My first radio control car that was of any significance was a Sears Lobo. I don’t recall if it was a Lobo, Lobo II, or a Super Lobo, but I found this old eBay listing that looks spot-on:
I had other cars before it, some that had wires – “remote control” as they were called. Another early radio controlled car had a single button on the controller. The car would go forward with no input from the controller. When you pressed the button, it would go backwards and turn at the same time – effectively giving you an option to point it in a new direction. The Lobo put all those others to bed.