"Toys" deserve a little credit sometimes.

[DynaHead]

"Nikko is

the top manufacturer of beginner class cars for a reason. They make the

highest quality beginner class cars there are. Their cars are nearly

indestructible and the company has great parts support. So before you

go offending people by calling a Nikko a piece of ****, remember that

it's only relatively inferior."

Relax.  Do you work for Nikko or something?  My remark was merely off the cuff and served to illustrate a point. I don't buy Nikko cars so they are inconsequential to me. My brother in law was in radio shack and wanted to buy one.  I knew that something would have broken in a matter of a few runs. I know this to be true because I used to have them when I was a kid and recently examined the ones in radio shack.  Companies like Nikko have to some degree more planned obsolescence then "hobby grade" cars.  They need to be, considering the market they are after.  I rammed my Hornet into a light post at full speed, rolled it countless times, gone up dirt hills, and it still performs as good as the day i got it. I doubt that a Nikko car would have been undamaged.

"I'd say they are both toys equally as much. Toys come in all sizes,

even R/C ones. There are beginner class R/C cars big enough for small

children to ride on but they are still toys.

 

 Still a matter of perception.

 

"And just because we

like R/C cars does not mean that we don't like full size ones! It is a

little harder to fund a 1:1 car that goes 200-600mph, find places to

run it, and occasionally crash into things without dying."

I never stated that that R/C enthusiasts don't have an appreciation for 1:1 scale cars.

[rhenbelz]

Perception is fine, but if you perceive cars mentioned in this thread as "****" and the title is "'Toys' deserve a little credit sometimes" then perhaps it is not the place to be putting them down.

As to the 1:1 appreciation, it was only in response to "If many of us had the money we might abandon R/C for the full scale thing." and not meant as anything other than a clarified agreement with your statement.

[DynaHead]

I was adding to the discussion of what was considered a toy.  If you are offended by the notion of Nikko possibly being an inferior product, then you should not expect individuals who invest in Tamiya products to necessarily agree with you that Nikko is not inferior.  If many of us though it was not,  then we would be purchasing them.  I use the word "many" because I understand they there are people, like you, who buy both.  I like Tamiya products, I like this website, and I also like the

freedom to express what I truthfully think of another manufacturers

products.  Without the fear of reprisal from people who are offended because of their own perspectives.  I've been in radio shack and seen Nikko cars.  I stand by my original comment of them.

Thank you for your other statement of agreement, I perceived it wrong.

 

[Main Man]

For anyone who has that soft spot for nikkos. I have some nice trucks on ebay right now. I also have tons of extra parts for the these trucks. bodies, chassiis, wheels,  etc. I have a nikko black thunder, scorpion, and midnight crusher on there now. If u need parts lmk

150092909859

[Live Steam Mad]

Does anyone remember the (R/C ?) toy called BigFoot, it was very popular during about 1987 when I was 13, I never had one but the memory has only just come back to me about it, I was fascinated by that toy grade truck, and it's what got me hooked on the BlackFoot. We used to play with these BigFoot models with our friends at the sand pit (long jump pit, if you could avoid the dog t*rds) on Cowley (former Girls, then mixed Grammar School, now burnt down and a housing estate built there) High School playing field, Cowley Hill (not the Hard Lane site), St.Helens, NW England.

I'd love to find out what brand that truck was and get some links to some pictures of it.

Anyone else have one ?

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[pikachoo75]

hi live steam mad,i too have a vague recollection about the bigfoot.wasnt it abit like the "programmeable" space tank type thing about the same time?i think it was a matter of pressing the buttons on the back and it then went a did as you told it.im sure it may not have been radio/remote controlled for some reason?think the space tank was digitrac as something like that.mite be wrong but i think i can recall seeing it in a Kay's catalogue when i was a kid.

(edit) now i think it had a big gearstick on the bed at the back......

[Fusion-Hobbies]

I used to have a Bigfoot. I think it was made by MB Games? There is one for sale on ebay at the moment.

James

[.iGav]

hi live steam mad,i too have a vague recollection about the bigfoot.wasnt it abit like the "programmeable" space tank type thing about the same time?i think it was a matter of pressing the buttons on the back and it then went a did as you told it.

