Vintage Value - Hotshot, Wild Willy, Frog, Hilux, Bruiser

[mtbkym01]

I don't need to drive far, Im in Adelaide, hmm, how to raise a few $$$ for these

[Cplus]

I don't need to drive far, Im in Adelaide, hmm, how to raise a few $$$ for these

Which one(s) are you most interested in?

[Tamiya1/10]

That's vintage dust!

A valid point...leave the dust on....

[Indetrucks]

Which one(s) are you most interested in?

I'm going to guess it's not the Frog or Hotshot. haha

[mtbkym01]

Which one(s) are you most interested in?

I'm going to guess it's not the Frog or Hotshot. haha

Correct, I've already got both a vintage and re-re frog, plus a re-re hotshot, plus a vintage and re-re supershot. I've also got a re-re bruise NIB, but a vintage 1 plus a hilux, plus a WW are very tempting.

[Cplus]

If you wanted those 3 we can talk turkey. That's 85-90% of the value in the lot anyway. That bruiser mirror alone is worth it apparently

If you want more info or images of anything in particular let me know.

[Indetrucks]

I sent ya a private message yesterday BTW

[Cplus]

Sorry, I did see it - I'm waiting on a shipping quote for you.

[Crash Cramer]

Vintage dust hardly raises the value of RC UNLESS Gil Losi has signed his name in it or any old RC guy.LOL Now, if I were you and your friend, I would seriously start finding a reputable packing company or invest in some GREAT quality packing tape and DOUBLE wall cardboard boxes in order to protect all this vintage goodness. I love your comment on the Frog, decent condition, you have missed the fact that it has Audi wheels and tires on it, they are worn, but worth considerably more than the standard issue Frog tires. I might be hanging myself here as I can't afford to buy the lot and as much as I want that Magnum Jr radio, it is on an illegal for my country frequency, I would say the values on this lot are in excess of $2500 easy, simply because of the originality of ALL the models. There may be reissues of some of them, but there are no reissue parts on any of these examples and those 3 speed batteries can fetch nearly $75 each in their box, but you have so much more to offer here. You, simply stated, are offering a set of complete original GREAT models.
Start to get the boxing done, take ALL the wheels off the chassis and package the wheels and tires in their own boxes to keep them as round as they can be and to keep wheels from cracking during shipment, keep all screws and nuts together so they don't start rattling around in shipment and scratching things up. Package the bodies in their own cocoons so they don't get compromised by the fact that they are hard plastic and there is heavy metal going in those boxes. IF you separate models into a couple of boxes, make darn sure you can track them down and that means using a shipping service that backs you up with adequate insurance because if something, anything goes missing, it takes the value down considerably. Simply put, the value of the Hilux is nearly 75% body, 50% wheels WITH tires, and 35% bare chassis. I realize that doesn't add up to just 100%, but that is not the point, the value is in the COMPLETENESS of each model in this case. If you really had no time restraints and you wanted the biggest profit from this sale, you would sell everything individualy as many kit busters do, but I see you want these to get in the hands of collectors and that is why shipping is important as well as completeness. I really wish you success and good luck in this sale, it is quite a nice collection.

[Indetrucks]

Vintage dust hardly raises the value of RC UNLESS Gil Losi has signed his name in it or any old RC guy.LOL Now, if I were you and your friend, I would seriously start finding a reputable packing company or invest in some GREAT quality packing tape and DOUBLE wall cardboard boxes in order to protect all this vintage goodness. I love your comment on the Frog, decent condition, you have missed the fact that it has Audi wheels and tires on it, they are worn, but worth considerably more than the standard issue Frog tires. I might be hanging myself here as I can't afford to buy the lot and as much as I want that Magnum Jr radio, it is on an illegal for my country frequency, I would say the values on this lot are in excess of $2500 easy, simply because of the originality of ALL the models. There may be reissues of some of them, but there are no reissue parts on any of these examples and those 3 speed batteries can fetch nearly $75 each in their box, but you have so much more to offer here. You, simply stated, are offering a set of complete original GREAT models.

