A gamble pays off...
Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 11:30 pm
So last week, Jason and I were discussing an eBay auction for a car with a graphite chassis (aftermarket) with battery slots in it. It came with some spare arms, and Kyosho gold rear shocks, which made it a nice find.
It was an oval car and looked nice, but the photos were bad and small, and didn't show much. We both knew that the chassis was a nice piece in the package, and if it didn't go for too much, would be a nice deal. It was a dirt oval car, which is much of my R/C heritage, so I recognized a lot of other parts on it and could place the era somewhere around '87 or '88 or so.
I had a few hunches on some of the items that you couldn't see and weren't described, so I rolled the dice and bid on it late.
I won the auction, fortunately, and was thrilled to get it today. My hunches were correct. The car has a late Composite Craft 6-cell graphite kick up chassis, with a 7th slot added by hand. It doesn't look like it has ever been used. A full McAllsiter oval lowering kit in perfect condition all the way around, too. Sure enough, pristine Associated gold shocks up front and perfect Kyosho gold shocks in the rear (my favorite). Full Andy's nylon arms all the way around, with 4 spare hacked/used fronts as well. A nice vintage Noval NER2 receiver was still attached as well as an early S132H Futaba servo.
But the big score showed that my gamble on a hunch would pay off. I noticed in the auction photo that the motor hung out the wrong side of the rear. This meant one of two things to me... belt drive or direct drive tranny. With the spare gears and pinions offered in the auction, as well as what looked like a belt on the table, I figured it was a Hyperdrive system. Sure enough, a full, lightly used Hyperdrive belt drive package was included with the car.
The best part is the diff that it was attached to was an almost perfect TrackMaster belt drive tranny. Dual belt drivetrain. Not exactly efficiency at it's pinnacle, but a cool combination of parts.
Some other cool items on the car were a Robinson Racing adjustable rear toe-in suspension mount, and these cool little snap rings that RCPS sold for hinge pins. SWEET!
Check 'er out!
It was an oval car and looked nice, but the photos were bad and small, and didn't show much. We both knew that the chassis was a nice piece in the package, and if it didn't go for too much, would be a nice deal. It was a dirt oval car, which is much of my R/C heritage, so I recognized a lot of other parts on it and could place the era somewhere around '87 or '88 or so.
I had a few hunches on some of the items that you couldn't see and weren't described, so I rolled the dice and bid on it late.
I won the auction, fortunately, and was thrilled to get it today. My hunches were correct. The car has a late Composite Craft 6-cell graphite kick up chassis, with a 7th slot added by hand. It doesn't look like it has ever been used. A full McAllsiter oval lowering kit in perfect condition all the way around, too. Sure enough, pristine Associated gold shocks up front and perfect Kyosho gold shocks in the rear (my favorite). Full Andy's nylon arms all the way around, with 4 spare hacked/used fronts as well. A nice vintage Noval NER2 receiver was still attached as well as an early S132H Futaba servo.
But the big score showed that my gamble on a hunch would pay off. I noticed in the auction photo that the motor hung out the wrong side of the rear. This meant one of two things to me... belt drive or direct drive tranny. With the spare gears and pinions offered in the auction, as well as what looked like a belt on the table, I figured it was a Hyperdrive system. Sure enough, a full, lightly used Hyperdrive belt drive package was included with the car.
The best part is the diff that it was attached to was an almost perfect TrackMaster belt drive tranny. Dual belt drivetrain. Not exactly efficiency at it's pinnacle, but a cool combination of parts.
Some other cool items on the car were a Robinson Racing adjustable rear toe-in suspension mount, and these cool little snap rings that RCPS sold for hinge pins. SWEET!
Check 'er out!