That was Bigtrak (or Big Trak for the folk across the pond).

Bigtrak was manufactured by MB, a NIB (still shrink wrapped) version came up on eBay 2 or 3 years ago and cleared 200 notes, they're incredibly rare in that condition though, as in I haven't seen one like that since '83!

(edit) now i think it had a big gearstick on the bed at the back......

Possibly the Bigfoot made by MB/Playskool? They had 2 levers on the roof, one allowed the truck to be switched from 2WD to 4WD and the other sent it either forwards or backwards. There was also an ignition key on the bed of the truck that acted as the On/Off switch.

MB/Playskool also produced a scale version of the Orange Blossom Special wheelie truck, and I believe the Warlock funny car as well, all under the SST (Super Size Trucks) brand.

One toy that I've never seen again since the '80's was called FLEX, it was a yellow Corvette/type car, that had wide, narrow rubber tyres... and had a gear stick on the back of it, that operated much like the MB/Playskool Bigfoot and allowed the car to be set off either forwards/backwards, however when the car hit an obstacle that it couldn't drive over, the car would stop, and the wheels would beginning to narrow and in doing so the rubber tyres would then increase in size, and the car would then proceed to clear the obstacle. Not an RC car, but similarly nostalgic all the same.

<Edit>This is the

[Hibernaculum]

Nice to see this old thread alive again

That's a cool truck. I remember when they used to make toys like that - they weren't radio controlled, but would just go by themselves. Some other models would even take a series of different shaped "cams" that would cause them to drive around in different patterns.

I've heard of the BigTrak iGav, and you're right it's become a collectible.

This BigFoot reminds me a bit of the R/C Tandy/Radio Shack "4x4 Off Roader", first sold in 1986. I have NIBs of both the Yellow (27Mhz) and Blue (40Mhz) versions of this, as it was one of my first R/Cs and a toy I dearly loved. Just the smell of one of these toys takes me back to when I was 12 years old and getting one on Christmas morning I've seen these go for over US$200 if they're in mint condition, though like most RTR toys they rarely are. I just dug one out of the cupboard and took these...

cheers,

H.

[.iGav]

That's a cool truck. I remember when they used to make toys like that - they weren't radio controlled, but would just go by themselves.

Like Stompers 4x4's (that were famed for coming with a single Duracell battery) and Matchbox Rough Riders.

Some other models would even take a series of different shaped "cams" that would cause them to drive around in different patterns.

I remember buying a pull-back car (a black Pontiac Trans Am, but not Knight Rider/KITT) from the Toy Factory/Beatties in Bracknell back in '86, perhaps '85/'87... but I digress, that had a gearstick and a H pattern roof, that allowed you to use the gearstick to select different stunts for the car to do, then you'd just pull-back and let it fly... but the name of those really does escape me.

I've heard of the BigTrak iGav, and you're right it's become a collectible.

Hasbro/MB Electronics really should consider re-releasing them... but they'd need to do what Tamiya have done with their re-releases and keep the box design etc original, 30 somethings would lap them up, along with Speak & Spells too probably.

This BigFoot reminds me a bit of the R/C Tandy/Radio Shack "4x4 Off Roader", first sold in 1986. I have NIBs of both the Yellow (27Mhz) and Blue (40Mhz) versions of this, as it was one of my first R/Cs and a toy I dearly loved. Just the smell of one of these toys takes me back to when I was 12 years old and getting one on Christmas morning I've seen these go for over US$200 if they're in mint condition, though like most RTR toys they rarely are. I just dug one out of the cupboard and took these....

I had one of those... they float you know. Climb like monkeys too.

Have you ever managed to source it's sister car the Red Roader? Which shared the exact same body in red, with a white camper body attachment and tyres that were twice the size? They were sold in Tandy's at exactly the same time, but from what I can remember, everyone I knew that had them had to take them back because they kept breaking.

I had 3 Tandy/Radio Shack cars in a relatively short space of time, the 4x4 Off Roader, a Porsche 959 Paris-Dakar (though it's correct name has long since faded into the mists of time) and a Porsche 962 that had slick tyres and for the time, was speedy-quick for a RTR car.

