any kind of ball part figures on how many of each model number were produced? Surely there must be a ball park figure we could find from somewhere??!

Well - some cars were meant for a bigger public, were a big improvement on Tamiya's (or other brand's) previous cars and/or looked very good... Don't forget the price tag either

As for the Monster Beetle - I think they consider it a wrong car for a re-release. The car has a high centre of gravity due to the high shell and chassis sitting high on it's wheels and the shell is fragile... So it's no good beginners car. The chassis however is, which is why they re-released the Frog for example. It wasn't a very competitive car either. So the people who are left to buy it are hardcore VW fans and people who are still in the hobby who would be interested in a re-release.

And as for the production numbers... I always wondered why there was a certain number behind the model number... For example the Renault Alpine has "58168**11800," "TB01 German Rally Champion has "58258**15800," the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI "58257**15800," the Dark Impact "58370**17800," the TL01 Impreza '97-er (Which was a limited release) has "58226**9800" and the Mercedes C11 re-release "58351**13000"

So a limited release car has a lower number behind it's model number? And the relatilely unpopular TB01's have a relatively high number behind them... If these are production numbers, the TB01's were probably overestimated on sales and the Dark Impact underestimated. The numbers also sound pretty low to me, so it could be only the amount of cars dispatched at once... Or is it the price of the car in Yen? (Which would mean the TL01 Impreza was very cheap in comparison ) I just don't know...

[igbandy]

And as for the production numbers... I always wondered why there was a certain number behind the model number... For example the Renault Alpine has "58168**11800," "TB01 German Rally Champion has "58258**15800," the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI "58257**15800," the Dark Impact "58370**17800," the TL01 Impreza '97-er (Which was a limited release) has "58226**9800" and the Mercedes C11 re-release "58351**13000"

I maybe wrong, but the number`s you have quoted after the model number`s are the prices in Yen.

[terry.sc]

Also I really am suprised Tamiya do not have any kind of ball part figures on how many of each model number were produced? Surely there must be a ball park figure we could find from somewhere??!

I'm sure Tamiya knows exactly how many of each kit they sell, but as a privately owned company they have no obligation to tell anyone their production figures.

[terry.sc]

As for the Monster Beetle - I think they consider it a wrong car for a re-release.

It's by far the most requested rerelease amongst the general public. Licensing the body is the problem.

And as for the production numbers... I always wondered why there was a certain number behind the model number... For example the Renault Alpine has "58168**11800," "TB01 German Rally Champion has "58258**15800," the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI "58257**15800," the Dark Impact "58370**17800," the TL01 Impreza '97-er (Which was a limited release) has "58226**9800" and the Mercedes C11 re-release "58351**13000"

Those are the prices in yen.

[casethejoint]

they would make a MINT with that as we would all be buying one!!

"We" is a niche market...... they want to sell 100's of 1,000's.

[HunterZero]

It's by far the most requested rerelease amongst the general public. Licensing the body is the problem.

While there's surely a cost associated with licensing the Beetle - they've already re-released the 58173 Beetle shell, so I can't see this being a major hurdle, unless there's a separate license to acquire for the baja bodykit version.

More of an issue is if the body shell mould tooling still exists, and I'm pretty sure they would have modified it for the Blitzer Beetle, and that version of the body is not quite the same.

I am pretty sure that this is the reason we haven't seen a Monster Beetle re-release, but I don't doubt we'll see that beetle body back in some form, but more likely a Blitzer Beetle re-release.

Basically most of the earlier pan cars and RM cars seem to be very rare.

- James

[Malakite]

Great responses on this thread, and all make for very interesting reading too. Surely even if Tamiy didn't have the original toolng required, they could just male it again and still make a profit on the car? Very true though that all of us on her eis hardly the masses in terms of the world wide market that Taimya would obviously want to hit, but I guess time will tell. I'm suprised some of the re-res that have come back out before the Beetle, but I guess they have thier reasons?

I wish they would release thier info on the amount of sold/produced kits, I can't see what difference it makes to thier business model? It's very customer friendly for thier cusomters/fans too Have Tamiya's owners always been the same?

Can we all write to them to request a re-release?

[loaded]

As someone who has collected a few kits and models over the years I can lend a little information on this, apologies if anything is duplicated in the replies, but I only just got involved in this thread.

For a start, rarity is not proven by low numbers in stock here on TC. For a start, many collectors do not display their models here at all (whether they know the site or not) and many members that do display their models display only those that excite them, that they have had time to list, that they think may interest others, sell in the future etc etc. I can tell you I only have about 20% of my models listed on Tamiyaclub.com for example. Typischdesign, perhaps the most prolific collector in the world has more still, by all accounts and none are listed here, but could very well be sort of rare models we are discussing. One is more likely to list a NIB black Porsche than say a Tamtech Lamborghini Countach complete kit, or TA04 Mercedes HKS CLK, this would also lead to skewed opinions as to the real rarity, although the latter are less well represented here. I have heard it stated that there are between 20 and 30 NIB black Porsche's left and perhaps a dozen SWB Wild Willy's (from another well known collector), quite how someone can come to this concusion is a matter for another thread, but very desirable items being sold to another club member and being left in the seller's showroom also leads to stats being skewed. I can already see models I have owned for over a year now still in others' showrooms (probably vice versa too, although I try to clean up every month or so, I am not always accurate). Other people might not want to shout from the rooftops that they have a Thudershot QD in their collection (I am not judging)

Just because something is rare doesn't make it desirable or collectable. My understanding is that the TRF 414X wasn't made by Tamiya at all, it was a commissioned piece made by another smaller manufacturer and as such might therefore hold less appeal to Tamiya collectors.

