Who made the first monster truck?

[sludog]

Does anyone know who and when the first monster truck was released? I used to have a Tamiya Big Bear about 16 years ago and was wondering were it was ranked.

[JAnderson]

Tamiya did not make a big bear that was marui

Depends on what you concider a monster?

Tamiyas 1st trucks were:

starting in 1981

58027: Ford F150 Ranger
58028: Toyota 4x4 Pick U.
58035: Wild Willy Willys.
58038: Subaru Brat
58044: Mitsubishi Pajero
58046: Fast Attack Vehic.
58048: Toyota 4x4 Pickup.
58058: Blackfoot
58063: Vanessa's Lunch B.
58065: Clod Buster

[RCMadMatt]

The Marui Big Bear was released before the original Blackfoot by a few months, I believe. Still have the old Blackfoot collecting dust on a shelf in my basement.

Matt

[sludog]

Thanks, I did not know that. I do know that I had put Tamiya stickers on the body. Who made the Bruiser? MRC? Did Marui go out of business or did they get bought out by another company?

[JAnderson]

Brusier was made by us Tamiya!

MRC used to dist Tamiya in the 80's

since 1992 we Tamiya America dist Tamiya in the USA

From what i know Marui is long gone

[ThaFlash_LA]

As in Tokyo Marui? They do airsoft guns and RC tanks that shoot airsoft BB's.

[surfer]

thats probably them

[QUAKE&SHAKE]

Blackfoot might be able to be called the first truggy. It was made from a Frog chassis with bigger tires added.

[sludog]

I think that's what they did with the Big Bear too. I am not sure what car chassis was used.

[Bear-31]

I still have my Mauri Big Bear. It's in pretty bad shape. I want to put it back together but the reason I gave up so long ago was the differential is stripped. I went through 2 or 3 of them pretty quickly. I tried to get a set of metal gears that were released way back then but I left town for a cople weeks and the LHS sold them to someone else. Just after that Mauri went out of business and it became impossible to find parts. If anyone has any ideas I would love to get it running again. I just bought my 1st RC since and I went with a LOSI LST. I love it. But as with most new vehicles it still has a few kinks to work out.

[calvin3]

First offroad maybe.....

Tamiya 58004 XR311 - released 12-16-77

[Hard Core RC Guy]

best bet for Big Bear parts is ebay, but I seldon see parts. You might find a whole bear though you could scavange.

As for the first Monster Truick. To be a truck monster, we might have to say the Bruiser/Hilux/Mountaineer series. Although a few came before, I wouldn't put them as true Monsters IMO.

Too bad about Marui, I still have my Marui Hunter buggy which still goes, it was new in 1987. They made some nice buggies, I wanted the Ninja, but at the time was too much $$ for me.

Now looking for my next RC, to make it #8, it will be a Monster.

How's the LST, you said it has some bugs?

J :cool:

[Bear-31]

So far the problems I have had are broken stub axle where the wheel attaches to the dogbone. Lots of people are having tha same problem. Bill at Team Losi said they are working on a fix right now. I also broke a couple supports on the frame rail but nothing major. Both problems Losi sent me parts right away and I was back in business within a few days. My LHS still doesn't have any parts for it yet though. They (Hobbytown USA Va. Beach) said they ordered the parts before the truck. THey have sold at least 3 of the trucks and still have no spare parts available. I love the truck and man does it fly and handle beautifully.