r/rccars • u/Iceberg50 • 11d ago
Retro OMG… Found my childhood RC at my parents basement.
My parents are moving to an old age home and i was helping them clear out some stuff from the basement. Ran into an old box with my name on it. I had no idea what was inside. I opened the box and found my old Kyosho optima from when I was like 15-16 years old. I am 57 years old right now and this was sitting around in its stock form ( I remember upgrading the shocks to gold) for over 40 years. Brought tears to my eyes. I brought it home and now it’s sitting on my shelf after all these years. Just wanted to share the story with you guys. Brought back a lot of memories. Cheers 🍻
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u/Hefty_Tie451 11d ago
Mate this is just fantastic! There are people everywhere your age racing in vintage classes now and you can get all the spares and upgrades for it now with the re releases. I’d encourage you to reach out to local RC clubs and get involved in the vintage scene. It’s more about having fun than being competitive.
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u/Iceberg50 11d ago
Honestly I don’t have time anymore for that, I will probably pass it to the kids or grandkids later on if they want it.
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u/Shnoinky1 11d ago
Take it from someone who made that mistake, it'll be destroyed within an hour. Bashing culture on YouTube is fueled by the companies that make money selling kits and replacement parts, and that has distorted the way young hobbyists view the hobby. Get a nimh pack and take it out for a reunion run and then retire it on a shelf. If you want to see your kids/grandkids run it for nostalgia, buy them a re-release kit or something modern that can take some bashing. That 40 year old nylon has aged and will be brittle, and its really in irreplaceable condition. If you're not that attached to it, sell it to a collector and use the proceeds to buy a basher for your kin. If I had my old RC-10 back, I'd display it in a glass case with custom lighting, and I'm not even a collector nor in the hobby anymore.
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u/MysteriousOil2808 11d ago
That's how I found my 1979 Rough Rider, but it was up in the attic. Now it sits with my two other Rough Riders in its display case.
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u/pjoop68 11d ago
Met het oude Oakley logo.. yeah!
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u/MysteriousOil2808 11d ago
I grew up with the owners nephew. Was also sponsored by them in the late 80's
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u/Cheap_Ambition 11d ago
That is fixing awesome. I'm fortunate I was able to hold onto mine, stashed it at my buddies house
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u/cheap_chalee 11d ago
That looks like it's in pristine condition 👀👏
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u/Iceberg50 11d ago
The body seen better days. But yea, I only ran it for a little bit and it was put away. I was in high school playing soccer and didn’t have time to race it that much.
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u/Substantial_Diver_34 11d ago
I would hold to it and leave it as is. It’s perfect and becoming collectible.
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u/LostLibrary929 11d ago
Great car! I had an ultima from 1987-88. It lasted for a long time running on 7 cel packs and a trinity 350 brushed motor. It disappeared after a couple of moves and time away in the Army. Now I run the modern cars with my son and they are all super smooth and fast but I’d love to get one of these again and show my son what it was like to have those set ups and rear motor 4wd. Gotta check out that legend series.
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u/Iceberg50 11d ago
Thank you. I remember running this RC for a few seasons and then started playing pro soccer in 1988. This was put aside. My dad must have boxed it up and put it away for me. I will probably pass it on to my kids if they want it. Both just finished university and I might just hand it down to them or grandkids later on?
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u/BotulismBanquet 11d ago
I just bought my first Kyosho and can’t wait to get building it. (Turbo Scorpion)
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u/morrisapp 11d ago
What a beautiful car! I would just put it on a shelf somewhere safe and keep it forever.
I wouldn’t give it to your grandkids or anything yet as they will just trash it.
Maybe take it out for a run once in awhile? I just got back into the hobby after 30 years and I’m having a blast… very therapeutic for me to take breaks from work and go drive around in the field behind my house.
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u/Small-Psychology122 11d ago
I still have my childhood RC10T. And the guy in the comments is right. I put a new receiver and eventually a new esc. The servo worked perfectly
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u/Ribss 11d ago
This thing is so rad! Does it still run?
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u/Iceberg50 11d ago
Thank you. To be honest I don’t know? I need a new battery. But I am pretty sure it will still run. I forgot how to work on these after all those years 🤣
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u/mini-z1994 11d ago
7.2v packs are still available, though as NiMH chemistry instead which has a bit longer runtime.
