Do you guys run your vintage cars?

[cannondale1974]

This topic has probably been covered a bunch of times in the past but really I'm curious how many of you guys actually get these things dirty? Obvious concerns would be parts breakage, wear and tear and in the end, the performance can't be up to par of what modern cars are capable of right? (I'm playing devil's advocate really)

I've had my Wild Willy 2 for a couple years and have yet to drive it. It's mint condition and I'd like to keep it that way but a part of me wants to run it also. The shocks seem a little weak and it really seems like the body wouldn't hold up too well to a few tumbles around the local track (small CORR track, not 1/8th scale) Anyways, thought this was a topic worth revisiting, what do you guys think?

[commiedoor]

well , you carnt really compere the new with the old . its just not fair . i have 2 frogs , one is my original frog bought back in '83 , its much modded with 50caliber alloy parts and a home made front shock suspension set up thats near as old as the buggy its self . its use as a run-a-round just to see it being used .

the other is a original resto im doing , mainly out of all the frog parts i have laying arounf .. it will be a self queen i think .. as for the others ..they all function so ever now and them , they get a run , but nothing serious ..

[RichieRich]

Everything in my showroom has been driven. Some harder than others.

[BeetleLover]

Nup, when my vintage projects arrive they are dismantled within minutes foregoing a test run or a play. My Lady and I now have just 1 car each to run, mines a B44 and hers a Baldre, the other 70 odd cars sit on the shelf or packed up in boxes. I love the stripping down and restoration process perhaps more than I enjoy running the vintage stuff.

James

[Corpse Thrower]

In recent years I have never run any of my vintage cars.....or for that matter anything else in my showroom, aside from the Dark Impact, the Durga, and my runner Frog.

My Ford Ranger hasn't run since 1985, my Lancia Rally since 1986, and my Vanquish since 1990.

[taliesin]

I run 'em all - some more carefully than others. If I have more than one of each model [which happens almost always now that I think about it ... ] one of them gets the molly flogged out of it while the other gets pretty gentle use every now and again. Works out well IMO.

[redzone]

I'm one of a large group of guys that run at the 1983 built offroad track at boondall entertainment centre here in queensland australia, we meet every couple of saturdays weather permitting, no official racing, but we blast around the track together and also have some unofficial races with the "insect cup" and the ray class..

we use them, and use them hard. cars range from pretty much everything from early 80's SRB's right through the tamiya range, also early RC10's AE and Losi buggies and trucks, we usually get at least 10 guys show up at a meeting, it's all very relaxed and informal

here's a link to the thread on rctech:

http://www.rctech.net/forum/australian-rac...al-qld-133.html

[mongoose1983]

Well, I personally don't see a reason for the cars not being ran, no matter how vintage or collectible they are. Of course, you don't bash a classic as much as a newer/cheaper one, but I do believe Tamiyas were mad to hit the dirt. And yeah, just like Beetlelover said, sometimes I feel I enjoy more restoring these cars than running them. It's like grabbing a slice of a time long gone in our lives, when things were easy and responsibles were thin.

You all have a great weekend!

EB

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[M pro]

Just recently I have started buying cars I already own so I can drive them, I shelf the others

Just got a original boomerang that’s body was in a state for £50

I cleaned it up then repainted the body and got some now details for it, the fix up only cost £12 so a new looking boomer for £62 all in.. It was looking very good for its ago but I got this car to run and run it I did....

And broke the bumper...on its first outing... this is really a weak part of the car...

Apart from that the Boomer is a very nice runner.

I have a metal aftermarket one on the way to replace the tamiya one

I have also just got 2 Dirt Thrashers, one to shelf and one to Run

Next is 2 Avante’s, again one for the shelf and one to run

At this time I have 9 cars on the shelf and 4 cars that i run.

I also have a original Blackfoot on the way but I’m not sure if I’m going to shelf this or run it after i fix it up

[shaggy]

ive got some i use and some just sit on the shelf..

i run my hilux the chances of it breaking i think is minimal as it like a brick. my restored (chromed )bruiser will get run on grass only. ive got thunder shot ,02 focus and a bullhead all new built and i wont run.. my others get used clods.jugg2,monster beetle and chrome ww2.

ohh if they do break just repair them.. it might be expensive it might not its part of the risk of running them.

[SteelRat]

Most definitely run them because that's what they're designed for. Not running them is just sacriledge imo (but shelfers are infinitely further up the evolutionary scale than those that are kept unbuilt in boxes!)

There are some cars that will be ragged to within an inch of their lives, and others that will be treated a lot more carefully (for example, I never jump cars that have styrene or ABS shells). In two years I've had very few breakages that were down to wear and tear or brittle parts ( most failures are down to me forgetting to use thread lock! )

[TA-Mark]

I run them all! The only thing shelf around here is somewhere sit them when they're not being driven. When they break, you fix them. When they start to look too tatty, you give them another resto.

[chris350z]

I run all my cars real hard, Apart from my dads monster beetle.

