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What vintage R/C car or part were you most happy to find?

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So just a fun vintage thread, for some easy discussion.

What vintage R/C car, part or other related item, were you most happy to find? ^_^

  • Vintage only (not re-re/remake/repro/re-re-re-re-re).
  • Any brand (doesn't have to be Tamiya).
  • Anything (doesn't have to be expensive)
  • Pics!

The treasure-hunt aspect has always been a lot of fun when it comes to vintage R/C. Much of this sense of "treasure" was inspired by the lack of access many of us had to R/C, as children.

While it's not easy to find vintage spare parts and cars in-person anymore, it is still possible sometimes. But even online purchases can feel like a treasure-hunt. Getting something you've been wanting to track down for years... either a whole car, a spare part, or some other bit of vintage hobby paraphernalia for your shelf...

I recently nabbed one of these, that I was pretty pleased about...

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...a vintage Monster Beetle jigsaw puzzle that Tamiya released in the 80s. I once nearly bought one of these cool souvenirs in person, but it sold before I had the chance. It's taken me a decade to find another. That's just one silly example.

Another one was finding the rare AYK GZ480 motor, NIB. I had to source this from deep with Japan... from a secret bunker...

ayk.jpg.971c569224dfdbbf85759268a0728c0e.jpg

If you're not familiar with it, this motor was one of the recommended AYK brand motors for the AYK 566B Super Trail Baja Bison, which came without any motor in the kit...

ayk2.jpg.09f508f140c0b0c9a3cff0463e5f2a08.jpgayk3.jpg.ebf2b52e44cb910e15106c7baed77a7d.jpg

...and which was a buggy so beautiful, legend has it that any man who saw one in 1982, considered taking down the Farrah Fawcett poster in his garage.

But don't let my nonsense (or Farrah) distract you. What are your stories?

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Oh man, 566B Super Trail. Had one, back before I knew what it was, 1987 or so. Bought it for something like $50 at a garage sale, new-built, never run. Ran it, broke something, stuck it in the basement. It must have gone away with the rest of my old RC stuff when my mom sold the house in 1994.

But on to a happy find...

I had a spell of good luck on Craigslist finding old RC stuff several years ago, and it all began with a pair of Cox Bandidos. One complete running car, almost all original, missing the body, and one basher with no radio gear, but with a decent original body. You'll appreciate this: I traded a re-re for them, a Fire Dragon that I just couldn't get into. I built one really nice car from the pair, and sold off the other one.

Lots of photos, and the whole story, here: https://dustylexan.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/cox-bandido-the-total-package/

 

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I think the the vehicle I'm most proud of finding was this new in the box Fat Wheels Jeep by Remco

5006F22A-1FB7-4CF5-B810-66AA2370BD3C_zps

I remember sitting in the toy aisle of JCPenny's drooling over this jeep when I was 8 year old.  I've had the key words in my ebay search for years.  One night close to last christmas I'm surfing ebay when a listing popped up for this jeep.  Of course I had to swoop it up. 

11DA7DE3-A6A2-4999-86EB-32F6C038DD3B_zps

 

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When I first got back into the hobby, I avoided anything 'vintage'.  It was sure to be out of my price range and never match my expectations.  The only thing I wanted, but knew I could never afford, was an SRB.

I couldn't afford the Buggy Champ when it was re-released, nor the Sand Scorcher in 2010, but a US seller had a good deal on a Gold Edition Buggy Champ in 2011 and one found its way into my possession.  Building and driving it was great, but for some reason I still hankered after an original.  I don't know why, as I've owned plenty of other re-res and they've always been good enough for me.  I guess there's just something about that ancient metal.

Then in 2012 I went to the Tamiyaclub swap meet and bash.  Lots of random and crazy old stuff changed hands, and a certain chap known as Netsmith had quite a collection of vintage parts for sale.  For a rather bargainous sum, I came away with this:

20140301_174713_zpsglpamubq.jpg

Not the best photo - that's how it looked when I first started rebuilding it back in 2014 (yes, it sat in storage for 2 years!)

I believe it's a Mk1, as it has the skinny front arms.  It's possibly it's older than I am, or the same age.  I was born in 1980.  The gold-plated wheels, You-G front tyres and non-standard rears (can't remember what brand and the packaging is long gone) were all part of the deal.

My plan in 2014 was to rebuild it with a Kamtec Baja shell into a lightweight racer, foregoing the bulky radio box in favour of strapping everything direct to the chassis plate.  After all, I had a re-re for beach duty.  It should have been a real quick build, but discovering a modern silvercan wouldn't fit the gearbox called a halt to my progress.  I boxed it up and worried about something else, for three years.

