After rebuilding the TA02 Skyline, I decided to restore one of the leftover TA02s that I bought for parts. I acquired this TA02 about a year and a half ago. It came with a motor and seemed to be in working order, but I figured I would need parts for the Skyline, so I never really considered this one anything but junk. So, it didn’t matter to me that the previous owner painted the gear boxes blue, or that it didn’t have body mounts. I was just going to end up scrapping it, I thought.
At the time I purchased this one, I had the Skyline that I was restoring and another one for parts. The other parts car couldn’t be salvaged without a lot of work, and probably more money than I wanted to spend. It was missing a considerable amount of parts that would probably be impossible to track down. As luck would have it, most of the re-used parts for the Skyline rebuild came off of that one.
Once I finished the Skyline, noticed that this one was largely in tact. A visual inspection revealed that this one only required body mounts, radio equipment, installation of the motor, and a cleaning. Because it required so little work, I decided that this would become my next project.
I don’t know very much about this car. Unlike the Skyline, it didn’t come with a manual so I can’t determine which Tamiya kit it was originally. It came with a blue Dodge Stratus body, which is obviously an aftermarket body because Tamiya did not make a Stratus kit.
Other than a couple of scrapes and some Velcro on the chassis that I assume held the receiver in place, the car seemed to be in good working order. So, it became my next project: the TA02 Fairlady.