Start to get the boxing done, take ALL the wheels off the chassis and package the wheels and tires in their own boxes to keep them as round as they can be and to keep wheels from cracking during shipment, keep all screws and nuts together so they don't start rattling around in shipment and scratching things up. Package the bodies in their own cocoons so they don't get compromised by the fact that they are hard plastic and there is heavy metal going in those boxes. IF you separate models into a couple of boxes, make darn sure you can track them down and that means using a shipping service that backs you up with adequate insurance because if something, anything goes missing, it takes the value down considerably. Simply put, the value of the Hilux is nearly 75% body, 50% wheels WITH tires, and 35% bare chassis. I realize that doesn't add up to just 100%, but that is not the point, the value is in the COMPLETENESS of each model in this case. If you really had no time restraints and you wanted the biggest profit from this sale, you would sell everything individualy as many kit busters do, but I see you want these to get in the hands of collectors and that is why shipping is important as well as completeness. I really wish you success and good luck in this sale, it is quite a nice collection.

^^ this post doesn't help us TC members, that's for sure.

If you want $2,500 for the lot, I suggest you try to put em on Feebay first. That is not a realistic number IMO.

[Crash Cramer]

I am not trying to up the ante, this is some realistic number, really. I paid $200 for a really old and tired Hilux that has no tires left, broken parts and a badly painted black body that will need stripping and decals(those will put you back a fair penny) and it has no bed rails, so although it is near complete, it ain't. I have spoken with a very versed Hilux and 3 speed builder/rebuilder and he stated I paid right at what it was worth, now transform that into the condition you see in this post PLUS the manual( I had to buy one) AND the kit box, well I would throw down an easy $100 for the box myself, you can begin to see where the estimate Mongoose came up with at near $1000 for the Hilux and it will only go up as it wasn't re issued at all in any form.

I can't see how so many members here and in the world want to pay pennies for something that is a great quality. Sure we all want a bargain, but at what expense, this guy was going to THROW THESE IN THE DUMP!!@!!! Would we want to see that instead of the guy getting a fair market value on his saved treasure??? It would be as if you had an ounce of gold and had no interest in getting today's market value, rather, you would be satisfied with your purchase investment from say 20-30 years ago!@!@. NO, I am NOT equivilating these or any Tamiya kits to actual precious metal, but some of them have some precious metal in their boxes.

If we were to go back to the magazines and purchase these for the prices sold in the day, here goes, Frog $119, HotShot $269, Hilux??? perhaps near $700-$800 and the Bruiser very near the same number, Wild Willy $175. These are approximates as my stash of old RC magazines are in a friend's hands being scanned at Hi Res, but they are close and numbers from the mid 80's. This comes to just over $2050 and DOESN"T account for a single radio he has shown NOR the added extras of the batteries and chargers and such. I know the 7.2 humppack retailed in the 80s for $30 as one of mine still has its price sticker on it. SOOO, point is, if you charged the numbers from back in the 80's for each one of these, it isn't absurd a number AND it isn't even accounting for the rise in the value of a dollar. Back at my job in the 80's as a teenager, I made $3.33 an hour, not what I make today and we all know how much things rise in cost, least of all gasoline. I was paying here in Texas around 89 cents a gallon back then, today I am paying over $3 a gallon on average the last few years.

Just my 2 cents worth, which is worth more or less than 2 cents, depends on your thoughts.

[Cplus]

Thanks. I literally have saved these from sitting in his parents garage under god knows what. They were *almost* thrown out at the last house move.

Not trying to extort money for them, but don't want to see them going to someone well under market value and then THEY make a bundle of opportunistic profit either immediately on eBay or a year later when they clean them up.

Old mate has hung onto these for 20-30yrs and kept the vast majority in good condition - why shouldn't he be the one to get the lions share of monetary benefit.

As it sits, there has been quite a few offers here - but numbers like $200 for the hilux are pretty insulting. We wanted them to go to a collector who can rebuild restore or at the very least someone that will cherish them as they are (and in some cases use them!) but not at bargain basement $$$

I'm now tempted to disassemble and rebuild/restore as need over the next 12 months and then go to eBay. If I can get them actually running that would be a bonus too.

But first I've got a TRF touring car to build!

[bromvw]

$3.00 a gallon - I WISH . Here in the United Kingdom Of the Tax Rip Off the average price of a Gallon of Unleaded Petrol is - wait for it $ 10.97 .