[Mad Ax]

Wow this thread has brought back memories and touched some sore nerves!

We had a Bigtrak at my primary school. I remember the first time I saw it in the cupboard of Class 3, I was blown away and so excited that I would get to play with it at some point during that year. I remember when it was taken out of its box and the class were let out in pairs to play with it, program it and let it loose on the school grounds. However, for reasons I've never understood, I wasn't allowed to play with it. This hurt in so many ways - firstly, I was obsessed with all things motorized. While other kids had Action Man and Transformers, I would go crazy for electric and wind-up cars. Secondly, because I knew (even then) that I had a natural aptitude for programming electric things.

In my early school years I was set aside as being a bit of a "thicky" - which may be why they didn't let me play with the "complicated toy." I consider this unfair, since I'm now the manager of a small software development department and spend most of my days programming "complicated toys"

I also remember the BigFoot - I didn't have one, but a boy in my class did. I don't think he liked me very much though, because he wouldn't let me play with it. Maybe that was because he broke my Transformer the previous year

AND I also remember those cars that were controlled by cams. I had a silver porsche - if you opened the rear hood there was a gearwheel underneath over which you could slot various cams. A metal pin ran against these cams to control the front steering. There was a large circular cam to make it go straight, a small circular cam to make it turn constantly, and varying shapes in between to make it weave around. I loved the look and style of the car, but I thought the overal point of something that just went around in varying types of circle was a bit rubbish.

Later I had another silver porsche that was operated by a click-controller. It was a trigger that went CLICK or CLICK-CLICK when you pulled it, and that would make it go either forwards or backwards. When going forwards the front wheels were straight, but were arranged so that when in reverse they would turn to one side, so the car could maneouver around. At that age I didn't understand the correlation between the clicks and the direction, but I later saw some "remote controlled cats" on Blue Peter (a kid's TV show, for my non-British friends) which operated on the same principle. The presenter had about a dozen of them following him around just be clapping his hands

[Mad Ax]

Like Stompers 4x4's (that were famed for coming with a single Duracell battery) and Matchbox Rough Riders.

I remember those! I really wanted a Rough Riders set for Christmas when I was about 5 or 6 - IIRC it was a kit that came with two cars and a track. My parents promised it for me, but alas, the shop was out of stock and I got a big Lego kit instead. Lego was cool, but I was so upset when I went back to school after the holidays to see all my friends playing with their new Rough Riders!

I also had a Stomper, but I used it in the school sandpit and it started making a funny noise. In a rare moment of destructive madness I decided to open it up and broke a catch on the gearbox cover (into which I clearly recall was stamped: DO NOT REMOVE) - and it never worked again. In fact I clearly recall taking it to my mother that evening. "Mum, my stomper broke! I took that off and now it won't go. Look, it says DO NOT REMOVE. No, mum, I didn't remove it, it, er, fell off!"

I remember buying a pull-back car (a black Pontiac Trans Am, but not Knight Rider/KITT) from the Toy Factory/Beatties in Bracknell back in '86, perhaps '85/'87... but I digress, that had a gearstick and a H pattern roof, that allowed you to use the gearstick to select different stunts for the car to do, then you'd just pull-back and let it fly... but the name of those really does escape me.

I had one of those too! I forget if mine was black or silver. My cousin had the same type of car (I think it was a Corvette) in red with silver racing livery. The roof lever had a pattern like a Tamiya 3-speed shift gate, and underneath it had a little caster wheel. The left and right positioning controlled the direction of the caster, and the forward/back positioning dictated whether the wheel was withdrawn so the car would run flat, or extended, so it would look like it was wheelying.

This was another toy that I thought a bit silly - the stunts were fun for two minutes, but the stupid lever made it look daft. As a kid I was much more into aesthetics than stunts

Oh the memories!

