Growing up when I was 11, my neighbor had The Fox. I had The Hornet. The Fox blew my Hornet out of the water. I was green with envy over his Fox. 35 years later, a Nova Fox is in my collection!! Great video on a true classic buggy.
I purchased the original "Fox" from "RC Competition Corner" in Mattydale N.Y back in 1989. With that being said, it's very possible that these buggies were sold on the market up until 1991. I will say this, the "Fox" was a beautiful, durable and very fast RC car. It has all the power you need. A friend of mine had a "Gold Pan RC-10". I used to dust him all the time. He literally had to do multiple upgrades until he finally gave me a run for my money. The "Fox" doesn't seem to get enough recognition as one of Tamiya's great super buggies. I've owned multiple RC cars up until recently, but the "Fox" still remains one of the most durable and best performing cars I've had.
Love this review on the Fox, Gavin. I got my Fox for Christmas 1985 aged 12, it's still the best present I ever received. I ragged it everywhere, racing against friends Wild Ones, Grasshoppers and Falcons - it was never beaten except when it broke, which it did a lot! The front and rear arms always crack where the screw pin goes in. It would've been better if it had solid pins and e clips to attach the suspension arms. The gearbox is bullet proof when ball raced but the hex driveshafts were awful no matter how much grease you used. I had a third party dogbone setup which solved this issue. The rear wheel adapters always cracked too, probably caused by over-tightening the wheel nuts. I still have my Fox which is now a shelf queen, too scared to run it now even though parts are available. One of the best looking cars Tamiya has ever made. Looking forward to your restoration.
I just found your channel and we are new fans all the way from South Louisiana, USA! We love your style and your brand and look forward to more content. Cheers
Awesome! Great tribute to your pop. I've always wanted a fox. Drooled over em at the local hobby shop as a kid. When you say 38 years ago it seems like an long time. My 1985 RX7 is 38 years old.too. guess it's a classic now.
Nice vid, I’ve only had a nova fox and it was only briefly , apart from the roll bar and driveshafts and shock mount I didn’t realise there was that many differences, especially on the box. Cheers for sharing
I just did a restore on a fox had to replace the rears arms drove it the front arms then broke replaced those then I noticed the gear box cracked replaced that and your correct had a hard time getting those parts, can’t wait to see how your restore goes
Had a pair of Foxes when I was a kid and spent many hours racing my dad in the back yard or repairing those things. I think the only upgrades we did were a modified motor and RC10 shocks because those yellow things were terrible.
Excellent video Gavin, I built the GrassHopper back in the mid 80s and always remember seeing some slightly older people racing around The fox in large field and it fascinated me and never forgot it. After all these years I managed to buy one last year unbuilt in its box and it was like opening a time capsul when I got it. Now I don't Know If I want to Build it or leave it the way it is.
What I find a bit of an eye opener looking at all of these wonderful vintage Tamiyas through adult eyes is how similar they all are! I remember the Fox back in the 80's being very desirable, but there's not actually much difference from The Falcon, which I had. In fact, The Falcon has twin front dampers. Both are very plastic based, The Fox has a better fibre damper upright. I think a lot of it was down to the looks!!!! The Falcon is a bit "dorky" looking..... And on your price list, the Bigwig is super expensive! And yet, it was still very plastic with toyish colours etc. The Avante, however, was a totally different machine, engineering wise at least. Amazing memories, thanks Gavin!
My Novafox has NOS fox front anti roll bar as well as the metal front upright supports and the correct balljoints all these mods do make it look much better
Really interesting to see the differences in the two cars even on the boxes. Got a Fox in early 1986 for the princely sum of £85. Used to race it at my local buggy club for several years. Found it in my parents loft about 15 years ago and got it back up and running albeit with new electrics. Still running it's Spirit 600 motor from back in the day, and still gets plenty of time on an outdoor track during the summer months. Great little car, but if you're planning on running it much definitely change to the novafox dogbones as the fox driveshafts were rubbish no matter how much grease you put in them.
I have the re-issue of the Hornet & Nova Fox . My Hornet is now a shelf 👑… my fox I still take out , never flipped it as the control is flawless , so hopefully Itl stay looking mint , just a clean up on occasions ☺️
I had a Grasshopper in 87. Still got it fully restored. I always lusted after the Fox and suburu Brat. I have a brat ReRe and was lucky enough to be given a mint Fox some time back. I want a basher...May buy a NovaFox.
