THE RC CAR THAT CHANGED THE INDUSTRY FOREVER | Traxxas The Cat

[@SweatyHanes]

I'm proud to say I was lucky enough to drive not 1 but 2 of these back in 89, having grandparents from both sides getting you one was the bees knees.

[@neverenoughguitars8276]

This brings back memories. I remember rocking a Traxxas Sledgehammer around this time. That thing was awesome.

[@FarmerFpv]

The part on the side with the metal plate is the ceramic resister that eliminates the heat for the mechanical speed control. The mechanical speed control has a swiper that moves across a copper winding moved by a servo. It's inside the chassis hidden. I have The Cat but my mechanical speed control fried so I have a Hobbywing Quicrun brushed 1060 ESC in it.

[@MrGonzoify]

Very nice throwback to the past. Wish i had got into rc back as a kid, and had the smarts to keep it immaculate. Super interesting to see tech from back in the day.

[@MichaelMcClung-et8nk]

87! That was a great yr! Almost as great as your vintage review! Good to see you back Mark!

[@markstehle151]

To the best of my knowledge, Traxxas was the first to release hobby grade RTR vehicles, that was they're claim to fame in the beginning. For the longest time stick remotes were all we knew, I felt the same awkwardness with a pistol grip when they came out.

[@janus4002]

I believe you are right about them being the first hobby grade RTR. I have several now...

[@WillSmith-26]

glad to see your back on your feet!

[@rcsmith5909]

Just look at 40 years ago where RC cars were and where we are now it’s amazing thank you RC companies like Traxxas like horizon

[@adamramirez3870]

Awesome video, glad you’re back. RCBox club was 🔥 this month. Thank you for what you do!!

[@vernonneiswender4733]

Glad to see you back and doing well, great memory lane . My first was a Porsche 911 ,can’t remember the brand great memories,thanks

[@secondhandrc7024]

Thanks for the rewind Mark!!! I had one in 90 when I was 13yo 👍🏼 I think it was 129.95 at my local hobby shop. Our house burned down and all the people my father worked with, donated to our family. One guy was a family friend and gave each of us kids 300$ for toy replacements!!😁 this was my first choice!!!🤙🏼🔥

[@bryanp4827]

Welcome to REAL RC's brother, this is how you learn to drive...and the rc that REALLY changed the industry was the WILD WILLY!

[@SOMNIOHM]

_Thats crrrrrrrrrrraaaazy!_

[@acceler8n]

Love the passion Mark! My dad had a handful of RC cars back then including the Frog and original RC10. When I got old enough he gave them all to my bother and I and after messing with it, we sold them all to get current model cars such as the RC10 Worlds car and their truck. I wish I hadn’t done that because it’s always fun to play with the old stuff. I am thinking of getting back into it. Just found your channel and it’s great! 👍🏾

[@cryptonight4860]

Sorry to hear you got gout, that stuff is painful. I got it bad in my knees and had to go on Allopurinal for life. That buggy reminds me of my old Nikko Rhino or the Radio Shack Golden Arrow. Love all of your videos! Take care of yourself!

[@robertmerinsky3358]

This was my first RC back in 87 and it was the blue one 💙. I had so much fun with it that it led me to my first race and several RC10's and pan car's and a few sponsors I was having a blast

[@GrandPitoVic]

Brother, that is the pre Bandit. I have a bandit I bought 22 or 3 years ago. That car is awesome

[@Enfieldriderlongisland]

This is when I was into RC. The white ceramic under the metal plate is the mechanical speed control resister. Tamiya had those too. They do get hot.

[@sturner151]

My sister and I each had one when I was 12. Great video and great channel.

[@devindunn2575]

It has a “3 step” speed control. The things under the hot sticker are resistors. Speed 1 sends battery power through both resistors, speed 2 through 1 resistor and speed 3 bypasses the resistors to send all 7.2 volts to the motor.

[@TheZincgriffin]

I'm 57 and this was the 1st RC I bought. I graduated from high school in 84.

[@williamtarwater8871]

The thing on the side that says hot is the resistor for the speed control

[@todd5060]

Back in the day alot of us never messed with double a’s in the controller.. we went to radio shack and picked up a couple of 6v gel cells and cigarette lighter plugs. Worked extremely well.

[@derekguenette6642]

When I was a kid in the 90s I remember a friend of mine had that exact same car we used to play with that thing like crazy in the dirt field by the apartments I lived in I actually learned how to drive rc with stick radios

[@shawngregory8336]

Neat car, great to see vintage cars, definitely takes me back. My first hobby grade rc was a traxxas trx10 bullet, gold anodized chassis with oil filled shocks, was made to compete against the rc10 by team associated. The year was 1988 by the way, only a year after this one, and so many improvements, like a 4-step mechanical speed controller, lol.