Another fun thing I had was a little red jeep that was about the size of a Tamiya Mini-4WD truck - although the wheels were more scale off-road than monster. It ran on regular batteries (2xAA, I think) and it could go forwards or backwards at a pretty sluggish pace. But it also had a motor-operated winch on the front. You could wind out the cable manually, attach the hook to something, turn it on and watch it pull itself along. How cool was that!? One time I tied the winch hook to my play table and made it winch itself from the carpet all the way up to the tabletop. Amazingly, it had enough torque to lift its entire weight. I switched it off and put it down and was horrified when plumes of smoke began pouring out of all 4 wheel arches!! I think it started to burn the motor wires, but the motor itself was fine because it ran perfectly well for ages, until one day at school I came running onto the playground and was bumped by a girl running the other way; it flew it of my eager hand, bounced on the floor, and the wheel broke. It was consigned to the bin :'(

I'm now racking my brains wondering what other cool car-related toys I had...

[Live Steam Mad]

Bigtrak was manufactured by MB, a NIB (still shrink wrapped) version came up on eBay 2 or 3 years ago and cleared 200 notes, they're incredibly rare in that condition though, as in I haven't seen one like that since '83!

Possibly the Bigfoot made by MB/Playskool? They had 2 levers on the roof, one allowed the truck to be switched from 2WD to 4WD and the other sent it either forwards or backwards. There was also an ignition key on the bed of the truck that acted as the On/Off switch.

Aww, excellent, thanks for that My Grandad Jake bought me a BigTrak in about 1982 when I was 8 years old, god I loved him, he died when I was 10

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigtrak

I thought the BigFoot was wonderful but it somehow looked different to me when I was 12 or 13... i.e. more realistic, but that's the problem with young minds and old memories...

So you can imagine the impact that Tamiya's BlackFoot had on me when it was just about new out in the UK in 1987 or so in Wigan model shop (G&I Models) NW England. BlackFoot was bigger, more realistic, had very large tyres, and seemed like a very big model to me when I was that age. The thought that it would go very fast and was radio controlled was almost too much to take in Then I felt the thing and I realised very quickly that it was way more fragile than any toy RC that I had had before , that concerned me very much! I still wanted one badly though! I remember feeling the suspension and being very impressed at the amount of travel and the feel of it, it felt great, none of my toy R/C's ever had suspension! Of course, I walked out of that shop without any Tamiya kit because at 90 GBP for it ready built, it was way too expensive for my parents to afford (so what's new)

Yep H., I had one of those Tandy 4 x 4 yellow Off Roaders! Got it when I was about 13 years old. Great memories of running it around the grounds of the school at Alder Hay Road (off Kiln Lane) in St.Helens with my friend Andrew Clitheroe (became lead coder for Team17 software, made those Alien Breed 3D games for the Amiga, he coded them in native 68000!!), he of course had a much better car (Tandy Audi Quattro) which had digi proportional controls and some suspension and headlights...

Corr I live in the past I really do...

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[pikachoo75]

Wow ..memory lane! thanks for the info and pics .igav!

I too thought the bigfoot looked better in the catalogue,but im guessing it may have been the drawing that could have been on the box that was shown,the "mirrored" landscape in the glass does look like what it is.

Also recall the rough riders"rough riders ,four by four,you can try an stop em...there four wheel drive!"a pal had one ,we played in the garden with it for ages,the tyres were jaggy sponge?

Aha BIGTRAC! thanks too for that.was like something off space1999!

Non r/c but car related.friend had knight rider "barn buster" set.you sent kitt off along and thru the barn and he would bust out the door and any barrel/hay bails you arranged got busted!think there was an Ateam version too.

heres one i personaly had,wasnt a car or r/c but see if someone can help me find out about it...it was a big motorised "disc" with various drawings of "people awaiting rescue".the disc went round and you peered into a periscope type thing which was connected to a little mock aeroplane.you had a lever to allow the plane to track back and forth on a rail.when you thought the timing was right you could release a little "rescuer in a parachute" which would fall from the plane and try to get it to land in a crater next to the pic of distressed situation.im sure the plane held about 5 little guys.i cannot recall the name as im sure i got it for a xmas prezzie and it would have required some assembly by dad and box may have got chucked once made.i must have had it at the same time my friend brought his knight rider barnbuster to school.im guessing i was 6-7 years old (im 32 now!)

sorry to digress.just got abit excited at the memory of good old toys!

[Mad Ax]

the tyres were jaggy sponge?

I recall them being big and chunky, with silver cones in the middle (a bit like the cones on Mini4WD wheels) so they would run on two wheels. I honestly can't remember if they were foam tho!

sorry to digress.just got abit excited at the memory of good old toys!

