60th Anniversary Joel Johnson Ultima?!?!

[Frankentruck]

Dang it, hopefully customer service can help update my preorder with the discount. Thanks!

[1911Colt]

Loads of pics here:

https://www.redrc.net/2023/08/kyosho-87-jj-ultima-replica-60th-anniversary/

[BattleTrak]

Got mine pre-ordered from Tower..thanks for the heads up guys! This buggy with a RC10 and JRX2 will make a cool trio.

[XLR8]

Good luck with your pre-orders everyone.

I've had a BBX pre-ordered with Tower since February 21st. Other retailers have received stock so I checked the status of my pre-order last week and the order has vanished from my account. I've been trying to contact Tower using their message system (our only option since they don't answer the phone) but after several attempts and waiting for over a week, I've received no reply. Maybe Tower has realized that pre-order discounts cost them money so they prefer we give up and cancel our orders so they can sell their stock at full price. Like the BBX, this JJ Ultima will be a high demand item so retailers will have no problem selling them at full price.

From my experience, Tower Hobbies is NOT reliable and they won't communicate but I hope you will have better luck with them.

[mikea96]

Yeah Tower is definitely not what they used to be. I haven't ordered from them in years.

[Frankentruck]

Don't be squashing my dream! I really want this car!

[XLR8]

From what I've read, Horizon have switched their systems to Oracle and the change-over isn't going well for them.
I'm not interested is this RC but if I were, I'd order it from a different retailer.

[BattleTrak]

So far only Tower and Horizon have it listed as preorder here in the USA..

[hugger19]

Ordered saved $55 sweet!!

[sondeen]

This kit is very appealing to me, brings back the memories. I may order one.

In 1987 I was 14 and bought a the original Ultima kit soon after it won the worlds. I recall the World Champion Ultima being featured front and center on the Tower Hobbies monthly catalogs. The Ultima was a major upgrade to my Frog, but I felt like there was a little bit of bait and switch going on when I later read about JJ's Worlds car and saw photos in RCCA. I upgraded with Gold Shocks, Anti-sway bars, turnbuckles, Thorp ball diff, A&L steering kit, Robinson 48P gear set, Yokomo wing mounts, and finally a Trinity Graphite Chassis to get more performance from it. (What strikes me as odd today is that my Trinity chassis back in 1988 was set up to mount the battery transversely, not lengthwise to follow the JJ worlds car.) Back then I could not figure out what body JJ used, so I put an Optima Mid body on it. I foolishly sold this car about 1993 to help pay for books for college.

[Frankentruck]

I hope this eBay listing means the pre orders are going to be filled soon. This person has at least 6 of them.
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[GoMachV]

A friend checked with his LHS and they told him that Horizon (tower, etc) sold out weeks back. They had to get one for him reserved through amain.

[juicedcoupe]

I hope this eBay listing means the pre orders are going to be filled soon. This person has at least 6 of them.
.
Screenshot_20230830-160251.png

Probably works at Horizon.

[BattleTrak]

An unboxing video. Looks like 1500 are being made.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V48mNH7pkZU&pp=ygUQa3lvc2hvIGpqIHVsdGltYQ%3D%3D

[sundevil67]

I must say I'm intrigued... definitely not the direction I expected. Then again, I never in a million years could have predicted 3 iterations of the 1/12 Fantom... I thought I was one of about 10 people still interested in those cars.

Anyway, what do y'all think about the chances of a re-release for the Ultima Pro in light of this new option? It's not really in the budget right now, but even at 1500 units, I wonder if it will be like the Fantom CRC or 60th anniversary, and if I don't snatch one up now, the only way to get one will be on eBay at double the price. Any thoughts?