[@MrGonzoify]

Dude, i thought to myself gout when you said you had a bad foot. I had it, and its painful yet simple diet changes and I have been good for years. Rich foods are what I have to avoid, but your dr will help, and many changes come every year in medicine so glad your good. Cheers

[@TastierBackInThe80s]

I'm pretty sure the Cat is based on, if not a rebadged Nikko Bison F10 Frame buggy. I had the Bison back in the day, and this thing looks very similar.

[@PaddyPatrone]

Dude, your channel is growing. Well deserved, keep it up!

[@darrynjohnson3316]

Not sure how it changed the industry forever - but a cool piece of history from Traxxas.

[@GerardoSoler-c1v]

Wow that’s is awesome it reminds me of my first Rc car with the wire connected from remote to the car I actually had to walk with it while driving LOL . After that car I got a buggy from Tyco and it came with a 7.2 v battery pack and I remember having to change it for like 8 hours or something like that and I was so excited 😁 . Great video 👍🏽🤙🏽

[@BrandonLarge]

I was just thinking today, "Man I sure miss MSM videos!" Been watching old videos to fill the void! :)

[@JamesBond-hz2tn]

Great to see ya back on your feet and what a epic vintage traxxas rc awesome mark 👍👍

[@scottestergaard6535]

Happy to have you back!😃

[@tint661]

Looks like it's loosely based on the Tamiya Grasshopper. I learned to drive with a Airtronics stick transmitter. The mechanical speed controller is under the plastic driver panel. The metal on the left side of the car is a holder for a ceramic resister. They get really hot. Most speed controllers were controlled by a servo. The Tamiya Grasshopper took 4 AA batteries to power the receiver and both servos. The transmitter took 8 AA batteries. Yes I went through lots of AA batteries until they came out with rechargeable batteries. I still have my original Grasshopper and radio. They still work just fine.

[@janus4002]

Ahh...the three speeds forward and the same backwards. Good times! Oh, weren't battery eliminator circuits available back then. That got rid of the servo batteries and worked off the main battery.

[@arthopfer]

That’s the resistor for the mechanical speed control and man they would get hot. And you should play with the redcat lowrider a bit to get used to a stick radio😅

[@jayhawkins2309]

Definitely burned the crap out of my fingers one one as a kid 😂

[@MUDDRAGGERRC]

That's what got me started hard ! The traxxas RTR cat !!

[@GearWorksRc]

I'm getting the bandit the end of this month for my birthday i can't wait.

[@polecharh5788]

My first rc car. 11 years old, 1987. It was a birthday present from my parents that I got to pick out. It was $200, wow does that bring back memories, I freakin loved that car.

[@johnkinker2351]

the first traxxas was a copy of the 4wd tamiya hot shot made for them by bluebird(thunder tiger) named the wildcat. both bluebird and graupner sold the hotshot copy under their own brand names. the traxxas cat was manufactured for traxxas by Nikko and is based on their F10 chassis platform (rhino, bison, super Alex, thunderbolt, (sears Lobo) .. Tha cat had a modified pivot ball rear suspension and slightly adjustable (3 position) friction shocks . traxxas used this chassis for other rtr models ; spirit, first traxxas stocker and the Dale Earnhardt intimidator stock car . panda (bluebird/thunder tiger) marketed the 2wd panda/pandemonium buggy, electronic powered Danny Thompsons stadium racer (first factory stadium truck) and the Panda stock cars based on the Nikko manufactuered & modified traxxas cat chassis ...Nikko sold many other models based on the F10 chassis as well ... interesting side note Nikko brought the F10 chassis in 1980 and based on their simple design and market success "inspired" tamiya to bring the grasshopper to market in 1983 and the hornet in 1984 . the phenomenal sales success of the tamiya grasshopper/hornet then created the desire for traxxas to market a similar simple low cost platform (ie the cat ) ... another important side note is that the traxxas cat was available with either 2 stick radios and traxxas pistol grip radios and they had the available optional traxxas branded electronic speed control as well ... I know that people and traxxas like to call this the "First RTR R/C" but in all actuality the 1980 Nikko F10 chassis based models of r/c are truly the first truly ready to run hobby grade R/C . Nikko had replacement parts available at most local hobby shops and many major retail department & toy stores as well..(Sears, JC Pennys, Montgomery Wards, Gold Circle, Best, Children's Palace, Toys R Us , Kiddycity, KB Toys, Macy's, Higbys, Oneils, FAO Swartz, etc...)- all sold Nikko F10 replacement parts and models before tamiyas hopper/hornet and the cat were even in the drawing/prototype phase of the design process .