Gavin! I think you may need to have Rebecca do the videos more often. Not that I don't enjoy the content when you do it. It's just that Rebecca is way better looking. Haha!! A beautiful lady with RC cars, AND a British accent?! Well, that's a winning combination right there!
Unfortunately Rebecca is extremely busy with her own work, so it doesn’t leave much time for her. That and looking after the kids and everything that entails.
1985, I was 12 and my dad got me The Fox which I picked out for having straight A's.... that was the last time I had straight A's lol.. until my college years and I don't know how I got 4.0
Thanks for the great run down of the old and the new version! I didn't know there was that many differences outside of the MSC and stuff. Good stuff! I also like you are doing a tribute to your dad's buggy, that is really neat!
Great channel. However, missing the footage of you driving all these cars to be honest. It's the only thing missing..I think its a big reason why subscriptions aren't higher on your channel. We love watching people bash and jump their cars. It really is the best part..just my opinion, cheers.
There's a brand called Fox Racing that sells motocross and mountain bike related apparel, I wouldn't be surprised if that's why they had to change the name.
I have a Novafox and I restored a beat up old OG Fox for my son. I have to be honest, i didn't really take note of the differences apart from the servo/chassis mount and the fact that the drive cups in the gearbox were retained by wire c-clips rather than e-clips.
The whole steering servo saver assembly is different on the Nova Fox. Quite a few parts needed from several different bags on the original - rubber grommet, aluminiun piece and plastic parts. Did you get those parts?
The name thing is a little bit confusing - as people have pointed out in other comments you have Fox Racing and Fox Shocks, but then (and this is possibly more likely) you have the VW Fox that was being made in the period that the Novafox was released. Someone else mentioned the Vanquish being changed to VQX just becasue it was updated, but I always assumed that was because Aston Martin started using the Vanquish name in the 2000s.
Feedback about the availability of this back then. I loved the Fox and asked for one for my 13th Bday. My Dad couldn't get it anywhere and instead I got the Falcon instead. I'm ashamed to say I felt disappointed. I loved the blue and gold of the Fox, but not the yellow plastic wheels of the Falcon. However, the Falcon turned out to be my favourite car from that time. I still have it fortunately..So maybe like now they released them in waves every few years?
Just pre ordered a Nova Fox for $143.00 US from Tower. This was one that I wanted as a kid but was out of reach for me. However, I owned a new Hornet and second-hand Wild One. Fox racing shocks or Fox motocross might be the reason for the name change?
Stupidly low at 6,000 ish. Really unless you have savings, you need to be around 60-90k subs before you can call it just about a living wage. Currently even with the Patreon support, it's well below minimum wage and thats three videos a week, fifty two weeks of the year. That said you have other benefits like being your own boss, flexible hours when needed it and no Sunday night, Monday morning feeling. That's a big one for me.
In Japanese NOVA means NEW Face or NEW look ... like the new car by GForce GeNOVA where it also likely stands for something NEW. I got a Fox in 1985 when they came out. I paid about $85 for it. In today's money that is about $235. That was quite a chunk for me as I remember, but the RC10 was $225 which is $625 today !!... I could not afford that !
The Fox is undervalued as a vintage buggy as people think the NovaFox is the same. It’s actually different in a load of ways from the bizarre steering servo setup that was only ever on the Fox, to the rear driveshafts, MSC with two resistors giving that fantastic vintage look or the rare front ARB that is unique to the Fox. All these things result in a not so easy vintage buggy to restore.
Tamiya lost lots of their car names because they didn't copyright them. Fox Racing now own that name because of it. Supershot is now owned by the basketball arcade game. You probably won't see a super hornet rere because that name is now used by whoever makes the fighter jet. Vanquish was changed to VQS because Aston Martin now own that name. All this could of been avoided if Tamiya would of just kept the copyrights updated.
@@RCKickschannel unfortunately the art isn't the name, the art in itself is owned by the designer so, they can lose the name but not the design, which is why copyright is a must on names but, that needs to be kept up to date as most copyright run out after ten years so need to be reaplied.
@SteveQ Tamiya's buggy has Fox racing team that's why they can't use it because there is now a company called Fox Racing team that uses that name and has it registered. Aston Martin copyrighted the name Vanquish when it started making the car in the 90s after tamiya stopped making it's version. They are not that hard to figure out, and artistic licence is not the same thing, the design is separate from the name, the design can be licenced out and renamed with different badging, the design stays the same and owned by whoever designed it unless it is sold. If you want to check copyrights there is a website for that. As for the other Fox brands they have variation in the name and would be registered as such so they are not the same thing and Fox news didn't even exist when the Fox buggy was being sold first time around anyway. All the other buggies name have not been used by other companies or are things that can't be copyrighted I.E. like a boomerang which is a thing that's been around for thousands of years and had no predeposite as an owned design and would be considered an every day item like a knife, fork or spoon.
