PB buggies. Post your pics.

[Incredible_Serious]

Well, all.... yup, the arms were bendy.... if you didn't FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS and boil them.... back in the day, I never broke an arm. Course, I never drove like the Dazzler....

By the way, this wasn't another cheap shot at my mate Darryn (Tamiya threads are much more fun for those), this was actually in reference to him running a Mini Mustang in enduro type competition back in the day... I have the article and photos to prove it, too.... don't make me post them!!!!

you cant polish a turd

You've never seen a Bullfrog SRB, have you mate.....

Alex

[Mad Racer]

Oh my God i never knew there was so many negative thoughts of the mini mustang.

I raced against these buggies for 2 yrs in modified in W.A , Australia and the field was around 20 of them and i was around 12 to 15 with my Turbo Optima chain drive for the first year.

Yes the suspension flexed but never broke. The only mod done to them was a ball raced belt tensioner by SRM. That was it. My racing buddy left the Optima and bought a PB and we both drove and worked on it.To me there were very little to go wrong . ALL at the club used standard shocks too. The buggy was designed in partnership of Cecil Schumacher and Mr PB so it was well designed and had some light years features not seen on any other buggy in its day as Alex has pionted out All the PB's at my track ran the 2 speed with no problem as well. IN fact you would have stupid not too as we raced 8th scale as well and the track was very big to others in its day. Oh the most popular 8th scale was a Mustang XI2 as well with a 2 speed.

In the 88 State titles they won in mod with only one different make getting in the a main a lone Optima Mid which came 2nd & was beaten by 5 mtrs ,they also cleaned up stock as well...

I hated them only cause they were so light and quick as well as very effeciant drive train..

My mini mustang was given to me in a swap and was all apart in a box around 10 yrs ago.. It had no shell so i got my mum onto PB as she lives in the U.K . She managed to score 3 new shells left over from the production plant. She did tell me it took a long time to get hold of them. As well payied a fortune for them. ( she never told me the amount except it was my birthday and x mass present for that yr) I think they were shutting up doors.

I only got mine as i knew they had lots of good points and collecting vintage over 10 yrs ago was not common at all nor was i interested hence took me 2 yrs of putting it togeather LOL

Cheers .
Mark

[Bormac]

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or something like that). I will put my hand up and admit that i love the Mini Mustang. Not because if was the coolest car in its day or because it will make the best vintage racer today but because these cars were very well established here in Australia's racing scene way back when. I still remember them tearing down the back straight at Bankstown. For me its all about reliving the memories and although I never owned one back then it sure is cool owning one now.

[Bender]

Yeah don't take me too seriously guys, I was just messing with ya's

They were very competative in their day, even with all the aforementioned "problems".

It's funny, but I remember an article about how this car and the first Cat were conceived at the same time (referecing Mad Racer's comments above) by Schumacher and PB, and then they couldn't agree on which path to take developing the car, and so went their sperate ways, giving us the Mini Mustang and the Cat.

Whilst the Cat is IMHO a vastly superior car in virtually every way, it's interseting to note that in their home country, the Mini Mustang proved far more popular and competative, due to how complicated the Cat was. It wasn't until the XL Cat was released that it became the dominant car.

As a bit of Aussie history, Andrew Reade TQ'ed and finished 2nd at the 1987 Nationals, the Mini-Mustangs first major meeting in Australia. The remainder of the A-Final consisted of 4 Cats and 3 Mugen Bulldogs.

[Bormac]

Well hasn't this thread turned into a meeting point for many Aussies? LOL!
With James, Mark, Alex, Jason,Darryn and myself making up six Aussies vintage enthusiasts all reliving memories of the PB Mini Mustang. Yeah!

[RETRO R/C]

I never took it as a stab Alex - I "think" I get your "humour"most of the time now!

Bender - Correct. Schumacer (Cecil) and Keith (1 half of PB) were co-designing a car. Cecil wanted something more complicated and tuneable, whereas Keith wanted something more simple. I mentioned this in my article a couple of years ago - please note that this explanation is a VERY watered down version of the events that transpired. The rest is obviously history with Schumacher being by far the dominant car.

