My first car - Mardave Meteor

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dinglem
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My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by dinglem »

Well, here’s a total blast from the past for me. I have seen a few nice Meteors being posted up on various forums recently, and entered into the various vintage race meetings, notably DerbyDan, and it really got me thinking about my first real race car. Like many, we started off small, and having read the August ’87 Greg Halliday Radio Race Car article my father promptly went out and purchased a Mardave Meteor from Mike’s Models in Kingstanding. Must have been very early ’88.

We built it up and ran it as standard for just a few weeks, apart from adding an electronic speed controller and a Demon 27T motor. It was indoor carpet racing and a lot of fun was had. After those first few weeks of getting used to the car my father set about working through the modifications suggested in the article. He did pretty much everything, so a short while later we had a modified Meteor running on gold-chrome Fox wheels with a front anti-roll bar, nicely ball-raced, and with the braced motor mount and pointed and very orange(!) mag-article bumper replica. I must have read that article so many times that the moment I opened it again recently all of the memories came flooding back. It was actually quite a strange feeling re-reading that article again which I must have read dozens and dozens of times as a 13 year old lad.

The car was raced for around 12 months like this, and as I gained more practice I moved further and further up through the field. Certainly we weren’t being left behind by the PB’s and Tamiya cars at the club around that time. We started doing well. The following Christmas I received a CAT XL, and the Meteor took a bit of a back seat after that. Eventually we started focusing more on outdoor off-road racing at The Three Tuns club in Lichfield, by this time we had a Mid and were in the top few places each weekend. The Meteor was raced in the 2WD classes, and I recall my father made a LWB chassis for it himself at one point so we could mount the stick battery pack lengthways.

Come ’91 we were into the Yokomo phase, and also purchased a Graphite RC10, so at that point the poor Meteor sat unused – I think mainly because we had converted everything over to saddle packs by then - and eventually one of my best school friends offered to buy it. That was the last time I saw it.

So a few weeks ago, inspired by DerbyDan, I tracked the same friend down online and sent him a message, and unbelievably he still had the Meteor sat in his parent’s garage. He himself had moved down south, but the car remained and he said if wanted it back I was more than welcome to it for nothing. Over the past 30 years he had forgotten what kind of condition it might have been in….

Hmmmm… and here it is as found. The very definition of basic. (It had some crazy stickers on it when it arrived, which I had to remove as the blue and pink colours were messing with my OCD).
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I plan to give this a thorough work over purely out of nostalgia really. Some great memories hidden within this car for me, and I am totally chuffed to have it back again. I never even realized that Mardave came out with the longer front wishbone options, so now I will be on a mission to source a pair of those in an attempt to build something decent I can actually race again. Chassis might need a change out too, as I remember bending it repeatedly on some of the tougher tracks we raced bitd. I kind of like that it was sitting at the ‘Greg Halliday Article 1’ stage of tuning, but I am sure we can do more with it knowing what we know now.

What we were aiming for back then:-
Mod Meteor page1a.jpg
Mod Meteor page4a.jpg
So what we have here is a ‘Dad-Mod’ homemade lwb chassis, complete with side-strengthening ribs, what appears to be additional strengthening at the front fold area (oh Matron) and I am guessing part of the original swb chassis was employed there, RC10 stub axle mod, to allow use of the ballraced Fox wheels, front anti-roll bar, rear chassis brace plate and a well thought out version of the metal motor mount to prevent gearbox flex due to hot running motors. I think the solution my dad came up with here surpasses that of the article in fact.
It has been sat in a garage for nearly 30 years and seems to have survived pretty well.

I am really excited about working over this car and adding some more bits and pieces to it – it is such a simple design it is almost laughable. Shock upgrade will be coming, gearbox overhaul and rebuild, and at some point when I can source some suitable longer front wishbones, that homemade chassis will most likely make way for the narrow-fronted equivalent. Until that time the dad-mod version will remain.

I also need some drive shafts as for some reason they are no longer present… I am wondering whether any alternative UJ’s might fit?? I suspect I might need a prettier body shell too, although that is my original, matt-black version. Good to have the old girl home again. Some tyres went on today as well as changing out the front rims to a pair of RC10 'T&A' items. I have the matching rears, but need to work around the Mardave rear stub axle issues to get them to fit correctly.
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EDIT:- Well I take those last two paragraphs back. As if by a massive coincidence a LWB Meteor project car just came up for sale today, complete with the requisite gold-dust-esq longer front wishbones. Better still, they are from the first run of said wishbones, which came in black (later white, or so I have been told), with the black versions being supposedly much more robust. The donor car also comes with a set of Associated shocks front and rear, and a pair of drive shafts which are missing on mine. Amazing that I have only been looking for something so rare for 24hours. The LWB chassis and longer wishbones were never offered in a kit, and were additional upgrade options only, so very few of the existing cars were actually fitted with them bitd.

More pictures to follow as it slowly starts to come together.
CAT SWB&XL, Meteor (x3), RC10 custom, RC10 Graphite, Goldpan, 870c (x2), Works 91, Samurai, Pro Radiant (x2), Mini Mustang&Maxima, Mid Turbo, TOP Hybrid , Coyote, Hot Trick Optima, Supercharge, Brimod, 'Rory Cull' Hotshot, SRB.

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dinglem
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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by dinglem »

Quick shot of the LWB car i bought today. You can see the gold lwb chassis complete with narrower front end and also see how much closer together the front shock towers are to compensate for the lesser-spotted long front wishbones.
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CAT SWB&XL, Meteor (x3), RC10 custom, RC10 Graphite, Goldpan, 870c (x2), Works 91, Samurai, Pro Radiant (x2), Mini Mustang&Maxima, Mid Turbo, TOP Hybrid , Coyote, Hot Trick Optima, Supercharge, Brimod, 'Rory Cull' Hotshot, SRB.