That's what this thread is for, right..?

[mongoose1983]

The first R/C car I had was a Taiyo red buggy. It wasn't cheap back in the day. Everyone's dream here was the Tyco Bandit. By the way, anybody remember's Nikko model HAWG?? It was a 4x4 double motor Toyota Hilux, with the same tires (and body) of the Bruiser, but with an horrible mammoth bumper.

My first Tamiya was the Midnight Pumpkin. The day I saw the box I fell in love with it. I remember selling a lot of things until I raised the money to pay for it. I was ecstatic.

To date I only have Tamiyas. I know some Kyosho trucks are much better if you look closely at the mechanics, but no one can compete with the looks of Tamiya. And, just like someone pointed out a a while ago, I never look other RC threads because these kids, they only want the fastest piece of sh*t that comes out. So what if you have the fastest car but it looks like a piece of plastic garbage?

Tamiya is different. And I believe that has a lot to do with the fact that they were, right from the start, a model company. In fact, they still do the best scale models in the world.

Y'all have a great day!

EB

--

[pikachoo75]

Mad Ax,thats right the cone wheels.for two wheel runs!think youre right about the tyres.they looked liked almost like stars but the material was more rubber/plastic than sponge!

Its good to see that all the "first" toys were appreciated regardless if ,in hindsight,they were not the ultimate available.

i genuinly dont think every kid actively seeks out the fastest/best ever first time round,i guess it may progress that way depending if thats what is important to their needs,i guess alot of members here have progressed full circle and are allured to savour the original quality and excitement of bygone toys regardless if they were cheap or VERY exspensive(they seem to be now anyway!)

[Hibernaculum]

As you said Pikachoo75, this is the sort of spirit of nostalgia for similar motorized toys that later lead most of us toward an obsession with Tamiya

I remember when I was first starting this topic, I was scared that all the hobby guys on this forum were going to slam me So - just a quick thanks to one and all for contributing with stories.

Mongoose - well said, that man.

Later I had another silver porsche that was operated by a click-controller. It was a trigger that went CLICK or CLICK-CLICK when you pulled it, and that would make it go either forwards or backwards. When going forwards the front wheels were straight, but were arranged so that when in reverse they would turn to one side, so the car could maneouver around.

My very first "remotely-controlled" car was one of these. It was a Lancia Stratos from Tandy. And there's a picture of it on this catalogue scan of the R/C page from the 1981 UK Tandy Catalogue...so here's another blast from the past!

I had one of those... they float you know. wink.gif Climb like monkeys too. tongue.gif

They sure do climb. They might be slow in 'High' gear, but in 'Low' gear they crawl along at a snail's pace, but go over just about anything. I remember driving mine through the snow here, and then out onto an icy road - talk about understeer! (driving R/C cars on ice is so much fun, it should be illegal). It was quite funny, as it had been a freak snow storm and there was traffic chaos among the 1:1 cars out on the road, as they were slipping off and basically sitting stranded and unable to drive anywhere. Yet my little 4x4 Off Roader was whizzing around on the ice no problems. This was like a main highway too.

Have you ever managed to source it's sister car the Red Roader? Which shared the exact same body in red, with a white camper body attachment and tyres that were twice the size? They were sold in Tandy's at exactly the same time, but from what I can remember, everyone I knew that had them had to take them back because they kept breaking.

Hmm. I didn't know about that one - maybe we didn't have it here in Australia. I thought I knew about every R/C model that Tandy sold, because I actually have every one of their yearly catalogues from 1974 to 1994! Are you sure this car existed, or are you just sending me off on a holy grail hunt because you know I won't be able to help myself?

I had 3 Tandy/Radio Shack cars in a relatively short space of time, the 4x4 Off Roader, a Porsche 959 Paris-Dakar (though it's correct name has long since faded into the mists of time) and a Porsche 962 that had slick tyres and for the time, was speedy-quick for a RTR car.

