Wandering around this autojumble a couple of weeks ago i stumbled across this little beauty.
A BMW M1, very cool. Anyway i remember that my brother had one of these back in the eighties, and i remember thinking it was cool back then. It was pretty quick, the batteries lasted a long time and the headlights pop up, whats not to like? So i enquire about the price. The guy says it's got no controller mate! Umm, ok, but that wasn't what i asked, however i've lost a bit of interest in it now i must be honest. Still, i thought if i can get it for a couple of quid, so i ask him the price again. A tenner mate was his answer! A tenner without the controller, i don't think so, so i wander off, and wander around the rest of the autojumble. Later that afternoon as the autojumble was winding up i went back, just out of curiosity to see if he still had it, and indeed he did, and he was packing up. So i say to this guy that i'll give him a couple of quid for it, whihc he laughed at, and told me that he'd rather take it home with him. I said fair enough, and started to walk away, to which he said, wait a minute mate, arn't you gonna haggle? I said that i felt there was no point, as what i was prepared to offer was no where near what he thought it was worth. To which he said, a fiver mate and it's yours! I should've got him down to four quid really, but i wanted it, so handed over a fiver, and it was mine! I guess he wouldn't rather take it home with him after all lol. But now, what am i going to do with it? I took it home and cleaned up the battery compartment, and put some new batteries in it, and turned it on. The rear wheels turned a little, and the fronts flicked left and right a bit, good i thought, it works. I then asked the pistonpoppets to dig out every controller for every radio controlled device they have. About then minutes later i was sitting in my kitchen, with the best part of thirty controllers! Good, i thought, one of these is bound to work it! Ha haaaa, how wrong i was, NONE of them make it go, so radio controlled car fanatics of Retro Rides, what do i do from here. I'm sure with the right controller it will work, but what is the right controller? Do i actually have to find the original controller that came with it? Under the car itself it says Super Radio Tron, K.K. Matsushiro, made in Tokyo, Japan. It also says FTZ NO AGS-67 GAMA GE 49.11, and there is a very very faded sticker that seems to say Band 3 (but i might be wrong, it is very faded!) So i was wondering do i just need to get a Band 3 Chrystal and put it into my old Acoms controller to make it work? And/Or does the GE 49.11 bit that is molded into the underside of the car refer to the crystal frequency, therefore i need to buy a 49.11MHz crystal? Or can you buy a universal type controller that you can 'dial in' the frequency? Or, is there a way to change the crystals in the car, (I've not opened it up yet) therefore i could just buy a chrystal set and put on in my controller, and one in the car... Oorrrrrrrrrrr... Do i just have a quite nice 1/12(ish) scale model of a BMW M1 for my shelf? Your thoughts and words of wisdom as ever would be much appreciated.
A BMW M1, very cool. Anyway i remember that my brother had one of these back in the eighties, and i remember thinking it was cool back then. It was pretty quick, the batteries lasted a long time and the headlights pop up, whats not to like? So i enquire about the price. The guy says it's got no controller mate! Umm, ok, but that wasn't what i asked, however i've lost a bit of interest in it now i must be honest. Still, i thought if i can get it for a couple of quid, so i ask him the price again. A tenner mate was his answer! A tenner without the controller, i don't think so, so i wander off, and wander around the rest of the autojumble. Later that afternoon as the autojumble was winding up i went back, just out of curiosity to see if he still had it, and indeed he did, and he was packing up. So i say to this guy that i'll give him a couple of quid for it, whihc he laughed at, and told me that he'd rather take it home with him. I said fair enough, and started to walk away, to which he said, wait a minute mate, arn't you gonna haggle? I said that i felt there was no point, as what i was prepared to offer was no where near what he thought it was worth. To which he said, a fiver mate and it's yours! I should've got him down to four quid really, but i wanted it, so handed over a fiver, and it was mine! I guess he wouldn't rather take it home with him after all lol. But now, what am i going to do with it? I took it home and cleaned up the battery compartment, and put some new batteries in it, and turned it on. The rear wheels turned a little, and the fronts flicked left and right a bit, good i thought, it works. I then asked the pistonpoppets to dig out every controller for every radio controlled device they have. About then minutes later i was sitting in my kitchen, with the best part of thirty controllers! Good, i thought, one of these is bound to work it! Ha haaaa, how wrong i was, NONE of them make it go, so radio controlled car fanatics of Retro Rides, what do i do from here. I'm sure with the right controller it will work, but what is the right controller? Do i actually have to find the original controller that came with it? Under the car itself it says Super Radio Tron, K.K. Matsushiro, made in Tokyo, Japan. It also says FTZ NO AGS-67 GAMA GE 49.11, and there is a very very faded sticker that seems to say Band 3 (but i might be wrong, it is very faded!) So i was wondering do i just need to get a Band 3 Chrystal and put it into my old Acoms controller to make it work? And/Or does the GE 49.11 bit that is molded into the underside of the car refer to the crystal frequency, therefore i need to buy a 49.11MHz crystal? Or can you buy a universal type controller that you can 'dial in' the frequency? Or, is there a way to change the crystals in the car, (I've not opened it up yet) therefore i could just buy a chrystal set and put on in my controller, and one in the car... Oorrrrrrrrrrr... Do i just have a quite nice 1/12(ish) scale model of a BMW M1 for my shelf? Your thoughts and words of wisdom as ever would be much appreciated.
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