An old boy knows nothing! Old Vs New Electrics.

[McMike]

OK. Today I received an old Cougar 2 and tomorrow I will get my Cougar 1. The Cougar 2 just needs a new front end and then its set to go (ballraced diff already inside! Yay!) but I'm totally confused about all the new electronics you can get these days so need some help and advice.
Back in the early 90s, everything was so simple but now I find myself with 4 vintage ESCs (Futaba 112b, Hitec SP-520+. Tekin 411p and 410k) and not sure what to do. I know the Tekins were totally the top of the range back then with the 410k way ahead of its time but, they were never my thing. I like to have a reverse and the other 2 ESCs have that but are made for stock motors and I intend to get a 15x2 (cant afford a brushless system right now).
This is where the confusion comes in, now matter what you say, in not going brushless right now and Lipo is a possibility in the near future. I'm old-school and need to come in that way too. I need some nice Ni-Mh (what happened to Ni-Cads?) and a ESC for a 15x2 brushed motor. I never fully understood the difference but had a Speedmaster Silver Star and Parma Cyclone 2 15x2 in my fully modded Astute and did quite well.
Simply put, who makes good brushed motors these days and what would be a nice ESC for that in combination with some Ni-Mhs? Gone are the days of the Sanyo Cadnica red sticks!
Cheers!