OP's old buggy!

[old phart]

I took my old buggy down for some photos.

This is a Thunder Tiger "Challenger" from the ealy 80's. It was the first Thunder Tiger r/c car imported by Hobby Shack as I recall. It is 2WD, and has a Irvine .21 car engine. It is filthy, but it has been in a garage for 15+ years!
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1331003&a=12996612

[jeepinator]

OMG, you ARE an old phart ;)
Dude, is it fast ? It looks 1/8 scale"ish".
You should show up at the local track with that ride. Hahah, I would burst a kidney if I saw that thing out pounding the dirt.

Nice post.

[R_C_MAN]

Are you going to restore it?

[btsai]

Hey old phart -- how about this -- I had a Futaba dune buggy with a .19 engine (as I recall) in about 1973 or 1974. Wish I had some pictures to show you. Ever heard of it?

[old phart]

jeepinator: yeah, it was fast! Guesstimate about 35 mph on dirt, 40+ on asphalt.

r_c_man: some day......

btsai: no, sorry don't remember the futaba from back then. I had a Associated RC200 or something around 1974, had a Veco .19, flat pan, no suspension, direct drive, 1/8 scale. I might have some pics buried somewhere. ;)

[GT]

WOW, that is Classic! It almost looks hand made! Way Cool.

[Interceptor]

Looks like one of those buggies they used in The Road Warrior, I love it!!!

[Nairb]

Man, what a beast! That thing is amazing! ...not to mention ugly. :p No offense, of course. There are some interesting suspension techniques on that baby. things sure have changed...

[XXXER]

*leans over and vomits at the car*

Its cool ;) I bet that thing was bullet proof though, seriously, how many things did you break, and then, take a (similar) car now and do to it what you did to that, and see if it would last, i guarantee it would not hold up like that.

I think it would look good restored, send it in to RCCA, they would be bound to do a "Flash Back" article on it.

[old phart]

Heh-heh, LOL you guys! :D

OK, here is the deal: that buggy was indestructible, as long as it was run on dirt. It could tumble, flip, whatever and come out laughing. Running on asphalt was another story.......

I took it to my work, which is a MTA bus maintenance yard. I am an 'A' Mechanic for the MTA and out yard is 26 acres of asphalt. Lots of room to run a nitro car. Well, on the asphalt this buggy got so much traction and went so fast, that the radio battery pack, which was secured in the radio box by doubled rubber bands, shifted while doing a full speed wide radius turn. The battery box leaned against my antenna connector from the g-forces (I had installed a quick-disconnect) and pulled it apart. Now it was going full thottle, no radio control. It smashed into the air-ride beam on the underside of a bus. Basically run into a I-beam of steel at 40+ mph. It pretzeled the rooll cage, rendering it junk. It broke one of the front aluminum control arms, and a bunch of roll cage supports as I recall. Most of the aluminum is cast and not so strong. Well, I bought all new parts, and rebuilt it.

I thought I would be slick, and tie soft copper wire around the antenna disconnect, so it could not be pulled apart again. I added lots of extra doubled over rubber bands to the battery hold down. I thought it was bullet proof. I took it to the work parking lot again. Big mistake! This time, once again, under a full throttle wide radius corner, I lost radio link. It slammed full throttle into the curbing of the parking lot, obliterating both right side aluminum control arms; the wheels, and the roll cage. What happned? The battery shifted again, even with the extra rubber bands. Since I safety-wired the quick disconnect, this time it pulled the antenna wire right off the solder joint of the circuit board!

I rebuilt it once more, and never ran it on asphalt again. ;)