I bought the Sand Scorcher 2 months ago and bought the Rough Rider today. You can never have enough fun. 😊

This chassis will always be the coolest chassis Tamiya ever made. It’s true to a real buggy of the era which would’ve been made from a vw. Such a cool piece of history I’ll likely never get to own.

i had one of these in 1979, my brother had the sand scorcher. memories. UK one were wholesaled by Rico, Richard Constam, delivered with Accoms radios. I doubt we sold a single one without a radio included. Sanwa radio shown is not age correct, it is a later change out, probably from a model plane or boat as the grommets have been put in the direction for screwing into wood. Weakest point was the ball joints popping out, push them back , but each time you did they got weaker, the spare we sold the most of easily. I am pretty sure the lights had KC Daylighter stickers on originally.

Every time I see one of those white ceramic block resistors I remember the 1st time I was running my grasshopper with a hard plastic Ford Ranger body on it and bigger tires and I reached down to clean some leaves off of it and I grabbed that ceramic resistor and took my finger prints off of my thumb and index finger for probly a month!!!!

I had one of those in 79 when they first came out, i was flabbergasted by the vw type suspension and the off road capability of it. It was fantastic and great on the trails and short grass, the battery was a bit of a frunkenstein, with it’s hump back, i never used the hump back, I cut a hole in the side of the battery box and just used stick packs. I ended up selling it to a guy in the uk 🇬🇧 mainland for his rc museum, it had the original box, instructions etc and I got a new battery box for it as well. He loved it. That’s like 25+ years ago now. Sweet video man. Old tamiyas never die, they just get better. 😎👍👍👍

Never get tired of a SRB running vid, years of watching those old promo videos I guess. Managed to get my re re Sand Scorcher up and running the other day. Also have an original Ford Ranger in the attic that i need to restore a bit at some point.

In my youth, I saw a Tamiya ad featuring the Rough Rider going through water. I was hooked. Such wonderful memories.

God, even the sound of that takes me back to my one as a kid... all that was lacking was a Nicad going steadily flatter after about four minutes! 🤦🏻‍♂️ Great video, cheers!

Yep, a very unique sound which takes me back to 1980 when I bought mine in 11th grade.

Most important buggy, but the fire dragon and thunder shot are still the best!

U keep things new, me too, kids nowadays don’t appreciate anything, i still have a pocket casio keyboard i got 43yrs ago 👍

I believe I agree with the Title. I was only starting in the Hobby in late 1979... The RC Car Hobby was already nearly 20 years old by then... But this one was the first one to really bring it to the masses! The Hobby then was EXPENSIVE and very difficult for beginners. Most RC Transmitters were still HOMEMADE from bits from Heathkit and Radio Shack!! 1978 was the watershed year. Sanwa and Futaba came out with the first affordable Radio/Reciever packages! Unlike now, they always came also with at least TWO Servos! (By 1987, they even came with an ESC in some models) Tamiya was already selling RC Kits in 78, but most of the line was a RC Chassis, with one of their 1/12th Scale Bodies from their Static Model Line. The Blazing Blazer and later the Rough Rider, were the FIRST purposely designed RC Vehicles. It was also the first year they started on TV Advertisements!! THAT was the beginning of the Hobby as we know it. Memories. The ONLY good thing about getting OLD!! Cheers 🍻 and please stay SAFE! 😷 Carmine

😁👍 It's a BEAUTY!

This buggy has such a cool look, and those wheels are stunning !

My first R/C! Build it with my father, and spent countless hours wrenching on it.

FANTASTIC!!!!! What a classic!

epic mate love my vintage Tamiya's👊😎🇬🇧😊👍

Wow such a classic gem. Forget about the rest of the tamiyas that I wanted to have. I want that buggy right now!

This was my dream rc when I was a kid! Such great detail. At the time it came as kit which you had to build. I remember making a snow track in my parents backyard to race on. ...so cool! This was also waterproof. The speed control was mechanical not ESC. The motor was encased in aluminum housing for waterproofing and acts as a heatsink. It was definitely ahead it's time.

