Monster Truck Madness – Vintage Monster Trucks Re-releases

Hey everyone, Happy Thursday!

Vintage re-releases are the hot topic as of late in the r/c industry, at least insofar as the racing community is concerned, what with all the classic buggies and stadium trucks being re-released (parts support around said vintage buggies is also a HUGE discussion, but that’s a can of worms I’m not opening here!).

I was an r/c racer back in the 90’s, with my first foray into organized racing happening in 1993, so it makes me happy seeing all of these things being brought back. Granted, the era of racing I grew up in was the mid-90’s versus late 80’s/early 90’s so releases were just a smidge more modern than the current crop of re-releases, but I still saw many of these classic rigs doing their thing during this time period. And it was a glorious time, indeed!

But I’m not here to really talk about those vehicles. I’d rather talk vintage monster trucks instead. Or more appropriately, the lack of them.

I think that if there is a market for folks wanting Associated RC10T’s and Kyosho Optimas….that there would ABSOLUTELY be folks wanting sweet vintage style monster special edition re-releases like Kyosho Big Bosses or Marui Big Bears (I don’t even know who owns the license for the Big Bear, these days!).

Thus far Traxxas has seemingly totally avoided the retro r/c craze, but they had a monster truck that many hobbyists hold near and dear to there hearts- the Traxxas Sledgehammer. The Stampede would eventually replace it, but in its day many kids started in hobby grade r/c’s with a Sledgehammer. I would LOVE to buy a re-release, white plastic and all!

The elephant in the room here is Tamiya as they have a bunch of their classic line-up available via re-release, but even they are missing some important stuff from the back catalog that would probably sell well. The crown jewel of which would be the leaf spring equipped Juggernaut, which was supposed to be the successor to the Clod but never caught on. I’ve written a lot about how the Jugg was ahead of it’s time and desperately needs to come back….but I’ll say it again. Tamiya, please re-release the Juggernaut!

Oh, and while I’m on my soapbox….let’s hope any potential monster truck re-releases are in the proper original scale. I love small scale r/c trucks and buggies as much as the next guy….but these are monster trucks!

Ok, I’m done with my “old man yells at cloud” routine.

Until next time, keep it on all 4’s!