Alex Racing Barracuda R3

[pjmillion]

Hello All,
I am new member to the site. I have not had much history in RC cars. My first one was a Nikko Turbo Alley Cat. I loved that little thing, except for the extremely short battery life when running in "turbo" mode. I played with that car as much as could and only when my parents would purchase double a's for it. Fast forward to now and I recently wanted to get back into rc cars again. I recently did a search for a FPV car (I also fly FPV drones) and came across one from Emax, the Interceptor.

I have to tell you all, that is THE FUNNEST little rc car to drive around. I use it at work to drive around the cubicles and ram into folks!

After wanting more, I wanted a car that was bigger and faster. With the aid of another member (generalzod) he helped me start by looking into a potential restore project. I started looking at some 80's Bolink's and after searching on Ebay and not seeing anything that I really wanted, I changed the search filter to newly listed and came across a set of two cars. The listing said they were Alex Racing Barracuda's.

Ebay Listing

car 1

car 2

Neither Zod or I had ever heard of that brand, but the cars were in super nice condition. Upon closer inspection and research, it turns out that these were AWD Touring cars that are very popular in Japan. I went ahead and purchased the set for $300. I was not disappointed when I got them. They are really nice and I have plenty of plans for them. One car is basically brand new and the other was used and needs some work.

The plans I have for the one that is basically new, is to put a 68 Mustang GT body on it, upgrade to brushless (Mamba X, I am thinking), and make a custom battery holder since the factory holder does not work with my 2s Lipo. I already upgraded the radio/receiver to 2.4GHz from a Futaba 24MHz.

stang body

stang body 2

For the other body with the speckled carbon fiber body, I need to repair some of the front end (looks like the previous owner hit something hard), add in all electronics, upgrade to brushless and I am thinking of putting a Ford GT 40 body on it.

I will update the post as I start working on my Stang body and get it painted and mounted. I am really feeling like a kid again racing these cars!
Questions, comments are always welcome!

[Coelacanth]

Wow...I've never heard of Alex Racing either, but that much carbon and aluminum, with electronics included, HAS to be a steal for only $300. You did very well, regardless of brand! Those chassis scream of quality.

It reminds me of the time I discovered a Lucas Arts Agitator Pro-10 on eBay, but it was listed as a mystery car. I wasn't really familiar with the Agitator brand either, but with half a set (?!?) of Sees aluminum wheels and lots of carbon and aluminum and an intriguing rear pod with triple shocks and double-decker front end design I'd never seen before, I had to pull the trigger on the $50 BIN. Looking forward to what you're planning to do with those chassis!

[Incredible_Serious]

I bought a couple of Barracudas back in 2017, and they were beautiful cars, with carbon fibre and aluminium all over the place. I had one with pink anno, and another with green, so they looked awesome with matched brushed motors

Sadly, they were too clean and nice for me, so I sold them on.... but they were nice while I had them!

Some pictures of the ones I had..... no idea why I didn't scan the manual

Alex

[pjmillion]

Update on progress.
Completed the body paint job. Being that this was my very first paint job, I think it came out pretty good. Little sloppy on the front racing strips, but overall pretty good. I also upgraded the motor to sidewinder x4 4500KV brushless motor. This little thing moves and super quiet.

Still trying to get the classic looking tires for the car. I did finally manage to get some black vintage 5 spoke HPI 3816 and 3821 rims. Not really the rims I wanted, I wanted the matte chrome, but HPI is backlogged on them.

[GeneralZod]

I think that's pretty good looking even for your first try! Can't wait to see it with the vintage mag wheels.. Keep us updated!

[matt1ptkn]

I really like the body choice and colors! I'd be perfectly happy with that paintwork, and I've painted countless bodies.

[Frankentruck]

Hey! It's the Eleanor mustang! Well, pretty close.