The most valuable 1/4 scale car.

[Mike Casey]

What would you guys consider the most valuable 1/4 scale car? Would it be a monster truck? B&L indy car? Ricks RC truck? Raco indy car prototype? Pacesetter sprint car prototype from 1979? What would it be???

[IMADMAN]

How about your 1 of none casting mold.(LOL)
I don't know to much of the cars you mentioned, it's hard to say for me. How about that Yankee car with the b30? engine in it? That's the 1st. time i've ever seen it.

[Mike Casey]

I would say for sure the B30 looks interesting, but all in all its just the motor thats special. If you get a second, check out the main part of the site and look up some of those cars I mentioned they are for sure worth checking out.
I have even seen the Raco indy car prototype. This is not the yellow one that was in all the magazines that they never produced but one that looks just like the one that they made. It was the first ever done and it originally had front and rear swaybars but that did not make it to the finished product. I would rate this car kinda high on the value scale.
Here is a pic of it

[Lovedr]

Mike it would have to come down to three cars for me. not in any particular order. why do you ask? Are you thinking of reproducing one?
Ricks RC truck
New Era MT
The Daytona Coupe

[alloyparts]

Ricks RC truck
indy car
monster truck
Those are my three favorite that I wont be able to get.

[Mike Casey]

Thanks for the replies guys. I am just interested in what everyones prespective is on this hobby.
I have tossed around the idea of offering a full car but there really just is no market for it unless you turn it into a full time job. There will be a car in the future, but its gonna be real expensive and its none of these mentioned. My friend and I are going to work on it mainly so we can have them ourselves.
As far as this topic goes.... I am just really interested in what people consider valuable. What would you guys think Ricks RC truck is worth?
My list of cars in no specific order would be....
-Original Pacesetter sprint built in 1979. This was the first 1/4 RC built.
-Ricks RC truck
-B&L indy car
-Raco Prototype Indy
-Original Raco indy car prototype ( belt driven yellow one )
-QRS Daytona Coupe.
These are all very rare cars and the there is only one of each. I would value each easily in the thousands. The B&L has been appraised for 17k!! and Ricks RC truck was built by an employee of Rancho Suspension and cost nearly 20k to build. I consider the Daytona coupe the most scale car ever produced with its only rival being Conley cars. The daytona frame tubing is even scale and it has leaf suspension just like the original full size car. I am not sure what its really worth.... what I do know is I got a fantastic deal on it!!!

[big maestro]

I agree with some of the cars you have listed. But how does someone get a car like the B&L appraised. That seems like a really high #. Not to mention Ricks truck. Where is there 20 grand in that truck, It's nice but come on. It's not that nice.
Me personally I would have to say the original pacesetter sprinter. I mean that car started it all, right? That car should be worth more than any of tthem. As far as my favorite, I would have to be alittle bais and say my Lance Love car. Why? because It's the only one I have ever seen on the net or in person and also because I have it

[Mike Casey]

You can have the cars appraised at a toy fair. There was a really big one near by a couple years ago and that is where it was brought. It is a very important part of history as well. This car was built by Lance Love and Todd Bishop in the early years. This car was featured in many magazines back then. This car is the reason why we have goodyear tires today. They wanted to have a licensced goodyear tire for the car and it took over 1 yr to do so. If you know Lance Love then you know his attention to detail, he goes far beyond what any single person would ever try. This car is a very fine example of this. Later on Lance went on to start PRC race cars and Todd took the B&L tire business and starter BRP.
I agree that Ricks truck would not look like 20k but this truck is a prototype. There is a ton of R&D done on this machine and the welds that are on it are the best I have EVER seen on any 1/4 scale car. It was not uncommon to spend 10-20k on a prototype back in the day.
The PRC car you have is a nice car. The funny thing is that he built a TON of them. A lot went to collectors and not racers. Perhaps they are still being displayed. They are very difficult to find. PRC was one of the largest supliers for bodies back then too selling to all the manufacturers throughout the US. They shipped hundreds of their bodies each month!
I really like the Pacesetter sprint car as well. I hope one day to own it. There were 3 prototypes built in 1979. 2 of them are still around and one of them is the one used in all their promotional literature and ads. A lot of people think that RACO and WCM started 1/4 scale but it was really Jeff Schmidt with his sprint car. Now RACO and WCM are the ones that really started the craze in the mid 80's due to their marketing efforts, but daaaang, the pacesetter sprint is the first every 1/4 RC car sold to the public!