@SteveQ just did the same search for fox racing and the same result, quote " there will be a conflict of interest " and a massive list of all fox racing trade marks.
Growing up when I was 11, my neighbor had The Fox. I had The Hornet. The Fox blew my Hornet out of the water. I was green with envy over his Fox. 35 years later, a Nova Fox is in my collection!! Great video on a true classic buggy.
The Fox branding will be to do with the USA company Fox Racing that make motocross gear
@ADB7D Fox Racing is now a trademark of Fox head inc so they won’t be allowed to use it
I purchased the original "Fox" from "RC Competition Corner" in Mattydale N.Y back in 1989. With that being said, it's very possible that these buggies were sold on the market up until 1991. I will say this, the "Fox" was a beautiful, durable and very fast RC car. It has all the power you need. A friend of mine had a "Gold Pan RC-10". I used to dust him all the time. He literally had to do multiple upgrades until he finally gave me a run for my money. The "Fox" doesn't seem to get enough recognition as one of Tamiya's great super buggies. I've owned multiple RC cars up until recently, but the "Fox" still remains one of the most durable and best performing cars I've had.
Love this review on the Fox, Gavin. I got my Fox for Christmas 1985 aged 12, it's still the best present I ever received. I ragged it everywhere, racing against friends Wild Ones, Grasshoppers and Falcons - it was never beaten except when it broke, which it did a lot! The front and rear arms always crack where the screw pin goes in. It would've been better if it had solid pins and e clips to attach the suspension arms. The gearbox is bullet proof when ball raced but the hex driveshafts were awful no matter how much grease you used. I had a third party dogbone setup which solved this issue. The rear wheel adapters always cracked too, probably caused by over-tightening the wheel nuts. I still have my Fox which is now a shelf queen, too scared to run it now even though parts are available. One of the best looking cars Tamiya has ever made. Looking forward to your restoration.
Thanks for the epic comment Scott. I love hearing about childhood RC stories. 👍🏻👍🏻.
I just found your channel and we are new fans all the way from South Louisiana, USA! We love your style and your brand and look forward to more content. Cheers
Thanks for watching 👍🏻
Awesome! Great tribute to your pop. I've always wanted a fox. Drooled over em at the local hobby shop as a kid. When you say 38 years ago it seems like an long time. My 1985 RX7 is 38 years old.too. guess it's a classic now.
I remember as a kid I had the Hornet and it came with a Tamiya catalog. I used to dream of getting the Fox and the Porsche 959...
Yep we all did that back in the day. So many lovely cars and all the amazing box artwork :)
Nice vid, I’ve only had a nova fox and it was only briefly , apart from the roll bar and driveshafts and shock mount I didn’t realise there was that many differences, especially on the box. Cheers for sharing
This direct comparison is extremely interesting. Thanks, mate.
I just did a restore on a fox had to replace the rears arms drove it the front arms then broke replaced those then I noticed the gear box cracked replaced that and your correct had a hard time getting those parts, can’t wait to see how your restore goes
Had a pair of Foxes when I was a kid and spent many hours racing my dad in the back yard or repairing those things. I think the only upgrades we did were a modified motor and RC10 shocks because those yellow things were terrible.
I used to have the Fox. And now I will love to get me another one.❤
Not easy to find a good vintage FOX these days but the Nova is 👍🏻
Excellent video Gavin, I built the GrassHopper back in the mid 80s and always remember seeing some slightly older people racing around The fox in large field and it fascinated me and never forgot it. After all these years I managed to buy one last year unbuilt in its box and it was like opening a time capsul when I got it. Now I don't Know If I want to Build it or leave it the way it is.
That’s the issue with owning a vintage NIB kit. To build it or not
What I find a bit of an eye opener looking at all of these wonderful vintage Tamiyas through adult eyes is how similar they all are! I remember the Fox back in the 80's being very desirable, but there's not actually much difference from The Falcon, which I had. In fact, The Falcon has twin front dampers. Both are very plastic based, The Fox has a better fibre damper upright. I think a lot of it was down to the looks!!!! The Falcon is a bit "dorky" looking..... And on your price list, the Bigwig is super expensive! And yet, it was still very plastic with toyish colours etc. The Avante, however, was a totally different machine, engineering wise at least. Amazing memories, thanks Gavin!
