Thank you Ampro! Due to your videos I have watched since last week, I now have a Nikko: 1/14 Back Fire & Super Fox, 1/16 Turbo Panther, 1/32 Dandy Dash & Super Gallet. Time to relive the childhood memories and excitement!
Man, that sounds sent me back to 1987 when I got a Turbo Panther. I was visiting family in Hong Kong and for some reason my dad bought me one. Still have it in the box, but mine has the knobby front tires. HOURS of fun with it.
OMG I remember that car! Some kid down the street had one when I had a Rockbuster! Thanks for posting these videos, brotha! You are a true R/C enthusiast!
I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your channel and your videos. I'm not too keen on the scale stuff or later model stuff, but I love your videos on the "golden age of RC" vehicles. Due to your channel, I now have a collection of probably 20+ Nikko Turbo Aeros/Panthers/Panther II's, and a desire to upgrade a least a couple to 2.4. Watching your channel, which kicked off my "get some vehicles from my youth" have also lead to a collection of approx 14 Kyosho Big Brutes/Big Boss/Hi Rider Vettes, as well as 3 vintage Clods, 2 vintage Blackfoot, and a re-re Blackfoot and Monster beetle (for drivers). Your content, voice, obvious passion, and knowledge of these old cars really captures the "spirit" of owning them in the 80's/90's. It's a shame you appear to have been a "Tamiya guy" in the old days...I'd LOVE to see you do a video on the Kyosho Big Brute! Replacing stripped steering knuckles was the bane of my Jr High years!
I had a Red Nikko car around 1989, it had a pistol grip controller, 2 speed trans not sure what model but it was a lot of fun,. The build quality was great and it performed very well for a toy grade car. It was the most fun on ice/snow in the winter power sliding all over the place.
Thanks for the video! I had a Nikko Mosquito with the same Low/High on the body and Turbo controller. Got TONS of hours on it. The sound of yours brings back memories. Now that I have a kid, I’m surprised at the lack of quality “toy grade” RCs. The hobby grades are great, but not so much toy. Which is a shame with the greater battery technology today. Anyway, love the video... thanks again!
I've just bought another one, found it in a thrift store for 7 Euro :D It is like new and even the box and instructions were included. Quite happy with this deal :D
I am a collector of these Panthers, i have both models in every colour and like new. I even have a black one with wide front tires, sealed in a mint box! The last versions with that gun like controller and wheel for steering, has the upgrade to steer without the throttle. You should stay away from those powerlines and clean the contact points in your remote. It should run a lot better. Also make sure there is a full battery in the remote.👍🏼
This was my first R/C as a kid, I got it for Christmas in 1986 couldn't believe I had such a fast Buggy... I had it well into my teens. I remember I had a helmet off another toy that I glued to the inside of the drivers seat so it looked like it had a driver. The knobby tires were worn down but everything else was intact... Around 1990 a neighbor of mine had a Tamiya Hornet with a bunch of parts and motors, I had always wanted one so we worked out a deal, I gave him $100 and the Panther for the Hornet and all its extra stuff, he wanted the Panther because all he did was work on that Hornet and I had never had to do a thing to mine all the years I had it, plus the Nikko was almost as fast as the Hornet and no maintenance involved... He was right! Every time I took that Hornet out something happened and I spent hours fixing it. I traded the Hornet for a Tamiya Subura Brat, it wasn't as fast but it held together much better. I wish I still had them all
Great story! It does sound like the Hornet was a bit weaker for you. The good news is they are all available still for a decent price so you could always re-create the set!
I had this exact car! It was my first RC and I beat the hell out of it. At that time I was really into crashing toy cars and seeing how much abuse they could survive. Seeing your video now makes me feel a little bad for it.
WHAT KID would not LOVE a Gate Shifter, with their Turbo option, in the 80's and 90's!! 👏👏👍👍 AND trailing-link front suspension? 😲 Hell, it makes ME want one! I did not see these back in the day, and now wish I did. You know what? I'm seriously considering getting a pair for Carmine and I. I'm seriously impressed.