Just because a bunch of English speaking Caucasians want a Monster Beetle re issued, doesn't mean Tamiya can't consider its other markets in the world and issue cars based on worldwide appeal. Sometimes we can be guilty of wishing for something too much.

The number after the model number is the price in YEN, as Japanese manufacturers are obliged to print this for their home market. When Tamiya sold their products in other markets, they usually omitted this information, that was until they were doing bilingual packing as a matter of course, in which case the YEN price is still there, unless obscured by a distributors logo.

The above shows a few cars with various disty logos and omission or otherwise of the price.

The Blitzer Beetle body continues to be made in small numbers as a spare part. It is a constant spare part in TamiyaUSA, at least a hundred have been sold in the last week on eBay (from the same seller) and this can't be explained by finding a few on a dusty shelf in a bankrupt hobby store. The same goes for the nose cone parts set and other parts (over a thousand sold since November last year). This no more indicates that they will make a re issue than it doesn't as issues regarding licencing don't always affect spare parts in perpetuity and different markets have different regulations. Tamiya has the moulds for almost everything they have ever made (although they bust the 959 mould, legend has it and adapted the Scorcher to make the Beetle), the fact they have re issued say the Frog (PLEASE do not read into this statement) no more pre supposes they will re issue the Beetle than it does, say The Fox.

My 2 Czech Koruna worth.

Paul.

[Malakite]

As someone who has collected a few kits and models over the years I can lend a little information on this, apologies if anything is duplicated in the replies, but I only just got involved in this thread.

For a start, rarity is not proven by low numbers in stock here on TC. For a start, many collectors do not display their models here at all (whether they know the site or not) and many members that do display their models display only those that excite them, that they have had time to list, that they think may interest others, sell in the future etc etc. I can tell you I only have about 20% of my models listed on Tamiyaclub.com for example. Typischdesign, perhaps the most prolific collector in the world has more still, by all accounts and none are listed here, but could very well be sort of rare models we are discussing. One is more likely to list a NIB black Porsche than say a Tamtech Lamborghini Countach complete kit, or TA04 Mercedes HKS CLK, this would also lead to skewed opinions as to the real rarity, although the latter are less well represented here. I have heard it stated that there are between 20 and 30 NIB black Porsche's left and perhaps a dozen SWB Wild Willy's (from another well known collector), quite how someone can come to this concusion is a matter for another thread, but very desirable items being sold to another club member and being left in the seller's showroom also leads to stats being skewed. I can already see models I have owned for over a year now still in others' showrooms (probably vice versa too, although I try to clean up every month or so, I am not always accurate). Other people might not want to shout from the rooftops that they have a Thudershot QD in their collection (I am not judging)

Just because something is rare doesn't make it desirable or collectable. My understanding is that the TRF 414X wasn't made by Tamiya at all, it was a commissioned piece made by another smaller manufacturer and as such might therefore hold less appeal to Tamiya collectors.

Just because a bunch of English speaking Caucasians want a Monster Beetle re issued, doesn't mean Tamiya can't consider its other markets in the world and issue cars based on worldwide appeal. Sometimes we can be guilty of wishing for something too much.

The number after the model number is the price in YEN, as Japanese manufacturers are obliged to print this for their home market. When Tamiya sold their products in other markets, they usually omitted this information, that was until they were doing bilingual packing as a matter of course, in which case the YEN price is still there, unless obscured by a distributors logo.

The above shows a few cars with various disty logos and omission or otherwise of the price.

The Blitzer Beetle body continues to be made in small numbers as a spare part. It is a constant spare part in TamiyaUSA, at least a hundred have been sold in the last week on eBay (from the same seller) and this can't be explained by finding a few on a dusty shelf in a bankrupt hobby store. The same goes for the nose cone parts set and other parts (over a thousand sold since November last year). This no more indicates that they will make a re issue than it doesn't as issues regarding licencing don't always affect spare parts in perpetuity and different markets have different regulations. Tamiya has the moulds for almost everything they have ever made (although they bust the 959 mould, legend has it and adapted the Scorcher to make the Beetle), the fact they have re issued say the Frog (PLEASE do not read into this statement) no more pre supposes they will re issue the Beetle than it does, say The Fox.

My 2 Czech Koruna worth.

Paul.

Thank for that post Paul. Can you tel me however why licensing would suddenly be an issue for a kit/spare part now when it was not a few years back when the kits/spare parts were first released?! I really don't understand that!

[loaded]

Every licencing issue is different and subject to complex legal ramifications I couldn't even begin to understand, let alone explain, however they vary from country to country (perhaps this is why certain spare parts are available in some countries and not others) and once a licence has been granted, in many cases once it is revoked, that doesn't necssarily mean spares cannot continue to be made, or at least sold for a period of time (again, varys from market to market)

It really isn't an area of expertise of mine. I can only state that Blitzer Beetle bodies are stock items in Japan and the US even now, whereas the kits aren't.

In the old days of RC models, the big car manufacturers (real ones) were kind of happy to let people copy their designs and even names/logos as they considered it free advertising. In the new cynical modern age (at least more cynical than the 70s) there are entire departments given to licencing and in some bizarre cases (Bugatti for one) the licencing of their products makes more money than the cars. Although in the case of Bugatti this is because they are making significant losses and are protected by their parent company (VW) and any profit from licencing would be in positive territory.

Paul.