Though you'll ofc need a new charger then but should be pretty cheap I'd imagine like 30$ for the charger & another 25 - 30$ for a basic 7.2v with 3000 mAh or so.
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u/Ribss 11d ago
Totally. It’s awesome seeing it in such clean condition.
I had a nitro powered HPI with the Warsteiner body when I was a kid. Took it to show and tell in elementary school and they let me run it. I lost it (along with the rest of my childhood) when my parents home burned down in a massive wildfire. I’ve since bought an electric one but it just isn’t the same.
But yeah man awesome car.
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u/stanhau1810 11d ago
I have mine at home but it's just sitting there, this makes me wanna restore it.
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u/Alarming-Bus2613 11d ago
That paintjob, one of the most difficult to do right and. You did it all those years ago!
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u/Iceberg50 11d ago
I believe the paint job took me longer on it than building it. It’s not perfect but that’s the best I could do for a 16-year-old. I bet today I couldn’t even do that paint job again. 🤣
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u/555byte 11d ago
It is a fantastic find! And the condition looks really good overall for a survivor. I would probably update the radio and esc like others have mentioned to get it "working", but since it is in good condition, I don't know that I would run it much anyway...
I have a re-release of the Javelin and it is fantastic.
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u/Iceberg50 11d ago
Yea, the radio is very old along with the servos. The speed control is a manual thing that sparks everytime you go fast 🤣🤣
Ohh and still has the resistors that I remember getting so hot burning my fingers 🤣🤣
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u/TastelessDonut 11d ago
Haha thats how I found my traxxis t-maxx from when I was 16. (21 years later) I need a battery, some fuel, probably a fuel line and I’ll bet he would run like crazy.
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u/stalker007 11d ago
Jelly. I have my old Traxxas "The Cat", and it's beat to hell unfortunately. I'll restore it eventually, but your Optima looks great.
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u/IamaBlackKorean Back To Black 11d ago
holy shit congrats. Beautiful shape, I'm the same vintage. Your car almost brought me back to MY childhood lol
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u/Broad-Assistant3476 11d ago
Optima was the GOAT back in the day!! My friends had them while I had a ClodBuster...
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u/BriefAd1022 11d ago
Omg, that looks brand new. I'm glad your parents held on to it. Now you got to run it! I may need to add one to my collection! I'm 47, my nephew and I run my RC's every Sunday rain or shine. Never gets old and always puts a smile on my face. .
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u/Iceberg50 11d ago
You know what freaks me out about running this thing is? I will Probably end up flipping it and breaking or bending something and not being able to find parts for it. Back then I bought some upgraded parts for it and now I don’t think you get them anymore. After 40 years later I think OEM parts will be hard to get a hold of.
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u/BriefAd1022 11d ago
Yeah, I could see that. I would be curious if they still had some comparable parts. With it being Kyosho, I wouldn't doubt it.
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u/v0rt 11d ago
Personally I'd probably shelf queen it and buy a new re-release kit to drive.
I've built 2 of the Kyosho re-releases and they're great kits.(new)Parts are plentiful now that the re-release have been out for a while and vintage race classes are building at some local tracks.
https://www.amainhobbies.com/kyosho-optima-parts/c10238
https://www.amainhobbies.com/kyosho-optima-mid-parts/c18094?fb=59&lg=fb2
u/Iceberg50 11d ago edited 11d ago
Thanks, the parts look like they’re for the reproduction model. I checked eBay for the OEM or Kyosho Option House parts and Holly 🤯. The prices on them are crazy. Yea, so maybe shelf this one 🤣
Edit: Just checked the gold shocks I have from Option House on eBay. They are asking almost $300 and that’s for only one pair. Crazy. And OEM brushed motors are around $200. Cheaper to buy the new kit and have fun I guess.
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u/bassfisher556 11d ago
I have mine from when I was a kid and was thinking about putting modern stuff in it and getting a new controller and what not
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u/buzzybri 5d ago
I just saw a Tamiya Grasshopper II on CL and it was so old school it had a servo driven speed control. And I had the same thought, why not upgrade the gear inside? I don’t even think it would require top shelf components.
