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netsmithUK

What are the new vintage "Holy Grails?"

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I think a Street Devil might be a holy grail kit... You can get a Group C chassis easily enough, but good luck finding the wheels, tires, and Parma body set.

I agree many early TRF cars could be considered holy grail as well. There's no reason at all to ever re-release them, so there will always be a limited number of examples in varying conditions out there.

I *thought* a F103GT chassis was never to be again, but the new Nissan GTR LM F013GT proved me wrong... I'm happy for this one.

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A current Holy Grail kit is simply one that a large amount of people wish to have in their collection, but cannot due to the price and/or availability of said kit. How many of these kits were made has very little to do with it. For a long time the Sand Scorcher was the ultimate Holy Grail kit and yet there were zillions of them made over the years.

Based on this, the two current top Holy Grails are the Porsche 959 and the Blazing Blazer.

Ironically though, a Holy Grail kit in the future will indeed probably be detemined by it being something that was difficult to attain at the time of release due to price and the limited time it was in production. This is because, unlike back in the day, us enthusiasts manage to have most of the kits that we really want whereas back then this was something of a pipedream. So the few that slip through the net are the ones that will attain Holy Grail status.

Stuff like the 30th anniversary Porsche, the Tamtech Black Porsche and the Avante Black Special are likely to be future Holy Grail kits. You could probably also add the Super Champ and Mountaineer re-releases to that list as very few of them seem to have been produced.

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Yup rarity has nothing to do with classic collector status. The 30th anniversay kits are all kept in boxes by collectors and they have not risen in any tangible rate as they are not rare and they do not really have any emotional significance. They were just made to represent a milestone (They are loverly kits though, I raced the Ta05ms which this kit basically is).

Despite having a lot of cars I do not consider myself a collector, I like to make my kits and run them. Some are very rare, almost unique but they have been raced, chopped and changed and ultimately made better. I keep them because of the emotional association of the people I raced with, trophies won and battles on the track. If I wanted to invest I would just buy wine.

if I was to consider what would be interesting collectables I would think the ugly ducklings would be the special ones such as the striker and RC boys cars simply because they are very quirky cars that only Tamiya themselves would make.

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I agree to disagree in one respect. Initial numbers do in fact play a major objective role. People's taste for car and popularity changes a lot over time and very subjective. But one large determining factor in availability is how many were actually released. If initial release numbers were low for whatever reason (numbered series or product pulled after short initial release) the likelyhood of an enthusiast obtaining one in the future will be low. If the model was well known/popular at the time AND it had low production numbers then I would assume it may very well be someone's "Grail". Even if you had lots of PayPal money ready you just might not be able to get it.

In my mind classics are cars that both are iconic and vintage. For them to be widely popular it is either well known at the time or more usually because availability was high so many people got to enjoy them. Whether they are worth something on the open market i'll let eBay decide that. "Grail" cars has to be limited in quantity and darn near impossible to get.

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I think those earlier ta03 kits and pro/trf variants are somewhat "grail" worthy. I appreciated that the engine positioning was consistent with the body shell you were getting. If you consider their age and look at a freshly built ta03f pro or DJ, it is quite a stunner.

I'm also a huge fan of the F1 series cars and my 15th anniversary edition f103 will definitely be one of my all time favorites. The simplicity makes them elegant and timeless in my book.

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Depending on how the GT2 rerelease comes out I'd still say the Taisan Porsche GT2

Juggernaut 1

30th anniversary Porsche 934

TRF's from 414-418

I picked up an original taisan porsche on ebay for £35,

safe to say he didnt know what he was selling,

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Black Porsche 934 (there is actually one on eBay right now)

Martini Porsche 936 Turbo (I have never seen a complete one on ebay, only body sets) http://www.tamiya101.com/model_info.asp?id=6

I would love to own a 936. If anyone out there has one, I'd buy

Many of the "holy grails" I see listed from some of you are on eBay all the time. I see the Porsche 959 pop up every week.

This is the first time I have seen the black 934 for sale.

