Is a Tamiya Falcon worth anything ?

[Mr.Pink]

So my first rc was a tamiya falcon with a MSC and no other upgrades , the body is trashed . Is this thing worth any $$$ ? If it is I will keep it , if it is not then I will keep it and rebuild it to running state and race it against modern electric buggies and trucks and see how I do . Since most of the races are won by skill not the kit . So what ya think ?

[sosidge]

Worth nothing I'm afraid - check ebay for the sale prices of Falcons.

You will get a kicking by modern equipment in a race too... driver skill only goes so far to overcome a useless suspension system and transmission...

[Wireless]

I'm afraid it's not worth a whole lot. unfortunately the Falcon, although I love it dearly (my first Tamiya) has some flaws which make it uncompetitive in standard form. It's expensive and time consuming to make them work so they weren't too popular for racing. As a back yard basher they are very good though and given they were slightly more expensive than a Hornet and a lot less expensive than a Frog or Fox, then they go very well for the price.

[Mr.Pink]

I didn't think it was worth anything , oh well back in the storage room it goes after I strip the silver can motor off it for a back up for my mini .

[J3cubfan]

I did a review on this car awhile back. You can still find parts to restore it pretty readily. It shares the same chassis with the Bear Hawk Blitzer beetle and others. It would be a good car to start with when considering a restoration project. The only thing that you have to be aware is the body around the shock tower.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/car_comment.asp?cid=56

[Shermanator2]

When it boils down to these what its worth questions, people pay what they want to pay. Time and again I have been wondering who and how people state the market price of vintage cars. Their are plenty of spare parts that come up on ebay for say The Hotshot but on a side by side comparison point of view the hotshot still is worth more than the falcon. My opinion is when the car becomes popular and the demand for it is high- then the market price of it also goes up in the process. The Falcon is a good car with some design problems with the dogbones at the rear. However it is easily fixed.

On ebay Nib kits are up around 300 to 400 bucks- and as the years pass by I guess will only increase in value I guess. I feel the Falcon is the most underated car Tamiya has ever built and can't fathom why in the collecting fraternity that it is disliked. Its shape is pretty nice and mimicks the contours of a Falcon. I like looking at my new built but I havent run it yet and probably won't. If I were you I will work on it. The Falcon will defintley grow on you. As the market value and what its worth- In my opinion I couldn't care less on what its worth as I only buy and purchase cars that I actually like and am not a collector who collects tamiya cars for the sake of collecting. I trully hope you give that Falcon a fair go to prove its Worth[]

[terry.sc]

quote:Originally posted by Shermanator2

I feel the Falcon is the most underated car Tamiya has ever built and can't fathom why in the collecting fraternity that it is disliked.

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The popular cars are ones which either people had at the time or cars they wanted to have. The Falcon was largely ignored at the time as if you wanted a beginners car you bought a Hornet which was quite a bit cheaper, if you wanted something with more performance you bought a Wild One or Fox. The Falcon was stuck in the middle, without the performance of the high end buggies or the durability of the Hornet, so it just didn't sell. It would be more popular if they had replaced the Hornet with the Falcon instead of just adding to the range.

[tarznatz]

If you don't want it, I'll take it! Drop me a line, I'll pay shipping. I have some spares from other restores that may make it worth trying to bring back to life.

[Mr.Pink]

i think once i get my Mini in to racing shape iwill get the falcon running again . I have a few spares and every thing to makeit run . It was hardly used at all . the bottom of the chassis is not even scratched . It need a new body though and a wing . It even has the original tires and rims on it still , although the rears are bald . I post a pic soon . because right now it is in a box disasemballed . I may throw some better tires , a esc and better shocks on it and race it . I know that i will not come in last . but may not win .

What can I do about those plastic dogbones in the rear ?

[HunterZero]

I have a Falcon and I actually quite like it. I think that the Falcon is not so popular because it is all plastic, and was one of the lower specced 'beginners' level 2WD cars so not so desirable.

It does have flaws (rear suspension geometry is pants, rear wing keeps tearing off at the rear of the roof, cracking rear arms, front bulkhead is weak, dogbones are plastic and tend to fall out), but it has some highlights too (Front suspension is great, oil shocks all round, it's quite tough overall, gearbox is almost indestructible).

Absolute best thing about it though is that spares are cheap and easy to come by.

In all it is a nice looking and fun little buggy.

- James

[Scorpn]

Hey Terry, I don't remember the Wild one being better than the Falcon, my Falcon toasted all the Wild Ones it came across, much more stable and tuneable with those big yellow shocks

Glenn

[terry.sc]

Whatever the actual performance the Fox was seen as the high end racing 2wd car, followed by the Wild One. The Falcon was seen as a beginners car, with its yellow plastic shocks. 'Proper' racers only used alloy ones, even though the plastic ones were the best that Tamiya produced at the time. The plastic driveshafts were also seen as a 'cheap beginners car' rather than a performance car. The Wild One used the same driveshafts as the Fox (and Frog) so the hex drive shafts were seen as the performance choice.

The Wild One was also the more expensive, again seen as an indication of ultimate performance. The more expensive the car the greater performance potential.

[Wireless]

Terry's right in that the Wild One was *supposed* to be better, but the reality was that the Falcon was an infinitely quicker and more solid buggy. As for the Fox, they went beautifully. My Falcon really did have it's work cut out against Moosey's Fox at Kidderminster. I don't think we ever finished a race together so it's hard to say what might have been quickest. I think the Falcon handled the jumps and undulating straights best but the Fox killed the Falcon round the corners as I had LOADS of grip roll []

[Hibernaculum]

quote:Originally posted by Shermanator2

I feel the Falcon is the most underated car Tamiya has ever built and can't fathom why in the collecting fraternity that it is disliked. Its shape is pretty nice and mimicks the contours of a Falcon.

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Totally agree there, Shermanator. []

And I don't know about anyone else, but I love hearing these stories about people racing the different models against each other, and trying to figure out which is fastest.

It seems like no-one is entirely sure of which car is the fastest, as it depends on so many variables. And with so many uniquely different cars, it's fascinating to imagine them all in a race together and wonder what the finishing order would be...

One advantage that the Wild One had was the inclusion of some ball bearings in the kit. The Falcon on the other hand, came with the more modern CVA shocks and a bathatub chassis that went on to feature in the BearHawk.

My own Falcon is still NIB, but I've done some miles with the BearHawk, and that little car has never ceased to impressed me.

cheers,

H.

[lesabre400]

I restored a Falcon recently for my young cousin's first RC, but I did a monster truck conversion including Blackfoot wheels and tires. I reinforced the front bulkhead/shock tower, bought two spare sets of dogbones and topped it off with an HPI Dodge truck body. It's clean, tough and very fast (buggy gearing with monster truck tires). The independant suspension and oil shocks make it handle surprisingly well. All in all, a great performer and so cheap and easy to build. I'll have to dig up some pictures and figure out how to post them in here.

[breck]

This is the most valuble buggy ever produced in RC history!!

..because it was my first RC Car[]

I recently got a new-built falcon to sit proudly on my shelf..

Back then I had mine dialed-in pretty well and it won a few races! - The good ole Days

[]