[formula1]

Interesting topic. Mike, I really like the pics of the protoype indy. Thanks for posting them. I am newer to 1/4 but I have been racing and collecting 1/10 and 1/12 scale cars since the early 80's. The same question gets asked about tamiya and kyosho cars. I know that I like and want what I raced and read about in magazines back in the early 80's when I was a teenager. Most of you probably collect what you raced or wanted back then too. Rarity also commands desirablility. One car that is on most everyones list is Rick's stadium truck. This is a great example that has everything, rarity, performance?, great engineering, quality craftsmanship and scale apperance.
I think that if one was to be designed today it should have all of those features with much attention given to scale apperance. I think a stadium truck similar to Ricks would be a great truck to reproduce. A cool fiberglass toyota shell realistic tires and wheels, tube frame and machined suspension components. Anyway, my favs are
Rick's stadium
Raco or B&L indy
QRS stadium

[Lovedr]

Mike, what car are you going to make or produce? as to Ricks truck, if one has already been made and the engineering and prototyping is done, why can someone like you mike contact rick and ask them to mass produce it. I know you say there isn't much demand for 1/4 scale because of the price, but I disagree with that. whoever does this can't go in it and think there going to recoup all of their investment in the first year or so. One example, is the 1/6 scale tanks that are produced by Armortek in the UK. they make about 100 units of each model and they seem to sell them and they cost a lot more then 1/4 scale cars or trucks. I think there is more demand for 1/4 scale cars/trucks than tanks. just my thoughts on the subject. I think people are willing to pay for good quality craftsmanship

[Mike Casey]

Great questions !
To reproduce Ricks truck you would face some challenges. First of all its 10yrs outdated! The technology is old and the design. That may be ok, but its a factor for sure because one would assume that your potential buyers may be full size racers and fans. If it does not look like the trucks of today then that may be a turn off.
Wheels and tires are a huge issue. Very expensive to make tooling and the tire molds for Ricks tires are MIA.
Rear Axle... Again very expensive to reproduce. A ford 9" style would be much better as well like conley has produced.
Bodies, The only truck bodies available are the two that I make and a Dodge body that will not work. You would need to make a new body mold and that would cost in the range of 5-10k
I am not saying it cant be done. I agree that you could sell some if you had a top notch quality car or truck. The biggest issue is the upfront costs to produce and re-produce parts. Plus it would take someone that can dedicate a lot of time on design and marketing. It would be a big part time job or possibly a full time job.
The car that my friend and I are going to make is a Porsche 962 supercar. It will be built like no other 1/4 scale has been done before. The body is going to be "Splashed" off of an actual 1/4 scale model prototype from Konig racing for their street version. We are still a long time away from completion. We are building these for ourselves and will be offering a few for sale.

[big maestro]

I wonder why Lance's car is so hard to find? I thought he made a good bit of them as wellI seen a post somewhere of a guy who had a skellenger for sale I think. Anyway all the linkage was still on the axle and it had the same bird cages and radius rod mounts on it. It might have been taken of of one of Lance's cars

[Mike Casey]

Yes, finding one of his cars is a very big challenge. I have been looking for one for a couple years for him. He still has some suspension parts for one and he has a new body and such but no full cage chassis. The jig is still around but it cost $400 for each one years ago when you had them made in large quantities. I think its like the skellenger rears. There were tons of them made, they are just hard to find. No one seems to want to sell them.

[Mike Casey]

I know its not a car.... but what do you guys think about this??
Drooooooool

[Mike Casey]

*** Note the M1 serial number.