Remember when you were a kid, and remote-control cars were cheap plastic toys that were great fun until they quickly and inevitably fell apart into unfixable shards? Well, those days are over. Now, RC cars are high-dollar enthusiast machines, built to look incredible and tuned for ultimate performance. Case in point: This Kyosho EP Fazer Datsun 240Z.
The Fazer is a stock chassis from Kyosho, one that’s been put under every body from WRC STIs to Hakosuka GT-Rs to drift Mustangs. The Fazer beneath this Datsun, however, is modified for rally use: Bigger lifted shocks, reinforced connecting parts, and a dust shield to keep the internal components free of dirt.
Atop that chassis, however, is the real beauty: The Kyosha 240Z body. It’s built to replicate the Z that won the 1971 East African Safari Rally, and it’s a nearly perfect match. The colors, the sponsors, the fog lights, everything is all there.
The little RC Datsun, however, comes with some rally capabilities that the real car lacks. The Fazer chassis is four-wheel-drive, meaning the toy may well be quicker off the line than the six-cylinder car it replicates. In video, it looks properly quick for a little remote-control toy that can tool around your local park, woods, or whatever a “yard” is.
I’ve long liked the idea of high-spec RC cars — drift cars, particularly, pique my interest — but this Z is truly something special. Taking my all time favorite car body, dressing it up in full rally spec, and sitting it atop an RC chassis meant for off-road driving? Does anyone want to Venmo me $270 to try one of these out?