I just began restoring an old set of Swingstars, which I stopped using in 2001. I was most recently performing with a mid-1990s Premier APK kit, which sounded fine, but I forgot how great these Swingstars sounded!
Now that I'm older and realize they can (and should) really sing. Back in high school I was playing 10" and 14" toms with Evans Hydraulics, trying to get a tight, fat sound for punk and ska. Now I'm using a 1982 8x12 rack tom, mounted on a snare stand, and a 1984 16x16 floor tom with a 1982 14x22 kick. Took off the mount and playing it virgin. Playing a gig without mics Friday night, I thought the toms really shined through where my Premiers wouldn't have. Of course, the XPKs had really thin shells.
I think the Zola-Coat is pretty brilliant. These shells have been sitting in a basement for the last decade, and they're in great shape. I could be wrong, but I get the impression that the quality of the wood they used back then is much better than that of lower end kits today. I kind of hate that Tama brought back Swingstar as their bottom-of-the-line kit when, IMHO, the early 1980s Swingstars rival any middle-of-the-road kit out there, with a vintage look and sound to boot!