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@NetsmithUK: Please close this thread. I'm salivating already ^_^

So many cars to want here.

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The holy grail tamiya is the clodbuster, its been in production longer than any other and still is to this day near 30 years after its introduction. Anybody know the far distant 2nd best most popular rc kit from tamiya? gonna be a few years before a 'new' holy grail. Why is there a plural on holy grail? I cant believe i fell for this one

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The holy grail tamiya is the clodbuster, its been in production longer than any other and still is to this day near 30 years after its introduction. Anybody know the far distant 2nd best most popular rc kit from tamiya? gonna be a few years before a 'new' holy grail. Why is there a plural on holy grail? I cant believe i fell for this one

But it can't be a holy grail if you can just go down to your local hobby shop and buy one can it? Also the fact it was so popular means they are usually pretty easy to find used examples (even original ones).

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There are lots of old school kits that I would love to own, but my own personal grail find atm would be a Winger body set

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There are lots of old school kits that I would love to own, but my own personal grail find atm would be a Winger body set

About 15 years ago I sold a boomerang with a near mint winger shell on it for £50. Didn't know at the time the rarity of the shell ............... <_<

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The future holy grails would be capo's 6x6 and their new jeep. The details on these 2 models are nothing i have seen other than those 1 of by those craftsmen that makes every singles parts and asking price of a real car. With Tamiya, their re releases would make all current and old models unholy.

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And exactly that is the difference between a rc car and the grail. Although there are many replicas from the grail the real one( if ever found) will never loose his holiness. For rc holiness I think you have to search the tamiya car that won a world championship for example not the same model but the one that was raced by the rc championship driver.

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Black Porsche 934 (there is actually one on eBay right now)

Martini Porsche 936 Turbo (I have never seen a complete one on ebay, only body sets) http://www.tamiya101.com/model_info.asp?id=6

I would love to own a 936. If anyone out there has one, I'd buy

Many of the "holy grails" I see listed from some of you are on eBay all the time. I see the Porsche 959 pop up every week.

This is the first time I have seen the black 934 for sale.

Yep, haven't seen a complete example of the 936 on the bay in years. Just body sets like you said.

I'd say the some of the most desirable are still the first run of pan cars. The 934, 935, 936, tyrell six-wheeler, Countach, etc. Luckily the 935 still enjoys having the luxury of available cosmetic parts due to the static kit re-released in the 2000's. There's no way IMO they'd re-re them but I might have to eat a tube of Tam threadlock if they did :)

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Somebody yelled "Squirrel!" and I got distracted

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For me its the Opel Ascona, rare and expensive and hard to find a complete mint example

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Opel Ascona, that's model number 58037 released in 1983. Perhaps we should consider cars released after 1995 and/or after 58150 or 58200 since most Tamiya collectors would consider the first 100-150 to be vintage classics.

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Well, not necessarily, because the Ascona was not widely coveted for a while. "New vintage holy grails" can also represent old models to which people are finally starting to attach significance.

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Ah that makes sense. Guess it's time to look at the rally cars like the Celica and the Opel as well. Slightly off topic but talking about grail cars makes me appreciate Tamiya doing Re releases for otherwise impossible to find replacement parts and bodies.

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Slightly off topic but talking about grail cars makes me appreciate Tamiya doing Re releases for otherwise impossible to find replacement parts and bodies.

Patching up your Holy Grail with modern bits makes it into a Plastic Goblet.

Just sayin' :P

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At least I can drink to the limit and not worry if I drop it ;)

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Hey, even the Graveyard Carz, Wheeler Dealers, and every other car show on Velocity TV guys use aftermarket stuff, ESPECIALLY GRAPHICS :) And those Mopars and OEM's sell for how much, six figures?

And that's what kills me. So your original Tamiya Vintage part got replaced by an OEM Tamiya part by the original Tamiya manufacturer based on the original Tamiya part, but it's not "original",

But it's not 30 years old!

sutherland.jpg

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I agree, If the new parts are the same shape and colour as the old parts, Then they are the same...

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