Review - Redcat SixtyFour Chevy Impala Lowrider

Who’s looking for the ultimate RC lowrider experience? We have the Redcat SixtyFour lowrider, featuring the iconic 1964 Chevy Impala body. How does it work? How fast is it, and is it worth it? Well, we are going to answer all of these questions. So, fasten your seatbelts and put your trays in the upright position. It’s time to take off!

Unboxing the Redcat SixtyFour

The Redcat SixtyFour lowrider comes in one of the fanciest boxes to ever grace an RC car, packed with high-quality laser-cut foam to preserve the vehicle. Since it is a fully assembled, ready-to-run lowrider, you can simply remove it from the box and drive. All the electronics that are needed are included. The body comes fully painted and detailed. And of course, a pre-programmed 6-channel transmitter is included with switches made to look like the real thing. There is also a 6-cell NiMh battery included and a USB battery charger. The requirements are four AA batteries for the transmitter.

Realistic 1964 Chevy Impala Body

Every aspect of the car has been made realistic, starting with the lexan SixtyFour body. The first thing to note is there are no exposed body clips. Instead, the body clips are underneath the chassis for a hidden, concealed look. Next, the ‘64 body is made from five different lexan pieces secured together, with the main lexan piece being the biggest, and that’s the whole center section that runs from front to back. Two more panels are used on the left and right sides, running front to back. These panels are secured to the main panel with tape. The head and taillight sections make up the final two lexan pieces.

The front grille, headlight section, and bumper are two hard plastic pieces. Each has light buckets ready for you to add LEDs. Moving to the hood, we find a chrome strip decal and hard plastic chrome windshield wipers with more chrome trim decals around the windows. The side panels have officially licensed badges, another long chrome decal strip running the length of the vehicle, and hard plastic chrome door handles.

Moving to the back, we have a second chrome bumper made from hard plastic, more officially licensed badges, and the rear bumper includes light buckets that are functional for an LED package (sold separately.) Lastly, the hard chrome strip wrapping above the taillights make for a very intricate RC body that, thankfully, somebody else put together. If you want to add LEDs to the body, it’s pretty easy with this Redcat light kit that includes 12 LEDs.

The lowrider package includes a sheet featuring graphic body decals that you may or may not add to your car. Also included are two chrome plastic antennas that don’t come installed, but make this car look even better, once you put them on the body.

 

One area you never expect an RC car to look scale realistic is underneath. If we flip the vehicle over, you’ll see a huge plastic floor panel that sits atop a realistic box-cross member chassis frame, with a molded transmission, center driveshaft, and rear gas tank. There are hard plastic chrome exhaust pieces to polish up that final look for even more realism. Notice the hidden body clips, they will need to be removed to release the body. Because this body is so nice we recommend using the foam piece from the box as a car stand.

Inside is a relatively simple black lexan piece with a molded steering wheel and seat bumps. Redcat also included a decal sheet to add more interior details. Next are the awesome scaled spoke wheels and whitewall rubber tires. If you unscrew the chrome spinner, you will find 12mm hex, and the rubber tires are glued to the wheel. The tires feel rubber with no insert inside. The tires feel a little toy-like, but many upgrade options are available with a 12mm hex.

 

Speaking of upgrades, did you know that Redcat offers 3D printable files that you can download, print, paint, and install on your car? All for free! You’ll find things like a rear-view mirror, sun visors, headlight visors, and more to add even more scale details that you usually never see on an RC car. Finally, when you’re ready to display it, Redcat made the box sleeve a cool urban backdrop so you can show off your car sitting atop the box in style.

What electronics come included on the Redcat SixtyFour?

If we get a good look at the inside of the vehicle, we see two separate electronic systems at work: one to control the car and another for our lowrider action. The SixtyFour has a Hexfly nine-gram servo for steering. Forward and reverse power is provided by a 380 brushed motor, and the Hexfly ESC (electronic speed controller) is also brushed and LiPo compatible. Note, you will need the jumper setting moved to LiPo mode before you can use a LiPo safely.

