How old to be considered "vintage"?

[njmlondon]

318iS, is it?

320. Nice 6 pot

[Dojo Dave]

If you like dodgy British 1970's "classics" you will love this site!

In the UK once a real car is 25 years old it can be taxed and insured as a "classic" regardless of quality. I have a 1989 BMW E30 that just passed this milestone and my insurance has just plummeted.

Just had its MOT and 128,000 mile service... £43 all in. Got to love 1980's style and German engineering.

88 or 89? Lovely mota mate gleamin'

No seriously that's a cherry looking car the shape had class

[zomboided]

^ I'm a big beamer fan and that beamer is lovely mate. Always loved the look of that era 3 series.

[Wooders28]

If you like dodgy British 1970's "classics" you will love this site!

In the UK once a real car is 25 years old it can be taxed and insured as a "classic" regardless of quality. I have a 1989 BMW E30 that just passed this milestone and my insurance has just plummeted.

Just had its MOT and 128,000 mile service... £43 all in. Got to love 1980's style and German engineering.

It used to be 25yrs for classic tax,but now it's been changed to 40 yrs,then it's free not £230.

Plus it can't be a classic,I remember those new!!! :-o

[njmlondon]

It used to be 25yrs for classic tax,but now it's been changed to 40 yrs,then it's free not £230.

Plus it can't be a classic,I remember those new!!! :-o

89... The year I got my licence. Going to get some BBS wheels for it. It really is a pleasure to drive and 100% reliable so it's a keeper.

[Wooders28]

Back in the days before electronics cut in and stopped fun!

My classic

Current state, with the RC collection, tamiya forum after all.

With reference to my 'electronics cut in' is it time or a shift in technology that defines a classic?

3 steps are now a thing of the past (making a car with a mech speed controller a classic?) and I think brushed motors will have had their day at some point.

[RichiPuppy]

Looks like you upgraded to an electric speed control in that as well?

[nickmcuk]

That Beemer looks in great shape for its age - nice one

I'm a big fan of 80's cars.

So you won't like this "big toy" of mine then? [emoji12][emoji13]

[Wooders28]

Try and run electronic speed controllers in everything,from the old futaba 112b in the 'vintage' race days kyosho Ultima,to a megasquirt 3 in the bigger stuff!

Nice pug btw,mine got kart wheeled across a field!

[Tamiya1/10]

Rule of thumb , 25 years old = vintage ?

That means substantially we are all vintage, except we must keep our comments PG 13.

I consider the model using non-anodized Al, not the sea of plastic or carbon or anodized color coded Al.

I agree 25 years is a good guide line.

[cashrc]

New member here..I guess I'm "vintage" as I'm 54 years old..I like vintage model aircraft..Playboy, Lanzo Bomber, Tomboy, that sort of thing. My first RC car was a Grasshopper in the early-mid 80s, Even my weekend car is vintage...

[cashrc]

Back in the days before electronics cut in and stopped fun!

My classic

Current state, with the RC collection, tamiya forum after all.

With reference to my 'electronics cut in' is it time or a shift in technology that defines a classic?

3 steps are now a thing of the past (making a car with a mech speed controller a classic?) and I think brushed motors will have had their day at some point.

I still like brushed motors. Most people seem to forget just how quick a car with a hot brushed motor and 7 cells could be. Not as efficient as a brushless, but pretty doggone fast. You just have more maintainence with a brushed motor, which I seem to enjoy. My airplanes are brushless, however, as I save my tin kering on them for glow or diesel.

All of our RC cars are brushed, and we have fun with them. I'll probably build up an RC car with a brushless setup, but right now, we're getting good service out of our brushed motors.

Cash

PS..NICE Trans/Am, btw..

[Wooders28]

I still like brushed motors. Most people seem to forget just how quick a car with a hot brushed motor and 7 cells could be. Not as efficient as a brushless, but pretty doggone fast. You just have more maintainence with a brushed motor, which I seem to enjoy. My airplanes are brushless, however, as I save my tin kering on them for glow or diesel.

All of our RC cars are brushed, and we have fun with them. I'll probably build up an RC car with a brushless setup, but right now, we're getting good service out of our brushed motors.

Cash

PS..NICE Trans/Am, btw..

Cheers, it would have been cheaper buying a Ferrari though with the cost of import duty and vat on parts!

I don't think people have forgotten how quick brushed are,just how much faster and trouble free brushless are,especially with new battery tech, 3s lipo and above!

If you are in Glasgow area you can try my castle 5700 and 3s (same as 6cell footprint) in one of yours and see the difference.

Things move on,prices for 'new' tech comes down, even my washing machine is brushless!!

25 yrs for vintage seems a ball park figure,but still hard to look at the likes of a hornet or lunchbox as vintage, when they still look fresh and you can buy them new! (without 3 step though)

Not that well up on rc ic engines,so not sure of the advances in tech,better manufacturing tolerances meaning better reliability? Any injected ones on the market yet?

[mongoose1983]

Back to the what's really "vintage" question, I guess that's pretty much a personal thing.