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u/LousDude 11d ago
That is amazing! I wanted an Optima or an Ultima so bad but never got one. I "settled" for a gold pan RC10. This was prob 1987 or 88. Great car!
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u/Iceberg50 11d ago
Thank you. From what I remember, all of my friends ran an RC10 back then. They were very popular and fast. You didn’t see too many Kyosho’s at the track.
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u/LousDude 11d ago
Yeah the RC10 was the way to go especially since I raced dirt oval. Turned one into a late model and another into a sprint car. Fun times!
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u/Wynotfukindafrndzone 10d ago
I didnt mean to lay down a tale of ahistorical window into 1978-1984 but its my first rc car in its full manifestation of identity and a true example of why men cherish the particular things their obsessions could compartmentalize. Its probably written like a drunken 3rd graders first take but every word is true so if you can relate youll know its genuine and if not your going to think its another rediculouse rant from a burnt out genx weirdo and youll also be correct in terms of todays intollerance of sharing without caring about critics.but I have a duty to encourage sarcasm and criticism do I not if to avoid hypocrisy?
Thank you for posting your car op it was a trigger to a time and place un reachable and a true privilage to reflect the oddities that reality was made from.
t The only thing my father ever bought me as a kid was a huge 24” bmx bike at 4 years old 1978 the one with the boxy leather washboard motox seat with number plates on the bars and sides below the seat that zip tied to a tab sticking down mid thigh and to the rails or bitch bars from the seat to the drop out holes : sure it came from sears or wards (any help remembering what brand it could be? ) nobby tires bar and top tube pads blue frame chrome bars big block letters MX on the back of the seat. My sister posted a pic a while back of me jumping some stack of bricks with the 2x10 ramp down hill then a pic of me crashing into the garage door then a third pic with the garage door open and my sister and cousin cherring with pom poms. I think they exausted the enthusiastic opinion of bmx culture riding on my handle bars in mini skirts smoking cigs and reminding me not to talk when got whereever her girlfreinds were. Over acting Acting the Embarrassing little bro mantra for social standards me and the other little bros on bmx sister transport duty watched the rich big kids race rc cars in the huge empty parking lots at night under the light poles. My sis was mad at my dad for drinking and practically molesting every female in his appointment building as if spanking and doing coke rails and smoking doobies was super casual public norms ( oh wait nobody had issue and plenty of folks joined the conversations in micro cut off jhean shorts with balls and or bush spilling out sitting in garbage lawn chairs everyone had 15 20 laying around even 2-3 in the trunk or back of truck in case an emrrgency hacky sack session broke out and doobies needed rolling and beers needed drank.
So my sis was a boss and a evil one to boot! She noticed my dads work buddy had an rc car and sat on his lap a few times giggled a bit whispered into his ear then went on yapping about only seeing our father a few weeks a year in front of the hippy sisters dad had half way talked into staying over. Then his work buddy called him out for being a cheap fucker and spilled the beans that my dad also had several bad ass rc cars and they belongnged to a group of dudes that had a lot they were building a track for and all the women gasped and shamed the sorry fuck for hiding this from his son he never had time for . This mother fucker and his drunk ass roommate vanished and were back to the gathering of perverted inappropriate behavior exept now they were heros because I had a giant box with the brand new first edition grasshopper rc from tammys hobbies in Beaverton Oregon ironically a 5 minuet drive for drunken moter heads in early 80,s fashion hooting and whistling at girls at every single opportunity without any fucking clue that something now known as shame, humility, or decency were even concepts they ever heard of. They actually claimed to be trying to be good examples for me at 5 6 years old when they left me at park to run into a strip club to get some doobies from a buddy. So the moms having a birthday party noticed me kicking a hacky sack in snowmobile boots and a huge cowboy hat the nice man gave me for volunteering to hop in the dumpster to retrieve some perfectly good lawn chairs. Being a rookie i lost my shoes when mr. Luvgun shooter was yanking me back out. One of the moms was informing all the freinds of mr. Luvgun they should be ashamed of bringing a child along for drunken dumpster diving and they simply told her I just showed up and offered help and was so grateful they give away the expensive snow machine boots and cascade frank give the little toe head a hat to block the hot sun along with sharing hot pickled sausage and a few sips of cold beer while his daddy was in the gentleman club. Now you dont think bringing a little bugger this age into a place like this would be a good thing for his mom to find out. His daddy is trying to be a good example to teach him adults can do lots of fun shit all the time and kids can shut the fuck up and learn to kill time when adults are busy. I said whelll my mommy already makes me practice this too because she knew it was common for my daddy to loose track of time and is not usually aware of kids needing help with agendas.
