Tandy Turbo Beetle 27

[Malakite]

My father has one but its knackered to the point where it doesn't work properly

It was a great little car - I can't see any pictures on the Internet about the car or any information and I just wondered if anyone else has one!!

[Hibernaculum]

Yes I have one Always wanted one as a kid, and hunted one down in mint condition a few years ago. Great looking beetle R/C toy, typical of the 80s when this was the kind of thing we kids liked, not just playing xbox games and posting **** on twitter.

I have collected all the 80s Tandy/Radio Shack/Nikko cars I ever wanted now. Here you go, a photo of mine I took for a possible website project.

The front and rear tyres and wheels on it are excellent clones of those on the Sand Scorcher.

In fact, the rear tyres in particular are almost identical.

It was released in Australia in 1988, and retailed for AU$119 - quite expensive for the time. Normal forward speed is quite slow, but when you push the forward lever to "turbo" it kicks along quite well. Tandy used to advertise is as having a top speed of 18Km/h.

The real manufacturer of this car was a brand called "Atcomi", but most of the ones you see around were sold at Tandy where it was badged as 'Radio Shack Turbo Beetle'. Atcomi later re-used the body shell and released a couple of other R/C beetles, none of which looked anywhere near as good as this first one (e.g. fluoro wheels and more childish colours). You might see them on European eBay sites. Naturally the original red one sold at Tandy/Radio Shack had the widest sales, and is the most fondly remembered (and therefore goes for between $50 and $100 nowadays).

Ahh, the 80s were the best I believe there are a couple more of these in the showrooms here too.

cheers,

H.

[Malakite]

Yes I have one Always wanted one as a kid, and hunted one down in mint condition a few years ago. Great looking beetle R/C toy, typical of the 80s when this was the kind of thing we kids liked, not just playing xbox games and posting **** on twitter.

I have collected all the 80s Tandy/Radio Shack/Nikko cars I ever wanted now. Here you go, a photo of mine I took for a possible website project.

The front and rear tyres and wheels on it are excellent clones of those on the Sand Scorcher.

In fact, the rear tyres in particular are almost identical.

It was released in Australia in 1988, and retailed for AU$119 - quite expensive for the time. Normal forward speed is quite slow, but when you push the forward lever to "turbo" it kicks along quite well. Tandy used to advertise is as having a top speed of 18Km/h.

The real manufacturer of this car was a brand called "Atcomi", but most of the ones you see around were sold at Tandy where it was badged as 'Radio Shack Turbo Beetle'. Atcomi later re-used the body shell and released a couple of other R/C beetles, none of which looked anywhere near as good as this first one (e.g. fluoro wheels and more childish colours). You might see them on European eBay sites. Naturally the original red one sold at Tandy/Radio Shack had the widest sales, and is the most fondly remembered (and therefore goes for between $50 and $100 nowadays).

Ahh, the 80s were the best I believe there are a couple more of these in the showrooms here too.

cheers,

H.

Hi there, that's great! Thanks so much for the info! Such a cool car! My dad's have bitten the dust so I'd love to find him a replacement! I'll keep searching ebay and you never know one day

Great cars, glad I'm not the only fan out there