Except “RC” literally stands for “remote controlled”.

What you had were uncontrolled toy cars.

Plenty of old RC cars were wired.

memory unlocked

Backup to turn one way was how they worked when I was a kid, but the also used a long cord instead of RF.

I had an RC car as a kid that didn’t have steering. When it reversed, it turned left. That was the only directional control you had. I don’t know if it only had one motor, but I imagine it did.