The "Golden Age of RC" meaning

[TokyoProf]

Usually Golden Age means progress in technology and ideas. For the sake of future generations, what does the saying “Golden Age of RC” mean to you personally? Getting your thoughts around the nostalgia for 80s and 90s RC (assuming these are the decades) would be interesting. Pictures that capture the spirit of the time are welcome.

I like old RC magazines, especially the X buggy vs. Y buggy articles. The Dogfighter Special article below mentions that Yokomo Dog Fighters are popular not only in Japan but also in America. The article compares how a Yoke outfitted with custom parts from American company RPS compares to the normal Dog Fighter on the track.

[Dangeruss]

Excellent topic...

If you define "Golden Age" as the first point at which something gained mass appeal, then you also have to ask which aspect of R/C you want to apply it to. The 80's was the Golden Age for pistol grip transmitters and 1/10th Off-road Buggies, the 90's was the Golden Age for Stadium Trucks, we just exited the Golden Age for Short Course Trucks and it could be said the Golden Age for R/C cars as a whole was the 1970's. Will be interesting the perspective and photographs each person sees as age defining.

I would post a photo but it never occurred to me to take any at the time.

[RC10th]

Personally I think the golden age was mid to late 90's when RC was at its peak. There were hobby shops on just about every street corner full of stock. Buggies were big, stadium trucks were big, nitro was awesome, monster trucks were big, pan cars were big, offroad was booming, veledrome racing was popular, magazines used to cover RC pulling events, there were more aftermarket companies and parts then you could shake a stick at and RTR's weren't a thing..... and soo much more....

The memories of that time just can't be replicated......

[Phin]

For RC Autos it'd be 1974 to 1992. It starts in '74 when Jomac took 1/12 from gas to electric, and it ends in '92 when Trinity put links on a pan car.

[Russ Winn]

For me, it was the 80's...The RC10 was wildly popular, and there were countless aftermarket companies making parts. Hobby shops were everywhere, and new products seemed to be coming out every week. I was living in Houston at the time, and I remember 9 tracks in the general area. Organized racing was constant, and you could race 7 days a week, if you wanted to.
The best part was that everyone had to build their cars, which made them appreciate the hobby even more. RTRs at the time were considered "toys".....I STILL feel that way today.

[Coelacanth]

I agree that it was the 80's, at least with regards to a big surge in mainstream popularity of RC cars. When the Grasshopper, Hornet and Frog came out from Tamiya, that caught the interest of many other manufacturers to motivate them to make relatively affordable kits. Marui, Hirobo, Kyosho, AYK, Nichimo and others started dropping a mass of entry-level to intermediate-targeted car kits and that also seems to be when racing events peaked, sometime around the mid- to late-80's. Of course you can't avoid mentioning Associated, Losi, Schumacher and Yokomo, but in my opinion, those brands were more targeting the racing niche and not so much the beginner and intermediate hobbyists, and getting the attention of these latter groups is what caused the surge in RC popularity.

Just my 2 cents, anyway.

[Dadio]

There's clearly two ways to view this , statistical popularity and personal involvement .
For me the early days of the 80s were golden , cars were often crude in design and many popular design concepts of the time were later abandoned , trailing arms and mono shocks were king , there was room for even the amater to modify a car without after market parts to perform way better ! It was the time when evolution from scale off road RC cars into true racers began , kind of magical to be a part of , it ended at the birth of the RC10 , Schumacher CAT and the Yokomo 870c when they crystallized the design principals into a formula that just needed tweaking of minor things to gain a little here and there that continues to this day .

[TRX-1-3]

Using Dadio's "two ways" theory. I view the golden age as being when I was involved in the hobby from introduction until I left for military service. So '87ish to '93ish. RCCA, trips to the hobby shop, finding workarounds for broken parts in the oldman's shop, Sundays at the track then winter Friday nights crammed into the tiny indoor offroad dirt track area in the back of the hobby shop...only putting one pair of See's on the front of the Blackfoot because they were expensive...stuff like that. Cutting a 2 liter soda bottle into a body because you saw it in RCCA. Making the ESC shelf out of aluminum flashing, straight out of "Pit Tips", etc.

Admittedly, I am conflating "golden age" with nostalgia.

[Russ Winn]

I view the golden age as being when I was involved in the hobby from introduction until I left for military service.

Bingo! ....Same time frame, same situation. I've been trying to find my niche ever since.