I don't have long history of RC so I can't tell about TC3 but I've seen 1 or 2. All I can say is that with that old car, it will be a lot of effort and time that you have to invest. I tried something similar when I started out RC a few years back with the Yokomo YR I had had for years from my uncle. I started buying bunch of parts here and there and it was not easy. I ended up putting the car in a drawer because it was just not realistic to keep trying to make that old car work. I probably ended up spending more than $400 just to put that away. Good learning experience but if somebody asks me, I wouldn't do it again.