Ah, the Tandy Porsche 959 Paris Dakar I have that right here too - it's basically a more "toy-like" looking model (than Tamiya's one) and well...not a patch on the Tamiya Porsche 959 in general (but then, what is?). But the Tandy Porsche 959 is fun for what it is - a porsche toy that can go off-road. It was AU$100 back in the day (1988 to be exact), and I even remember it featuring on a Christmas TV commercial for Tandy that year, where it could be seen driving out of a Christmas present box under the tree, whilst excited children leapt about

Classic toys, classic times

cheers,

H.

[pikachoo75]

Hibernaculum that Tandy picture is fantastic! they even had a version of electronic Simon!

You'll never guess what i came across.....a Tandy Lamborghini countach.the red one with white wheels and spongy tires.not had it going yet as i have no "C" size batteries.funnily enough it takes a 9v in the car aswell as the handset.This strikes me as a tad exspensive as back then 9v batts werent cheap!

Its got a cool rear suspension set up too.the springs let the rear "lean" from side to side instead of a rolling type.

I will try and get hold of some of those adapters that are shaped like a C size but hold a AA as ive lots of those.

Fingers crossed it works!

also had to have a chuckle at the desciption of your stratos turbo..."remotely controlled!"..i guess my first remotely controlled car was a quite large blue stratos(even where the "glass" should have been was molded blue plastic).it ran forward and turned in reverse due to the slot in an arc under the front pole that joined the front wheels.it also was remotely controlled as it was one with a wire from the handset to the car.if i remember it took 4 AA's was fast on smooth surface and then tugged on the wire and handset when it "got out of range!"

after that i got a small 935 in "valliant" decals,(green car with carefully worded stickers!)again wired this time 2AA's but it steered!it was quite small but good fun if run on smooth and you chased after it!

[.iGav]

We had a Bigtrak at my primary school. I remember the first time I saw it in the cupboard of Class 3, I was blown away and so excited that I would get to play with it at some point during that year.

That's an almost identical tale to mine...

Actually,

is almost an identical classroom setting as my old school... (sans the presenter of course, though Tony Hart was a frequent visitor to our school) as when I first played with a Bigtrak.

Another fun thing I had was a little red jeep that was about the size of a Tamiya Mini-4WD truck - although the wheels were more scale off-road than monster. It ran on regular batteries (2xAA, I think) and it could go forwards or backwards at a pretty sluggish pace. But it also had a motor-operated winch on the front. You could wind out the cable manually, attach the hook to something, turn it on and watch it pull itself along. How cool was that!? One time I tied the winch hook to my play table and made it winch itself from the carpet all the way up to the tabletop. Amazingly, it had enough torque to lift its entire weight.

That sounds vaguely familiar, though I very well maybe muddling that up with that GoBot, that was a red pickup, with if memory serves a white camper bed that had a working winch on the front as well.

Wasn't this was it?

I thought the BigFoot was wonderful but it somehow looked different to me when I was 12 or 13... i.e. more realistic

The one thing that I always especially remember about the Bigfoot was just how disappointed I was that the tyres and wheels were so small, and that the tyre treads were wrong as well...

but that's the problem with young minds and old memories...

Indeed.

It's kind of like the Matsushiro Knight Rider - KITT. At the time, and from memory it seemed so much more... scale. Yet looking back... not so much. Especially in comparison to Hitari's current version. Two things bothered me about the Matsushiro, the main one being that KITT's scanner didn't scan (and it was also orange, not red) but also the chromed wire wheels (yet they were shod with incredibly detailed and scale treaded branded Pirelli tyres).

Just the picture of the box takes me back to the '80's.

Hmm. I didn't know about that one - maybe we didn't have it here in Australia. I thought I knew about every R/C model that Tandy sold, because I actually have every one of their yearly catalogues from 1974 to 1994!

Is it not in the 1987 one? Actually come to think of it, are those the Christmas catalogues and not just the regular Tandy catalogues that you own? Throughout much of the year here in the UK, Tandy stocked very few radio controlled cars, and then come October/November time, they'd produce a Christmas catalogue that featured all the new electronic toys for the festive period, and their range would go up by a factor of 10, taking up a quarter of the store floor space, with all the boxes stacked up (much in the way your mum & dad would arrange your presents for Christmas morning in the middle of the lounge (or at least that's how mine were ) with a single example of each respective toy sat on the top of the boxes so you could have a tommy gander at them.

