$51(USD) on ebay. Another project
I saw this one on ebay going for what appeared to be less that I though holiday buggys usually go for, so I placed a bid (via sniper). I ended up getting it for even less than I planned to pay. After winning it dawned on me that maybe it was a fake, but it turns out that it is not.
It's in decent shape. The body has a small crack on one side, and the rollbar is broken off at all 4 mounting points, but is in otherwise good shape. It came with the original manual and loose parts-list sheets.
I have both roof lights, both gas cans, both body lights and a complete looking driver. The dashboard decal is mounted upside down.
The rear body mount is gone, as is both parts (body and chassis) of the front body mount. The previous owner improvised his own body mount in by mounting a traditioanl body post in the front of the car, alsong with a hole drilled thru the body. Luckly, he did a good job, everything is centered and the hole is clean.
The (expensive to replace) front bumper is intact, and in very good shape with only faint stress-marks. It's a bit discolored from age however. All of the rims/tires are in pretty good shape. A second set of rear tires is on the front of the car. No original front tires. No dry rot on any of the tires.
The chassis looks pretty good, execpt the previous owner ground away the original posts for the MSC (which isn't there anyway). The 380 motor is gone, a 540 in it's place with home made motor mount. I also got what I assume is the original 380 mount. No pinion gear. Rear bumper (wire thing) is gone, along with what appear to be hard to find front steering rods. What's with the loops in the original rods? Is that supposed to be the servo saver?
Overall, I'm happy with it and the price I paid. There are very few HBs in ebay 'Completed' items right now, so I can't say for sure if I got a good price, but I think I did.
That seller sold a nice set of vintage Tamiya over the last week or so. All went for relatively low prices (I only got this HB ).
Update 10/20/2003 - I successfully glued the roll cage back on with tire gluse (CA). It holds pretty well.
I remember when I was a kid in the 1980s, looking thru my Tamiya catalog and guide books at the Holiday Buggy. I always used to feel sorry for the poor kid who ended up with a Holiday Buggy, 'what a loser car'. I had a rough rider at the time. I think that's one reason why I wanted one now. I'm itching for a Sand Rover, but those seem way harder to find.
Update 10/23/2003 - Thanks to Bibbo who just sent me a new unused rear body mount and gearbox underside free of charge.
Update August 21 2004 - I finally got around to working on this car. When restoring a car, I generally just tear the car apart, clean it up and 'make do' with whatever parts I have. I don't scour the globe searching for new parts trees or try to replace everything to new. I just replace whatever is broken or missing/vital. This car was no exception. Its restored to runner condition, no concours winner here.
It took quite awhile to come up with a solution to the steering. I never got around to replacing the missing steering rods. I ended up mounting the servo a bit higher (on a 1/4' piece of wood), using proper servo mounts (from a hotshot) instead of tape (I hate servo tape). It felt wrong to drill those holes, but the chassis has already been modified, no no real loss. I mounted a small Kimbrough servo saver and made steering linkage from threaded rods which I bent inorder to clear the chassis and stil steer.
I velcroed in an ESC and a receiver and it works. It seems a bit undergeared. Able to pull a wheelie on carpet when going from reverse to forward. The current pinion gear is already pretty big, I don't think I can increase that any more.
I'm pretty sure that I am missing pieces needed to secure the (hump-pack-only) battery, in place. Mine flops around loosely.
The damage to the body is more extensive that I thought, I wonder if it sustained more damage while on my shelf. I shoe-goo'd the crack on the side of the body, as the original CA repair did not hold. There is another long crack on the rear fender which I'm not sure how to fix. So I left it. The CA fix to the rollbar is holding nicely.
I like the yellow/blue paint scheme, even though it does not match the box, so I did not repaint anything. I left the decals intact, except for the odd blue ones on the inside front fenders which never looked right to me. Even the 'guy' is painted no worse than I could do, so I left well enough alone there. I am thinking of repainting the gas-cans the proper red color, as yellow is just wrong.
I finally drove it. Not very exciting, pretty slow, could use a larger pinion gear. for more top speed. It bounces like crazy ofver the slightest bumps. I drove it over some gravel, and it moved more up and down than forward. What do you expect for a fiberglass plate as suspension?