I've actually got a heap load more photos on my phone, because a month ago I signed up to race an SRB in the 2017 Iconic Revival, and figured I wanted something lighter and faster than my Buggy Champ.  I dragged this old project out of the box and started cutting it up.  I'll put up a build thread sometime.

Purists among you might want to look away - I had to drill out the front arms to accept re-re ball cups, as the originals were beyond use.  The gearbox has been dremelled out to accept a modern motor, part of the motor mount has been cut away so a mod motor won't short out.  It's running ball races throughout, along with modern alloy coilovers.  Those lovely gold-plated wheels will be saved for shelf duty (although I did test-run it with those You-G front tyres last week because I couldn't find any others to hand - on concrete, no less - and put some scuffs on them.  Eeep.)  It'll be run at the Revival with re-re Scorcher wheels, smoothie front tyres and Frog rears unless I can find a way to mount my Double Dee 1.7s on a Brat wheel.  I still have to fabricate some braces for the chassis and tune the shocks, and permanently mount all the electronics, and sort a strap for the shorty LiPo, and make sure I've got plenty of spare spurs as my vintage mod motor will probably rip through them, especially as I can't fit a spur cover after my gearbox mods.  Oh, and I have to cut and mount the lexan Kamtec Baja body somehow.

;)

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For me it was in 2002 and quite by chance I discovered on ebay that there were actually NIB vintage Tamiyas for sale.

As a fan of the 959 as a kid, but with a father who rightly thought it was overly expensive, I thought I must get myself one. I discovered TC and tracked them on ebay for months and finally accepted that I would be paying $500 for one.

This was before Paypal and I clearly remember doing a deal with Jason in Japan. I remember taking £300 in cash out from the bank, going to a foreign exchange and getting it converted to $500, then sticking it all in the post! No comebacks at all.

A month later the box turned up. Opening it up and seeing 30 year old blisters in perfect condition was a great experience.

I still love landing a great restoration project or a lovely re-re NIB, but nothing has really come close to that high since then.  

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Ooohh yeah- the AYK Super Trail ! This was my very first RC car, so always remains something Special for me. Mine had also one of these AYK Motors in, but it was the GZ240 if i'm not mistaking. So regret having sold my AYK's in 2009...

As for my "best finds", it happened not too long ago when i was contacted via TC by a guy who noticed that i was searching a SWB Schumacher CAT T400 ( which is the first buggy model and by far the most sought after Schuey.).
He told me that he has a new built car, boxed, all original and all in perfect shape that he would let go for the right offer. (It is hard enough to find one of these after all, but even harder to find one original and boxed) As this is an occasion that only happens once in a collectors life, i was prepared to spend an arm & leg so my offer was quite "generous" as i wanted this car more than anything else.
After a couple of days, i was contacted again and the guy told me that he was sorry but accepted another offer already and the car was gone ! But before i had a chance to break down in tears , the guy told me that he had a second one, also boxed and close to the same condition like the first car was !! I could not ever imagine that one and the same guy has two of my personal "holy grails" and he would let it both go . So it happened that i now have this thing in my collection. (although i haven't listed it yet, but i never list my cars before they are finished)

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School me on these Ayk cars please? I've honestly never seen them before and don't think I ever saw them in a USA RC magazine. 

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8 hours ago, Shodog said:

I think the the vehicle I'm most proud of finding was this new in the box Fat Wheels Jeep by Remco

5006F22A-1FB7-4CF5-B810-66AA2370BD3C_zps

I remember sitting in the toy aisle of JCPenny's drooling over this jeep when I was 8 year old.

@Shodog That is fantastic :) Can totally see why it would have been memorable. Glad you eventually got one. Anything wire-controlled is also especially hard to find, as they were fragile and very few good examples survived. Edit: Silly me, I wrote that last sentence as I was heading off to sleep. It's R/C of course. Remco did have a few R/C models in the early-mid 80s. Extra points to this one for inflatable tyres, something extremely rare in vintage R/C at any grade.

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10 hours ago, markbt73 said:

Very good job there.

@NWarty The AYK 566B Super Trail was AYK's (Aoyagi Metal Co. of Japan) first ever off-road R/C kit. Released in 1982, it was essentially AYK's answer to Tamiya's Rough Rider, Sand Scorcher and Ford F150 Ranger XLT. There were two versions of the 566B Super Trail - the Baja Bison buggy, and the American Pick-up truck. Each was the same chassis, but with different body in the kit, and a driver figure.

The kit features a waterproof radio tub, similar to an SRB (though made of lighter plastic), and loads of metal - again, similar to an SRB. Soft rubber tyres, with paddle-style rears, complete the look. Early examples of the kit came in a large kit box with a great blister pack display. Later examples have a more compact kit box, and no blister pack. 

