Buggy ID... from memory

[RadioFlyer]

It's been bugging me for the last 30 years or so, maybe you vintage gurus can help me find peace of mind.

When I was 13-14ish (which was 35 years ago) I remember seeing a tub chassis buggy at the hobby shop and I have never seen it again since. The hobby shop is long gone and I can't find anything using my Google-Fu.

It was a tub chassis similar to an RC10 but bigger and deeper. Can't remember for certain but I think it was aluminum.
It had 4 balloon-type treadless tires similar to what's on the front of Tamiya Grasshoppers or Hornets. Just bigger.
The rear used swing shafts like an SRB with real steel U-joints instead of dogbones.
I don't think the buggy was bigger than 1/10th scale but I could be wrong.

By far the most unique feature I remember of this buggy was that it had an internal tooth drive gear. That is, the pinion turned inside the spur gear like item f in the following picture.



I have never seen another buggy use this. The motor was longitudinal and inside the tub so there was a bevel gear drive in the gearbox to send power to the wheels.
I think the buggy had a "soft" name to it, like Kangaroo or Pegasus or something like that. I have searched Pegasus, Kangaroo, Icarus, Dolphin, Buffalo, Bison and probably a few more that I can't think of right now. All without luck.

I know it's a longshot but any ideas?




Sean

[tamiyadan]

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[RadioFlyer]

was this electric or gas powered from your memory?

I do not remember a nitro motor in it so it must have been electric.



Sean

[tamiyadan]

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[RadioFlyer]

nothing i can think of matches with everything you described. some of the description leads to different buggies but they do not have everything all in one.

having the internal spur gear was not a common thing to see unless you wanted to mount the engine inline.

nichimo used a inside spur to mount the motor inline however it was a center gearbox which would of had to have been completely disassembled to even see the spur design, and none of the other descriptors apply to nichimo.

I know of a couple of buggies that had that inside spur gear but the had different suspensions or a flat chassis or did not have the wheels you describe

Now it is possible the wheels could of been swapped from another car which is throwing things off.

off the top of my head i went through at least 20 manufacturers and nothing matched that i could think of. again it doesn't mean anything because the car could of existed easily and i just never saw it or had experience with it. most of the designs used a traditional Transverse motor design, early nitro used longitudinal design.

sorry i couldn't be more help. there were so many cars that existed but there is no current documentation on them.

also to throw another monkey wrench into things. There were Tether gas cars that match your description these were as large as R/C cars however they were not radio control. they were designed to go round a circle as fast as possible they had suspensions and chassis and even tires like you described. there was still tons of people in the tether hobby back then and even today. so it would not be out of the realm of possible that you saw a tether car having some work done.

You know, that makes sense about the tether cars. Thank you and no need to be sorry.
My first RC was a Hotshot when I was 15 (in 1985) so prior to that I was as green as they got so I might not have known what I was really looking at. I remember the hobby shop guy rolling his eyes because I could not grasp how a LeMans 240 was more powerful than a 600. Obviously to a teenager the one with the bigger number HAS to be faster right?

No lack of views on this one so thanks all that looked.



Sean

[tamiyadan]

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[tuna.Rc]

What's the description of the buggy you're looking for ?

Neck after 10 years im still searching for an old department store rc van and an old radio shack truck .

[tuna.Rc]

Nevermind !! My computer loaded slowly so I was only able to see the last post about batteries !

[Dadio]

I saw one of these cars on eBay in the last month , I had not seen this thread before so didn't reply , definitely not a tether car , the chassis was rear wheel drive ,alloy chassis plate , there was no motor in it but it had a large nylon looking hollow drum gear with internal teeth , I think it still had the pinion with it , the motor must have been mid mounted inline , pretty sure it was a buggy of some sort not a pan car , late 70's or very early 80's at a guess , I bet I can't find it again now but your memory might be better than you thought .
Just had another look and I can't find it now , I think I surf up too much RC car stuff , I do clearly remember the rear layout , the drum gear was directly in front of the diff housing , diff housing was black plastic as was the rear suspension , alloy chassis plate but that's all I remember ! Sorry not much further use am I

[fredswain]

Was it the Kyosho Rowdy Baja Circuit 20?

[Lowgear]

The Rowdy Baja is all metal, and doesn't have any drum gears. I'd like to own another one again someday.

[Dadio]

Sorry this is frustrating me as well now.

[tomolupus]

The Thunder Tiger Panda Pick Up Race Truck has an internal tooth drive gear.
To gear down for the larger wheels.


It doesn't fit the overall description but it has the gear.

[jwscab]

Well, it does point to thunder tiger as a brand that used that gear. So maybe it's used on a couple models.

[Mr. ED]

Well, it does point to thunder tiger as a brand that used that gear. So maybe it's used on a couple models.

thunder tiger jaguar or silver fox?

I think Nichimo had some (electric) models with an internal geared spur too