Sand Scorcher alternative box art , door number decal color ?

[IceBox 24]

Was the original “537” decal on a black background like the box art shows ? I have a few repop sheets including one from MCI with white backgrounds .

I have another thread showing the slow restoration of my MK1 . I sourced a lot of the original body parts , handles , mirrors , plates . I had the paint 90% ready for decals and details in custom Mexican flag layout. 
 

I’m putting on the brakes and going with the yellow/red box art . I’ve looked through a lot related to the scheme , but any all pictures of inspiration welcome. 
 

I have a re-re I’ll do unique.  but having the original painted correct will be good. Wondering what to do about the incorrect decal .

 

[IceBox 24]

Looks like the original sheet didn’t match the box art . I’m not totally convinced but looking through some originals sold and Google pictures. MCI will reverse the colors,, Have the decal reversed to match and be incorrect to the original included decal or match the box art ? Haha 

[Toolmaker72 507]

If you are building a genuine scale model alter the colours of the decals as required.  If you are building a model to original tamiya spec then use what they originally supplied.  That’s how I would choose 

[Scorchio 139]

I've been down this road before, wondering if black 537 was a holy grail living at the end of a rainbow.

If you look at the action pictures in early 80s Tamiya catalogues, there is a solid green Scorcher and a red / yellow Scorcher going through puddles. Both cars have the white text on black background 537 as seen on box art. But having had full original decal sets in the past I can confirm they were black text on white background. So I can only assume that the cars in the pictures were very early Tamiya prototypes.

Aha! Someone did it, fire up the printer!

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=118318&id=19212

Edited June 11, 2022 by Scorchio