The grandfather of modern RCS 👍

Omg so cool I love that Edit: thank you so much Tomley RC

Those spotlight decals are from the re're, original Tamiyas had KC Daylighters. Cool buggy either way.

Oh these truly are quite remarkable rc. I will never let mine go. Great video as usual thanks for sharing.

Reminds me of my first Rc buggy as a child in 85 . My dad got it for me. i beleive it was called chilli pepper or red hot chilli pepper, its been many moons ago,but is what started me on RCing!!!!

Proper retro cool rc buggy. Awesome vehicle, that would defo be a keeper

Awesome. My first rc i ever had

I’m in love with this buggy! 1979....damn! The condition is incredibly good. That controller is period correct? Hard to believe. Please don’t trash it, what????? No, keep it as a shelf queen, please! Great video !👍👍

I was 8 when that beast came out and it was lusy at first sight!❤

What a simply gorgeous bit of kit . Certainly one I would love to get. Hopefully it went to a good home

I used to have one, and a Sand Scorcher body (with Union Jack paintwork) to go on it. My UJs used to fall apart due to wear and tear - it got a lot of off-road use. Nice to see one again.

Very nice and runs great. I also have a MK1 Rough Rider I restored last year but been to scared to drive it, will get it out on the beach one day though. 👍

Just amazing yes!!! WOWWWW!!!!! Congrats bro!!

Also I love looking back on your and many others videos to see how you’ve evolved. One thing is for sure, ya always keep it real my friend. ✌️

Wow I Love it Phil , I truly is the Holy grail when it comes to Buggies 👍🥰👍 it rides well after all these Years. Awesome information about it and a Amazing Running video, I enjoyed every minute of this video as always 👍😎🥰👍

best tamiya chassis ever made

Nice I was actually just looking for Info on this car. Same year as me. Good find. Wow. Nice job on this. Ps it would be neat to see a bit more about that old analog speed controller. I am sure some of your viewers have never actually seen one or know ho they work. I haven't seen one since I replaced the unit in my ultima2 over 2 decades ago. Thanks again

Same receiver I had with my frog.... Blast from the past to see that. Thanks

Takes me back, thanks ! Definitely after market back bumper, the original was black plastic and instantly broke leaving nowhere to put the aerial. "Weather proof" is about right, the accrid smell of the water proofing gel and leaking red shock oil has just come straight back to me ! Found the chassis etc this weekend in my parents' loft LOL !

Awesome buggy 😃

My 1st car was the Hornet, then had the Lunch Box. Love this Rough Rider

Tis a thing of beauty, that's for sure, Phil! You captured some lovely close up running shots in the garden - so glad you gave it a spin - I hope the roof mounted spots were OK after the roll! You are going to make someone very happy when you sell this on! :)

Really nice

Nice!

C.v joints on the rear axle ? Was that commonplace back then ? Just these days companies are advertising that as a "new" feature . Just think it seems years ahead of its time . And you're right, those alloys are just something else . Cudos to you for actually using it, it looks great .

Awesome video great job thumbs up 👍

Great video !! The picture quality is really super ! The vehicle is simply wonderful :D

Holy cow. 3 year old video I just found now!

Great video! Nice run

Wow. I am now looking for that. I know good luck lol, great video.

Very nice

Watching your vides before I subscribed 👊🏻👍🏻

Hello there been awhile awesome video I recently got a rough rider love it such a cool piece of rc history i also recently acquired the xr311 another piece of history both are art pieces but i refuse to make them shelf queens lol

great video and cool rc

Oh totally cool, I remember my first Rc it was a Cox sandbuggie can’t remember the full name,back in the early 70s like 1970 lol dang that’s so ancient 😂

Oh wow what a fantastic example you have there! You got some great shots of it running. It always makes me nervous to see one of these roll over because the roof and roof lights break so easily. Tamiya could have done with including a lexan shell with this so the hard plastic one could stay mint for the shelf. Anyway this could easily go into my garden bash video contest unless you have anything else up your sleeve? It will score highly with the Tamiya fans 😁

Is it even possible for a kid today to realize how awesome these were back in 1980? But sweet Jebus, mechanical ESCs were such a drag... Who would have bought one of those cars to NOT drive it? And they were surprisingly not that durable...

