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Brads442

Vintage NID Wild One - Build or Keep in Box?

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Hello Everyone, I have a quick question. In 1985, I had the option of a Fox or a Wild One at the age of 13. I chose the Fox as the guy at the Hobby Shop said it was a better performer. Turns out it was. But, like many of you, I have collected several Tamiya buggies including the Wild One I looked at back in the day.

Here is the question, around 2001, before all of the rereleases, I purchased a NIB Wild One kit in absolutely mint condition. I probably paid too much for it, $600 US. They won't fetch that much on eBay anymore, which is ok as I don't want to get rid of the buggy. I would really like to have a vintage Wild One to display along with my Wild One rerelease.  So, should I build it or keep it NIB? 

A perfect scenario would be to keep it NIB and find another vintage one to either restore or build, but there doesn't seem to be many for sale right now. If there are, they seem to be in really bad shape.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks, Brad

wild_one.jpg

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Keep it in the box, find a rereleased Wild One and build that one.

New plastic, new rubber, new lexan, low price.

Original Wild One is expensive, rare and old, the rubber will become quickly brittle, the plastic will break easly and the economic value will go lost. It's simply not smarty the choice to assemble it, especially because the rerelased kits are on sale today.

 

Max

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Would agree with Max. Keep it NIB and get a re-re. I recently did a 100% resto on my vintage Wild One. Ran it once as it scared me to death if I were to roll or flip it. Having said that, it's a fun and easy build. The WO is a great runner though and quick. I own both the Fox and WO and they're both fun to drive. 

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7 hours ago, Brads442 said:

Here is the question, around 2001, before all of the rereleases, I purchased a NIB Wild One kit in absolutely mint condition. I probably paid too much for it, $600 US. They won't fetch that much on eBay anymore...

Actually, they will: https://rctoymemories.com/items-for-sale/for-sale-3-tamiya-wild-one/   I sold that for AU$700 in January, which was about US$550 at the time. US$600 was not too much for your kit - not in 2001, and not now. Because there are always lots of people out there looking specifically for the original kits.

I also get asked the "should I build?" question quite often (I think 2 people have asked me this question in just the last week), and my answer would always be this...  You only live once.

When I grew up, I wanted to own all the buggies so badly, that I wore out my catalogues flipping through them all the time. The cars all seemed exotic beyond words, and owning them was like a fantasy I had no hope of fulfilling. When the 1990s came and most of those great early cars went out of production, it seemed the only hope might be to cobble together some used examples with half-worn-out body shells. It was inconceivable to imagine that any new in box examples even existed.

Then the Internet and eBay came along, and to many people's shock (including mine) there turned out to be some old NIB stock in Japan, and even the storage rooms of hobby retailers around the world. Before the days of Paypal, I started sending Western Union Money Orders around the world to buy some of the vintage gold I was seeing on the interwebs. The dream of owning and building from new, original kits, wasn't just a dream anymore.

If what you've always wanted was to own and build (from brand new) the original kits, then go ahead. I have bought at least two examples of each original kit I wanted - one to build, one to keep. That way I can be personally certain I am not building the last NIB ;) I can relax and enjoy putting the car together exactly as it was in the 1980s. While the remakes provide a cheap alternative, to me there's no substitute for owning and potentially building a vintage R/C car - exactly as it was when I first wanted it, as a kid in the 1980s.

cheers,

H.

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I understand how the value is keeping it NIB but to me that defeats the point of buying them in the first place. Also regarding the value, US $600 is a lot of money if you want to build all 150 originals, but if its the one that got away then I wouldn't worry about the loss of value of one kit as the fun you have building it would be worth more than that. I'm assuming you don't need the money as you have owned it for a long time and wouldn't be asking the question if you needed it to cover the mortgage.  My thing is though I'm not a collector, rather I have a few kits which cover bashing, racing and 2 rere shelfer/light use...I would definitely build a NIB Boomerang though if I could find one and clear it with the finance committee!

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20 hours ago, Hibernaculum said:

When I grew up, I wanted to own all the buggies so badly, that I wore out my catalogues flipping through them all the time. The cars all seemed exotic beyond words, and owning them was like a fantasy I had no hope of fulfilling. When the 1990s came and most of those great early cars went out of production, it seemed the only hope might be to cobble together some used examples with half-worn-out body shells. It was inconceivable to imagine that any new in box examples even existed.

 

We must be around the same age (45) because I felt the same way about them in the early to mid 80s. They were exotic and all I could do is dream about owning more. I now own 24 buggies and feel the same way about all of them. 

I will probably keep it NIB for now and keep looking for another one to build and display. 

Gotta thank eBay for keeping the love affair with Tamiya buggies going!

Brad

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Thanks for all of the comments guys, I really appreciate taking the time to comment!

Brad

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I have some NIB original kits, and many of the rerelease kits. Where I am right now in my life, I just can't bring myself to build the originals. For example RA1016, every couple of years I get it out, gaze over it, smell it, flick through the manual, I sit and reminisce, but I just can't slip a blade into those blisters or bags. It's just too historic, I just can't.

I'm all over the rerelease Scorcher like a hobo on a ham samich though. Not a second of hesitation.

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