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mongoose1983

Tamiya on Sears catalogs 1983 & 1985

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I was checking some old catalogs today and come up with this. :)

There is no mention of "Tamiya" and even the Tamiya decals are absent in the models shown!

SearsWishbook-1983-P569.jpg

SearsWishbook.1985EC.P460.jpg

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I love posts like this, you just can't beat 80s nostalgia!

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One curious thing about these catalogs is the fact they that say nothing about these cars being "kits". Was wondering if they were sold all built, because I know Ive seen Rough Riders with that paintscheme before.

Here's an example from a guy in Michigan:

339.jpg

338.jpg

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In the cat. for 6&7... it does say unassembled , instruction included.

pricy back with radio and all plus batteries is over $200 or $300, that was a lot more money back then.

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I never saw these before and there is ONE mention of Tamiya, the NiCd battery pack has Tamiya mentioned in the description of the Rough Rider. I can notice that it looks like they(Sears) painted the HotShot's wheels gold toned. Very interesting, but a lot of things were going on in my life at that time, so very easy to miss this. I wonder what country the catalog is from as there is an ACOMS radio set shown, but I thought that brand was for Europe??? More questions.

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I never saw these before and there is ONE mention of Tamiya, the NiCd battery pack has Tamiya mentioned in the description of the Rough Rider. I can notice that it looks like they(Sears) painted the HotShot's wheels gold toned. Very interesting, but a lot of things were going on in my life at that time, so very easy to miss this. I wonder what country the catalog is from as there is an ACOMS radio set shown, but I thought that brand was for Europe??? More questions.

You're going to love this, Chris: the catalogs are from the good ol' U.S. of A. ;)

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Yeah Chris, I thought ACOMS was European only too :unsure:

Took me awhile to figure that one out when I was new to this board: "What in blazes in an Acoms?" :P

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Here's another Sears catalog page, but from 1986 :)

As you can see they offer the Hornet and Fox buggies matched with Acoms radios. No mention (or decal) of Tamiya other than the battery packs included! :o

SearsChristmas.1986.P507.jpg

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Is amazing back in the 70 n 80 department stores put out color catslogue thicker than a phone book and was mailed to your house. free. and is printed 2x a year for spring and summer and fall and winter.

for those TC member don't know what a phone book or yellow pages is is a listing of all the phone

numbers for that city. It could be 25mm to 50mm thick depending where you live.

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I like how Sears took the time to have built up the models and do their own thing (or whoever they subcontracted to) with the paint scheme.

Today's online catalogs we just see the same old demo picture.

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Amazing, but I do spot a big COX decal on what looks to be a COX car, I am not versed in all their product, but I do recognize the fact it is a hobby grade RC vs the others on the page. That Trans Am looks pretty sweet too. If you have access to the full catalog, share with us as I am still hunting MY first RC which was a golden colored Jeep with some decals, perhaps an eagle and it had a matching 2 wheel trailer to go with, it was a TETHERED rc Jeep, so it might not be considered much more than a toy with a wire, but it was plenty fun for me. If I had been any taller, I would not have been able to play with it while walking or standing up. :P

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Nice! I have one of those Wellcraft Excalibur 40 Hawk boats (7). Looks exactly like the picture, decals and all. I bought it when I was 15 years old (1986) at a local hobby shop as a standard kit. I forget the manufacturer now. It had a gear reduction unit with a stock RS540 motor and didn't go very fast. Years later, I pulled the motor and gear unit out and did some modifications, like epoxying 1/8" birch plywood to the ABS plastic hull and inner hull to create a strong motor mount and reinforce the structure inside. I installed a modified motor with direct drive but that project kind of lost steam after the first test. I can't remember why at this point. I think vibration from the replacement driveshaft not being perfectly straight put me off. I should fix that and get it going again.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I believe the manufacturer was MRC.

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Amazing, but I do spot a big COX decal on what looks to be a COX car, I am not versed in all their product, but I do recognize the fact it is a hobby grade RC vs the others on the page. That Trans Am looks pretty sweet too. If you have access to the full catalog, share with us as I am still hunting MY first RC which was a golden colored Jeep with some decals, perhaps an eagle and it had a matching 2 wheel trailer to go with, it was a TETHERED rc Jeep, so it might not be considered much more than a toy with a wire, but it was plenty fun for me. If I had been any taller, I would not have been able to play with it while walking or standing up. :P

That Cox car is really a Kyosho Gallop, Chris.

Here's a page with the Jeep, from the Christmas 1985 Sears catalog:

SearsWishbook.1985EC.P449.jpg

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Thanks for the Jeep photo, but sadly it isn't the one I had. I have scoured some Radio Shack catalogs of the same time also and can't track it down.....YET. I think one day I will figure it out, but it won't be an easy search since it was a Christmas toy and we all know how the stores stock up on one time purchase goods, never to carry that same stuff again. That black Firebird has KITT all over it.

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I remember seeing one of those Cox/Kyosho Gallops at a Sears outlet store when I was a teenager. It was on clearance for something like $69 or $89, if I recall. I had already moved on from RC cars to a 1:1 VW Scirocco, so I left it behind.

Great photos, lots of memories there. The RC and slot-car pages of the old Sears catalogs were always favorites of mine around Christmastime.

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in another years sears catalog(yeah..along time ago)...I remember seeing just the holiday buggy and the sand rover listed for sale RTR....

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In 1986, I bought my Frog from Sharper Image of all places. It came with a Tamiya hump pack and an ACOMS radio. I guess Sears must have gotten everything from the same importer or something.

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I remember Price Club (later merged with CostCo, another warehouse club store) had the Tamiya Frog as a bundle -- this was with the standard Futaba/MRC gear and battery. Didn't know ACOMS had a US presence via Radio Shack/Sharper Image...

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