RE: when did you get into rc cars?
Started in 1984-85. Cars listed below in order as best as I can remember.
Grasshopper - Still have it and it still runs.
Aristo Craft Kangaroo. Actually a pretty good car but the ESC was Huge and heavy. Had actually Lead for the Heat sinks??!!???
Tamiya Bruiser - Wouldn't do this again even if they re-released it.
Tamiya Falcon - Great car for light bashing. Front end is weak.
Tamiya Fox - Awesome car. Great on track.
Tamiya Hornet - Great fun car. Not too be taken too seriously.
Tamiya King Cab - This was a disappointment. Could never keep the Ball diff from slipping and burning up. I rebuild it, hobby shop rebuilt it, friends rebuilt it..
Tamiya Black Foot - Another great fun truck but a little top heavy.
Tamiya Monster Beetle - Again great truck. This on was super top heavy and would roll at the slightest twitch of the stick.
Tamiya Frog & Brat. Got both of these at the same time for Christmas one year. Frog was an awesome backyard racer. By this time I had a small track in the back yard. Brat was a nice show truck but didn't handle at all.
RC10 CE - My first real racer. Fun car, tough as nails and heavy...
Hirobo Celica & Peugeot 205 - Got these on a close out deal. 2 for $99. The Celica never ran right with the stock MSC. The 205 worked great and ran for several years before I ended up breaking it and couldn't find parts.
Bolink Hot rod and the 50's truck. Fun in a straight line and looked cool with detailed bodies. Both bounced around like grasshoppers as they really had no suspension to speak of.
Bolink Legends. Bought 4 of these at a hobby shop that was closing. Great fun cars. Build all for the same way. By this time ESC's had become reasonable so all for cars got futaba radios with Futaba 210 ESC's and stock Tamiya silver can motors. I started a small spec class that ran in an old parking lot by my hose once a week. Great success. At one time we had over 100 cars waiting to run.
I've had litlerally hundreds of cars over the years. These are just a few of the ones that really stuck out in my mind. I'll update the list later when I find my notes.