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In 1987 Global Hobby Distributors released the Panda 1/10th 2wd off-road buggy. Manufactured by Vericom and imported from Tiawan the Panda was Vericom's version of the Nikko Rhino. Constructed almost exclusively out of ABS plastic the Panda's tub style chassis supported a lower a-arm fixed upper link independent front suspension with coilover friction shocks and z-bend steering links connected to a servo saver equipped replaceable steering servo. Rear suspension was a centrally pivoting live rear axle with integrated TS540S motor and bevel gear transmission suspended by a pair of coilover friction shocks. Nestled under the ABS plastic body was an exposed PCB with early models containing an extra servo to drive the resistor style mechanical speed controller while later models received MOSFET powered electronic speed controllers with heatsinks. The battery was bottom loading and mounted transversely in the chassis. Radio gear was available only as a twin stick transmitter in one of six 27MHz frequencies and the buggy shipped with replaceable rubber tires, aerodisk style wheels and oilite bushings:

Full Page Ad
Two Page Spread
Reconstructed into a poster

I never knew any of these style cars had double wishbone front suspension ! Must have been way ahead of it's competition, I remember seeing the ball style rear suspension before on YouTube, cool old buggy , very much in the grey area of hobby/toy grade .

I have those posters on my wall. I also have a built Panda with oil filled coil overs, 2.4 XP receiver and transmitter, an AE motor, and a modern esc. The body screws on and the battery is in a compartment in the bottom so I can’t remember what ESC is in it.

I also have a complete panda kit I put together on eBay a long long time ago. Complete with box, full sticker kit, NOS body, all pieces, full ball bearings, and JG tires. I’m scared to build it I’ll need to peroxide the body





The pandamonium was my first real hobby grade RC. I have some stories. At the time (~1987) it’s was absolutely a hobby grade RC.

Few more pics I found. Looks like I put a reedy brushed esc in. Now I remember buying it from AE in lake forest so long ago.

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2024 11:19 am I never knew any of these style cars had double wishbone front suspension ! Must have been way ahead of it's competition, I remember seeing the ball style rear suspension before on YouTube, cool old buggy , very much in the grey area of hobby/toy grade .

Surprisingly, a lot of the early R/C models had very realistic components, being radio controlled model versions of full sized cars. I always split toy vs. hobby like:

Prebuilt = toy
Kit = hobby

But Panda marketed it as a preassembled race ready buggy... beating the hobby grade RTR market by a couple decades?... talk about grey area.

mAdMan wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2024 11:56 am I have those posters on my wall. I also have a built Panda with oil filled coil overs, 2.4 XP receiver and transmitter, an AE motor, and a modern esc. The body screws on and the battery is in a compartment in the bottom so I can’t remember what ESC is in it.

I also have a complete panda kit I put together on eBay a long long time ago. Complete with box, full sticker kit, NOS body, all pieces, full ball bearings, and JG tires. I’m scared to build it I’ll need to peroxide the body

The pandamonium was my first real hobby grade RC. I have some stories. At the time (~1987) it’s was absolutely a hobby grade RC.

Awesome photos!

I like the box (yes, I never grew out of that phase ) Has a real heavy TYCO feel... intentional? Me thinks so!

With one built I'd have to leave the other in the box but it's interesting how the body is yellowing from the sides up...

I thought the best picture was the price tag... until I noticed the Panda parts department hanging on your wall.

The panda vehicles came RTR and as kits if I remember right.

Some years back the parts weren’t selling on eBay so I made a very local seller an offer and bought them all. Not long after that a seller in France had the body, sticker kit, wheels, controller, and some other parts. I want to say it was $50 for all the parts and 30$ shipped for the stuff from France. Over in France it was called the Graupner Pinto.