Extremely rare today in unbuilt condition. And much like each of the earliest/first fully-fledged off-roader kits from each of the early kit marques (Rough Rider from Tamiya, Scorpion from Kyosho, RC10 from Associated, Hunter from Marui, YZ-834B Dog Fighter from Yokomo, Bulldog from Mugen, Cat from Schumacher, Zerda from Hirobo, and others), it should be considered vintage gold.

Courtesy of InetRC...

AYK566BPickup_01.jpg

AYK566BPickup_02.jpg

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Without a doubt the AYK 566B is one of the all-time greatest!

My question is, who inspired who, Kyosho took some notes from the 566B to make the Scorpion or vice-versa?

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Thanks Hiber! After doing a bit of reading, it does make sense that I never saw one. There wasn't any North American distribution until they were close to going out of business.

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I really got denied the joy of hunting down a vintage car. The only one I wanted was a Boomerang and I had only just started looking when the 2017 rere was announced, so now I have one. I do know of a prett mint vintage one though with period esc, bearings etc which I will probably end up buying. A friends older brother has it still, I bought his other brothers car when they upgraded to an Ultima and Salute. Funnily enough 3 have just been listed or sold on our local auction site, but no way my wife would have agreed to yet another car

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When I was a kid, the two Tamiyas that eluded me were the Monster Beetle and Wild Willy. The Monster Beetle being the first Tamiya product to totally captivate me (and hasn't let up in over 30 years). Seeing one high up on the hobby shop shelf stopped me dead in my tracks. I couldn't take my eyes off it because I don't think I'd seen anything quite like it. (Today, a NIB one sits up on a high shelf in my hobby room to emulate the experience, weird, I know).

The Wild Willy always struck me as a "different" Tamiya model with its cartoony proportions. Its probably why I drive a full size Jeep today. I love the boxart. When I finally had saved up the money for one (it took over a year to do so in those days) it had been discontinued. My grandfather (an avid wooden model ship builder) drove me around to all the hobby shops in the southern PA and MD area looking for a Wild Willy. We followed several leads but came up empty handed.

When Ebay began to take off, I grabbed nice example of these two models in the same week. This re-fired my passion for vintage RC in the early 2000's and it has been going strong since. Like I said, if I'm not collecting, then I'm probably dead. I can't express how happy I was to finally get these two in my collection.

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I remember being quite pleased with any vintage Lancia Rally part I could find, which were namely complete sets of wheels, tires, and shell. This would have been for nothing if not for finding a Lancia Rally in the first place:

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I did not relent in favour of the re-release version as I wanted a rally car with genuine rough-road capability, and ended up with another TC member's solid example. The chassis was used and appeared original, down to the hex-style outdrives and solid final gear, but the body was new, not started, and with complete accessories and decals. The all-important tires and wheels were also in good condition, with no cracks and few flaws. It was a real prize given what I had paid for it, and even included the original awkward-looking bumper (which was unfortunately brittle and cracked during shipping).

Its ensuing story is not one of authenticity and period-correctness, but then it has not been one of shelf-queen living, either! Acquiring, completing, and driving it have all been watershed moments in my RC career, as my positive experience with this particular car has influenced the composition of my collection since then, placing more interest in classic designs and the occasional outright (not re-released) vintage chassis.

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purchased a vintage super champ for very cheap with no mention from the owner of what was under the body or in the gearbox. Was an Ebay purchase. Lo and behold the gearbox was housing a thorp ball diff. in extremely  good condition.😁 

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Whilst sorting out which parts I'd need in order to restore my childhoods Nikko F10 I soon discovered I'd be better off trying to find a donor car. Mostly because I failed splendidly in removing the tyres and instead warped them majestically due to soaking in nail polish remover. Yay me! After a few months I found a what I hoped was a complete car in Japan (the listing only had a picture of the box,) and crossed my fingers that it would have wheels and a rear shock thingy I could use for the restoration. 

Then easter and a multitude of other shenanigans happened and I still hadn't opened the box. Yesterday I had a few minutes so I thought I'd crack it open and take stock of the contents. I could say I was pleasantly surprised to find I'd actually bought a NIB Bison F10, but truth be told I went slightly mental with joy. The old one is blue, but I'm not one to complain, least not right now.  

ty0Tcpr.jpg

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Question: What vintage R/C car or part were you most happy to find?

Answer: the next car, the next part.

