PB cars - A bit on the odd side

[RedScampi]

Well, I am ashamed to say that I have been holding out on these for the past several weeks, mainly because I feel that I paid way too much for them. At the time, I justified it in my mind by the rarity and condition. I know that these cars are an aquired taste and may not appeal to some but I have always had an eye for uniqueness in rc cars. I do like my Kyoshos and RC10's too though. After reading the threads on Mini Mustangs and Maximas and such awhile ago I had decided that I'd like to have one. Having never even seen one of these in person, and never even hearing about them in the US, I really didn't believe one would come up soon, if at all so I was surprised when two of them came up from different sellers within the same week! In the US, no less! I was also amazed to see that the Mini Mustang in particular appeared to be in perfect, partialy assembled condition, with box and instructions missing only the tires, wing and a few small bits. It was also a single speed, two wheel drive model which wasn't my first choice. I discussed the purchase of this car very carefully with my wife and got the go-ahead. The only thing that really put me off is that the body was painted, not poorly but just the ugliest combination of baby-poop-yellow and green I'd ever seen. It did nothing as far as complimenting the bright orange-red wheels goes. Below you can see some of my experimental striping while trying to integrate the horrible color combo on this so far irreplacable body into a cohesive whole. Let me know what you think and if you have any other ideas. I'm thinking the windows need to be blacked out for sure. I'm quite pleased with the car overall and will be tweaking it here and there as time permits. I found the rear Dynamite Racing tires a couple of weeks ago on ebay and I think they are box stock for this car. The fronts are some Schumachers that I had NIP.
The Maxima showed up a few days later and I really had to struggle with this one. I talked this one over with my wife again and she is the one that convinced me to buy it. I love my wife! This car is also a single speed car (drat!) and is very lightly used and it just needs a bit of cleaning. It also came with the box and manual. I installed a Team Bluegroove body and wing on this car and so far haven't done anything else to it. The undertray is original and was painted with a brush. I will replace it at some point. Anyway, I am extremely pleased to have both of these in my collection and am happy to share the pictures with you. Now to find the Ace...
Let me know what you think!

[rhino1]

Love them you have to love the odd stuff. I dont have any PB cars but I have most of the Nichimo line up. I quit collecting Tamiya stuff some time ago and started to collect the harder to find or mostly unheard of cars. I love to see stuff like this.

[Coelacanth]

The Mini Mustang looks pretty good, but yeah, I'd definitely black out the windows. Paint them from the outside with Pactra Outlaw Black and you'll get a semi-gloss finish.

[tamiyadan]

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[RedScampi]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all your comments.
Dan, that is one scary graphic...

[rhino1]

Its almost as scary as your profile pic.

[CAT3K]

I love the Maxima What colour are you going to paint it?

Paul.

[Incredible_Serious]

Very nice cars there.....

I have to say that I have a soft spot for the Mini Mustang... it was my first competition spec buggy back in the day. Just this week, I got another one, and a care package of parts, to go with all my other parts.... so hope to be building up quite a few nice runners. None will look as good as yours, although my Mr Lexan repro Mini Mustang bodies will mean that *maybe* I can paint up a couple of shells to rival your one.... is that a good thing to try to emulate???

If you're looking for a 2-speed in the future, I may be able to help you out.....

Well done on the PBs!!

Alex

[RedScampi]

I love the Maxima What colour are you going to paint it?

Paul.

Good question! I saw the writeup someone posted in the scans section with the car that is basically red with what appears to be orange fade striping on the top surface. That looks kind of cool to me. Whatever I do I'll be sure to incorporate some red to tie in the wheels.

[RedScampi]

Its almost as scary as your profile pic.

I only look like that when I get out of bed in the morning...

[RedScampi]

Very nice cars there.....

I have to say that I have a soft spot for the Mini Mustang... it was my first competition spec buggy back in the day. Just this week, I got another one, and a care package of parts, to go with all my other parts.... so hope to be building up quite a few nice runners. None will look as good as yours, although my Mr Lexan repro Mini Mustang bodies will mean that *maybe* I can paint up a couple of shells to rival your one.... is that a good thing to try to emulate???

If you're looking for a 2-speed in the future, I may be able to help you out.....

Well done on the PBs!!

Alex

Alex, that shell color is disgusting! I hope you're kidding.
I'm hoping to snag a Mr. Lexan shell for this car at some point. If the paint is going to suck I'd at least like it to be MY paint that sucks.

Thank you for your kind offer, I may take you up on it at some point. Congrats on getting even more copies of this impossible to find car. I swear I'm moving to Australia some day...
Gary

[Lowgear]

Thats the gif that started the haters gonna hate meme.

Anyway, I'm also a big fan of the more obscure R/C's and those look great!

[Bormac]

Great find Gary, they are both stunning cars mate!

I have a personal love for these PB buggies as they were doing the rounds back when I started out racing with my Optima. Infact they were going around quite well from memory as there was a husband and wife combo racing the PB's at my home club (BORMAC) and the PB cars were very competitive in their hands.

What I used to admire soo much about them was that they always seemed to be the underdog. While many of the cars being released at that time had all the flashy gold or bling parts the PB were very simple but they worked. I think it came down to the torsional flexibility in the chassis and suspension componants which could have played a big part and also the mid mounted motors which were coming in to fashion back then. Either way they aren't entirely bad to drive and I can say that from experience as I've driven and raced both in recent times.

The Maxima was said to be around 18% more efficient with the finer pitch belt system, ball raced belt tensioner and the full set of uni's making it very smooth for a car of its time.

I recently owned 3 Maxima's. One for the track, another near new built from parts (which I recently sold) and the third being NIB. I have also had 3 Mustangs which were in varying condition but all nice cars. Today I have a Mustang and Maxima for the track which I can safely say that I'll never sell. They are great cars and for the nostalgic buff they are a real treat.

Great seeing more of these very cool 80's cars go to a guy that will love them.

[mogul]

The paint scheme for the Maxima on adverts around the time seemed to show a pale orange on top of a darker orange, rather than a red. It could be a nice touch matching the wheels though. Did you find any decals? Especially that "Agip" one seem hard to come by.

[Asso_man!]

Now to find the Ace...

Good luck on that one!

You have very nice examples there! I am always amazed to see new built cars pop up 20 years + after their original release. Gotta love the PB cars in general, so different from everything else.