Tips and tricks for buying a discontinued rere

[gkatz]

Hi all; first post ever om rc10talk...
Any tips on how to be able to purchase cars like the XLS rere which are discontinued?
eBay has some listings for outrageous amounts so that's not an option for me.
I have the time and patience but pockets aren't deep.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!

[GoMachV]

If you are after an XLS you are kind of stuck searching hobby shops that might still have new old stock. If you are USA based, Amain is where most of the Schumachers come from, and they are a distributor to smaller shops that cant afford the buy in for Horizon and HRP. That means you can often find Schumacher through mom and pops shops more so than chain stores.

If you goal is just to build one, Stormer has the Procat on sale for $299, $100 less than Amain right now. There are not many differences between the two- you could round up the few necessary parts to build a proper XLS.

[terry.sc]

If it's discontinued you have to treat looking for it like an original, with potentially more of them around. If you must have it now and have deep pockets there's plenty of options for big money from people who are looking to flip nib kits. Otherwise it's sitting and waiting for one to pop up at a reasonable price. If you want new in box you are always going to pay a premium but new built ones that have just sat on the shelf until the owner needs some extra cash or they get bored with the hobby are a lot cheaper.

Set up a saved search on ebay so you get notified of any new listings and wait, facebook marketplace and in the rc groups on there is a good place to find rc cars as there's no fees but the search is rubbish and you have to be much more wary of the sellers as there's no protection for buyers. You can post wanted ads on facebook but i'd say the vast majority of replies you will get right now are from scam artists.

As Gomachv said, you could modify a Procat. While the cars are very different with totally different transmissions and rear suspension, fitting an XLS chassis and body will give you something that looks like an XLS from a distance but performs much better. And it's kind of authentic, every original XLS I bought for the collection had the Procat suspension fitted to it.

[gkatz]

@GoMachV @terry.sc thanks for the help.
i think I am done trying to find an XLS (had 2 chances and was outbid on both) and I might try your suggestion of a procat with a little XLS sprinkle.
given the fact that the only thing in the XLS I really like (over the procat) is the boxy old school body, how would you suggest i fit a XLS body on a procat?
looking at the parts it seems the chasis of the procat is a lot wider than the xls so the body and the undertray of the XLS will not really fit the procat.
maybe you can provide some tips on how to achieve a XLS body fit onto a procat (if even possible)?
thanks a lot!

[terry.sc]

Quick and simple version fit the XLS chassis to a Procat, all other chassis parts are identical. Part number is U7211 and is available from Schumacher and from Factory Works. You can then fit the XLS body and undertray to the buggy.

The rest depends on how far you want to go to get it to look like an XLS. For most people the narrow chassis and body are the most most obvious difference, and they won't notice the rest. The XLS has smooth faced wheels, while the Procat has a cross moulded into their face. The XLS has a bigger bumper than the Procat. The XLS has a green grp shock mount and wire wing mount, the Procat has a black shock mount and moulded wing mount. All are interchangeable between the two models. You can even swap over the rear suspension as well.

If you really want to be authentic, all the XLS suspension and transmission parts are available from Schumacher and will be for some time. I think the only reason they stopped selling it was that they ran out of boxes and manuals and the cost of having a new batch printed compared to the limited number of sales they would have wasn't worth it.

[gkatz]

Just so I understand correctly.
Is the xls chassis a drop in replacement for the procat chassis? All the holes are there and all procat parts will fit out of the box to it?
10x!!

[1911Colt]

Yes, it is a drop in replacement. My ProCat re-re was built using Jeff's (Factory Works) XLS chassis. I kept the ProCat body and under tray, but could have used an XLS body and undertray had I wanted.

[gkatz]

10x for the help...