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Hi guys,
I must admit I have very little knowledge about the vintage scene. But wanted to share what I found in my parents loft from when I was a kid. I have no clue if they are rare but they are pretty old now. The sand scorcher one is a bit battered up as i must of hit a lot of curbs as a kid and has 2 shells plus the box.
The sidecar one has no box but is complete and has a Japanese manual.
They have metal chassis unlike the boomerang and thundershot I also have up there so I thought they must be pretty early...
I didn't know weather they are worth trying to sell? But not sure as they are a bit beat up (well the scorcher really)
I did have a little look on eBay but couldn't really find anything as I didn't want chuck them incase I find out later they were a little bit of beer money

I would of put a pic up but I can't from my phone, any advice would be cool.

Cheers, mike

Two vintage shells with the scorcher is nice, if they are in decent shape they will get you some beers although the model was rereleased Tamiya changed the look of the bodyshell, so the old one is still a 'hot' item.

Pictures will be helpfull for evaluating. Try to get some nice shots of both the body and the chassis, the freaks pro's here on TB sure can tell you more.

B2B I will leave others to comment on not so familiar with that one

Welcome Sp2_mike, hope you don't sell and stick around to restore them.

I'd say they are all cars that could make the Tamiya fan enthusiastic.
What they're worth is very dependend on the state they're in. Good looking boxes and manuals are definitely a plus.
There'll probably be other guys here that can be a bit more specific about their worth...
But I think you won't have much of a problem selling them on eBay, especially the Sand Scorcher and Boomerang.

I wouldn't know where to start with restoring them, the sand scorcher looks pretty rough to be fair, the b2b I thought was pretty unusual and by the looks of it would probably run with not a lot of work, the boomerang is fairly mint as I got that and liked it so much I didn't want to use it
Since looking at them it would be nice to sort them out but I couldn't spend much money as I waste all my money on motorbikes these days.

Motorbikes seem to be another hobby that many RC fans have...
I'm sure you'd get the RC fever with all that's possible nowadays if you got back into it.

The Boomerang was also rereleased but especially in mint condition anyone would prefer an original.
If you put them on the Bay, I wouldn't let the auction run too short so people can find them.
International shipping will certainly give you the best bid...
I would let the auction run until 9PM on a Sunday for example.
They are all very nice cars that should certainly raise some interest.

The B2B is rare, and one of the early models (model no. 17), but, for some reason there is not much enthusiasm about them, so the collector market is not very big.

The best way to get an estimate on value is to look at completed auctions at Ebay.remember to use the "worldwide" search option to get all listings. then you have to find comparable listings to your models, which will be a challenge for rare model or models not often sold (like the B2B)
I found this on ebay as completed listings:


-Lars

hey mike, I can honestly say I don't want to buy any of your cars, so I don't have a problem with giving you advice on getting the most for them

Edou is absolutely right about ebay, and auction durations & finish times - items ending between 2100 and 2200 on a Sunday night (in the UK anyway) typically make more than at any other time - if you can't start the auction at a suitable time, spend that 6p extra & select one Also, auctions ruuning for 10 days rather than 7 don't cost any more, and potentially get a lot more interest if you run them over 2 weekends. Take lots of pictures & pay extra for using them at a decent size in your auction.

re posting overseas - at least fully research what the cost of using a fully insured, tracked service is - it can horrendous. Try Parcelmonkey


Valuations are difficult - it depends on condition, completeness, how much they've been buggered about with, whether you get two or more people who really, really want it ... Colour is surprisingly important, being a colour other than what's on the box knocks 40 - 50% off its value.

The sidecar - they are old, interesting, rare ... and completely unloved. A "new in box" one sold recently on ebay for 255 GBP, and a built, used, but still very good _and_ with a complete spare body set sold for 190 GBP ... without seeing it I'd guess 75 to 100 GBP for yours.

The Sand Scorcher, quite a bit of the value will depend on whether it's a "mark 1" or not - I'm too lazy to type up the differences, so have a look here
Value ... 50 to 200 GBP, 90 to 120 more likely.

Boomerang ... maybe 100 to 120 GBP, Thundershot a bit less.




If it's too much hassle to auction them, pretty much any car will sell very quickly if you put it up at a "buy it now" price of 65 GBP + 10 GBP UK postage





I would add I think it's a shame that you want to get rid of the lot, especially the Scorcher as that sounds like you had a lot of fun with that, but I guess if you didn't feel a big hit of nostalgia when you found it, then there's little point keeping it.

If you do want to restore it, the recent re-release (albeit in slightly modified form) of the Scorcher means that all the parts are available for it - if you're not too fussed about 100% vintage originality. It'll depend on what's there, what's repairable & what has to be replaced, and what you can fix yourself, but I'd say an average cost to restore one would be 150 to 200 GBP. If you do want 100% originality, at least double that & be prepared for some long waits to get the bits.

If you're interested, take a look at my "mk.1 Scorcher" restore thread (link in my sig, below).




Actually, I take it back - I am interested in your Scorcher ... I suppose it's too late to suck air through my teeth & say "they're worth nothing mate, I'd be doing you a favour taking it off your hands, tell you what, I'll give you a fiver fot it, can't say fairer than that" ?

Post some pics here before you sell them, somebody here might be able to offer you something more attractive than fizzy-wee-drink tokens. I for one may well be interested in another Scorcher in any condition, & I like the idea of owning a B2B too! I take it you haven't got any Clodbuster truck bodies lurking up there as well do you....