Sometimes they come back...

[Saito2 6678]

I've bought and sold an excessive amount of old cars (1:1) in my lifetime and not once have ever come across one of them after they've left. Its like they disappear, never to be seen again. Now, in the world of RC, I'm far more likely to hold onto things, but I've certainly left a few go. Back in 2012, around the birth of our daughter, money was tight. I let go of a DF03 Avante MK2 for some extra cash. In those days, I was just collecting one buggy from each evolution of Tamiya shaft-drive 4WD.  

I've been moving away from Tamiya of late and was actually scanning the local Craigslist for an RC10, having just purchased another one from @markbt73 (Thanks Mark!). Shockingly, I found one for sale with, you guessed it, a DF03 Avante. It wasn't until I got it home and went over it, comparing it to the old pics I took in 2012, that it became clear my actual DF03 had returned to me. Makes me oddly happy.

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

I think you should change the duplicate thread title to "Sometimes they come back (again)..." in honor of the movie series... 

[Juggular 4961]

Whoa, that'd be very rare.  

If you watch antiques road show, people bring stuff from Germany, China, etc.  That means, once the stuff goes, it could end up in Tibet, for we you know.  Then again, you also see people selling a used book as a child in USA and find the book with her name on it in Paris, on vacation decades later.  

First question: Did you make money on it?  (I would definitely pay more, if I knew it was mine)  

Second question: Was it in good condition?  

 

[markbt73 5311]

Huh, cool. I've never seen any of my models once they left my hands. There are several I would certainly jump at, if they came back around again. I did have a chance to buy back a 1:1 car my mom had owned many years earlier (a 1980 VW Dasher diesel hatchback), but I decided to get something with more than 48 horsepower. Still kind of regret it... that Dasher was a neat old car.

Glad the RC10 got there OK. Let me know if you need any parts; I'm sorting through a big plastic tub of RC10 bits now.

[Saito2 6678]

3 hours ago, speedy_w_beans said:

I think you should change the duplicate thread title to "Sometimes they come back (again)..." in honor of the movie series

Glad someone got that reference . I've read a lot Stephen King and that little movie based on the short story wasn't bad.

3 hours ago, Juggular said:

First question: Did you make money on it?  (I would definitely pay more, if I knew it was mine)  

Bought it new for about $130 back in the day. I assembled it and never ran it (the alloy gear issues had begun to crop up by then). I sold it for about $90 or $95 IIRC, which really wasn't bad considering how badly "non-collectible" Tamiyas depreciate (you can actually hear the sonic boom as they scream downward in value in the US, lol). I paid $125 for it this time plus the RC10 Team Car I was initially after. All in all, I'm quite happy.

3 hours ago, Juggular said:

Second question: Was it in good condition?

Looks like it was run only once or so. It didn't even get scratched on the bottom.

 

When I got it home, I was thinking whoever did the bodywork, used the correct paint and did it up as per manual (a rarity in my experience) Then, I noticed that there were some small creases in the "side pod" decals which are hard to apply and that some decals were left off, like the window tint (which I always leave off). So, I ran back though the old ad pics I posted in 2012 on my computer and all the creases and such were exactly the same. There's some idiosyncrasies in my build methods I saw on the chassis too. 

[Mad Ax 9306]

I've sold quite a lot of easily-identifiable RCs, mostly via Tamiyaclub, and almost never see them after they go.  I don't religiously watch the showrooms like I used to but it surprises me that some of them haven't turned up there.  OTOH I sometimes take months or even years to add new cars to my showroom, so maybe not a surprise after all...

Somebody here once posted a photo of something on their shelf.  In the background I noticed a VW Beetle body that I'd painted in gunmetal and applied Midnight Pumpkin decals to.  I'd only sold it a couple of months previously, and not to that user, but it had changed hands quickly and ended up on a shelf in a background photo on Tamiyaclub.  How about that

I once had a TA05 that I'd been racing with for a couple of years.  For some reason I could never get it to handle right.  It's like it had some serious defect affecting mechanical grip, but I rebuilt it several times and never found it.  None of the more experienced racers at my club could ever get it to handle properly.

I took it to a one-day championship.  In race one I caught the barrier and ripped the entire back end off.  I bought a car off another racer, and we did a deal involving the remaining bits of my TA05.  He said he was going to turn it into a drifter.

A few weeks later I saw it in the hands of another new racer, on the club circuit, still understeering and spinning around and generally being undriveable.  I don't know what he paid for it but I know it was too much  

[wolfdogstinkus 1893]

That beetle with the pumpkin flames was mine.

Don't have it anymore. 

I mean you noticed it in one of my pictures.