[Tamiya1/10]

This story almost runs parrallel to this guy where he was going to melt this gold egg and sell the gold for $500.00. It turns out is a Faberge Egg and only 10 were made on his was only 1 of 8 remaining, which is worth $25 MILLION. Can't remember how he got the egg.

Since Tamiya did the re-release big time, it really put a huge dent in all the vintage models value. Collectors hope the model they want will be re-re and will wait. I think the prices will stay low compare to several years ago, unless Tamiya issues a memo saying no more re-release or identify which model they will do a re-release. The chances of Tamiya informing the world of their model re release will be slim plus the world's economy has not rebounded yet so is still a buyers market.

To the existing collectors out there, hang on to your collections for your grandchildren and to new collectors...happy days are here.

[Tamiya1/10]

$3.00 a gallon - I WISH . Here in the United Kingdom Of the Tax Rip Off the average price of a Gallon of Unleaded Petrol is - wait for it $ 10.97 .

That's why most UK or European cars have 1.5L to 2.0L engine and ... diesel, and the American's have the 3.2 to 6.0 L engine.

[bromvw]

When you have a 80 mile round trip commute to work the price of fuel is a major concern - that's why I run a 1.3 Ford KA

[MadInventor]

When you have a 80 mile round trip commute to work the price of fuel is a major concern - that's why I run a 1.3 Ford KA

Back in 2001 I bought a V8 Trans Am as second 'fun' car and spent the week commuting to work, around 5 miles each way. Along with taking a few friends out for a ride in it I got through £100 of fuel in 1 week (At around 80p a litre i think), doing about 75 miles . Sounds bad, but it would do 80mph in second gear. Now I have a GTi bicycle for my short commute

[MadInventor]

I don't need to drive far, Im in Adelaide, hmm, how to raise a few $$$ for these

Sell a kidney, you only need one .....

[Crash Cramer]

I also think most of you UK and Euro folks don't seem to drive all the pickup trucks that seem to be the National car of Texas. I think most of the cool space saving and gas sipping cars you guys get would be simply blown off the road or you would need a case of Depends to keep your undergarments fresh with all the jerks blowing their horns at you for driving so slow. I can't for the life of me figure out where all the fires are around here and why we are in such a hurry on city streets from light to light, granted we can haul a*&()^ on the free way at 75 MPH legally(which translates closer to 85 in real life), but that is where we have long streches between cities and such, in the city, the real economy needs to kick in and we are finally getting some diesel option cars AND trucks for daily use. I can note that diesel ranges an additional .50 per gallon upcharge, but when the fuel economy of most diesel cars I am looking at increases your mileage almost 100%, the pay off is in the wallet. Besides, you can't tell me all those Lambo and Ferrari's and Arial Atom and almost every car they drive on Top Gear gets great gas mileage, except of course the cars James May drives. LOL

[Indetrucks]

I am not trying to up the ante, this is some realistic number, really. I paid $200 for a really old and tired Hilux that has no tires left, broken parts and a badly painted black body that will need stripping and decals(those will put you back a fair penny) and it has no bed rails, so although it is near complete, it ain't. I have spoken with a very versed Hilux and 3 speed builder/rebuilder and he stated I paid right at what it was worth, now transform that into the condition you see in this post PLUS the manual( I had to buy one) AND the kit box, well I would throw down an easy $100 for the box myself, you can begin to see where the estimate Mongoose came up with at near $1000 for the Hilux and it will only go up as it wasn't re issued at all in any form.

I can't see how so many members here and in the world want to pay pennies for something that is a great quality. Sure we all want a bargain, but at what expense, this guy was going to THROW THESE IN THE DUMP!!@!!! Would we want to see that instead of the guy getting a fair market value on his saved treasure??? It would be as if you had an ounce of gold and had no interest in getting today's market value, rather, you would be satisfied with your purchase investment from say 20-30 years ago!@!@. NO, I am NOT equivilating these or any Tamiya kits to actual precious metal, but some of them have some precious metal in their boxes.

