What is it about 1/8th buggies that makes them less appealing vintage-wise

[RogueIV]

Just as the topic says. I personally never really ran an 1/8 buggy in a race but they always seemed to me the cool kid's class back in the day but I hardly even see anyone rebuilding old ones.

So what is it about them that makes them less appealing?

[Dangeruss]

What is 1/8th scale??



I don't believe they're less appealing... more like, outnumbered.

What 1/8 buggies tickle your trigger finger?

[TravelinTravis]

Just as the topic says. I personally never really ran an 1/8 buggy in a race but they always seemed to me the cool kid's class back in the day but I hardly even see anyone rebuilding old ones.

So what is it about them that makes them less appealing?

There's a big following for 1/8th off-road on the Euro vintage sites....just my .02cents....but the 1/8th on-road in the U.S. drew more eyes than off-road......Arturo Carbonell, Lamberto Collari, Mike Coffey, Re-Pete Fusco...Delta, PB, Serpent, RC150/200/500.

[Lowgear]

To me, especially back in the day was largely due to price. They were waaaay out of reach to what a kid could afford, or most parents were willing to pay. They also seemed like they were solely meant for the serious racers to race competitively with. Not for bashing around neighborhoods and the like. I lusted over the Inferno, and Turbo Inferno but looking at pictures and dreaming about them was the closest I could get. Even now they command substantial money to buy pristine examples or to restore. I'd like to eventually own one or three, and have bid on various models in the past.

Then like TravelinTravis mentioned above, looking back it seems like 1/8 on-road was far more popular here in the U.S., than the off-road counterpart.

[Toaster]

I am always a little torn when it comes to vintage 1/8 scale as the prices are as mentioned quite low BUT it has also presented an opportunity to grab some great deals at the moment. Personally restored a couple early Burns/Inferno’s and am working on a Kanai inspired MP7.5

The low prices have also seemed to keep the resellers away so those that are buying are genuinely interested in the scale. Personally I think their popularity at least right now is a little buried by all the focus on vintage 1/10 electric.

When I was originally into R/C in the late 80’s, for me 1/8 was big, loud, dirty and complicated unlike 1/10 electric... but now I cannot get enough of them.

[RogueIV]

What is 1/8th scale??



I don't believe they're less appealing... more like, outnumbered.

What 1/8 buggies tickle your trigger finger?

It was more of an observation I sort of thought about while looking some builds. I just hardly see any 1/8th scale builds. As far as modern 1/8 buggies go they're quite popular here during the warm months. I do own a older Mugen Seiki MBX4-XR Works that I got back in running shape that was part of a lot I bought years ago back before I went on haitus. Still need a body for it, but it runs.

[Dangeruss]

If you're gonna get a car in a lot, an MBX4-XR Works beats the busted up remains of a Traxxas the lots normally come with

Not the most attractive body, the MBX, but that could correlate to collectability outside of, like Toaster said, those genuinely interested in the scale. Admittedly 1/8th off-road doesn't have designs that move people like 1/10th does.

[Dadio]

I think another big issue is/was that they are almost all Nitro/Glow fuel , a lot of us get put off by that , I know I am . That's a shame as there were a lot of cool looking cars made in 1/8 but the sound of a small moped buzzing around and the relative messiness is kind of a turn off .

[RogueIV]

If you're gonna get a car in a lot, an MBX4-XR Works beats the busted up remains of a Traxxas the lots normally come with

Not the most attractive body, the MBX, but that could correlate to collectability outside of, like Toaster said, those genuinely interested in the scale. Admittedly 1/8th off-road doesn't have designs that move people like 1/10th does.

it was a 4 car lot back in like 2009 or something. My main draw to it was a bunch of spares and an entire XXX-T MF but the lot also had this MBX4, a B4 and one of the cooler things, a HPI Super RS4 Nitro with the Evo body.

The MBX4 was in pieces and had blown diffs.

I do agree with the Bodies being kinda blah. That goes for almost all 1/8 buggies really. They don't really look like any actual off road buggy more of just blob-like chassis covers. still better than modern "Truggies" though.

[klavy69]

Around me it didn't take any talent to drive an 1/8 scale and they kinda killed the 1/10 scale scene locally so that kinda did it for a lot of locals. Not saying I don't have a couple or 20 of them but there just isn't any appeal to me to work on them. I like the simplicity of the 1/10 scale stuff.

K