The Tyco Hi-Jacker is a radio controlled car manufactured by Taiyo (Japan), and released in the US, UK, and worldwide markets by Tyco in 1992.
Released in the same year was the 1996 Tyco Mini Hi-Jacker.
Rise of the Gimmick Cars
The Tyco Hi-Jacker is the western version of the 1992 Taiyo 9.6V Turbo Hi-Jacker, one of the many ‘gimmick‘ cars introduced by Taiyo/Tyco during the 90s.
Faced with their key market of teens and kids being lured away by Nintendo and Sega, the 1990s for Tyco was marked by more and more outrageous designs and attempts to ‘wow’ with crazier and wilder advertisements and functions on the vehicles themselves.
Features and Performance
The Hi-Jacker attempted to piggyback on the popularity of the earlier Tyco Lamborghini Countach style, with a similar but exaggerated black body, hiding the neon green/yellow under body that held the gimmick’s mechanism.
With a touch of the large red button at the top right of the controller, the car body would ‘spring up’, giving the appearance of an off-road vehicle with higher ground clearance.
In reality, the bottom of the chassis stayed in the same position, so the effect was visual only, though the off-road tires and overall design did give the Hi-Jacker more off-road capability than the road-only Lamborghini.
Unusual for a ‘gimmick’ toy, was the Hi-Jacker backed up its image with a proper 9.6V ‘Turbo’ battery pack, giving it plenty of power.
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As with any large Tyco release, the Hi-Jacker was given a major TV advertising campaign which we’ll link for you below. As a kid in the 90s, how could you not want one?
Recommendation
The Hi-Jacker is one of those cars that you’ll immediately know whether you want to own it, so I won’t bother trying to convince you either way. But if you had it as a kid, the nostalgia will no doubt be intense.
Thankfully there’s a few around, and prices aren’t too bad, though as usual getting a mint one in a box can be tough, and will cost you.
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