When you charge up with the included battery and USB battery charger, expect it to take about six hours to charge—which is pretty dang slow. So, buying a battery charger that charges in about 30 minutes is a great investment.

How fast is the Redcat SixtyFour Impala?

With the included battery fully charged, we set out to answer this, and in the AMain parking lot, we achieved a top speed of 13 miles an hour. Now that top speed may not seem impressive with how fast RC cars are today, but considering what this vehicle is, 13 mph is probably 10 miles an hour too fast.

How does the Redcat SixtyFour Perform?

The Impala is 2WD and has an open functional differential in the rear axle, so its driving characteristics are very much on par with other 1/10 scale on-road cars of this type, with one exception. The vehicle wheelies if you accelerate hard because a stack of weights has been added inside the fake fuel tank—to help the front bounce.

We are not exaggerating when we say 90% of the weight from this vehicle is in the rear. To demonstrate, here’s the lowrider on an RC scale that weighs each corner. The left and right-side weight biases are almost perfect, but front to back is a different story, 11% front weight to 89% rear weight. That’s over 2500 grams in the rear and less than 400 in the front—all to help it bounce.

 

In terms of lowrider performance aspects, the SixtyFour offers three main functions. The first is lifting the front end of the car as a whole, and it’s controlled by a single servo that actuates a bearing, supported pivoting cantilever system that hovers over the steering assembly. When the servo moves at full speed, it provides the pop needed to raise the front end. The shock absorbers on the front also give some springing action with repeated bouncing.

 

The transmitter channel 3 switch proportionally controls the front servo movement and reacts at the same speed you move the switch. On the left is the toggle switch that also controls the servo but in an on/off function, providing full speed and movement when held but returns when let go. You can drop the front end when it’s elevated by just pressing and holding the drop front button on the transmitter. The vehicle will return to its previous lifted position when you release the button.

The second and third lowrider functions control the rear end with independent control on the left and right sides controlled by two servos. Mechanically the rear system is much simpler than the front, with the shock absorber directly attached to an arm on the servo.

The channel 5 switch on the transmitter raises the left side, and channel 6 raises the right. Just like the front switches, these are also proportional. On the right of the transmitter, we have another on/off toggle switch that controls the rear end that will lift the rear when held and drop when released. You can drop the back as a whole when it’s elevated by pressing and holding the drop rear button just like the front. When you release the button, the vehicle returns to its original lifted position.

There are a few different ways to utilize these switches. Try stringing together a combination of movements to create a unique lowrider experience. You will find yourself spending a lot of time learning the controls and improving your timing and movements. Because the SixtyFour is a ton of fun, highly captivating and everything else just disappears while you are playing with it.

Did we experience any issues with the SixtyFour?

Short answer, yes, but nothing serious. We had an issue with the rear tire rubbing when we were in a three-wheel position. The alternate rear tire would bind when we drove forward. As a result, the car wouldn’t go straight. Instead, it would move in a circle. To remedy that, we marked where the tires were rubbing in the wheel wells with a sharpie and used a Dremel sander to remove excess material.

Sanding seemed like a good idea at the time, but it wasn’t just a little bit of material we had to remove. We ended up removing the whole center section of the wheel wells and zip-tied the wires on the top of the wire hold-downs. The final result was buttery smooth three-wheel action. In retrospect, it would have been a smarter move to use the transmitter to reset those endpoint adjustments, but that would raise the rear ride height a little bit, and that is why we didn’t do it in the first place. So instead, we went with a caveman move and cut out the plastic. Either method will work if you encounter the same issue.

Summary

The SixtyFour is an impressive RC car and super realistic looking. It functions as a lowrider, as a proper RC car, and it’s available in a couple color options. This hopping lowrider is well worth the investment, and “dang it,” we loved every minute of it. But, it’s not a car to go bash on hard or something you’d add on a fast motor system to, it’s not something you would try to convert to a different type of car later. Instead, the SixtyFour is a piece of RC art, meant to be loved and appreciated just the way it is. For even more retro, hopping fun, check out the 1979 Chevy Monte Carlo also from Redcat Racing.

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