Lately I caught myself thinking of toyish cars like the Avante or Egress as vintage, but then again I go back and think the true vintage ones should go from 1985 back to the good old seventies, starting with the mythic 1974 Sherman tank.

On the other hand, you guys can think about the golden era of RC which should really be the 2nd half of the 80's. That's when competition was huge, and therefore it can be considered classic or vintage.

And of course there's other things to think about when questions like these pop up in the forums, like if guys would say the Mountaineer is or isn't Tamiya's first re-release. You see, most the times Tamiya would release two vehicles on the same chassis, but pretty much at the same time. So what's this seven or eight-year hiatus between the classic Bruiser and this curious, old-fashioned Mountaineer specimen?

[cashrc]

In the full size car world, there are cars that are considered antique, classic, and vintage..there are also "milestone" cars, ones that are iconic, or that set themselves apart due to engineering, styling, etc. In the US that list would include the 55-57 T-Bird, 57 Chevy, Muntz Jet, the Tucker...you get the idea.

I don't think there are any RC cars that can be considered "antique"..and "classic" is still a stretch. I would think that ANY rc car who's design is over 25 years old could be considered vintage...and there are a lot of Tamiya cars that fit that mold. There are quite a few that are "milestones" too. The Grasshopper and Hornet, for example, should be considered as such, IMHO. I remember the Sand Scorcher and other early RC buggies from Tamiya when I was younger, and I thought they were cool, but too expensive. The Grasshopper and Hornet opend the doors to a LOT of 15-25 year olds that couldn't, or didn't want. to lay out the funds for a Scorcher.

So, maybe the first 100 cars should be considered milestones, either for their engineering, exposure to the hobby, whatever..and anything over 25 years old is vintage. Just my 2 cents.

Cash

[NWarty]

Off topic, but beautiful E30! Not a fan of those OEM wheels, but OEM bottlecaps or cross-spokes would look nice. My Dad had an E21 and my sister an 89 325i. I actually almost bought an 86 eta a couple of years ago, but the deal fell through.

One of these days 1989 325i you will be mine, oh yes E30, you will be mine.

[Wez-li]

Ahhhh the 205, I was a passenger in my mates 1.9 when he decided to lose control of it. Dangerous things them, we got away with that one!

[Tamiyabigstuff]

One of my ex-colleagues bought a brand new 205GTi...the day after passing his driving test...less than a week later he'd put it through a hedge.

[nickmcuk]

Ahhhh the 205, I was a passenger in my mates 1.9 when he decided to lose control of it. Dangerous things them, we got away with that one!

Only dangerous if you have no skill and drive it like a tool and run out of talent.

[Flerbizky]

One of my ex-colleagues bought a brand new 205GTi...the day after passing his driving test...less than a week later he'd put it through a hedge.

Didn't 97% of the 205 GTIs do that very thing? (:

[z00ter]

no mine ended on top of a roundabout ... on its roof ... on is way down to shouthend :/

that bm looks sweet, I would probably have gone for the Mtech model with the skirts etc. but that is one of the best beemrs ever nice buy mate.

[Wez-li]

Only dangerous if you have no skill and drive it like a tool and run out of talent.

To be fair he was a young driver (we're going back about 20 years here) he wasn't driving "like a tool" just a bit quick for the road and the bend caught him out.

There's a reason they don't make cars like that anymore.

[Wooders28]

The 1.9 was a great car,just a bit light at the rear,ok if you had enough revs for the bend,bite you if you bottled it mid corner,like my mate did with mine!

[njmlondon]

Off topic, but beautiful E30! Not a fan of those OEM wheels, but OEM bottlecaps or cross-spokes would look nice. My Dad had an E21 and my sister an 89 325i. I actually almost bought an 86 eta a couple of years ago, but the deal fell through.

One of these days 1989 325i you will be mine, oh yes E30, you will be mine.

Yup I hate the OEM wheels. Am bidding on a nice set of BBS alloys at the moment... going to cost about as much as a NIB re-re Bruiser I think.

325i's are getting harder and harder to find. I was down at Munich Legends yesterday and they were saying they could not find any that were not massively over-priced. I am actually really pleasantly surprised at how much "go" the 320 has.

^ I'm a big beamer fan and that beamer is lovely mate. Always loved the look of that era 3 series.

The nicest shape IMHO... although the missus thinks it is "boxy"... but she knows nothing about taste and style!

I did see this yesterday which is a 1973 3.0 CSL which is very very pretty... classic and vintage and sexy.. and rather expensive.

that bm looks sweet, I would probably have gone for the Mtech model with the skirts etc. but that is one of the best beemrs ever nice buy mate.

You need to spend at least £7k now for a decent 325i with Mtech... which was above my "station runner" budget. and if you want low mileage, leather, full service history, they got for over £15k.

Have my beady eyes on an E30 M3 though. One day, if I stop buying Tamiya's all the time I may actually be able to buy one.

[Tamiyabigstuff]

Nice M1 in that showroom - very rare

What do they go for these days ?