Are you sure this car existed, or are you just sending me off on a holy grail hunt because you know I won't be able to help myself?

Scouts honour... not that I was ever a Scout, or a Cub even... but I'm sure you get my drift.

But, out of all the Tandy/Radio Shack cars, the Red Roader has to be the Holy Grail, the Golden Arrow's the Tandy equivalent of the Toyoto Corolla by comparison.

Their rareness has to be due to the fact that the people I knew that owned them all of them had to be returned shortly after Christmas because of faults, what those faults were however I simply cannot remember, in fact where as I can remember the 4x4 Off-Roader being sold for a few months after, I never remember seeing a single Red Roader after that Christmas.

Where as standard practice for Tandy at the time, were to repair the toys and then re-sell them again at a discount. I remember this happening with their Porsche 959 Rally Car, I had one of those and the front wishbone snapped, so it was returned to Tandy, and I was given the option of either a repair or replacing it with another car, as they'd sold out of the 959's. So it was replaced with the yellow & black Porsche 962, which itself had a gearbox failure a couple of months later and was then replaced with the Porsche 959 Rally Car that they were selling again, but all these were being sold at discount as they'd all been repaired.

Ah, the Tandy Porsche 959 Paris Dakar I have that right here too - it's basically a more "toy-like" looking model (than Tamiya's one) and well...not a patch on the Tamiya Porsche 959 in general (but then, what is?).

Oooh, if you find yourself with 5 minutes to kill, always love to see some photos... Same with the Porsche 962 if you have one of those lying about... I've seen neither for the best part of 20 years.

[Hibernaculum]

You'll never guess what i came across.....a Tandy Lamborghini countach.the red one with white wheels and spongy tires.not had it going yet as i have no "C" size batteries.funnily enough it takes a 9v in the car aswell as the handset.This strikes me as a tad exspensive as back then 9v batts werent cheap!

Its got a cool rear suspension set up too.the springs let the rear "lean" from side to side instead of a rolling type.

I will try and get hold of some of those adapters that are shaped like a C size but hold a AA as ive lots of those.

Fingers crossed it works!

I have that Lamborghini Except the one I have I bought on eBay, where it was advertised as NIB - but when it arrived I found that not only didn't it work, but it's roof was melted and warped Luckily I got a 100% refund from the seller.

FYI it was sold for AU$69.95 at Tandy here in 1988. And if you watch this US Radio Shack commercial, you'll see it (along with the 4x4 Off Roader, and the Buggy Turbo Special)....

also had to have a chuckle at the desciption of your stratos turbo..."remotely controlled!"..i

Yeah Believe it or not, I still have that Lancia too (and it still works). Don't I get rid of anything?? I must have got it for my birthday in about 1982. I guess because it was all I had, I must have looked after it.

Is it not in the 1987 one? Actually come to think of it, are those the Christmas catalogues and not just the regular Tandy catalogues that you own?

Nope. There's no "Red Roader" in any of my catalogues...I'm 100% sure (years spent looking at all the cars in those catalogues wishing I could have all those toys seems to have caused me to remember every single car)

The catalogues I have are the yearly ones, plus I also have some of the smaller Christmas ones. Despite Tandy only selling their R/C cars at Christmas, the yearly catalogues always used to include an R/C section. Although they stopped doing this in about 1994 when they realised it didn't make much sense because the cars weren't available all year (but by this time most of the R/C cars Tandy sold were junk anyway).

Throughout much of the year here in the UK, Tandy stocked very few radio controlled cars, and then come October/November time, they'd produce a Christmas catalogue that featured all the new electronic toys for the festive period, and their range would go up by a factor of 10, taking up a quarter of the store floor space, with all the boxes stacked up (much in the way your mum & dad would arrange your presents for Christmas morning in the middle of the lounge (or at least that's how mine were ) with a single example of each respective toy sat on the top of the boxes so you could have a tommy gander at them.

Ah, I have so many happy memories of doing this! And all those cars on the tops of the boxes were there to be test-driven. I remember test-driving my first ever R/C cars at Tandy in 1984.

