Yankee doodle dandy.
**PLEASE READ THIS** for anyone looking at this model displayed in my showroom and wondering if I will sell it? PLEASE DON’T ASK!!! I get numerous requests from TC members wanting to buy cars displayed in my Tamiyaclub showroom, and to be honest I get very annoyed when people ask to buy something that is clearly NOT FOR SALE!! This car is part of MY COLLECTION and as such I want to KEEP IT!! So please don’t Email on the off chance that I might sell it to you, if I want to sell any of my cars I will put them up for sale in my TRADE ROOM, so look there to see what cars I am prepared to sell otherwise don’t bother asking cos the only answer you will get is NO!!! thanks for reading this disclaimer. Regards wldnas.
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Now for yet another impossibly rare car, it’s the only Electric buggy ever made by the French RC company YANKEE and that is probably why it’s obviously called the ELECTRA ;)
Yankee were well known for making 1:8th Gas powered Rally cross cars but during the late 80’s they briefly turned their attention to the 1:10th EP market, and the result is very… French :S this car was a very expensive competition car in it’s day but the build quality does not quite match up to some of the contemporary cars of the day, it’s mostly made from a durable plastic, bearings are scarce in the main gearbox, and even the drive cups are plastic, no the metal on this car was saved for one novel and unique design solution to problem of how to attach all the main gearboxes together?
The chassis on this car is made from 4 long hex shaped rods, the main gearbox slide over this and are held in place by circlips, but weirdness does not stop there… the battery and servos are mounted on the outside of the chassis frame? This has meant that the body is of an uneven shape, with a huge bulge on the left hand side where the motor and speedo servo are mounted, this has given the car an somewhat ugly and disfigured look, which is more obvious depending on how its painted, but this car is very special to me, the reason for this is that it was actually built and used for a Magazine review by Radio Control MODEL CARS magazine issue June 1987, inside is a 6 page review of the car and the car I have is exactly the same as the one used in the magazine pictures, OK it’s weathered a little over the years but it’s still got all the same decals on and the chassis is all but identical to the day it was reviewed :)
I got this car from Barrypops but he had bought it from a guy in oxford last year off Ebay, I remember that cos I too was bidding on it, but for whatever reason I did not follow through and Barry one it, anyway more recently Barry gets 2 MIB Electras and no longer needs the other car, so he sticks it in his TC trade room where I saw it and made him an offer for it, actually I paid a bit over the odds for this car ($325) but given it’s obvious rarity and the fact that it was actually used in a Magazine review then I would have been happy to pay twice that for it, it may be weird and it might be ugly but that’s just the way I like ‘em and with the added bonus of the magazine review credit that it why It’s now one of my firm favourites :)
Comments
sgt.barnes
is this the same yankee who built the first 1/4 scale cars with the plastic grey bathtubs in the early 90's ?
wldnas
Odd Ball Buggies Qualification: This car is UNIQUE in being the only Electric buggy to be produced by French RC manufacturer Yankee, it also has the UNUSUAL DESIGN of the suspension & gearboxes mounted on Hex rods that run full length of the car as well as an assymetrical body design.
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