[@nickf2000ss]

I'm pretty sure that is a Tamiya Grasshopper/Hornet copy (for the most part), from the gear box drawing in the manual it looks identical, the chassis looks VERY similar, one difference I could see is the front suspension setup was a little different (wishbone compared to trailing arm) . You didn't take the under cover off to show the chassis layout but I can assume that it is almost identical to the Tamiya. The weird antenna was an 80's thing, it was an evolution from I believe the Tamiya Frog which came with two metal rods one on each side of the chassis, it was supposed to help with roll overs where it would spring back on to it wheels or roll over back on to it wheels due to the long rods. I understand the significance of this model as it was most likely the first Hobby Grade RTR but let give props to where they are due.

[@ianconvenience]

i feel you pain man, i get gout too and it is the worst! sucks not being able to do anything when a gout attack happens

[@monocogenit1]

That's pretty cool man. Bit of RC history. I grew up in Dallas TX in the 90s and remember going to Mike's Hobby shop, I purchased a Nitro Rustler with money from my first job, bagging groceries at Kroger for $4.75 /hr. lol It was a cool shop, and Mike was usually there, could go ask him questions if you wanted. I ran the hell out of that rustler, then Traxxas warrantied the motor after it got ran over by a car. lol Great customer service. Always liked Traxxas. Not sure if Mike is still around, hope he's doing alright.

[@twisterzman]

That was what we had back in the day..msc, am radio, ect. I used to race a traxxas bullet and a hawk 400 years ago, and worked up to when traxxas actually had serious race vehicles. They won a championship as well, then pulled out. Find a trx bullet/ radicator and have a blast

[@rabbitcreekadventures]

Wow this takes me back to my childhood and the rcs I had then.

[@jq5890]

Welcome back Mark, glad to see you're ok 👍

[@freewill51]

Our local grocery store in Ft Worth had a section in the front area that sold cameras and walkmans and they had the Traxxas Cat and the 1/12 scale Porche in the display cabinet for sale. I stopped and looked at them every time I went. Not long after that they had the bullet or whatever that looked like an RC10 clone.

[@T00LF00L]

Wow, nice find Doug! 😍

[@danweiss1371]

My first car was a RadioShack with a wire going to the car and I was thrilled to have that. Then I bailed hay all summer for the neighbor and that’s what I bought which I didn’t know it was the first Traxxas until today. But my dad took me to the hobby shop And it wasn’t cheap way back then it was like 150 bucks or better took me all summer at a dollar an hour. Thanks for bringing back memories. I wore that car out which didn’t take that long lol.

[@NickR1993]

Nice to see you back Mark !!

[@artnutting893]

Glad your doing well. I used to race one like that. And you have a nother package coming too you soon.

[@jessefava16]

I remember having a rc car when i was a kid and i think it was a tyco traxx but it had tracks instead of wheels. It took a 9.6v battery Thing was awesome

[@redbanditracing]

Very nice, my first RC was the Kyosho Pro X

[@tonytucker3136]

Glad you're feeling better I like that car

[@Mr.OldSkewl]

Best thing for gout is cherry tart juice. Drink a shot of it when you have flairs.

[@christophertaylor46]

Still love u and watch every vlog just never been a traxxas fan but not going to stop me from watching love from Detroit

[@doobiehash3941]

Man I wish I still had mine but I got an old school Tamiya King Blackfoot definitely would have been nice to have my old school Traxxas. That is a nice ride don't break it

[@TheAurabell]

well thank goodness man. glad yur back bro

[@jasondemers8522]

Good to see you’re better brother!

[@TheDudeRc]

Its been a while since I have seen one of those ESCs! We used to run those on our racing hydros back in the 80s! LOL Very cool Mark. Hope your feet are doing better!

[@BargainBashersRc]

Blast from the past! Good to see you’re feeling better

[@ElSob94803]

That doesn't look much different than the Tyco R/C cars of that Era. Happy you are back 😊

[@DennisMadison]

Reminds me of my first RC - Tamiya Hornet. The servos and controller were identical

[@jaja5870]

I had one of these in the UK, it was rebranded as a Maplin car, I can't remember what it was called but It didn't come RTR.

[@KingLoggFrogg]

Somewhere I have a far less good GI Joe RC that reminds me of this! super super cool to see!

[@tonycoffee7335]

Dude that's awesome.