I just got one with a beat up box (but displays nicely) last week for about 15$. it does work, just tested it with my 3year old... but.. the motor sounds off, or rather the diff maybe. During testing forward made it go reverse (just a couple of times)... that needs some looking into. The body does have some damage as well, one broken light..(just needs a new back and fitting)..Broken back suspension on the left side, broken in the front (where is fastens to the to the chassi) and missing the antennatube. But overall a nice find. Love your video btw.. loved this car as a kid, brought it with me on every vacation with the family until i broke it in Italy, drove it under a to low a gate and smashed it.
Loving the *grits teeth* toy grade stuff. I'm glad more people are giving exposure to just how high the quality was on these older RC vehicles, they have more in common with basic Tamiya stuff than they do modern toy grade junk, I said the same on your thread on the Tyco Bandit over on Tamiya club, these vehicles were an art form. I don't have a Turbo Panther but I have a couple of other Nikko buggies based on the same basic platform such as the Cosmo 3. So many of the older buggies were excellent, Nikko and Taiyo were the obvious ones but there were others like Digitcon and Yonezawa and of course the Radio Shack rebrands.
You are totally correct. Though Nikko and Taiyo were the common ones, they were not the only ones. It is a shame that many of these toy grade units are of such poor quality today.
AMPRO Engineering it's a different world now, it's mostly built to a price and not to compete with rivals. I suppose a lot of that is down to the size of the market. Nikko hung in there for quite a while, it's been surprising to find out how recently they still made some decent kit. They are just a brand now of course since toystate bought the name, only a few of their lines are genuine Nikko creations such as the 1/14 evo stuff and even that is outsourced now. I did find the "Elite trucks" to be very impressive too but the problem is that anything that's toy grade and decent quality is priced so high that you could just go buy an entry level Tamiya kit instead or even one of the better Chinese RTR hobby grades. It's the same with toys r us, they used to get some half decent stuff, some of it was even licensed Nikko designs (1:6 scale hummer) and they had a line of porportional cars that directly competed with the Nikko evo pro line with lexan shells and changeable wheels etc but I guess they can only sell what they can get and the better quality suppliers have gone. They sell one half decent proportional toy grade today but again, way too expensive.
Yeah I mean how can they compete with video game systems and other computer related things? There just isn't money in RC like there used to be so manufactures of toy grade RC cars like the unholy New Bright (shudders) make cheaper and worse cars by the day.
I have the exact same, with the box, i got it new back in 1986. Has the common damage on the front and te rear wing was glued also. unfortunately, it does not work anymore :(
I just converted my Turbo Panther (aka Wüstenspringer in Germany) to 2,4 Ghz. It was really worth the effort ! It now runs much better than the stock version ! The only downside is, that the tiny servo I installed has no servo saver. I already killed one servo for 5 bucks. Unfortunately the metal gear servos in my hobbystore were a bit too big and expensive. I´d recommend to install a metal gear servo if you want to run it a bit harder ! But for cautious "nostalgia-shelf-queen running", the cheap servo does the job really well (if you don´t hit the front wheels hard ;_).
Loving this one thanks for sharing very important information giving thanks blessed love to all knowledge is power hopefully everyone pays attention keep up the good work 🙏🙏🙏🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲💪💪💪
Very nice review man..this is bring my memories back to 80s... I never dont have it Nikko cars, ,but i still today have 1/14 similar buggy Bumble Bee by Presto brand - Taiwan..and still today is good car toy and on pretty good condition..he had turbo lock in rear too :-)) ...except electronics,because inside is all empty..but not worry...I alredy now completely restored my buggy to original look . On ebay i searcing for the motor with right gear on axle, other electronics i will use from today times ..one micro servo for steering ,one simple esc and small lipo 7.4v 2s i think will be good combination ..Really enjoy watched this your vintage videos and reviews!! Greetings from Slovenia EU !!
