RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

The PB Mini Mustang was quite the performer back in the mid to late 80's here in Australia and around the world. With a single belt driven 4WD chassis this car was legendary at my old club. I feel the car was revolutionary for its time with cool accessories like a 2 speed transmission, quick change stick pack battery system, mid motor placement and ofcourse the belt drive transmission were all things to consider when choosing such a racer. Darryn (retro r/c) on this forum can speak volumes on this chassis as he raced and was also sponsored by PB way back when. Alex (Incredible_serious) too is a fan of this car with it being his first race car from what I hear.
Im sure there are many others who have memories of this classic and if you feel like you'd wish to tell us about your experience with this or indeed any of the PB 1/10th scale off roaders please chime in.

Ive been cosidering one of these cars over the past couple of years and it hasnt been until now that I finaly have myself a project underway. After passing up a nice (and complete) Mini Mustang from Alex over a year ago I guess it was only right that I ended up with a car that would need a whole lot of work- LOL! Im not sure why Alex painted the spine and wheels of this car in creame but I would guess that after he finished painting the house he had a little paint left over and felt like being creative..... ( just kidding Alex- )
Anyway here's the car I have been working on-







Here are the rims after a long session in the acetone bath. The chassis is currently in the bath now.



...and the car I passed up- DOH! Alex sold this gem to my good buddy James for $150AUD....NUTS!

Around a week ago I got a tip off from a friend, there was a nice old Mustang here in Australia listed on ebay with a nice collection of other bits and peices. I emailed the seller with an offer and he was glad to help me out. What a score! Comes with the original box,manual,decals and extra spares. For $210AUD posted im chuffed. Anyway here are some sneak pics from the sellers listing.







This will go a long way into making another vintage racer for my vintage buggy stable. Ive been wanting to spend some time on one of these cars and am keen to see what these cars drive like with some modern electrics. After seeing Alex run his car the day leading up to the Knox vintage enduro last November I knew the Mini Mustang was going to be high on my priority list for the future.
After scouring ebay and '4sale' threads on numerous forums i managed to find some helpful nip spares for my build. A new 2 speed, chassis plate and alloy one-way front driveshafts along some other odds and ends.

Found this article in RCCA- Love the picture taken of this gem

I was a big fan of this car when I was running my boomerang. Ofcourse there was no way I could have 2 cars. (Parents )
Unfortunately the 4wd experience wasn't that positive: no stock class to drive in and no money for descent material for a mod class So when the Turbo Ultima appeared I forgot about the PB and the ultima pro release made it definitive.

I never saw the PB in real life (would have been fun: no replacement parts from the first day), just articles in french magazines. Recently found those articles back at retromodelism in the magazine scan section if you're ready for a looong search

The chunnel chassis with the fully enclosed single belt is what does it mostly for me.
While the fuggly bodies are the biggest put-off I kind of remeber one of them looking a tad better Maxima perhaps???

My NIB and need to take some pics of my new built.

Good to see Jay-

Alex's PB from the Knox Enduro meeting-

I hope Alex didnt paint that car,it makes me want to throw up.Looks like some kind of tribute to an AFL team.No offence Alex.

Yes he did....and yes, he is 'special'.

vintage racer wrote:I hope Alex didnt paint that car,it makes me want to throw up.Looks like some kind of tribute to an AFL team.No offence Alex.

OUCH matey!!!!

I did paint the car, but in my defence:
(a) I was trying to completely rebuild and prep a car overnight, including the painting of the body.
(b) I am not the most imaginative at the best of times.
(c) There was beer involved.
(d) It's not finished, needs some detail work...
(e) It didn't come out as I had hoped..... I wanted the green section to be larger, and become wider on one side...
(f) It was a rush job.
(g) Did I mention, beer???

As it was, I spent so much time painting the body (like you can tell!), that I never finished the car itself!!!

True Story: We were all using the back of Bullfrog's ute as a work area and display of some of the nicer vintage cars..... when the TV guys came over they filmed a lot of the cars on the back of the ute.... making sure first to move my Mini Mustang out of shot! if I'd cared, I would have been heartbroken...... but in truth, next to some of the beautiful cars on display there, my car did look a little disheveled.

Alex

Woohoo! My new (well used) Mini Mustang arrived yesterday afternoon and I wanted to snap a few pics before I begin dismantling it for a full inspection and rebuild.
To my suprise the Mini Mustang box was in far better shape than I could have hoped for. Everything from the auction was included plus a few cool suprises I didn't realy know about too.
This car looks as though it has come straight off the race track from back in the day even a green flag still attached to the aerial tube (as we did back then).
The car looks well raced but certainly not bashed or beaten. The esc, motor and servo all work and I was suprised to hear the car run at full noise with no problems.
Unfortunately most of the 2 speed parts are missing but some of the spurs and a pinion was included along with the gear cover. The box has a decal on the side which states it was a 2 speed spec kit and the paper work and original parts bag were in with all the other odds and ends. Also a rear wing kit was included which looks to be genuine aswell as are some front uni's too.
A set of original rims and a set of what look like Big Wig rims have been died blue and have some tamiya type and Spirit FF tyres fitted.
The shocks all feel very smooth but the fronts feel very light in the dampening side of things. I keep having to pinch myself to realise the great deal I got. I am looking forward to getting this car onto the dirt for some vintage racing action!

odd design on those shock caps

Areyou going to keep it as original as you can or go for a old/new hybrid?

And what's going to happen to the others 8if I rember right from the last read-through you now have 3. All 4wd's?

theirs a nip chassis on Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIP-VINTAGE-PB-MINI-MUSTANG-FIBERGLASS-CHASSIS-RC-10_W0QQitemZ180338269709QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRadio_Control_Parts_Accessories?hash=item180338269709&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

I reckon that chassis might stay that way too - for sale I mean. Whilst not seen everyday - the price does not correspond with the value of the car. Although - stranger prices have been reached on certain parts before.

I will take some pics of my runner this weekend. Drove really well at the "Farewell to St Ives" track a couple of months ago.

Cheers

Darryn

Mr. ED wrote:
Areyou going to keep it as original as you can or go for a old/new hybrid?

And what's going to happen to the others 8if I rember right from the last read-through you now have 3. All 4wd's?

Hello Eric,
The plan is to try and keep this car in much the same way as i bought it. I will be completely rebuilding it and i'd like to add what new parts i have to it but keeping the original shocks unlike so many that replaced them. The 2 speed is a must as i'd like to have a play with gearing etc.. just for the fun of it. Mr Lexan has hinted that he may do a reproduction body for this car but time will tell. Im going to try and keep the original shock towers too but somehow think up a way to strengthen them. The rear will be easy but I will just have to see how they go as i know they are quite flexible.
I have only 2 chassis here. The one I just bought from ebay and the other Alex traded me (painted white). I have stripped down the white chassis already and cleaned all the componants but alot of it is badly worn or bent. There's a bit of work to be done to get this car up to scratch so I will need to think it through.

What are you doing awake so early, Jason?????