Help trying to remember my first racer

[Deano]

I've done some searching and googling but I can't find anything. Circa 1980. I think it was 12th scale. It was in the shape of an F1 car, Saudia Williams livery. Body wasn't Lexan,but regular plastic. Chassis was very basic, could have been flat ally sheet or maybe FRP. It wasn't Tamiya. I had a feeling it was Mardave, but I can't find any reference to any Mardave that fits the description.

[terry.sc]

Back then there was an F1 class for 1/12th scale, with a range of F1 bodies in lexan so in theory it could be anything, but there weren't many cars with ABS bodies.

Most likely from your description it is either the Mardave or Lectricar F1. You can see the Lectricar here the Mardave was similar. The easy way to tell them apart is the shape of the front end, the Lectricar can be seen at the above link, the Mardave F1 used the same parts as the original Mini, seen here. In fact the Mardave Mini came about as a profitable way for Mardave to dispose of their stock old f1 and saloon car parts, which ended up with them having to put them back into production.

Both used a low detail generic F1 body as seen here, the only specific Saudia Williams car was the Tamiya 1/10th scale.

[gainsy]

What happened to the squashed cat in your showroom Terry? did it get run over? Some nice vintage parts on some of them old cats

[terry.sc]

Originally Posted by gainsy

What happened to the squashed cat in your showroom Terry? did it get run over? Some nice vintage parts on some of them old cats

I was the fool who bought it like that from ebay, for the adjustable top links and to see what else was on there. Happy to find a full Wasp high torque gearbox in the back.

[Deano]

Originally Posted by terry.sc

Back then there was an F1 class for 1/12th scale, with a range of F1 bodies in lexan so in theory it could be anything, but there weren't many cars with ABS bodies.

Most likely from your description it is either the Mardave or Lectricar F1. You can see the Lectricar here the Mardave was similar. The easy way to tell them apart is the shape of the front end, the Lectricar can be seen at the above link, the Mardave F1 used the same parts as the original Mini, seen here. In fact the Mardave Mini came about as a profitable way for Mardave to dispose of their stock old f1 and saloon car parts, which ended up with them having to put them back into production.

Both used a low detail generic F1 body as seen here, the only specific Saudia Williams car was the Tamiya 1/10th scale.

Ahh, thanks for that. They both look very similar but I'm almost certain now that it was the Mardave. Especially as I found this, http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64714
I must have got a decal set from somewhere, but I do remember hand painting some of the green parts onto the body.

I was never very good with it against the other better cars, and I soon moved onto an Associated... Rc12 I think that was.

[terry.sc]

Originally Posted by Deano

I was never very good with it against the other better cars, and I soon moved onto an Associated... Rc12 I think that was.

In 1980 that would be the RC12E.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...9/96/RC12E.jpg

[Deano]

Originally Posted by terry.sc

In 1980 that would be the RC12E.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...9/96/RC12E.jpg

Yes, thanks for that.