Thank you very much for reaching out! I love this little car and am glad you have something you like as much as I do. Seems like you also have a little project there and that should be a lot of fun. For me, working on them and playing with them is what it is all about! My family is from Italy! We are almost neighbors!
@@AMPROEngineering Hello vintage fan! Yesterday i received my package from ebay Italy ..i bought another similar( little broken) car ,because i needed only motor and gear...electronics i use from today modern times...and today at the morning my old buggy after cca.37 years , run again..i am totally happy.. here is video- completely restoration and 1st run .. Enjoy in greetings ! ; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EpAx_aC5wZ8.html
Oh boy oh boy, how I enjoyed this video. Only fault is that it was too short. Those 15 minutes flew by. Would love to see a 5 hour Panther video by you some day. This precious gem means so so so much to me. The looks. The sound. It's like a time machine. Yours seem to be going good. Mine, even though I changed 95% of the parts, is very slow. Would love to see that white one and see what you put in it. Would love to see what it takes to get my red mark 1 up and running properly. The white one is a beauty too. They're all beauties. Would love to see that yellow one in 'real' some day, and not just pictures. It's gotta be out there, some where.
Haha! Well 5 hours is how much I talk about stuff like this usually. I agree with you, this is one of my most beloved RC cars. Thought the driving feel is very nostalgic for me, it is also not so easy to drive due to the "resolution" of the steering and throttle. It makes you worried you will crash it. The white one I converted is super easy to drive and I have been using it a lot. I have all the footage to show that one driving so you will see a video soon. You need to keep an eye out for a Black one for me since I do not believe they were sold here.
AMPRO Engineering Yeah I know. I remember it was easier by reflex to give full throttle when turning back in the days when this was the only car I ran. Ohhh, I should have known you wanted a black mark 2. Traded mine away, because of the two usual damages on it's body (you know which two) and space-priorities. Got some Nice footage if it though before, but still need to edit it. If a new intact black mark 2 unit turns up I will probably get it for myself (sorry, but when it comes to TB's I'm an egoistic little child) but if another turns up I can easily arrange something, though I think shipping to the US will cause some sighs.
Wow, I still have my camouflage car that I traded a go cart for back in 6 th grade. The gun kept falling off so I don’t know where it went. Wow didn’t know it was only sold at sears. Cool
I have the camo one !! I did not know how rare they are unfortunately its no longer stock as I did not know this was a collector car I never was able to find a remote to run it so I upgraded to a hobby grade radio and speed control also modded the battery area to fit a 9.6 pack it was fast enough with the stock motor but I put a high speed 370 in it and it rips !!! I liked the camo body enough that I fixed it and run a different body from a radio shack version of this car so as not to wreck the camo body I don't or never did have the gun shown in your picture though I still have the car and am in process of repairing the steering and will have it out soon
These were toy grade and we looked down on them back then but it's ironic that only toy grade cars had electronic speed controllers while our hobby grade cars dealt with awful mechanical speed controllers.
AMPRO Engineering Hmm, almost sure. Maybe it was a video about another car, and maybe just a picture of the Turbo Panther 2, and you telling about it ... hmm ... Anyway, it is interesting. I found out that there is what looks to be an ordinary Turbo Panther Mark II beneath the body. And the body is almost identical to the first. The biggest difference is actually just the wing (not a fan of that wing) and the bumpers. I guess one could fit the ordinary wing to it, for some better looks. Sadly that part is the most rare part.
I had a Mk 1 in red. Miss it! Ate batteries and I only ran it maybe 7 times before it just stopped working. Not sure I even knew it had a two speed motor! I wonder what speed I had it set on?? Will have to keep my eye out for one - even a non-runner, to add to my shelf. Buying a 3S lipo buggy next that does 50mph - but the Turbo Panther holds a dear place in my heart.
