I was contacted through the club by a really nice Japanese RC enthusiast who offered me this AYK Viper and an AYK Quattro (thanks Taka). He had bought it through a Japanese auction site and was brutally honest about is condition and sent me the photos you see below to give me the full picture. I think he was trying to put me off of it! However compared to the last Viper I bought this one is a shelf queen!
It looks a lot worse than it is, under all that vintage dirt and rust it’s in pretty good condition - honest. It’s about 95% complete, most of the difficult to find parts are there and in reasonable condition e.g. the cage body. The biggest headache is going to be finding a replacement pair of original wheels to replace the “modified” ones. At some point in the past a pair of FAV ones have been fitted by cutting the rims off of the originals and mounting them in front of them. The front dog bones and drive chain are also missing but I’ve got a couple of spare Yokomo chains that can be convinced to fit. This all appears to have been done to convert the car to 2 wheel drive.
The chassis appears to have taken a pasting in the box like area directly behind the front bumper, this zone is particularly susceptible to damage and is difficult to repair. Aside from this damage the car doesn’t appear to have had a great deal of use. I was surprised to see that this car still has its rear bumper, this is missing on the majority of used Vipers I’ve had. It has also been fitted with the optional alloy front steering knuckles.
This car will be restored and has been completely stripped for cleaning. I will post some updated photos when it’s been finished.
If you have any AYK or Nichimo cars/parts in any condition for sale or trade please contact me.
Comments
KEV THE REV
Looks like a great project there Liam , (at last - i've seen one of your buggies )
Dirt-540
Filthy and ugly, I love it, brilliant! That will be a joy to restore and will look stunning when finished, it will be really rewarding once finished.
Road Burner
These are amazing cars, can't wait to see what you do with it.
Spike
Thanks for the comments It didn't take me long to decide that I had to be cruel to be kind - I've broken up the ratty Viper I bought recently for parts to get this one back together. The wrecked one was so bad it was kinder to put it out of its misery. It didn't yield much worth having but it was enough - just.
This isn't the dirtiest car I've ever restored but it's in the top ten! It appears to have been thoughtfully and lovingly stored in a potato field for the past decade but I have to admit that it's been rewarding cleaning it up ready for reassembly.
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