If we were to go back to the magazines and purchase these for the prices sold in the day, here goes, Frog $119, HotShot $269, Hilux??? perhaps near $700-$800 and the Bruiser very near the same number, Wild Willy $175. These are approximates as my stash of old RC magazines are in a friend's hands being scanned at Hi Res, but they are close and numbers from the mid 80's. This comes to just over $2050 and DOESN"T account for a single radio he has shown NOR the added extras of the batteries and chargers and such. I know the 7.2 humppack retailed in the 80s for $30 as one of mine still has its price sticker on it. SOOO, point is, if you charged the numbers from back in the 80's for each one of these, it isn't absurd a number AND it isn't even accounting for the rise in the value of a dollar. Back at my job in the 80's as a teenager, I made $3.33 an hour, not what I make today and we all know how much things rise in cost, least of all gasoline. I was paying here in Texas around 89 cents a gallon back then, today I am paying over $3 a gallon on average the last few years.

Just my 2 cents worth, which is worth more or less than 2 cents, depends on your thoughts.

You can talk about parting them out all you want and you are correct, if he was to part these out, he would make 3X the value. Same as if he sold them individually.

I don't think $1,000 for the lot is a low-ball, but do think $2,500 is wishful thinking (unless you parted and sold them piece by piece).

I am still waiting on a shipping cost to the states before I make an offer. But if he's wanting well over $1,000, I'll just save my time

I am a collected (just ask my girlfriend). Heck, the SRB Sand Scorcher I posted on eBay never went to the end of auction. I decided to pull it and keep it. Even paid those crooks over at eBay the sellers fee based on the current highest bidder.

So it's safe to say I am not looking to re-sell and make a profit off a beautiful collection such as this.

[Cplus]

If you are willing to take offers from this site's members which I believe was your intention for joining the site what assurances will you give potential buyers that are willing to send you their hard earned cash?

OSR

I missed this in the ether. I'm not even sure why I'm replying to you as I find this quite insulting - you must be very paranoid - but anyway, here goes.

I didn't actually join up because of this. I am sitting home bored after a very nasty cycling accident which nearly killed me (twice) and put me in hospital for near enough a month (31 dec) I'm recovering well now thanks. Slow but steady.

I bought myself a TA06 for the boredom and this has now progressed to me dropping a small fortune on a TRF418. Rekindling the childhood memories.

Looking at Qatmix's "thercracer" website led me here. I started reading build threads etc.

I then posted on Facebook some images of a 418. This led a few mates to reminisce over tamiyas gone by and a mate then said "you'd love what I have hiding in my parents garage" or words to that effect. If you're super sleuth enough, you could probably find the conversation on my Facebook wall still.

Then we end up here after talking. He has the cars. I have the time. And this is a way to keep me "entertained" with a project whilst off work.

As far as assurances, you can look up my user name on numerous other forums - cars mostly, real ones, and see my posts and sales relating to cars, photographic equipment etc. You can also look up my eBay user ID and are positive feedback as recent as last week.

You could also look at the EXIF data and see the dates and model number of the camera (x100s) that I used. I think you could even reference this back to a thread on performanceforums in australia when I first purchased said camera.

I guess for some they will take me at my word and hopefully speak to me over the phone at some stage or even meet me in person when they buy something. For others it may take time to build rapport - and others will be distrusting from the get go and won't change (normally these are the guys most likely to rip YOU off, as they know all the tricks)

I understand the paranoia, it is a fact and concern of our current "faceless" existance. A world with no boundaries. But sometimes you need to go out on a limb and trust in te knowledge that more people in this world are honest than not. I'm one of them.

Clive Silva

[bromvw]

Well said Silva . besides if you offer paypal there is little risk of the buyer being ripped off .

[Cplus]

I've sold plenty of stuff - things more valuable than anything here - to people I've never met via forums before.

Perhaps I'm too trusting and vice versa - if we all lived in constant fear of getting ripped off it is a pretty sad state of affairs.

Looks like ebay probably is the go though, sadly, I'll start the rebuild of the frog and the hotshot first and see how they go being the least valuable ones. I'll try to remember to take some photos

[Champ85]

First of all, welcome to the forums, Clive. (Yes, I'm a little late with that now that you have 31 posts). You and your friend have some incredible models.

