What Will Be "vintage" 20 Years From Now?

[Ribbit 0]

Fast-forward to the year 2029. What will be the "must have" vintage RC's?

(Current re-releases don't count, and naturally, anything that's vintage today will still be vintage in 20 years.)

[Shodog 1845]

There will be quite a few in demand cars. I think the TRF 414, 415, 416 touring cars will be collectable. The 30th anniversary porsche will be a highly desirable. I also think there will be a demand for the 1/14 scale semi's

[Blacque Jacque 4]

I can see the M0x Mini's & relatives being on that list, and the 1/14th scale trucks too.

I wonder if the DF03 Dark Impact will be as desirable then as something like the Avante is now ?

[mr. Rallying 8]

Me!

Guess it'll be like now. Todays models will be sought after in 20 years. Just like we drool over an original Sand Scocher today.

[hedge 316]

I think unloved stuff of today will be sought after stuff of tomorrow, to that end I will vote the

GT-01 chassis cars.

Paul

[Chain Driven 0]

The long awaited F-350 3 speed probably, the GT01 black Porsche and the 30th anniversary 1/10th 934.

F103 15th anniversary.

Some FF01 cars, especially if Tamiya does not make an FF03...

[Shodog 1845]

The long awaited F-350 3 speed probably, the GT01 black Porsche and the 30th anniversary 1/10th 934.

I'll agree with you here. The F350 was long awaited

The gt-01 porsches are hugely underated. The bodies on these are top notch. I just don't know about the Black porsche as I feel it was a huge let down in terms of what Tamiya could have done. The new HPI scale series is a direct competitor to these cars and I feel the chassis is much better than the GT-01. Tamiya could have really upped the game with a better chassis release for the black Porsche. The 30th anniversary porsche should have been the black porsche.

[mechplas 0]

I think the expensive ones would be, such as

Unimog

F350

Toyota 4x4

Toyota Tundra

Ford Bronco

...

[Gruntfuggly 581]

Sonic Fighter...

[Chain Driven 0]

Striker !!!

[twisty 8]

LUNCHBOX

I agree on the 1/14 rigs,they are still about in good numbers even now.

The specials will always be wanted.

F201,

Mammoth dump truck,

Nice to hear a shout for the GT-01 though probably the Black 934 version will be the much sought after,but who knows whats to come yet?

[RichieRich 846]

I bet it'll be stuff that we beat to heck and took for granted. I'm not too familiar with all of Tamiya's product line so I'm not sure what that would be.

[WW-nut 0]

TRF501X, TRF501X World Edition (an iconic buggy) and the TRF511

[sandmann 1]

MSCs

- well I hope so, coz I have a large box with unused NIBs of them that sometimes comes near to be thrown away...

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken 16]

Agreed - M0* series cars should be quite collectable.

I also think the XB models, like the XB pumpkin, frog, wild willy 2 and high lift - they come in lovely picture boxes, so they look the part on the shelf. They probably dont sell in the same volume as the kit versions do either, increasing their exclusivity among future collectors. (maybe )

[Rich T UK 9]

NIB XB cars may very well be quite collectible as one would imagine the bulk of them are bought by those impatient to get straight to driving, and very few will remain in the box. plus, as stated they arguably have more aesthetic appeal than an NIB kit, expecially now most kits only get a photo on the box.

[casethejoint 322]

F350

30th Anniversary Porsche

30th Anniversary Black Porsche

Buggy Champ Re-Re

Anything that's "limited edition"

.... the rest is down to pure guess work and whether or not a particular model was either a hit or a miss (miss can be equally collectable in the future - eg Avante etc) or has some kind of historical value (game changers).

(Current re-releases don't count

I don't think it works like that. The current re-re's could easily be collectable in 20 years time in their own right just because they're re-re's.

[Chain Driven 0]

An interesting question about the re-re Buggy Champ: will it be produced in bigger quantities than the original?

[Blacque Jacque 4]

An interesting question about the re-re Buggy Champ: will it be produced in bigger quantities than the original?

Anyone seen any sales figures for the original ?

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken 16]

Anyone seen any sales figures for the original ?

I don't think tamiya let on about their sales results for each kit.

The only one I've heard was 700,000 for the original hornet I think. I could be wrong on that, I can't find the original post about it.

[mongoose1983 3362]

My two cents:

More than pointing to some specific model, I guess one have to keep in mind how huge the changes we, middle aged men, have witnessed in the last 25 years really are.

