Kyosho Triumph

The Kyosho Triumph (kit #4301) was on my wishlist of must-have cars ever since I first saw it in the Tower Hobbies catalog in the late 80's.  Designed from the ground up as a highly competitive racer, it seemed (to me) like it was an updated Ultima with belt drive and slipper clutch.  I'm not sure how popular it was with the racing crowd, but you don't see too many for sale so I'd guess it didn't sell very well compared to the Ultima series.  Finding an unused model is rare, too, so when I came across this fine new-built-but-never-driven example on an auction website, I tried not to get too excited since I knew I'd never win it.  As it turned out there was hardly any interest in this particular auction, so the final price was quite low - at least half of what I thought it would go for - and I won it.

Upon receiving it, I was ecstatic.  It was truly brand new built and never used.  A motor had never been mounted to the mounting plate (Kyosho did not supply a motor in the Triumph kit) and there were no scratches to be found anywhere on the chassis or suspension arms.  It must have been built and then forgotten or displayed only.  The body and wing were untrimmed.  The seller even included the parts trees that were unused from the original build plus the left over shock oil.

Quite faded box obviously stored for a long time

Not a scratch anywhere

Completely unadjusted front caster and camber settings

Pristine spur gear, slipper and no motor screw marks on plate

Untouched decal sheet

The miscellaneous extras plus wing and gear covers

Untrimmed original body

I plan to completely disassemble the car and then build it according to the manual and finish in box-art style.