My original MB that started it all

This ol' girl I originally bought back in about 1987 ish and was my first foray into RC. It got crashed, bashed, rolled, repainted, re labelled and generally treated rather harshly. Twenty years on, after getting further harsh treatment from my (then) 10 year old nephew, I asked my parents if it was still about, and asked if I could have it back for a bit of a semi restoration project. I say 'semi', I don't have anywhere near the level of skill or patience required to turn out some of the quality examples that we so often see on here, but I am absolutely loving my new found enthusiasm for RC models, and this is going to be the start of a very long, and likely enjoyable learning curve.

Just to give you an idea on my progress so far: as you can see I've replaced the tyres, but using original wheels. I have some 5 star HPI wheels on the way, and although I like the look of the tiny front wheels, as you can imagine, it understeers rather a lot! I've invested in some larger, ribbed front tyres which will still give the look I'm after, but actually make the thing turn! I've given the excellent guide on recommended MB upgrades a thorough going over, and have more bits there on the way as well. When I get better at painting longer term, I'll almost certainly replace the shell with a Blitzer, but my effort, and my repairs to the rear wings with sheet aluminium will do the job for now. The twin exhausts are made out of ally tube, but I would really like a way to improve those, because at the moment that's exactly what they look like!

Any comments welcome, but be kind, I know it's not the best example by a long shot!

*edit.. added a third pic. Kamtec shell and a clean up. This was taken before the other two actually. Hopefully the bits from Tower Hobbies shouldn't be long in coming, so another clean up and those additional mods will spawn some further pictures!

*edit 2 - found some old pics of this car in it's original guise. Taken in my parents back garden back in '87

*edit 3 - Tower Hobbies parts finally arrived so can show it in it's final running glory. Still looks a bit beaten up, but somehow all those knocks give it it's character!