I tend to believe the kids of nowaday's "internet era" will not be as fond to these things as most of us are today. Cars are cheaper, and it is so easy to participate in the worlwide R/C second hand markets, that people probably won't attach much feelings to these things anymore. And of course, despite the wonderful new releases (like the High-Lifts, and CR-01s), Tamiya modes are getting rarer in hobby stores around the globe. And having no crystal ball in my table today, I still can say that, despite the economic crisis, stories like that "wonderful truck you could never buy back then" will be rarer.

Furthermore, there are not really groundbreaking introductions to the R/C hobby in the last couple of decades. I think MFU's are one very original thing, therefore, if something really gets to hold that "vintage" word in the future, it will probably be some model with a MFU unit.

Y'all have a nice week!

EB

--

[Origineelreclamebord 45]

Well, if you apply what cars are now collectible, you can predict what will be collectible. The collectible cars will probably correspond with the following things:

- Limited edition.

- High specification for the era (breakthrough or new technology).

- The car/item you always wanted as a kid or teenager but couldn't afford back then.

- Cars that bring back memories to people (they owned it back then for example).

- Cars that were hugely popular back then.

- Cars (or parts) with flaws (sounds odd really, but if one or more parts keep breaking on a car, these parts will become collectible in their own way later on, because they are needed for restorations).

[highflyer 73]

The high end machines:

TRF414 series (very collectible)

TB EVOLUTION series

TB EVO III Surikarn Limited

TRF415 series

TRF415 MRE

TB EVO MS series (IV and V)

TRF416

TRF501X (1st World Class Offroad Racer)

Others I like:

Ford F-350 High-Lift (the first of the new 3-spd series)

MFU unit for the new 3-spd trucks

M02 series (Fiat )

TA03F Pro David Jun LE

Land Cruiser

15th anniv. F103

30th anniv. Porsche

Only 5 of the above will bring strong money (hmmm).

[HunterZero 77]

While there will always be kits that are desirable and collectible due to high price and exclusivity, but I don't think we'll see kits from today commanding prices far above their original retail price like we've seen with the original kits.

A certain amount of collectibility comes from rarity and exclusiveness.

But the main reason is that a surge in the collectibility of toys usually comes about 20 years after a schoolyard craze, and that surge is usually proportional to the size of the craze.

The reason is that kids who remember a craze from their childhood arrive at a point where they have disposable income and some desire to 'relive their youth' when they hit about 30. So they track down the items that had the most playground prestige and were the coolest and best during the craze.

This effect is prevalent with the Avante, which is becoming the new Sand Scorcher, as the average age of people collecting these kits creeps up - did you notice?

While touring car and M chassis racing have been reasonably popular recently, we haven't seen a craze for RC cars as large as the original buggy craze from the 80s. Touring cars have been quite popular, and crawlers/monster trucks reasonably popular, but the modern kits don't quite capture all the charm that made these golden age kits so desirable compared to other toys vying for kids' attention, and haven't quite captured the imagination of 8-18 year olds this time around.

Toy popularity runs in cycles. We're currently in the waning years in a cycle of the resurgence of the popularity of these kits, as the people fuelling the retro revival start to move on and give attention to other things, eg children.

This effect is also why Transformers are back again, and the clever part of the marketing is they're also marketing these toys to parents who grew up with these toys and remember how fun they were, who now have children of their own. So they buy the toys for their children.

One can only hope that the commercial revivals of these toys are good enough, that they trigger these newcomers to carry on the obsession when they have some disposable income.

That said -- I think that the TRF cars will become collectible (especially the numbered limited editions, and the very early ones like the 414M), as will the 3-speed hi-lift cars and trucks with MFC. The CR-01 and CC cars will be collectible too, and to a lesser extent the MS versions of certain chassis. But don't expect that any of these will command the kind of premium over retail that we've seen for certain 'first 50' or even 'first 100' Tamiya kits in the past. I think they will hold their value though, and maybe certain kits will appreciate in value a small amount.

As the re-issue kits go out of production and become rare, these kits too will creep up in price. They won't return to the stratospheric heights of a few years ago though. While these kits have done well with older people who remember them from the 80s, I don't think that the revival of these old kits has been popular enough among younger people, eg the 8-18 year olds, to carry the popularity to another generation. There hasn't been a desire for these kits under the christmas tree among the 8-18 year olds like there was in the 80s.

And the kits that have not been reissued that are collectible today will still maintain high collectibility and high value among collectors into the future. Eg, the 959, Avante, Egress, Wild One, Fast Attack, Bruiser, Hilux, Blazer, etc.

- James

[simensays 352]

is that a trick question?

All cars from today will be vintage in 20 years...