One man’s garden is another man’s backyard lol 😝

Who needs a lawn mower when you got this tearing grass up cool bro👍

Sanwa makes really high end transmitters and everything in between.

The rc I dreamed about when I was a kid growing up in the 80’s. Crazy cool man👍

I got the 2004 rerelease Hornet a few years ago, and though quite primitive in it's suspension, handling, kind of underpowered with the stock motor, and not the sturdiest RC out there, compered to some of the more modern, and up to date RC vehicles I've, had, and driven, the hornet is still a blast to play around with, just because of it's bouncy, unpredictable handling. You cant stick a big brushless motor, and a 4s lipo in it, and do hard core bashing with it in stock form, but for it's day the Hornet, and many other Tamiya offerings in the eighties were great for beginners who didn't have the money, or the skill to build the more advanced RCs out there, like the Associated RC10, or the Kyosho Optima. Playing with one of these old school Tamiya buggies now, even the revised rereleased versions, bring back a lot of fond memories to those simpler, and less stressful times. When I get my tax refund, I'm hoping to get the Losi Lasernut rock racer, and though that will be my primary basher, I'll still take the Hornet out for an occasional spin to relive the RC experience I wished I had as a teen in the eighties, and will enjoy comparing the two, just to see how much RC car technology has advanced. Unfortunately back then I couldn't afford both a Tamiya RC buggy, and a Sega Genesis, as I was into video games at the time also, so the Genesis beat out the Tamiya for my minimum wage working dollar. I still had to stop by the RC car section though, and drool over the RC car stuff at the PlayCo toy store where I also bought my Genesis games from, and dream of the day I would get a higher paying job, and could afford to do both RC cars, and video/computer games.

It is a real milestone, isn´t it? I´m glad you´re going to sell it to a collector or at least to someone who won´t just wreck it in a weekend of bashing. I particularly enjoyed the montage with its wealth of shots which demonstrate the way the rear suspension behaves in oversteer. As I watched it I had a sudden memory of driving a full-size vehicle which used to do the same. Then it came back to me - it was a SWB leaf sprung Land Rover pickup - it used to do it when driven...spiritedly, with nothing in the load bed. Suspension has come a long way - I clearly remember the days when I used to think of this chassis a the peak of excellence, and yearned to own one!

I was lucky enough to have a Sand Scorcher.... Great fun, but rock hard suspension just as your Rough Rider has.....

That body looks better than bodies now!

My first RC car! That transmission makes such a distinctive sound! Takes me right back to being 10 years old!. I think it was 1983 or 84 that I got it for my Birthday 2nd hand. I was too young to know much about it but it came with a Rough Rider shell and 2 Ranger shells so I never knew which one it had been originally. Seeing it in such detail in the vid has possibly answered that question - The wheels are Rough Rider rears - but on the front as well! The Ranger wheels were white originally so I reckon the original owner bought a 2nd set of Rough Rider rears and the Ranger shells when it was later released. The Rough Rider body was the most battered so I always thought that might have been the original. The cracking on the roof was caused by the leverage of the body clip twisting the shell when constantly taken on and off and was a common problem. The Radio gear is period correct but really unusual as Acoms AP 227 were cheaper so the most commonly used. The early radio box didn’t have any vent holes and overheating was a real issue - cars that got heavy use often caught on fire so radio boxes got holes cut in them. That car is in very good condition - some obvious signs that it’s been restored though - the shell has a mixture of re-release decals and reproduction decals - those spotlight stickers are from the re-re - the body could have been restored with re-re parts but the paint colour looks more like it’s a re-re shell. Thanks for the video - it’s motivated me to drag the old car out of my parents loft and restore it!

Just fyi, Sanwa competed heavily in the 70s in the audio/home stereo market and did very well. You could say they've been around for a while, but it's surprising to see they made an attempt in the RC market. They were known mostly for their electronics.