AMPRO Engineering - update: I bought a fully complete excellent Mk1 in red with remote, and a near mint Mk 2 in red (no remote, and Mk 1 remote doesn’t play nice with my Mk2). I even got the original box with the Mk2. Very cool to hold in my hands again. You can tell the plastic is 35 years old and creaks like old lego. I ran the Mk1 in my driveway. In high gear, it would barely go up the driveway. In low gear it had no problem. Low gear was a lot more fun because of the quick acceleration. High gear ran out of space before it could actually get up to top speed. Need to find a long flat parking lot. The combination of the two stick controller (I’m used to the wheel) and not being able to steer unless on throttle was a bit of a handful. My son really enjoyed it. He has a 2wd Traxxas Slash that he’s gotten quite good at, but he was having fun with the Frame Buggy. Then I took it back in the house, pulled out the batteries, and put it back on the shelf. It’s right next to my desk where I work from home, so I can look at it and smile. Having the Mk1 and Mk2 side by side is fun too. That said, for the money I just spent on each, I could have gotten a hobby grade 4x4 buggy that does 30mph. Doh! I have my 4x4 Slash though - but likely will get a 1/16 buggy new to have some fun with. :-)
what a trip down memory lane! I dug mine out the garage and it still works. One question though, i spotted a DC socket on the side i never noticed before, anyone know what that is for? Charging rechargeable's maybe??
Hej Ampro. I have 3 Turbo Panther 2's and I'm looking for other tires.. so as not to wear down the original ones when me and my brother still race these. I'm looking thru RC websites, but can't really find any size match... you've got any ideas?
Currently nothing is even remotely close to fitting on these. I am working with a Taiwanese vendor to have these as well as several others remanufactured
@@AMPROEngineering Cool. Though I could even go for some sort of adapter we could push on the axel and then skrew modern day rims on :) , as long as I can race hard and not destroy the org Bridgestone tires :D
As mentioned in one of his other videos, the Radio Shack / Tandy Zebra has the same tires. They body may be a fit as well, with some work. The Zebra is a worthless pile otherwise, but you can find them cheap, so it may be a good source of tires. I bought one (after watching the AMPRO video) just to strip the tires and body from it. You can also likely look at other Nikko products from the same area and find similar tires. I've bought several versions of this chassis (with increasingly "aero" or "dramatic" bodies) for the running gear. Pull off the gold-plated alien-looking body, and it's a Turbo Panther / Turbo Aero (my chosen version) underneath.
Question: Did these have a feature to change the frequency? I got one of these, the red one, for christmas in 1987. It didn't work, so we returned it, and got another red one. It also didn't work, so we took it back again and got the white one. I loved that thing so much, it was so much fun to play with. I had rechargable batteries for it, and I drove it until there was nothing left. I recently won one on ebay for 75 bucks with no remote, but it's in beautiful shape.
No they did not. There were only two options for the US market, the red 27 and the white 48. I know the car you got, I was looking at it but no more for me! Glad you got one!
is there two different year releases on these? Mine dont have the big bumper you showed. Just a flat one. I found mine recently after my dad pulled it from storage. It runs like a champ
My freshly aquired Nikko Night Fighter (pretty similar to the Turbo Panther, which was my 1st RC by the way) runs great on one-way batteries (8x VARTA Mignon Industrial) but runs with much less performance on my older NIMH Mignons (running it backward is not possible at all !). Can it really be the 0,1V difference per cell ?