[Saito]

I've got so many cars to run (and keep radio gear in) that I only run my vintage (and re-re) cars. When you're a kid, money's short. When you're an adult, time is short so since I like vintage vehicles better by far (the whole "more character" thing) they get run time. My only new runner with radio gear is a High Lift and a DT-02 and my girl drives that now.

[qatmix]

Yup I run mine. Again some more carefully than others, I like the fact that they are rc cars, if I just wanted things for the shelf I would buy diecasts

[3speeder]

I have a slightly modified bruiser for a runner, the rest of my three speeds are shelf queens, I have a mudblaster and blackfoot shelf queen and a super blackfoot for a runner, I have a restored clod shelf queen and a lightly modified clod as a runner. I have more shelf queens but the bruiser, super blackfoot and clod runners are ones that I actually like to run, the rest are just fun to restore and look at. I like a lot of the vintage stuff, but there are few that I had when I was a kid and few that I always wanted when I was a kid. Every R/C I own I have driven, the shelf queens get driven before I restore them. The runners are disassembled, cleaned and re-assembled with bearings and a few updates to make them better runners.

[cannondale1974]

Ok, you guys convinced me, I'll get it running.

[SteelRat]

Ok, you guys convinced me, I'll get it running.

Good man, you won't regret it

You can still have fun and come home with it in one piece. If you want a car you can "let loose" with - get a Traxxas Slash.

[OldSchoolRunner]

My user name says it all!

I got back into the hobby about 7 years ago and was suprised by the number of people that do not run their cars. At the time it almost seemed looked down on by a few people. I think that with the re-releases that has changed. The best thing to do is run them and have fun. Here are a couple things to think about.

One day all those orignal Sand Scorchers and SRB types of vehicles are going to get in the hands of family members that inherit them from Tamiya collectors that have died and just let them collect dust on the shelf. They may or may not be interested in the hobby.

Two things are going to happen:

1. Junior is going to get a hold of grandpa's self-queen and he is going to run it and use it how it was ment to be used while grandpa looking down from heaven has his second heart attack.

or

2. Family members will put them on eBay and of course because of the re-releases they will be worth peanuts. In my opinion no one is really going to care 20 years from now if they have a first or second edition SRB vehicle. With all the re-releases and the spare parts floating around the value of them will be in the toilet. Look what has already happened. Some one like me or you will pick it up cheap and of course they will run it and have fun with it.

Moral of the Story:

Not to upset or frighten some of you.

#1 We are all going to die at some point. Some of us before others.

#2 Your shelf queen that is siting there rotting and rusting so slowly will be at some point run when you are gone.

So Why not run them! Have fun with them and if they break fix them.

Now before you think that I have I don't pre-think a couple things before I run a vintage RC you are mistaken.

One thing that I do before I run a vintage buggy is replace or improve known weak parts before I run them so that they will last. See my plan is to have these little buggies of joy well into my retirement. So I have been stock piling a few choice parts and items so that when I am 70 years old I will still hopefully be able to run them and enjoy them.

Oldschoolrunner

OSR

[tonysmini]

I agree with OldSchoolRunner, someday you'll be too old or too dead to drive them, they will either be sold, ragged to bits by the kids/grand kids/great grand kids, or even worse, thrown away because someone else doesn't care or doesn't know what they could be worth.

Fix them up, look at the weak points and improvements you can make, and run them how they are supposed to be. (If they were meant to sit on a shelf, buy a static model)

[HunterZero]

I run mine! I am lucky that I do have shelf queens as well though.

I still run my original Frog, plus over the years I've added a Fox, Falcon and Supershot. About to be added are a Fire Dragon and Hotshot

Part of the fun of the hobby is maintaining the buggies, and repairing a broken/worn buggy to running state.

- James

[TamiyaDan]

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[kaiser]

i run them all. most of my vintage collection is vintage race bred stuff like old losi's and associated.

i race them all as well, at the vintage nationals and even against the modern stuff.

[Origineelreclamebord]

I don't know if my runner Dyna Storm is a re-release or an original - parts are hard to find anyway and the re-re is an exact copy regarding the chassis parts (only difference was the motor) - But that's the oldest car I run currently - it's loads of fun and feels completely different than running a modern car - even though it's in essence a modern car (double wishbone suspension, ball diff, slipper clutch).

I also ran an M02 Renault Alpine in the past - which is not considered vintage to the purists, but it's certainly not the same as a modern car. I've also owned and run a TA02 in the past for rallying.

I never broke really big stuff - atlhough scratches, dents and cracked mounts (though not on crucial places) here and there did occur. All in all it's not too bad, the parts availability for the Dyna Storm is pretty bad when it comes to the weak suspension blocks, but with a few simple mods the thing runs like crazy and so far without breakage of these blocks

I think you can run the WW2 without problems. Many parts are easily available as it shares many parts with the TL01 (and the Wild Dagger chassis too I believe) - the part that will most likely break sooner or later and might be harder to find is the WW2 body, although that's still not too hard to find I think?

[sgt.barnes]

Just click on the sig below for my answer ! RUN EM......RUN EM ALLLLL