That being said the PB could be made to handle....so please dont take my previous comments as slamming the car either - heck - I drove on the same team as Andrew (his dad - Rob Reade was the importer) and the Mustang had quite a few successes. It was more regional success though with the fact that the car did not have alot of support from alot of drivers (when compared to the C.A.T for example) on the eastern side of our country. Perth and Adelaide obviously had excellent support - as Rob was based in Adelaide. Racing (as it is now) was extremely fickle back then - with everything that was "flavour of the week" being trotted out. I am pretty sure that there were no other major national successes with the Mustang. The Schumacher and Yokomo dominance of our scene was almost complete though after that first nats outing for the Mustang. It was hard for Rob to compete against Schumacher with both Greg Collings (Performance Hobbies) and Colin Greenenger (Pitstop) both pushing the C.A.T extremely hard and dominating racing with their top level drivers.

Anyways - enough Australian racing history - as our American friends are probably finding this all horribly boring for a car that is relativiely unfamiliar to them. I do like the Mustang - but have to be honest and say that I like others alot more...I still want to run one badly though......

As for reliability - there were things you most definately HAVE to do if you run on a rough track. The first is to beef up the chassis spine where the lower suspension pins mount into the chassis. There is approx only 1mm of material holding the pins in place - and the first decent whack will render the front suspension useless (unless you get really lucky)....there are quite a few little tricks we used with the car - if interested I willdo my best to list them all out over the next week or three

Cheers

Darryn

[Mr. ED]

I don't mind the chatter the least bit. The cars which never appeared at the club I ran at are exactly the ones I like learning more about.

[RETRO R/C]

By the way, this wasn't another cheap shot at my mate Darryn (Tamiya threads are much more fun for those), this was actually in reference to him running a Mini Mustang in enduro type competition back in the day... I have the article and photos to prove it, too.... don't make me post them!!!!

LOL - I remember that meeting - I have the "Top Gun" trophy here on display from setting TQ for that event....jeeeeez - did not think they put photos in though! We were usings Adam Davies car - a great mate of mine to this day - and a national champion.

Cheers

Darryn

[Bormac]

Everyone should put up some pics of their PB's as they stand today-

[AscotConversion]

Interesting to hear from those who actually raced the cars. When I first started out in the late 80's, the Mini Mustang seemed to have a good reputation. This was in the midwest USA. I heard guys say they were pretty fast, but who knows...I never saw one run in the flesh. In fact I had never even seen what they looked like until a few years ago on the internet Then again most tracks I visited were almost 100% 2wd turn out, with the occasional Kyosho or Yokomo showing up.

[Bormac]

After a thurough cleaning and replacement of some 'well used' parts with nip items here is the end result.
I'm chuffed with the way this car has turned out and I can't wait to get it on to a race track.
The car is currently running the single speed but I have a nip 2 speed set up here with me, when I get the time to work out how to assemble it and what adjustments can be made I'll try it out.
I have made up a pair of Lipo saddle hold downs and would like to run a mild mod at some point. For now it's fitted with a Tamiya Sports Tuned motor and LRP esc and Spektrum receiver.
On first test the belt was slipping and after I tightened the belt a few times it was obvious the belt and top pulley were worn beyond service.
I spent some considerable time on the stock dampers. After polishing up the shafts, replacing all the 'O' ring seals and cleaning the housings and hardware I paid very close attention to reinstalling them as best as I could. I intend to perservere with the kit shocks as I want this car to look as close to original as I can.
I also got a lexan rear shock mount stifener that wasn't quite up to the task of reducing the flex of the rear mounts. I decided to reproduce this item from some 1.6mm fibreglass sheet. It definately makes a big difference plus doubles as a handy place to mount my esc too

[Mad Racer]

.

[Bender]

Aren't they Bigwig rims on that car?

(You see, the car just doesn't perform without some Tamiya bits thrown at it )

[minimini]

seems that Bigwig wheels were quite popular in that era............as my previous Mini Mustang.........Salute...... Optima mid........& Optima mid SP were all using this kind of rims ..........

this is my Mini Mustang...........bought from ebay before........still got no time to get it restored...........

[Mad Racer]

There is a Mini mustang on e bay.

Its got a clear shell maybe a Eco shell on it???

Oh its a 2 speed as well.

Cheers

Mark..