DarthRacer's RC10s - Runner, Shelfer, ...??

[DarthRacer]

Hey all. I figured it is time to get a project thread going for my RC10s.
I just got into vintage collecting about a year ago. I always wanted to own a gold pan car and found an opportunity on rctech at the end of last year to trade a TC4 for a RC10 roller and parts. I wasn't really sure what I was getting but I felt the trade value was even. I completely disambled what I received and cleaned up the parts. They then sat in a box until about a month ago when I finally felt like putting a kit together. The car I built is mostly complete and all original and I intended it to be a shelfer. The batch of parts I had on hand was almost enough to build a second car so I was planning on doing a resto-mod using those parts to make a runner.
I then received an offer from a friend out west who then sent me an original RC10 with vintage electronics. I'm now up to three cars!

Onto the specifics.

Here are my two assembeled cars. The blue one on the left is the one I just received. It is an Edinger car based on the box. I just received it yesterday so I haven't pulled the motor to check the stamping. The black one on the right is the one I restored from the trade I made last year. It is an A stamp car.






With the bodies off you can tell that the anodizing is different on the cars. The blue bodied one on the left looks lighter, so that seems to indicate different kit build times.








Specifics on each car to follow.........

[DarthRacer]

First up is the blue Edinger car. I am looking for help in determining just where it lies in the kit release history.










All of the chassis parts are original, but the tires are not. I'm assuming the originals were worn out since this car was a runner somewhat recently based on the Castle ESC that is still in it. I'm looking for clues on the history of this kit. The gold anno is not a deep of a gold color and a little lighter, the shock cap seals are not oversized. It has two different pieces for the steering rack, but that could have been changed at some point. It looks like there may have been a plastic bumper on it but all that is left is the part that mounts to the chassis. The rest is broken away.













I don't know anything about the front knobby tires, but the rears are vintage Pro-Line 'Waffles'.







Here is the original box for the kit. It shows it came from the Edinger location, kit #6016. The kit number is not stamped on, but glued on.










Here is the contents of the box. There is a vintage Futaba radio, the original MSC, the tools, extra parts, charger (unknown brand to me), kit supplied shock oil and diff lube, manual, and unpainted original driver.





If you guys can help me pinpoint the place in the kit release history this one falls in, I'd appreciate it.

[DarthRacer]

The second black car started out like this.






Using the best parts from this roller and batch of parts.

[yellowdatsun]

There are really a TON of A-stamp cars out there, so unless it's in absolutely mint shape, it's not a gold mine of money. Mine was in similar shape, came with the box, charger, radio, etc. I chose to put on re-re wheels and tires, and a new body and wing. So it's a shelfer now, but if you l9ook underneath it's all scraped up. My original plan was to drive it, BUT, turns out the seller also had a black pan 92 RC10T truck. THAT turned out to be the runner after all. The only reason why, was because it had the long travel suspension. I threw on a buggy long front shock tower and a buggy body, and it's not a track car. If he hadn't had that second car, I'd be rocking the A stamp at the track.

So there's not much rhyme or reason as to which car you should shelf, and which one to drive. If it was me, I'd put the nicest stock parts on one, and put modern driver parts on the other.

[DarthRacer]

I knew there isn't much money here, but the blue car has some personal value to me because of where and how I got it, and I know a lot about who owned it and where it was purchased. I think that car should remain original but I can't decide if I should to a teardown and clean it, or leave as is.
I plan on setting up the black car with vintage electronics to be able to run for fun. I was going to resto-mod the third car to race, but since it's another 6 gear that I would like to maybe try and sell/trade for a stealth car or truck to vary my collection a bit. I feel the collector itch building.

[yellowdatsun]

In that case, I totally agree. Keep and possibly restore the car that has sentimental value to you. Or leave it as is, if your memories prefer it that way. It makes the choice easy then, shelf that one, and run the other. Neither of mine had sentimental value, since I sold off my original RC10's many years back, I just picked the one that would run at the track better.

If you do run one, I'd change out the stock 6 gear for the Stealth transmission. It's SOOOoo much better for an actual runner. Personally, I'd ditch the vintage electronics, and go new-school. There are tons of reasons why, but basically the new stuff is soo much better, and has much less maintenance. The driving experience is so much better too. Get even a bargain esc and brushless motor combo, like Castles Sidewinder 3 setup for $100, and a lipo battery for $50, you'll be happy you did.

[DarthRacer]

That sounds like what I want to do. Sell / trade the third car for a stealth car and run modern electronics / tires / wheels.