Toyota Celica GT-Four Rally
Model Number: 58096

This, surprisingly to some was the first car that Tamiya made on their TA01 chassis which was developed from the Manta Ray off-road chassis. The car depicted is another Carlos Sainz drive the Celica GT4 (ST165 model). No sooner did Toyota get this thing running just right when they changed their real life model lineup and moved over to the later Celica GT-Four (ST185 model, see Tamiya kit 58119 for this version), which was also driven bt Carlos Sainz. Most of the mechanics of the later car were taken directly from the earlier ST165, and that is why this remains an important rally car today. The TA01 chassis was a reliable, well mannered and virtually indestructible chassis that made a great parking lot basher. Even in their rally guises they never really had the clearance or the suspension to handle anything too rough. You really had to spend a fair amount of cash to make these competitive, but if you did, you had a very fast and reliable car. (Description by AJ)