$113(US) RTR, shipped.. Ebay

I saw this listed as a 4x4 truck a few minutes before the auction ended. I took a chance and sniped someone at the last second, without having a chance to contact the seller to ask about the condition of the body. All I could see was a missing grille and some possible damage in the front corner and a bad rollbar.

It arrived today. The car is complete with radio and even a battery of unknown condition. When powered up, tthe wheels spin, so the motor and MSC are still OK. Its missing something to keep the battery in, not sure what yet, I need to check the manual. The body is in worse shape than it looked in the picture. I think this truck was dropped on it's top or something. Ths body is cracked around all 4 mouting holes. The damage is just near the holes, it doesn't go all the way to the edges, so it's still strong. The chassis is also cracked where the front bumper mounts. I haven't found any other damage, but I'm no clod expert. I know there is a weak point in the chassis, which I still have to find and check.

I'm a little concerned that I couldn't get the radio to control the car. But I only had a minute to try it out. I'm hoping it's something stupid.

I think that a little over $100 US is a pretty good price for an RTR clod with original body, even with the damage mine has. It will be a runner, hopefully it's a little more fun to drive than my Juggernaut.

Update - I checked the radio. It had a mismatched set of crystals. Replaced the transmitter crystal with the correct one and it runs. Economy mode (power/economy switch) doesn't work at all, but Power mode works fine.

I need to put on a wheelie bar to prevent further damage to the body. My son loves it, especially when he stands it up on it's nose doing a reverse wheelie on the grass.

The clod is way more fun to drive than my Jugg.

Update May 20 2004 - Poor Clod. This is what I get for driving an ebay car without first rebuilding it. There are so many screws missing from this car, I can't believe it hasn't fallen completely apart. Every screw is loose. After running it, I find nuts and bolts on the driveway and stuck to the motors. We even took it out to a construction site and really bashed it for awhile, unltil something in the steering broke loose. The last time we ran it, the front gearbox siezed or broke. Hopefully it just more missing screws, but the Clod is dead until I tear it apart.

On a positive note, I have this old LExan monster truck body (probably for a tmaxx), which happens to fit the Clod nicely. So no new damage has been done to the clod body. I gued the cracks and will start resoration soon on the Clod. I already have new chrome and screw-bags. Hopefully it will be done in less than 6 months.

Update Feb 1 2005 - I rebuilt it. I kept it 100% stock, except for adding rubber sealed bearings throughout. The body still needs to be restored. However, I ran the car in the snow last weekend. It does a great job in the snow because the thick tires float on top. A hard switch from reverse to forward can cause it to dig in, and get stuck, but one it gets moving it does not get stuck.

Update March 20 2005. I've been working on the body for a week or so. I reinforced the hood with fiberglass and was able to hide much of the damage with auto body filler. I'm working on what color scheme to use now. I'm torn between a solid color (red or blue) and some sort of design. Not sure yet.

After attaching and priming the body and new tailgate (which came with the new grille I bought), I noticed that the original tailgate reads 'chevrolet'. Its too late to used it because I never paint stripped it. But now, I'm really bummed that the front grille didn't come with it, because it would have been a bowtie one. Oh well.

At least I know my Clod is one of the old ones. Without the grille and tailgate it doesn't really matter though.

Update April 17 2005. Its done. New pictures added. I wimped out and painted it a single color. Still waiting for my headlight lenses backordered from tower.