What 'd be the chance of coming across this ever again?

[Mr. ED]

Vintage rc for grabs in seoul; sept 2002.
Untill the owner multiplied his price by ten; as he noticed I really wanted that Salute.
I walked out without, and the shop had disappeared on my next trip there.

I had long forgotten I took these pics, and regret the missed opportunity now more than then even.
Look at the other sweet stuff he had in the stinking dark dirty hole he called a shop:









And the killer shot!

[mrlexan]

Those are the best kind of shops to find.

[Mr. ED]

It was the worst salesman I ever met though.
He started off with a real low price : I think it was 20 euro (remember 2002). Then he went up to 50, then he started about not being sure the electronics still worked, then he jumped to 200, Finally he said there are no more parts for sale for the car. All that while I he was not even trying to divert me to one of the (little) newer models in his racks.
Now at the end of every visit I've made to Korea (too many) I'm about as short-tempered as a pitbull terrier, so I didn't have the patience to continue the discussion at that point and turned around, walked out.
What a mistake I realized yesterday: I should have just switched to the wall: there's 2 ayk NIB kits!

[GJW]

woah i would have cooked his dinner and washed up for a week to get me hands on some of that
i count 3 vipers too should have just pulled out the wad of cash...2000 grand for the lot buddy...

[Mr. ED]

Sure, except I didn't know about AYK back then and was more interested in that salute as I knew I could source parts for it.
Loved the hirobo also (at least I think it is a hirobo, in the window; with the red wheel centers) but knew it is impossible to find parts for.
No way I could have taken a NIB: it was the last day of my trip and I was going to have to strip it down overnight and somehow push it into a 30kg suitcase already containing an industrial pc

Too bad my next trip allowing me to stay in Seoul was over a year later. All the trips inbetween took me all the way down south of south korea. (Seoul is about the north-most city)

Thinking about the way he handled his sale: that must have been the reason he still had all that old stock

[tiger1]

No regret. In life, one cannot deal with crooks. That shopkeeper will be terrible to deal with anyway. When you agree with 200 euro for that car, he would ask for 500.

[Bormac]

You should have just punched him in the face and tear out the front door with a shopping cart containing atleast the 3 Viper's! Ha hahahaha!!

[59burst]

I know this shop well. named Sky. I bought my JR radio system at '81 there.
and, found 3 optima, 1 turbo optima, and 3 viper at 2000. I bought 'em all for my friends. I paid $150 for each kit.

[minimini]

just curious to know........how can the shopkeeper maintain his living ??...........by just simply sitting in this kind of "shop" & day-dreaming ??.........

[59burst]

they don't sell rc stuff anymore. they started air soft gun business from eary 90's. the building and right next one is their warehouse. they have exclusive distributorship for major air gun makers. also provide OEM and upgrade parts to japanese air gun makers. the owner was not bad when he enjoyed RC himself. he is over 75 yrs old now. actually he was great at 80's.

[Mr. ED]

I'm not sure if we are talking about the same shop: it was a very dirty little hole without tiles on the floor even.
It was downhill from the ... Miwa??? womens university subway station
Lively area with hundreds of shoe shops nearby.

When I went back a year later it was all gone as far as I could tell

[Bormac]

Eric these pictures make me sick!

But seriously, how bad do we all wish we could go there and buy up all his vintage buggies etc...? I know i'd be on the first plane over there and go WILD!!!

[59burst]

I'm not sure if we are talking about the same shop: it was a very dirty little hole without tiles on the floor even.
It was downhill from the ... Miwa??? womens university subway station
Lively area with hundreds of shoe shops nearby.

When I went back a year later it was all gone as far as I could tell

I think it was ehwa womens university. but, I don't know the shop still there.
I'll check the dirty little hole if I have chance to visit the shop (is still exists)

[Mr. ED]

I walked past it for 5 days without noticing: always had the shutters down.
If you're really lucky it may still be there and I just wasn't able to identify it a year later...though I can assure I REALLY REALLY tried to find it

[longboardnj]

id want to buy the kyosho electric buggies...dont feel bad im sure they were still there for a reason.. i ran into some old stuff like that..in my head i was like.. wow i need that but i kept cool and acted like i was not that interested .when they told me the price i didnt want it .