NiCd's would have been 1.2 V, nickel metal hydride's are 1.15 and Alkaline's are 1.5v. It's amazing how much faster they would've been on alkalines despite the horrible cost
@@AMPROEngineering I wonder if I can put 2 cells 18650 in a Nikko Night Fighter (same as Turbo Panther Mk2). But then the range of about 10m will become a problem and I will have to use a rotary tool...I guess I´ll stick with the Alkaline and pay the 0.25 EUR per cell. Putting the batteries in is also part of the vintage vibe ;_)
Can you help..i have a 1986 nikko turbo aero rc car, but lost the radio transmitter...do you how to check the car's frequency and where to get a replacement radio transmitter? many thanks
It should say what frequency the car is on the side of the chassis. There's only 27 and 49 Unless you're in a country that does not allow those two frequencies. Once you figure that out you can look on eBay for a replacement. As long as they are the same style of radio that the car originally had it will work
My first RC car was also a Nikko with the 2 speed gearbox and the gated turbo on the remote, I'm not sure of the name anymore. It was a sparkly dark green monstertruck with a bug catcher on the hood, looked a bit like the Clod Buster. Jumbo Truck maybe?
I think I know what you are talking about. Look up Sears Lobo (licensed Nikko cars) as there were a few monster trucks that used that name. Also, "vintage nikko truck" should show you a lot on ebay too!
Hm I'm not sure, it looked a lot like a Nikko Desert Ghost Truck, at least the chassis seems to be the same (1/18th scale seems to fit too) but it was probably older (no stubbles on the tires too), I remember it had working headlights and the bug catcher on the hood wobbled when it drove. I really only recalled that I even had the truck when you showed the Nikko remote in the video, that was a blast from the past so to speak.
Hello. I would like to restore my old Turbo Panther that I found in my parents' basement. That was my very first RC car around 1987. Unfortunately the tires are completely brittle and falling apart. And for whatever reason, the pinion is missing from the motor. In general, the motor only turns very slowly when I connect it to a 12V battery for testing... Probably defective too. Does anyone know if you can mount other tires or tires with rims? And can someone tell me which motor and which motor pinion is normally installed? The motor has a 2mm shaft, is 30mm long and 24mm diameter. Thanks!
Well I can help with the tires. I am working on some 3D printed one that will be available for home prints soon. As for the rest, sorry, i do not know.
I have one of these. Its not working electronically but Im going to try fix it. It will need an entirely new body as it has all the damage you talk about. Did you ever make a 3d planned body for one? I would really like the file for that.
Great to hear it! Try and reflow all the solder joints on the analog board. That could get it going. I have not but it is on the short list at the moment.
@@AMPROEngineering ive got a microscope and stuff so ill have a good look at it. Simple stuff first, battery connections and the switch. Im pretty sure it'll be one of those.
Any chance you've come across an acceptable (near OEM appearance) rear tire for these? My first RC was a derivative of this, the Nikko Venus/Turbo-Aero. I've managed to pick up a small collection of them, but several of them are in needs of rear tires.
Thank you! I just watched your review on the Zebra, and wow...that's just sad. I remember how much I LOVED my Venus/Turbo-Aero. I can only imagine the soul-crushing disappointment of the kid that received the Zebra for a birthday or Christmas present. The devastation would only be made worse by the fact that the car -appears- to be so nice! The box and appearance of the car sets such high expectations! Off to eBay to make some offers...
I had to add this xmas 86 I had the blackfoot and a kid down the street was feeling quite ballsy and wanted race ...sad to say when he lost decided to try and ram me.....of course you know who lost 😏 😉 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@ Ampro Engineering-Do you have a Nikko Fireball by any chance ?? Or do you have any info about them as I’ve seen one today for cheap , unfortunately there’s no footage of them about on RU-vid
Yes, if you look at my video Project Bandit transmission build, I explain how to do it. Its probably better to source a good trans as opening it still poses the question of where to get a good gear.
hi mate really hope someone could help me i bought a car the other day its a turbo panther but main heading on the box says super panther, but picture of car says turbo, decs on car say turbo, i cant find any reference to a super panther i could send you a pic if you want of box, i wondered if it was a misprint, many thanks.
@@AMPROEngineering hi mate i am missing a ariel of this car could you tell me the size the transmitter to my car is the a gun style i think i need a 3mm screw male thread hope you or anyone can help many thanks
