The Tyco 4WD Turbo-4 is a 1/16 scale radio control model manufactured by Taiyo (Japan) and released in the US, UK, and other countries worldwide in 1988.
Have you seen this Tyco RC before? You may remember it as the 1987 Taiyo Super Jet!
A relatively small, solid, high torque four wheel drive radio control car, it’s designed for off road bashing in dirt, dust, and mud, and is of typical Taiyo / Japanese quality, much better than you’d find today anywhere except a proper hobby store. (Remember, these were sold in toy stores and department stores!)
The artwork on the Tyco 4WD Turbo-4 is as good as you’d expect from Tyco in the late 80s – excellent. It has that signature Ken Smith style, though I can’t see his mark on it anywhere. If you can, or have alternate shots where its visible, let us know.

Features and Performance
For a small 1/16 buggy it’s feature packed:
- 9.6V ‘Turbo’ in a relatively small 1:16 scale buggy
- Four Wheel Drive
- Shocks Front and Rear
- Deluxe Pistol Grip controller
- Ships with nice Tyco Red 8xAA charge pack and charger
We believe it has a differential, but need conformation.

Recommendation
Tyco 4WD Turbo-4 models listed on eBay at the time of writing are asking some eye watering prices (USD $600, plus shipping!) which seems a tad optimistic to me, but it depends what people will pay.
Whatever the case, this is a rare model, the only ‘Gold’ car that Taiyo/Tyco ever manufactured to our knowledge, so whatever you do pay, it’s not going to be cheap, and we’re sure that it would be worth it.