I’d love to see more Vintage vs Rere videos, it’s very interesting.
My Novafox has NOS fox front anti roll bar as well as the metal front upright supports and the correct balljoints all these mods do make it look much better
Oh my God!!!! Freaking AWESOME!!! The Fox was my first hobby grade RC!!! Loved that rig. I got stolen about 10 years ago.
Really interesting to see the differences in the two cars even on the boxes. Got a Fox in early 1986 for the princely sum of £85. Used to race it at my local buggy club for several years. Found it in my parents loft about 15 years ago and got it back up and running albeit with new electrics. Still running it's Spirit 600 motor from back in the day, and still gets plenty of time on an outdoor track during the summer months. Great little car, but if you're planning on running it much definitely change to the novafox dogbones as the fox driveshafts were rubbish no matter how much grease you put in them.
Cool that's a lot of R/Cs 🙂
God bless.
I have the re-issue of the Hornet & Nova Fox . My Hornet is now a shelf 👑… my fox I still take out , never flipped it as the control is flawless , so hopefully Itl stay looking mint , just a clean up on occasions ☺️
I had a Grasshopper in 87. Still got it fully restored. I always lusted after the Fox and suburu Brat. I have a brat ReRe and was lucky enough to be given a mint Fox some time back. I want a basher...May buy a NovaFox.
Gavin! I think you may need to have Rebecca do the videos more often. Not that I don't enjoy the content when you do it. It's just that Rebecca is way better looking. Haha!! A beautiful lady with RC cars, AND a British accent?! Well, that's a winning combination right there!
Unfortunately Rebecca is extremely busy with her own work, so it doesn’t leave much time for her. That and looking after the kids and everything that entails.
@@RCKickschannel in all seriousness, your videos are top notch. Well done, bringing RC family together.
Yep! Been there! I always seem to rush my body’s and often have paint issues!
1985, I was 12 and my dad got me The Fox which I picked out for having straight A's.... that was the last time I had straight A's lol.. until my college years and I don't know how I got 4.0
Thanks for the great run down of the old and the new version! I didn't know there was that many differences outside of the MSC and stuff. Good stuff! I also like you are doing a tribute to your dad's buggy, that is really neat!
I had the origingal when i was kid. Need to get the new one.
Great channel. However, missing the footage of you driving all these cars to be honest. It's the only thing missing..I think its a big reason why subscriptions aren't higher on your channel. We love watching people bash and jump their cars. It really is the best part..just my opinion, cheers.
Wow this is going to be awesome 👌 Pure vintage Tamiya goodness!! 😍
I think so too Paul!
I do love the fox, looking forward to seeing this one all done. 👍
Great video Gavin! Love the fox
There's a brand called Fox Racing that sells motocross and mountain bike related apparel, I wouldn't be surprised if that's why they had to change the name.
I have a Novafox and I restored a beat up old OG Fox for my son. I have to be honest, i didn't really take note of the differences apart from the servo/chassis mount and the fact that the drive cups in the gearbox were retained by wire c-clips rather than e-clips.
You have to love Tamiya box art.
My brothers Fox was so quick and gnarly compared to my Falcon. I was always jealous.
The whole steering servo saver assembly is different on the Nova Fox. Quite a few parts needed from several different bags on the original - rubber grommet, aluminiun piece and plastic parts. Did you get those parts?
Well done anyway. And no sick pay.
LOL nope
Gavin are you gonna do a comparison of the boomerang when they come in If it gets rereleased
I had a Hornet. That was the bee’s knee’s until my Dad bought a Fox. It was so smooth, so fast, compared to the Hornet it was unreal.
Awesome. I’m getting ready to restore a falcon. I’d love to have either a fox or nova fox
Good luck. I’ve restored a few Falcons on the show
Be very careful with the Falcon front end,brakes easily.
This is basically that game, spot the difference.
100% lol
I had an NIB sat here and sold it on..... WHY?? lol....
Definitely considering a rere again
There are two sport brands named Fox, one makes performance shocks for cars, motorbikes and bicycles and the other makes clothes and body protections.
Geek central - awesome 🎉
I had this as a kid in 86
A very cool project.
Will be so good to decorate the car the same as your dads car 🙌🏼🙌🏼. I’m doing the same with my late dads slot cars 🙂🙏🏼😎🙌🏼
Interesting on the side bars for the Battery. My vintage Fox (had since new) is like the NOVA Fox. Nothing additional to hold the battery.
Thats strange as that part is in the manual.