They were all mine lol !!!

This was my first RC car back in 1980

The light stickers are wrong should be kc daylighter, not brite ight. Looks like a restoration with re-re replacement parts. I had to do the same for my Rough Rider. Cheers!

Nice intro.

I'm thinking of getting the kyosho scorpion XXL ve kit version. Is there anything I should consider buying instead of it?

When you first got this collection it did not peak my interest but as times gone on I've grown to appreciate the kyosho /Tamiya cars but I'm yet to get a kit.. Have been looking at the javelin and optima..

What battery do you use in the Champ? Thanks!

What's the power source for transmitter and the vehicle?

Really nice car but not with all the orginal Decals. The orginal one hast Pennzoil stickers to my knowledge which were replaced 2010 by Forward Stickers. Great video. Cheers.

Nice buggy,, well done just a FYI, MSC stands for mechanical speed controller not manual, Great video nice collection

It reminds me of the new Tamiya BBX.

The box? It can be made water proof. I took mine to the beach one day and drove it under water to try it out....the only thing you could see was the antenna sticking up out of the drink....it was hilarious.....I siliconed the various openings and it got a couple of dribbles in, but that was it.....

All around I would say the most important car is the Super Turbo Hopper. Tyco's fist car bc it bridged the gap and made RC cars mainstream. To bad they are so hard to find working they even looked better than the heavily marketed Turbo Hopper/Jet Hopper. Although toy grade, overall far more influential on the hobby.

It seems they really went all-out and put a lot of thought into this one. Brilliant.

Cool, one of the legends of RCs! And sorry too say dude but I prefere the old channel logo!

Did the original have alloy wheels?

That SANWA-Sender was similar with GRAUPNER.

I’ve just bought my first one, I got the Fighting Buggy (Superchamp) I’ve nearly finished putting it together, but I’m just wondering if I should buy a cheaper one like a grasshopper or hornet ( can’t get frogs in Australia due to Covid, run out of stock) to get the hang of driving them, I’m starting to think the Fighting Buggy to good to drive anyway, it’d be a shame to wreck it.😁

Whenever I break my monte carlo mini I always try and restore it to its best isn't that normal?

So close to ordering a Sand Scorcher after having one in '81. Although, being called Rob Mitchell myself, the RR is also calling me. We totally abused our cars back then, I got one of the first ESCs for it too. I did totally seal the box and more than once it was run completely under water, just the antenna tip poking out. Typical 11 year old abuse. I sold the dismantled and very abused parts about 10 years ago to a collector. Stupid me.

Rc ...gone full circle ...from electric poor nicads to full on nitro buggy ..back to scale with long lasting lipo ...that buggy fits right in with today's scale scene ...

That was my first RC car :)0

Legend ! .......... (The Rough Rider. Not you Phil 😄👍)

lmao at a dude with no eyes drivin it =)

Sand Scorcher is easily the most Iconic rc car (imo)

The suspension pretty much a scaled VW beetle.

I got a totally original stock one.. looks nothing like that one.. that one looks like its been covered in super glue and ram raided Halfords.. 🤣 nice example tho. Yeah got original carry bag and acoms receiver. I spotted in a vintage shop a few years back. Had one as a kid in 82"... i bought immediately.. it could out gun any 50cc moped back in the day.. 15mins of fun then 12hour charge time.. ready for wen i got back from school 🤩

Still have this or was it passed on to some one very lucky

had a friend from sweden who had this as a kid. he sold, or traded it to another friend of ours, but it was busted. think it was some part of the suspension. anyway, it was boxed and it good shape other than that. years went by and the guy that had it found it in his dad's garage and brought it home. didn't think anything of it and threw it in the garbage... ugh.

Repeir shocks! Its not a problem...

Did you sell it?

The suspension works but it appears it's way too stiff and mostly bounces on the tires. They must have corrected all that when the RC10 came out then continued the improvements.

That thing can rip

That thing is nice, I get weird ads every time I watch you?