 

Max

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Somehow I found this about 5 years ago. To me, the Holy Grail of Tamiya cars.

blazer.jpg

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Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

I love all the pictures in this thread. Anyone got anything more to add, to keep it going for a bit? ^_^

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I'll play:

#3 A NIB  M01 Mini Cooper to replace the first Tamiya I had bought which had been long lost while I was out of the hobby. 

#2 Prior to that a NIB 58099 Skyline, the car I wanted but never got as a kid.

#1 A vintage Manta Ray which had been upgraded to a TopForce Evo, came with Dynatech motor,  hicaps and the original parts. Until it arrived, I wasn't sure what I was getting. the picture online didn't show clearly what was coming.

Number 1 and 2 opened up a slight obsession with TA01/02s and DF01s that has netted me a few other cool cars that I hadn't noticed before.

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A original NIB flakpanzer gepard . 56003

 

And i build it like a boss :)  without shame, without thinking 2x about it

( not my pic.. but , you get the idea .. )

 

flakky.thumb.jpg.950b0ffc2a8d8ffad4d13eeece4eec92.jpg

 

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Now - this may be a touch controversial - but I don’t count vintage NIB or restoration finds as striking Treasure Hunt gold ...

I mean sure they’re satisfying at the time but these days it’s largely a waiting game after registering on the usual sites vs quality sleuthing or effort ?

So, the guys who sift through dusty estate sales, have a black book of informed hoarders (who rise to the sound of Tamiya jungle drums ...) or trawl the sad (but inevitable) decline / closure of old hobby stores get my respect.

For me personally, the finds that have really made me smile are frankly the rare occasions I beat you lot to a rare bargain 😂

Most recently a NIB ‘78 Futaba FP 2GS set - and a NOS 6V battery hop up for a ‘76 934 !

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3 hours ago, SuperChamp82 said:

Now - this may be a touch controversial - but I don’t count vintage NIB or restoration finds as striking Treasure Hunt gold ...

I mean sure they’re satisfying at the time but these days it’s largely a waiting game after registering on the usual sites vs quality sleuthing or effort ? 

So, the guys who sift through dusty estate sales, have a black book of informed hoarders (who rise to the sound of Tamiya jungle drums ...) or trawl the sad (but inevitable) decline / closure of old hobby stores get my respect.

It's a different kind of treasure hunt these days.

15+ years ago it was still possible to find whole kits as old stock in physical hobby stores. Much less so today. So the only way to find them now, is online. But I do get what you are saying. If you can find something online, and it's a waiting game, is that really a "treasure hunt"?

I still think it is. Because even the most popular vintage kits are not always available. Most buyers are not patient and do not have the patience to watch the market all year long. They only try for a few weeks, then give up. Popular vintage kits might come up for sale 5-10 times a year. But you also have to compete with other buyers for them. You could also argue it's "lucky" just to be able to afford them, as most people can't.

Then there are the rare kits. Rare kits might only come up once a year, once in five years, or never. And there is no doubt getting one of those is "treasure" - even if you were waiting and watching for it to appear, rather than rummaging for it in a farm shed.

Then there is also the aspect that not everything on the internet is plainly visible and easy to find for everyone. A lot of things I have found through contacts met online, which is another dimension to the searching. Or via very rigorous searching on foreign websites themselves, where sometimes things are hidden, expired or just poorly displayed - requiring effort to trawl through, translate, or chase old links or old expired listings. I have found many things this way, over the years.

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In the Flakpanzer Gepard case ( nib ) , it was a actually lucky hidden-away find at some dude's place.

 

Nearly had one YESTERDAY... a original frog..

 

Story :

Im a garbage dude, and one of the less fortunate jobs is doing clearings .. what means, people get -evicted- or for other reasons there house gets cleaned out

by a pro team..  

The entire content of a house gets dumped into a huge container.. ( here i come in ) , and i haul that off to dispose off.

 

So i dump the container , for privacy issue's of the person , it was quite obvious that house needed a clean and "empty" , the person who owned the place,

no idea what happened to him.  Not something i want to know anyway.   

( as its not that unusual the owner had to be taken out also with people with hazmat suits )

 

Well , i close the container doors after dumping.. and my eyes drop on a buggy front wheel.. * closer inspection * , with a frog "knee" on it !

* kicks aside some other misc stuff * .. frog body ..

( there was a misc lot of other rc gear in there, some boats.. planes and the odd chopper or 2  )

Well, did a quick scan.. but was not able to find back the full frog , it was 40 m3 of "waist" so .. yeah.. its a huge pile of "house content" .

 

( nope, did not take the stuff ) , as i could get fired on the spot for that. Its a big no-no in my work.

Anyway.. when you get cought.. and ( frog ) bits are no where even near worth the risk.

 

 

 

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