TOPIC:

OK folks,
Here is the question……How old is vintage?

In the Tamiya R/C world of things only. I did a forum search and did not really find anybody else posing the question so I am, sorry if this is redundant. So…… How old is vintage?

I know we don’t need to debate anything made in the 1970’s or even the 1980’s( or do we?) but as we get into the 1990’s what do you all say? The Dyna Storm from 1992 or so is vintage, right? But what about the 2001 re-re of it? It is now the end of 2017 so 1997 was 20 years ago! (Holy crap!! That still seems new to me!! ) 2001 was 16 years ago is that vintage??

I don’t think any of the modern re-re’s need to be discussed but looking back the M chassis line has been with us for just over 20 years, are they now vintage? The 1977 xr311 is unquestionably vintage but what about the 2000 re-re hmmmmmm………
That one is a bit of a problem too because they keep re-reing the re-re

So I know this might seem like a strange line of questioning but I just wanted others opinions, myself I think 20 years is a fairly good benchmark but where do the rest of you stand??
Do we want to call the first 100 kits vintage only or ???

Fire away, let’s have everybody’s opinion…..

Good question.
I don't know the answer (if there is an actual answer), but I have always thought about it less in terms of years, but whether a particular model is still in production.
If it isn't, then I'd personally rate it as vintage.
So in the case of a re re, the originals would be vintage, the re re would not be. If it had another release then the first re re also becomes vintage.

I guess a lot of it actually has to do with why we want to / what we get from defining something as vintage.

From Google:
Vintage = "denoting something from the past of high quality, especially something representing the best of its kind."

I think that fits well. It's not vintage just because it's old, it also has to be something special.

Well guys those are some good thoughts, based on your "out of production" idea Simianosaurs, the xr311 re-re is not vintage because they keep making it every few years, or so it seems...and that's cool.
I do find "vintage" is a very over used term Lars, it could mean of a particular year as with wine of a certain " vintage" or referring just to a style as it always seems possible to buy new " vintage" style clothes that are trendy. So the term is very confusing to me.

I think I was speaking more in terms of Tamiya's of a certain time period I guess, for a long time I considered anything they had built with a plastic chassis to be " not vintage " but they have been doing that since about 1982 so that would leave out our beloved Wild Willy and Hotshots and the Fox too, all classics to be sure.

Perhaps a better term would be " classic" but again that can have lots of meanings if you are a style marketer.
From the dictionary " A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank" Hmmmm. that's a bit closer to the truth I think

Antique ? Perhaps not, those should be 100 years or more so no Tamiya's there.

I don't really know, so that's why I asked, please keep your thought coming on this......

With real cars classic is 25-50 years old and antique is >50 years old.
Pretty arbitrary numbers really.

Oldwilly, with my definition, the original and the 2001 re re, would be vintage, but the 2011 would not be at least until the re re re release

All will be vintage a day. But maybe could we consider that vintage is what is no more release or first release. I was surprised by the age of the ta04 corvette and the ta05.
Finaly, is vintage all what each of us consider vintage.

"Vintage" for me in the Tamiya-world could be defined as special models before 1994.
It's around 1993/94 the standard chassis' become dominant which are less "special" in my mind.
It could just as well be before 1993, but by including 1993, the Blitzer Beetle is included.

Again, Vintage has for me something to do with both age and "quality"

OK Lars, I can agree with that too, the standard chassis type cars M, TA, etc. but the big T has been a chassis recycler from the beginning 934 = 935 = 936, XR311 = Cheetah, the SRB series too, but I will say they have never continued to make the same chassis platforms for so long as they do now! its really a bit boring .
I would add; one could argue that Associated has been making the RC10 since 1984 just one long evolution really. But that's not Tamiya either.
I also agree that all of them will be vintage someday but...I also agree there needs to be a certain quality associated with the model to really be " vintage " or " collectable " other than just being old, not a lot of interest in old Nikko and Radio Shack type cars is there

Anybody else want to chime in here as to why something fits in our " vintage " world????
Keep it coming, this is fun

I think that all cars can be collectable and become vintage. Same if they haven't a lot of interest. Only a model wich made us dream in catalogs and model shops. These ones we didn't know they existed. Perso, the ta01/02 are collectable and vintage same if they are released. And before discover tamiyabase I didn't know the 934 nor the blazing blazer.