Did I buy a 58001 Porsche 934?

[emspjay 138]

So I purchased this on Ebay it was listed as a MRC R/C Car parts lot. It looks like a 58001 to me but I'm not an expert, I was born in 1977 so this was before my time LOL! It looks well used, missing most of body, and has some type of battery in it with what looks like homemade parts to fit it to the chassis.

[emspjay 138]

[emspjay 138]

[KEV THE REV 2248]

Yes you did - lucky man

[salvine 123]

I believe MRC was the importer for Tamiya in those years. I remember seeing their name on kits back then and in the 80's

[superted 121]

Good job mate love those

[emspjay 138]

Thanks guys! I got one project I need to finish then I'm going to start cleaning this thing up!

[WillyChang 1756]

Good lord... looks like somebody owned a big crowbar & he's shoehorned in a big 540 motor and a 6V lead acid gelcell!

Originally it runs a 360 motor and had a holder for 4x C cells. Or ditch the holder and use Tamiya's nicad 6V pack.

[emspjay 138]

On 1/6/2018 at 8:51 AM, WillyChang said:

Good lord... looks like somebody owned a big crowbar & he's shoehorned in a big 540 motor and a 6V lead acid gelcell!

Originally it runs a 360 motor and had a holder for 4x C cells. Or ditch the holder and use Tamiya's nicad 6V pack.

I know haha! I can't wait to see what type of battery it is.

[gearheadwilly 18]

Great score! You ever think about buying a lottery ticket? Haha. Mrc is an abbreviation for model rectifier corporation. My rough but still living original boxes both have Mrc stickers on them. I think, they bought these as "suitable for radio control" kits and installed their radio gear and electronics before selling them to the public or just sold you electronics when you bought your unassembled kit if you wanted to diy. No doubt someone on here has more details on this, tons of knowledge here. Definitely keep us posted on the restoration progress. 

[emspjay 138]

Thanks again guys for all the information! I know MRC was the importer back in the day. My original Frog I got back in the day had all the MRC stickers on the box. This seller said they found this in Grandma's basement, and since the only markings was the MRC radio gear they listed it as a MRC parts lot. When I first saw the listing I was almost positive it was a 58001 so I placed a bid on it. But I think some other people also knew because my winning bid was $152.00 USD. Not sure if that was a good deal or not since these are not what I normally look for. But I think this is super cool even though it is before my Tamiya time and can't wait to start restoring it. It is cool to know that I own one of the cars that started the R/C car and Tamiya revolution!!

[emspjay 138]

Disassembly has begun! This chassis does not seam that bad but somebody did some backwoods engineering on the motor mount to get the 540 in it, and it was a 6V gel cell battery in it.

 

[WillyChang 1756]

Ouch! Yep he definitely owned a hacksaw... 

[Crash Cramer 617]

Plenty of knowledge here on TC, but getting it out into the ether seems more and more impossible. That sure looks like it will be a costly restoration, but these old ones almost always are. The wheels alone could fetch half the eBay price, so not too poorly bought, that is if the wheels haven’t cracked up over the years and miles it has covered. I sure wish I could get a trip to this guy’s grandmas house. Time for you to get yourself down to the Harbor Freight tool shop and buy an ultrasonic cleaner.

[emspjay 138]

Thanks guys! I'm totally up for this restoration and I'm sure it will be costly! The wheels are in great shape but the tires are not, the fronts are decent but the rears are unusable. I will keep working on this restoration as I can as I find parts I need. The biggest thing now that I think would help is a good PDF of the manual, the one here on the website is very hard to read. Anybody got a decent PDF of this manual??

[Crash Cramer 617]

Well, that is good news indeed that you are ready for the cost. There might be reproduced tires on eBay, but i don’t have one of these things, so this site and tamiyablog and tamiyabase ought to help you out with parts and images and such.

[emspjay 138]

So I got the chassis plate and gears cleaned up. Not going crazy and trying to wet sand out the scratches in the chassis because I will run this, just trying to make it a very presentable car that I can run and enjoy on the shelf.

 

[yogi-bear 2108]

16 minutes ago, emspjay said:

So I got the chassis plate and gears cleaned up. Not going crazy and trying to wet sand out the scratches in the chassis because I will run this, just trying to make it a very presentable car that I can run and enjoy on the shelf.

if you do run this, please post a video  its always good to see these vintage cars in action.

[WillyChang 1756]

32 minutes ago, emspjay said:

So I got the chassis plate and gears cleaned up. Not going crazy and trying to wet sand out the scratches in the chassis because I will run this, just trying to make it a very presentable car that I can run and enjoy on the shelf.

Wait, stop... don't polish the chassis until it's mirror shiny.  these things came stamped out with a brushed finish, it's more utilitarian that way.

Brush in 1 straight direction with suitable abrasive tool.

To refinish to that look some ppl have tried sandpaper but that can leave deep ugly gouges. Others use scotch rite pads or fine stainless steel wool. For the pros, at metalworking supply shops there are proper brushing tools that look like pencil erasers, sold in different coarseness.

[emspjay 138]

42 minutes ago, yogi-bear said:

if you do run this, please post a video  its always good to see these vintage cars in action.

Will do! I myself can't wait to see 1976 performance first hand

[emspjay 138]

26 minutes ago, WillyChang said:

Wait, stop... don't polish the chassis until it's mirror shiny.  these things came stamped out with a brushed finish, it's more utilitarian that way.

Brush in 1 straight direction with suitable abrasive tool.

To refinish to that look some ppl have tried sandpaper but that can leave deep ugly gouges. Others use scotch rite pads or fine stainless steel wool. For the pros, at metalworking supply shops there are proper brushing tools that look like pencil erasers, sold in different coarseness.

Cool thank you! Good to know that! Will do, bringing it back to a brushed finish will actually hide a bunch of the scratches.

[WillyChang 1756]

2 hours ago, emspjay said:

Cool thank you! Good to know that! Will do, bringing it back to a brushed finish will actually hide a bunch of the scratches.

Yeah it'll sure save a lot of elbow grease!! 

For a long piece like that put it 12-6 and pull each stroke towards you.

If you put it 3-9oclock and brush it sideways flexing only your elbow, that's guaranteed to make curved strokes.

[emspjay 138]

So I brushed it with steel wool, it too the shine down a bit. The other parts I did not polish and you can see they look about the same now. So now the search for parts begins.

And the last pic is of stuff I think was homemade and I can toss in the trash?

 

[WillyChang 1756]

Looks good!

yeah those bits in last pic are bushmechanic handywork. But I wouldn't turf them just yet, they look like handy sheetmetal to have around just in case you need to fabricate some bracket or patch.

[Indetrucks 72]

You scored at that price.

I have a couple of these (built and NIB).  I have a few spares, so if you need anything such as that motor mount, let me know. I think I have one New in package still.