Nostalgia Highlander RC, March 22, 2024March 22, 2024 Firstly, sorry about the radio silence. The last few days have been a bit hectic. Today, I’m gonna tell you about my childhood memories of RC kit. Late 80’s As you will all likely know by now, I’m a child of the 80’s. Back then, the only mobile phones I saw were in movies. Life was simpler back then. No social media, only 4 TV channels, school holidays seemed to last forever, I could go on and on. My first memory of anything RC related came in the form of a couple of corded trucks. They looked like big American Trucks, very similar to the image below. My brother and I found them in a cupboard in our bedroom. This particular cubby hole has always been out of reach to us, until one day, we decided to move our bedroom around, giving us the extra height to gain access to it. I dunno who they use to belong to, but I remember our father not being very happy about it. The cord wasn’t very long, meaning you had to chase them around the living room, trying not to get the cord tangled up around table legs, and the odd sleeping cat. I remember they use to take the C or D type batteries, which never lasted very long. Once that happened, they were usually confined to the back of the cupboard, never to be seen again, or discarded as soon as the next craze came along. The 90’s & the 9.6V Turbo For me, the 90s were probably my favourite time for RC cars. From the wild & wacky Tyco Python, to the tracked madness that was the Tyco Fast Traxx. Tyco seemed to be everywhere. TV adverts, catalog pages, you name it. I would love to say I owned them all, but sadly, I only ever had the chance to experience a couple of them. My personal faves from that era were the Fast Traxx,Typhoon 2 and of course, Rebound. The Fast Traxx came in a couple of variants. One looked sleek and futuristic, the other was basically a pick-up truck with tank tracks slapped on to it. I remember seeing the TV ad for it and being amazed at the stunts it could pull off. Then there was the Typhoon hovercraft. It was a thing of beauty. And finally, probably my most requested toy of the 90s, the Rebound 4×4. Being able to run any way up, it just blew my mind. Watching it backflip off jumps, tumbling off ledges, and generally go like a bat out of hell, it was the must have car of the 90’s for me. They were the RC cars I had dreamt of and longed for. Sadly, to this day, I have never owned one, or had the pleasure of seeing one in all its glory. Tyco Hi-Jacker Our first taste of a Tyco RC car would come in the shape of the absolutely stunning Hi-Jacker. To the untrained eye, it looked like an imitation Lamborghini. With the push of a button, the shell would pop up to reveal a neon green/orange chassis, giving it the appearance of a jacked up, off-road racer. This car was also our first introduction to rechargeable batteries. And boy, did they take forever to charge… From there, we had a handful of other RC cars, but nothing that you could consider a real RC car. Moving on from the Hi-Jacker, our next RC car was the XRC Tirestorm. This thing was mental. It had tank styled steering, and two tires that would expand when it was going full speed. It really was an epic bit of kit for its time! The good stuff It wasn’t until the early noughties that I would end up with my first proper RC car. I remember asking my mum to buy it from her catalog, and allow me to pay it up at £10 a week. My weekly wage back then was about £20, which didn’t last long. The car in question was a Tamiya TL-01 Subaru Impreza WRC. Little did I know at the time of purchase, that I would have to end up building it myself. Somehow, with the wrong sized screwdriver, and hardly any tools, I managed to bodge it together. I even managed to spray the clear body shell myself. Although not perfect, it did look good…..from a distance. Back then, the mechanical speed controller was a ballache. It was controlled by a servo. The servo worked perfectly for the years I had it, but the metal contacts on the speed controller, corroded away, or went that horrible green colour. I eventually ended up taking some sandpaper to it, and it worked, for a bit. Sadly, that’s when the interest faded, that was until I managed to snag myself a Yokomo S15 off ebay several years later. It was an unwanted birthday/christmas present, that had never been built. So, once again, I attempted to put it together, except this time, it didn’t come with any electronics, or radio gear. Once built and painted (2004-2005), it ended up sitting in its box for years to come, never even turning a wheel before I finally sold it on eBay for chump change many years later…such a waste. Hiatus After that, I never really looked at RC cars again. By now, I had a real car, a proper job, and still no money. Weekends would be spent cruising with friends, or sat getting steaming drunk at a friends house. A few other hobbies popped up over the years in between, like airsoft & paintball, but never RC cars. The closest I probably got to that would have been in the form of collecting 1:18 scale die-cast cars. I had quite a few of the original Fast & the Furious models. I was also a sucker for the Jada Toys Import Racers series. Most of the cars looked like they had crashed into Halfords front window. After a while, they started to gather dust in a cupboard, taking up space. That was when I decided to sell them all. That was a mistake. Anywho, I would highly recommend looking at some of the TV ads for some of the 90’s Tyco stuff over on Youtube. Definitely worth it, or checkout the link below… https://tycocollectors.com/top-20-most-popular-rc-cars/ Present day So what got me back into it? I honestly have no idea where the inkling came from. My wife had asked me what I wanted for my 40th birthday (yes, I’m that old…) and I didn’t have a clue. I originally wanted a flight sim experience at a place just outside Inverness until one day I saw an advert online for an RC model shop. Being the nosey soul that i am, I decided to have a look around, and that’s when the bug bit. From then on, I was constantly changing which model of car i wanted. From electric to nitro, and back again. I did countless hours of reading and watching Youtube videos before settling on one car, solely on looks, and the fact I had watched a video of it taking an absolute beating. And of course, that car was… Traxxas Ford F-150 Raptor Or the Slash 2WD with a short-course Raptor body on it. In the Fox racing livery, it immediately jumped at me on the website, and I knew that was the one I had to have. And that folk’s is that. There have been a few wee RC cars here and there over the years, but nothing as significant as the ones mentioned above. This hobby has allowed me to reconnect with friends, and my kids love it. Since receiving the Slash, it has had several upgrades from new, but I’ll save that for another day. Thank you once again for taking the time to stop by. I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief trip down memory lane. What was your first RC car? Disclaimer Please note that all of the pictures apart from the last one have been taken from the internet, and remain the property of their respectful owner. Sadly, I do not have images of the items I have spoken about, mainly because cameras weren’t a massive part of my early life. Haha. Probably a good thing… Post Views: 43 General