Originally Posted by
jgil089
Are TRF419 kits a limited release or something? It seems that no one has any stock of the 419XR, and the odd one that is available is insanely expensive (seen USD$1800 from Japan). There are still some 419 or 419X kits floating around too, but it seems a bit of a waste to buy an earlier version. It doesn't seem to be normal for TRF kits in general to be so hard to find, the TRF211 and TRF102 and now TRF103 are widely available, its just the 419 which aren't. Can anyone enlighten me?
Some time ago I read in the net, that Tamiya produces only ~1000 TRF cars per model/batch for worldwide market.
I don't know, if this number is legit, but if you see, that the 419 cars were relatively fast sold out after release, I'm not far away from this estimation. Tamiya do not publish its production numbers. But my original TRF419X motormount has TEC serial number 099 (in Germany you need the original motormount with Tamiya laser engraved serial number for Tamiya Euro Cup races).
High end touring car market worldwide is not as big as many people think.