[@TopperHarley08]

I get a gout flare up once every blue moon but that crap sucks. Appreciate the content me and the kiddos enjoy it a lot.

[@vonyinzer]

great to see something liuke this in such condition. reminds me of a Hornet/Grasshpper rear, and a Fox front end. I also had to laugh a bit about the ceramic heat sink on the side, as it seems like a terrible spot to place one... god forbid it got wet when hot!

[@RCVictoryLane]

Doug is the man

[@cwbetb]

Its actually a Nikko f10 they modified and sold under Traxxas

[@mikekoutsohilis9091]

Welcome back

[@rmarkley79]

Great to see you feeling better! You may have to be careful with the things you eat/drink, that's a big cause of gout flaring up.

[@janus4002]

My first was the Midnight Pumpkin back in the late 80's

[@Lance_Borislov]

Sneaker vibe!? I love Reebok

[@dennis3779]

I had already a stick radio while Mark was living in the Dutch some time ago.

[@HillBillyKuztomz]

I have the original Traxxas drag truck, the Traxxas spirit chassies are the same different body

[@danbeckley3140]

That's awesome buddy

[@grimreaper_1932]

welcome back mark

[@SuppleBun]

awesome collector's piece!

[@therchotspot]

Out there with the pandas on! I had a bout with Gout this past summer too so I understand. Tart cherry juice helps keep uric acid down going forward. Cool video bro!

[@CyberOcelotRC]

Happy to see you're feeling better. :)

[@douggilreath1984]

Now I can’t wait to drive it!

[@Daddy9bot]

Awesome!

[@kg5nja693]

Wow Gout is not funny it can put your ding aling in the dirt. Glad to see you back. That took me way back to my first RC car. It was a Tamiya Flacon. Still have it. That got me started in the hobby. BTW my first rcbc came today. I’m ready for more.

[@Slip-Art_S14]

Ah good feeling seeing this one!🔥🔥👍

[@randyseaver8319]

He's a hell of a friend to let you run it! But that's a sweet Tamiya! 😮 Lol! Definitely looks like one! But a sweet r.c. to have! 👍👍👽😎🛸🤟

[@darrylclark6009]

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m back” Reminds me of when Jordan returned.😅. All jokes aside, glad you’re doing well

[@nickvandersys2458]

I still have the Sports Illustrated “I’m back” issue.

[@Enfieldriderlongisland]

I started off with a stick radio. It was hard to get used to a pistol grip. I like the stick radios still but I'm used to pistols now

[@janus4002]

Years ago in the 80's and or 90's the world champion, Masami Hirosaka always used a stick radio. It's just what he was most comfortable with. For me personally I haven't used one since the old radio shack ons of decades past.

[@Dabber422]

Damn!!! I'm still looking for a Traxxas Cat for my shelf queen collection..,

[@rayharris2654]

Glad you’re doing better. I know it.

[@astridsactionrc545]

I have a Spirit complete in box. You should look for one. 😁

[@johnmiller4553]

Goin way back to my era of RC. DEFINITELY KOOL. YUP STICK REMOTES WERE WHAT WE HAD. GOOD OLE DAYS ….. 😉80s 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@ndoggeddy]

When you thought the resistor was the esc is when I knew you weren’t lying about never having driven a manual esc before lol

[@yjcowboy]

i remember having a Panda Pandamonium for my first rc car. i wish i still had it.

[@singleken77]

I feel for you I have had the gout since 2003 I even raced the dirt nitro challenge with gout in both feet it was torture

[@johnkennedy2505]

It may have changed the game because it was assembled with the electronics installed. I do not recall any cars from 1987 that were RTR.

[@rickyjohnson9957]

Dang it Mark! I knew it! Yes, gout! You now have to figure out what triggers it.

[@toolbaggers]

If you think the resistor of a mechanical speed controller is an "ESC" then you should take a closer look at the whole system and be blown away how different it is to an ESC.

[@Poormanjohndoe]

Gout affects us all from the islands, cherry juice and colchicine haha. Beef and beer man got to cut back.

[@robertstoner728]

Nice shirt

[@MrBumbles2]

lol yep no pistol controllers back then. and while your running it, look up and down the street for garage doors opening. 27mhz hmm baby monitors, weather stations. etc. and if im not mistaken its a tamiya sold by traxas hence the stars, and the 540s was the faster brushed motor probably 12 turn . got that same rc out in the shop in red.

[@janus4002]

Never had a 27 MHz radio. Mine were all the 75mhz or whatever they were. Now there are all 2.4 GHz without swappable crystals. Which I guess is better. Can't mess with your friends as easily :-)