pgeldz

Hey guys,

Just came across a brand new, in the box, TA03F Pro David Jun edition, in addition to a regular TA03F model, also brand new in the box.

I know drifters seem to like them, but are they capable as compared to todays' modern Tamiya cars like the TA05 and TB03?

The David Jun edition actually is TRF edition of its day, although they didn't label it like that, they used David Jun's name instead. It comes with a hole host of goodies - TRF dampers, double deck carbon fiber chassis, one way, etc.

I was just wondering what the performance is of these older cars, and if they are even worth buying. What is the going price of these hard to find cars? As in, what is a reasonable amount to pay for them? heck, I just may get them for nostalgia reasons.

Please let me know...

- Paulie

Radio Active

iTrader: (2)

In my opinion David Jun's American Nationals win with the TA03F has to be one of the greatest RC drives of all time.

The TA03F was not even close to being the best Tourer on the market at the time. The Front mounted motor turned out to be an anomaly, 1 belt and twin gear-boxes is obviously not the most efficient drive train design possible. It used plastic suspension parts. You could best describe the car as 'solid' in performance terms.

There was no World Championship for TCs then, so the American Nationals was the biggest TC race in the World at the time. For Jun to pull it off with a Tamiya was incredible.

The car today, won't make you a Modified champion at your club, but as a collector's item it's worth the buy.

Vyger

iTrader: (2)

I saw this post and thought I'd chime in. The DJ car is a nice collectors car. I know some use the TA03 for drifting, I didn't. I just built it up using titanium scews, added the cabon fiber batter holder and left the rest stock. Here's some pics of my little project.











I hope this helps with your decision.

Xtant3150c

iTrader: (10)

http://classictamiyarc.com/tamcars40.html

I would think the David Jun one would be better as a collectors item. And if it's new in box unopened would be worth some money

The other one should be quite a bit cheaper and would be my choice to actually build up.

I think the newere cars TA05 or TB03 would be better cars if you want something to run with parts more readily available.

Skitee

Paulie, I've got to agree with the other guys too, the DJ TA-03 will be best suited as a shelf queen.

I still my TA-03 F Pro and while it was a good car in it's day, it just doesn't stand a chance against the newer cars available today. Mine spends most of it's time on the shelf and I'll dust it off occasionally to go and do some drifting.

Parts are really difficult to get where I am, probably not any easier to find anywhere else either.

rough512

iTrader: (12)

Just hope that the plastic parts have not become too brittle that simply screwing in a diff-cover cracks the case. Mine did when I tried rebuilding it, and the case has been pre-threaded that time.

Vyger

iTrader: (2)

Well...I just put my car together a couple of months ago. The parts where all new out of the box and I didn't have any problems with the plastic being brittle or parts stripping. As a matter of fact I’ve been building ALLOT of older Tamiya cars (from early and mid 90’s) lately and I haven’t encountered that at all. Maybe the plastic is still in good condition because it hasn’t gone through any heat cycles…just taking a guess.

wrxnfx

iTrader: (30)

Vyger, nice David Jun!

I would have to agree with most of what was said. The TA03F is a great chassis for drifting, but by today's racing standards, I would agree that it wouldn't be able to keep up. I've owned about ten of them over the years. It's one of those cars that "gadget" guys would like because it isn't all that simple of a car and has a lot of unusual aspects to it. I did notice the plastic did get brittle and start to crack and that's even just sitting on the shelf. This plus the fact that I was having a lot of difficulty in finding parts, I gave up the last of my TA03's and promised myself to move on and vow to never buy another one, again (I kept buying one & then decided to sell because I couldn't stand it sitting on the shelf, but then I would miss having one.). However, the kicker was when I was trying to locate some parts and ended up paying $40 for the battery quick-release which I had to order from the UK because I couldn't find one for months. I even had these Kawada gearbox reinforcement suspension brackets that I found out only the owner of our LHS brought in when he went to Japan. He said he only brought back three sets. I had one, he had one, and another friend had the other. That went with my last car.

C_O_jones

iTrader: (11)

At the 2003 Tamiya Nats, they were cleaning out the wharehouse and selling those kits for $45. There were 2 pallets I think.
I bought 2 just for the shocks and bearings, worth the parts alone. The rest I gave away to a friend that still used them.
I remember them going on ebay for around $150, good markup then.

Paul L

pgeldz: Hi, If you would be interested in selling your Ta03 DJ car i would definately be interested in buying it from you. i started my career with that car and would love to have one still in the box. but i wouldnt blame at all you if you wanted to keep it iether. Thanks, Paul Lemieux

pgeldz

Paul,

I don't actually have the car. I was considering buying it, but the guy wanted box price for it, which was $400 or something close to it (39,800 Yen I think to be exact).

I thought that was crazy for a 10 year old car. Is it even worth that anymore? Would people really pay that much for such an old car?

He also has a regular TA03F as well, the Alfa Romero I believe if I'm not mistaken. He wanted box price for that too, something like $150 or so I think.

I dunno, that's kind of pricey for a 10 year old car kit, don't you think?

- Paulie

Minami

iTrader: (5)

that's definitely a collector and a drifter's dream kit. but if you're gonna use it for touring then sadly it will be a disappointment.

pgeldz

Yeah, I thought of using it for drifting at first since everyone says it's awesome.

$400 though for a car that's hard to get parts for is kind of hard to swallow though. Equally, that amount of money to have it be a shelf queen collector car is hard to swallow as well.

Not sure how much it would be worth as a collector's car anyway. The box wasn't sealed (but neither were any of my Tamiya cars so maybe that's how they came back in the day), and had some wear on the lower right hand side. The guy opened it up for me though and everything was 100% in order, brand new with all factory taped bags, etc.

I'm really on the fence in buying this car, as I'd love to have another drifting chasses so I don't have to keep switching out tires/motors for the two classes they have here.

What to do, what to do.



- Paulie

Minami

iTrader: (5)

yeah, 400 is a little high.. you can get a new and nice high-end kit for that same amount.

redzone

iTrader: (4)

well, someone bought a NIB tamiya porsche 934 for $6000 us, sand scorchers NIB regularly go over $1000, a DJ TA03 is worth $350 in that condition from what i've seen em go for on ebay... its a collectors item.