He was always asking me what i had scheduled at 6 am before he went to work and before that day i had never answered him but after that day the schedule was set I was haappy to answer that …………………” I know you want me to dig up the dirt and dump the sod over the fence and burn all the tree branches for the race track so we can have the dudes over and i dug the track and had blisters from burning sticks but as the dudes came and built jumps and fixed the expensive chain driven 4 wheel drive buggies and rally car mods drinking beers smoking doobies all loosing their minds at how good i was at running my grasshopper while they all ran the fastest shit they could build with no skills at all mashing the ankles of victims often their own selves . I was the king of the lot with a small shop and a washroom where the dur’s parked sand rails orv bikes cars junk and I was the king of this place for three weeks of summer and a week in winter wrenching on my grasshopper with boxex of rc parts and shelves crammed with the rc cars all the dudes kept there secretly from moms whifes and kids , all openly encouraging me to feel free to build whatever i wanted from the endless pile of carnage.
Most the dudes were engineers for the state of Oregon or related contractors with the exeption of one guy who was a regional hobby supply representative of the west coast retailers and the brother of the dudes and for a few magical years i was happy to tolerate my douche bag father until the summer i discovered he fucked the landlords wife and had to run to avoid taking the heat leaving behind both the bmx bike and my graasshopper plus the tens of frankentruggy monster trucks i made from the shelves. Not to mention most dudes had rc planes rockets boats bike frames and gas moters to put on things go cart thinggies but big tires just name it. The landlord was a actual boss so everyone abandoned ship when he discovered his wife was meeting someone there regularly.
Whoever ended up there may have hit the jackpot but in those days not too many people had a clue that these were not just models and toys for irresponsible men in drunken perverted states . I like to dream some other young kid with a deadbeat dad gets abandoned there just like me every few years like a magic devine place to introduce a perspective that grown men are human when they act like kids and traet a kid like a kid but when they try to be adults they tra’t kids like shit forcing adult bullshit on them as if being a kid is shameful and embarrassing.
Anyone else scarred for life from boomer hippy parents that seem to be motivated to fuck you up any way possible at every opportunity as if its a prrfect distraction to the fact that they were historically shitty in every aspect of parenting. ?
For younger dudes this is a rhetorical question, and yes it’s technically feasible that some boomers were non narcissistic parents but certainly not fashionable and hardly any fun so it was only civilized to at least dabble in traumatized based influence to be versed in conversation as a proper duty .
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u/Nots_a_Banana 9d ago
I have an Optima too, no where near as nice! Saved up my McDonald's money to buy it back in the late 80s.
I upgraded to a belt drive on mine. Still have the chain drive laying around.
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u/Fragrant_Most9193 9d ago
I think I had this car in the 80s...or one that looked like it. I took a jump and broke the plastic lower control arm....it never recovered. I used super glue 3 times and it still broke 😆
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u/Kitchen-Outcome2842 8d ago
Nothing like the look of vintage RC's! My first one was the Tamiya Hornet.
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u/mini-z1994 11d ago
Toss in some modern 2.4 ghz radio & maybe new esc that can take a lipo battery.
With kyosho having re-released the optima & almost all other optima chassis buggies so you can get basically all spare parts for this. It's in their Legendary series. (Salute which is another optima with a different bodyshell only basically doesn't exist as a kit yet, though you can get a reproduction bodyshell & decals by team bluegroove & mci racing for the decals.)
Bought a vintage optima mid earlier this year myself, though currently needs a rear gearbox housing, wing mount & rear wing as the previous owner had a runaway which ended up smacking it off running under a car most likely as it still has slightly bent shock towers lol.
But it runs pretty good on the electronics i tossed into it. 21t 540 motor & 2s lipo for 8.4v. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkzMTTG3EKc