Glad you posted some information about yourself and history on other forums, eBay, etc.. Without that extra information, you are simply TamiyaClub forum user 'Cplus' which means nothing to any of us here. Even if some of us knew a 'Cplus' on other forums, it doesn't mean it is the same person here. So thanks for that.

As for the question about "assurances' and being insulted, you need to understand that the models you have in your collection are fairly rare to be found in the condition depicted in the pictures. Even more rare is the story of them almost being thrown out. Around here, this kind of thing simply does not happen. As such an incredible story as it is, some alarms start to go off in people's heads that not everything is as it might seem. Scammers are not unheard of here, especially when it comes to rare, excellent condition vintage models such as those in your possession. Scammers know these models are rare and expensive. It's almost one of those "too good to be true" stories. Since you and your friend are not as familiar with the models and their history, backstory, rarity, collectability, etc. like we are here on this forum, you may not understand it from our perspective. The question from OSR was nothing personal - just a good amount of caution due to the fact that you just created your account here and your first post contained an amazing story. I hope you understand a little bit better the position "we" (long term members) are in when these types of things happen. I don't mean to make it sound like "us" vs "you", either, but the reality is that you are a brand new user of this forum and trust must be earned. Personally, I am reassured because of your above post talking about yourself and would feel confident of executing a transaction with you.

Good luck with the restorations and sales.

[OldSchoolRunner]

I missed this in the ether. I'm not even sure why I'm replying to you as I find this quite insulting - you must be very paranoid - but anyway, here goes.

I didn't actually join up because of this. I am sitting home bored after a very nasty cycling accident which nearly killed me (twice) and put me in hospital for near enough a month (31 dec) I'm recovering well now thanks. Slow but steady.

I bought myself a TA06 for the boredom and this has now progressed to me dropping a small fortune on a TRF418. Rekindling the childhood memories.

Looking at Qatmix's "thercracer" website led me here. I started reading build threads etc.

I then posted on Facebook some images of a 418. This led a few mates to reminisce over tamiyas gone by and a mate then said "you'd love what I have hiding in my parents garage" or words to that effect. If you're super sleuth enough, you could probably find the conversation on my Facebook wall still.

Then we end up here after talking. He has the cars. I have the time. And this is a way to keep me "entertained" with a project whilst off work.

As far as assurances, you can look up my user name on numerous other forums - cars mostly, real ones, and see my posts and sales relating to cars, photographic equipment etc. You can also look up my eBay user ID and are positive feedback as recent as last week.

You could also look at the EXIF data and see the dates and model number of the camera (x100s) that I used. I think you could even reference this back to a thread on performanceforums in australia when I first purchased said camera.

I guess for some they will take me at my word and hopefully speak to me over the phone at some stage or even meet me in person when they buy something. For others it may take time to build rapport - and others will be distrusting from the get go and won't change (normally these are the guys most likely to rip YOU off, as they know all the tricks)

I understand the paranoia, it is a fact and concern of our current "faceless" existance. A world with no boundaries. But sometimes you need to go out on a limb and trust in te knowledge that more people in this world are honest than not. I'm one of them.

Clive Silva

So much can be said here Clive. I am not stupid. I can read between the lines with what you are saying, but I won't stoop to your level or rise to the bait. I am not into drama so I thought of how to respond to you in a way that would not be derogatory to your character and would impart you with information that would give you a little more background to my comment.

I have been a member on this forum for more than 9 years. I was here long before the re-releases were ever though of by good old Mr. Tamiya and when guys would take 2-3 years to source all of the parts needed to put together an original Sand Scorcher. Me being paranoid? I think not. Being a senior member to this public site I am sharing my concerns. I am not saying that this is the case with you, but I would not want to see any members here get taken in a deal. It has happened way to many times to count. A guy joins and after a few posts, starts throwing pics up of models that are super rare, raises a crazy amount of interest and then guys think with their hearts and not their heads and wonder what happened to their hard earned money after the member with said vehicles disappears overnight. I asked a simple question. What assurances are you offering to potential buyers with you being a new member? This is not me being paranoid. This is me looking out for my fellow members and friends that I have socialized through the years on this site. Simple as that.

Jay Tyrrell

AKA OSR