SWB TA-03 from The Bay NOW IN NEW BUILT

Here we are with another eBay find.
I’ve fancied a Tamiya belt drive chassis for a while and thought it’d be nicer to have an older version. So I did a general search on the ‘Bay for “Tamiya” and narrowed my search to “Radio Controlled”, which brought the list down to about 600 searches… Quite a bit of interesting stuff but this Corolla caught my eye.
Anyway I bid a fairly low amount and Voila, it’s mine! The description from the excellent seller “druids_corner” (who I don’t think is a member here) said it had been built then put away, and judging by the condition I have no reason to doubt it. I don’t think the chassis has ever seen a battery, and the only marks on the underside I think are from storage and moving about during transit. The tyres are mint, there’s no marks on the wheels, and the bodyshell is un-marked. A few stickers are lifting or a bit wrinkled so, if I chose to run it, it’s a fine runner shell. All the uprights have cracks in the top screw areas and it’s still on plastic bearings. The original manual is there, as well as all tools and sprues, and unused MSC.
After a quick trip to Manklows in Sevenoaks (a proper LHS) I’ve got bearings and radio gear, and I’ve done a trade here on TC for an FRP chassis for this relatively rare TA-03F-S kit (it was only fitted to this and the 206 WRC). I’ll get a few spares on the way and then it’ll be all sorted. Super-happy now – sorry about the ramble-y description, here’s the pictures: