Thorpey69 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 A long long time ago I bought a box of broken up rc car parts that comprised of a an early Sandrover and a bunch of not very good electrics,also in this box was a chassis from a Roughrider ,this was the car that started the whole thing for me. That very tatty ,old ,badly painted car started my involvement with rc cars over 30 years ago,and although it was ultra unreliable with wayward electrics and a run time of 5-10mins max ,I loved it,and would run home from school every night to get my short fix before having to stick my one battery on a slow charge for the next nights fun.inbetween I would strip and rebuild the car trying to make it reliable and improve it,refill the leaking shocks and in doing so gain a basis of a mechanical knowlege. Unfortunately that car proved to be so temperamental that I persuaded my mum to loan ,e the money to buy a new Tamiya lancia and the rough rider was swapped for something or other and missed ever since.... Roll on 30 years and I wandered into work yesterday with a bit of a black cloud over me ,as the local Costas only had decaf for my morning cappuccino ,and its 1st world problems like these that can set you up for a bad day,that was until a colleague said to me "here you'll like this" and produced a picture on his phone of a little red Roughrider.My 1st question was ,whose is that? The answer was his and he'd been bought it from a big model shop in Eltham sarf London when he was a kid,my next question was,what you doing with it? To which he replied I've just dropped it off to martyn to put onto eBay as they're worth a few quid apparently.After I'd explained to him that he was a **** and threatened him with violence for not telling me about this before,and more importantly to letting someone else stick it on eBay before I'd had a chance of buying it. Anyway it was dropped off to work later in the morning and I had a chance to handle it in person,it was coated in a thick layer of dust from where it had sat idle in a loft for the past 30 years,the bodyshell requires some therapy and one of the front suspension uprights had been glued with araldite...but none of this matters because this is my childhood sat on my desk and I had to have it! This Roughrider is so original right down to all the electrics including the little thermal overload switch with the red pop out button and the original period Acoms radio gear,the tyres are all original with loads of tread but a bit hard and perished, a few loose bolts here and there but overall ageing better than me. So after a few sweaty hours where I wondered if the price for this grail was going to be sensible a deal was struck and I now bought back a piece of my youth I'd regretted mislaying years ago,I'm one happy bunny! In case your wondering what the plans are,it certainly isn't to dust it and put it on eBay or anywhere else for sale,this is a keeper and will be after a full restoration,joining my re sandscorcher on its own display shelf in my front room,where i will be able to look at it every day and fondly reminisce about a more innocent period of life.Obviously getting it last night I started to do a bit of research and it actually appears to be a Mk1 version with the screw in spring holders on the front uprights and remains of a black bumper underneath the chassis,speaking of uprights if anyone has any Roughrider parts they want to sell please let me know as I will be needing a few odds and ends when I start the restoration shortly. Onto the important bit now,pictures!....admittedly poor quality camera phone pics,but you'll get the gist of it I'm sure... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanBowk Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Thats frikkin awesome dude!! my gramps sand scorcher (which has been passed down to me ) is where it all started for me, I'm in the process of doing a full restore as when he gave it to me in 1989ish i thrashed the living s**t out of it and have been riddled with guilt ever since as he really looked after it. I want to surprise him with it on his next birthday and take him out for a spin. Ahh the days of 3.5 minute runs followed by a 24 hour recharge i think i will document the build and post some pics. Peace out! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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