But, out of all the Tandy/Radio Shack cars, the Red Roader has to be the Holy Grail, the Golden Arrow's the Tandy equivalent of the Toyoto Corolla by comparison.

I'll stick to the Golden Arrow. A truly impressive beast. I actually sourced a NIB Golden Arrow, and NIB Red Arrow from an ex Tandy employee about 3 years ago...that was a really lucky find because it's so hard to find these toys in un-played with condition (because they were always RTR).

Oooh, if you find yourself with 5 minutes to kill, always love to see some photos... Same with the Porsche 962 if you have one of those lying about... I've seen neither for the best part of 20 years.

Here we go...

I got this one from a guy in Germany, where it was sold under the "Dickie" brand. But it's identical to the one at Tandy. The real manufacturer is a company called Atcomi.

It's 2WD and the sponsor logos aren't real brands. On the bright side, it's a working off-road Porsche 959 toy, and I love the 959. It's got spring suspension, working diff, and a "Turbo" feature too. Requires 2 x 9V and 8 x AA batteries.

cheers,

H.

[pikachoo75]

thanks for the video link Hibernaculum!.do you think the truck had dog treats in the back????

A classic example of rose tinted recall!! i thought the Tandy 959 looked way more scale than it does.I now remember those tyre tho...there kinda like Tamiya oval blocks.Strange how the mind works!

The Tandy Countach i have seems all in order except the stickers along the sides have gone and replaced with black pvc tape?i initially thought it may have been a repair to hold the shell to the chassis but it is purely cosmetic.One of the old side stickers has been taped to the spoiler but it came off real easy as the tape had yellowed and lost its stickiness.

Still to give it a go,i noticed it seems to be like the Tamiya 959 and Celica Gr.B as it has a "training bumper" that looks like it can come off to give a more model like apperance?

[Mad Ax]

That sounds vaguely familiar, though I very well maybe muddling that up with that GoBot, that was a red pickup, with if memory serves a white camper bed that had a working winch on the front as well.

Wasn't this was it?

I'm pretty sure that wasn't it. If memory serves, mine was a fairly detailed open-top with moulded seats and chrome wheels. It was only about 6 inches long but looked pretty good.

Ah, I have so many happy memories of doing this! And all those cars on the tops of the boxes were there to be test-driven. I remember test-driving my first ever R/C cars at Tandy in 1984.

This has just brought back a really wierd memory. I remember going to school one dark and wintery day, and my dad had let slip that it was Christmas Shopping day, and my mum was going to buy me the Nikko Turbo Panther that I'd lusted after in the catalog. I was so excited.

I remember (clear as day) sitting in the dinner hall at school, imagining that my mum was at that very moment walking into someone's house, taking the controls of a white Turbo Panther, and racing it up and down the street to test that it worked OK. For some daft reason I never imagined they'd buy me a new one - I was convinced they'd buy a pre-owned one from somebody's house. To this day I can still see that imagined memory of my mum stood on a pavement by a row of houses, racing a Turbo Panther up and down the pavement.

It's a strange thought indeed, because I don't think Mother Dearest has ever driven an RC car and probably wouldn't have a clue where to begin, frightened as she is by most things mechanical...

[.iGav]

Have you ever managed to source it's sister car the Red Roader? Which shared the exact same body in red, with a white camper body attachment and tyres that were twice the size? They were sold in Tandy's at exactly the same time, but from what I can remember, everyone I knew that had them had to take them back because they kept breaking.

Hmm. I didn't know about that one - maybe we didn't have it here in Australia. I thought I knew about every R/C model that Tandy sold, because I actually have every one of their yearly catalogues from 1974 to 1994! Are you sure this car existed, or are you just sending me off on a holy grail hunt because you know I won't be able to help myself?

Lord... I have no idea why, but this thread just popped into my mind for no reason whatsoever after almost 2 years.

But here you go H... confirmation that it at least existed, though I must say, given what you posted before about all things Tandy, I'm hoping you were the lucky bidder?

[berman]

Man that brings back memories .iGav... I had the Bigfoot, my Mum got it for me for xmas from Woolies. I remember being upset because I had asked for The Flex, which I ended up getting for my birthday anyway. I also had The Animal if you remember those, the red pickup one. The Flex has the biggest impact on my memory though!