The Tyco Marlboro Indy is an incredible looking remote control car released in 1990 by Tyco in the USA, Metro in Australia, and other brands worldwide.
Combining two things we’ll never see again – cigarette advertising on a children’s toy, and Taiyo/Tyco’s best designed road chassis with 9.6V Twin Turbo (dual motor) power, what an incredible collectors item this is! How could you possibly keep it on the shelf, it’s just begging to be raced!
In typical 80s fashion, it was released alongside the Miller Indy. Cigarettes and Alcohol, what a perfect combination for a set of kids toys!
Features and Performance
Built upon Taiyo’s best ever road chassis, also used in the Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari 358, and Super Fight F1, it’s a beauty to behold, and especially rare in this red Marlboro hard body.
For more details on the chassis, see our article on the 9.6V Twin Turbo Lamborghini Countach.
Below: Taiyo’s Dual Motor ‘Twin Turbo’ system boosts this car up to 31km/h (19mph) which is plenty fast for an indoor / track based toy grade RC car.
Unfortunately these cars are hard to come by, but they do pop up on eBay occasionally, for increasingly higher prices.
Controversy and Rarity
As the rumor goes, the Marlboro Indy wasn’t available for long, taken off the shelves due to the obvious issue with cigarette marketing on a highly popular kids toy. It’s hard to verify this, especially as all the Indy models are rare, but if it were true then it might also be assumed that it was replaced with the ‘TYCO’ branded car as you see below.
These photos of a brand new not-Marlboro car were posted on 8th December 2022 by a user who purchased a home and found this inside! He’s looking to sell, so if you’re interested, checkout the thread.
Recommendation
The Marlboro Indy does come onto the market occasionally, however it’s rare to find one in excellent condition, so expect to pay serious money for a mint boxed item, or just grab a somewhat scratched unboxed basher like us and enjoy driving it!
It’s easily one of our Top 10 cars, so there’s no disputing, it’s a wonderful addition to any collection.
Do you have a Taiyo Marlboro Indy or Indy re-issue? Let us know below, we’d love to see some photos!
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