The Taiyo Mini Hopper 3 is a small 1:20 radio control car released in 1988 as one of several models borrowing the name and losely based on the design of the massively successful original Taiyo Jet Hopper released just a few years earlier.
This specific model was released with an unusual pink, blue, and purple color scheme, and what looks like a fake plastic shock absorber on the front, despite the box art showing a real shock absorber. This makes us wonder whether this Mini Hopper was intending to have the sopisticated front wishbone suspension with horizontal shocker like the Taiyo Lamborghini Countach 9.6V Turbo.
Putting aside that unusual fact, the Mini Hopper 3 looks great with its fasionable late 80s colors, it drives just fine for a 4xAA car with plenty of power to zip around indoors, and a limited suspension system that performs well enough for some light jumps over a cushion or our favorite, cardboard boxes cut into triangle ramps!
30 years later (today), like all Mini Hoppers, it may be a little underwhelming to drive, but it’s a beautiful model nonetheless, and worthy of any collection, particularly if you’re collecting the many varieties of the Jet Hopper / Turbo Hopper series.
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