@@RCKickschannel They were for when you were using a 5 cell 6v pack or a 6 cell 'hump' battery I think Gav 👍
I actually found the parts (fillers) in my stash.
Any idea where to source the original Tamiya Fox anti-roll bars. I have an original Fox from 1985 and want to add this.
Ask around on the tamiya Facebook groups, put out a post on the tamiya buy and sell group and save a search on eBay
The name thing is a little bit confusing - as people have pointed out in other comments you have Fox Racing and Fox Shocks, but then (and this is possibly more likely) you have the VW Fox that was being made in the period that the Novafox was released.
Someone else mentioned the Vanquish being changed to VQX just becasue it was updated, but I always assumed that was because Aston Martin started using the Vanquish name in the 2000s.
Feedback about the availability of this back then. I loved the Fox and asked for one for my 13th Bday. My Dad couldn't get it anywhere and instead I got the Falcon instead. I'm ashamed to say I felt disappointed. I loved the blue and gold of the Fox, but not the yellow plastic wheels of the Falcon. However, the Falcon turned out to be my favourite car from that time. I still have it fortunately..So maybe like now they released them in waves every few years?
Oh and that was July 1987 by the way..
Sounds like it was for sale in the UK but hard to find due to low stock levels
Just pre ordered a Nova Fox for $143.00 US from Tower. This was one that I wanted as a kid but was out of reach for me. However, I owned a new Hornet and second-hand Wild One. Fox racing shocks or Fox motocross might be the reason for the name change?
Congrats on 30k. What were ur figures before u went full time?
Stupidly low at 6,000 ish. Really unless you have savings, you need to be around 60-90k subs before you can call it just about a living wage. Currently even with the Patreon support, it's well below minimum wage and thats three videos a week, fifty two weeks of the year. That said you have other benefits like being your own boss, flexible hours when needed it and no Sunday night, Monday morning feeling. That's a big one for me.
Is this a new new release for this year?
No
A family member owns Fox Racing from the US, and they own the licensing under that name
Nice 🎉
In Japanese NOVA means NEW Face or NEW look ... like the new car by GForce GeNOVA where it also likely stands for something NEW. I got a Fox in 1985 when they came out. I paid about $85 for it. In today's money that is about $235. That was quite a chunk for me as I remember, but the RC10 was $225 which is $625 today !!... I could not afford that !
The Fox is undervalued as a vintage buggy as people think the NovaFox is the same. It’s actually different in a load of ways from the bizarre steering servo setup that was only ever on the Fox, to the rear driveshafts, MSC with two resistors giving that fantastic vintage look or the rare front ARB that is unique to the Fox. All these things result in a not so easy vintage buggy to restore.
I was worried the tamiya plastics would crack just from being video taped.
This does happen, especially on my 959 and old Vanquish.
Fox branded clothing and fox suspension
Tamiya lost lots of their car names because they didn't copyright them.
Fox Racing now own that name because of it.
Supershot is now owned by the basketball arcade game.
You probably won't see a super hornet rere because that name is now used by whoever makes the fighter jet.
Vanquish was changed to VQS because Aston Martin now own that name.
All this could of been avoided if Tamiya would of just kept the copyrights updated.
You would think prior art would play into affect.
@@RCKickschannel unfortunately the art isn't the name, the art in itself is owned by the designer so, they can lose the name but not the design, which is why copyright is a must on names but, that needs to be kept up to date as most copyright run out after ten years so need to be reaplied.
@SteveQ Tamiya's buggy has Fox racing team that's why they can't use it because there is now a company called Fox Racing team that uses that name and has it registered. Aston Martin copyrighted the name Vanquish when it started making the car in the 90s after tamiya stopped making it's version.
They are not that hard to figure out, and artistic licence is not the same thing, the design is separate from the name, the design can be licenced out and renamed with different badging, the design stays the same and owned by whoever designed it unless it is sold.
If you want to check copyrights there is a website for that.
As for the other Fox brands they have variation in the name and would be registered as such so they are not the same thing and Fox news didn't even exist when the Fox buggy was being sold first time around anyway.
All the other buggies name have not been used by other companies or are things that can't be copyrighted I.E. like a boomerang which is a thing that's been around for thousands of years and had no predeposite as an owned design and would be considered an every day item like a knife, fork or spoon.
@SteveQ just did the same search for fox racing and the same result, quote " there will be a conflict of interest " and a massive list of all fox racing trade marks.
Probably Fox Shocks
Most likely.
Most probably Fox motocross and mtb equipment..
Probably changed the name because of the NEWS channel 🤣🤣
soz about ure dad gavin