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by dinglem »

Bit of a transformation. Progress so far....
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CAT SWB&XL, Meteor (x3), RC10 custom, RC10 Graphite, Goldpan, 870c (x2), Works 91, Samurai, Pro Radiant (x2), Mini Mustang&Maxima, Mid Turbo, TOP Hybrid , Coyote, Hot Trick Optima, Supercharge, Brimod, 'Rory Cull' Hotshot, SRB.

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by Dadio »

Looking good , I had one of these way back in the day , I flipped the entire transmition and rear suspension around to make it mid motor , not for any handling advantage but because the rear motor guard just used to bend up and offer no real motor protection .
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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by dinglem »

We made our own LWB chassis bitd (as can be seen in the initial pics on this thread), and that had a built-in motor guard which has a few more beans than the original Mardave item. We are coming up with a different solution for the rear end of this new CF chassis however.

Hoping to get it all together and on the track very soon.
CAT SWB&XL, Meteor (x3), RC10 custom, RC10 Graphite, Goldpan, 870c (x2), Works 91, Samurai, Pro Radiant (x2), Mini Mustang&Maxima, Mid Turbo, TOP Hybrid , Coyote, Hot Trick Optima, Supercharge, Brimod, 'Rory Cull' Hotshot, SRB.

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by Dadio »

I have vague memories of the motor mount warping but I never saw the idea for the extra metal reinforcer/heat sink ,so my gears went out of mesh , I have even hazier memories of fitting a Hotshot rear gearbox to it but I can't remember for the life of me how did it , it's all 30 years ago now !
If a jobs not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well.
A problem shared is a problem halved but an advantage shared is no advantage at all.

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by dinglem »

Mine performed really well back then, and we added the majority of the 'Halliday' modifications almost immediately. Certainly no gearbox issues anyway, apart from when using really low wind motors requiring smaller pinions.

We will be using the Halliday mods again when the car is rebuilt - i am just hoping that the longer front wishbones we have sourced are man enough to hold up to modern racing - they are pretty rare and i haven't managed to source a spare pair just yet!
CAT SWB&XL, Meteor (x3), RC10 custom, RC10 Graphite, Goldpan, 870c (x2), Works 91, Samurai, Pro Radiant (x2), Mini Mustang&Maxima, Mid Turbo, TOP Hybrid , Coyote, Hot Trick Optima, Supercharge, Brimod, 'Rory Cull' Hotshot, SRB.

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by Dadio »

If I was not so busy I'd say pop them in the post and I'll copy them in acetal or ally on the mill but the soonest I could do them would be 6 months away.
If a jobs not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well.
A problem shared is a problem halved but an advantage shared is no advantage at all.

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by dinglem »

Now that really would be something!
CAT SWB&XL, Meteor (x3), RC10 custom, RC10 Graphite, Goldpan, 870c (x2), Works 91, Samurai, Pro Radiant (x2), Mini Mustang&Maxima, Mid Turbo, TOP Hybrid , Coyote, Hot Trick Optima, Supercharge, Brimod, 'Rory Cull' Hotshot, SRB.

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by Dadio »

My mill is pretty basic not a CNC and my proficiency is not too bad , we would not be talking show car standard , more just robust enough to throw around without risking rare vintage parts . Let me know in a few months if your interested .
If a jobs not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well.
A problem shared is a problem halved but an advantage shared is no advantage at all.

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by dinglem »

Ok will do, thanks. I had considered getting them 3D printed, but they seem weaker than molded originals anyway. Got to get the builkd finished first, and then up and running. I will continue updating this thread as i go 8) I am guessing not too many folks on here have even seen a Meteor before.
CAT SWB&XL, Meteor (x3), RC10 custom, RC10 Graphite, Goldpan, 870c (x2), Works 91, Samurai, Pro Radiant (x2), Mini Mustang&Maxima, Mid Turbo, TOP Hybrid , Coyote, Hot Trick Optima, Supercharge, Brimod, 'Rory Cull' Hotshot, SRB.

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by Dadio »

A very few were exported but Mardave is really a UK make that never really boomed globally , there were strong ties to Schumacher at the beginning but I'm far from an expert on their history , the Cobra is better known globally , that makes me also wonder how different the cobra front arms are and if they could be adapted to fit , I think Mardave still makes spares for the Cobra .
If a jobs not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well.
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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by Dadio »

From a very quick surf it looks like the front suspension mounting might be very similar on the cobra , could be the same part so the arms might be an easy fit .
No they are different , the shock tower is part of the front suspension mount on the Metior and the Cobra has a separate shock tower.
If a jobs not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well.
A problem shared is a problem halved but an advantage shared is no advantage at all.

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by clm »

With the history of your old car, if it were me, I would restore that to an as last raced condition.
Losi - Jrx2, Pro, Jr2, Pro SE, JrxT, JrT, LXT, NXT, XXKE, XXTG+
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-Bashers under contruction- Jrx2

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Re: My first car - Mardave Meteor

Post by dinglem »

clm wrote: Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:06 am With the history of your old car, if it were me, I would restore that to an as last raced condition.
We only discussed that yesterday actually - we essentially have 2 cars now so might well leave my original Meteor with the home made lwb chassis unchanged apart from a quick spruce up. Most of the parts that have gone on to the CF chassis are from the second car so far.
CAT SWB&XL, Meteor (x3), RC10 custom, RC10 Graphite, Goldpan, 870c (x2), Works 91, Samurai, Pro Radiant (x2), Mini Mustang&Maxima, Mid Turbo, TOP Hybrid , Coyote, Hot Trick Optima, Supercharge, Brimod, 'Rory Cull' Hotshot, SRB.

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