Willy's Rally - Sketch

[Grastens]

Though I rarely post ideas from a sketch, and given how popular actual build threads are, I felt this one had potential:

The principle is essentially a Tamiya Lancia Rally, with elements of Wild Willy. The popular stunt driver has appeared in rock crawlers, hardcore off-roaders and touring cars, so why not a rally car?

Wild Willy details would include: decals, Padlatrak tires (either on Subaru Brat wheels or Sand Scorcher/Grasshopper rear wheels all around, using adapted front steering knuckles), a spring-mounted front bumper, and of course Wild Willy himself at the wheel. There is probably enough space for a fire extinguisher, NOS bottle, extra lights, and a fuel can as in the Wild Willy models, but this sketch was more proof-of-concept. A conservative colour scheme could include a white body with olive-green and silver stripes, patterned roughly after the Martini Racing stripes on the original Lancia 037. The body could even be painted in a light camouflage scheme to further accentuate a military theme while keeping the stripes.

'Willy's Weekend Lagers' was an original sponsor, since I figured a namesake beverages company would not only be in line with auto racing sponsors of the 1980s, but may explain how he was able to get the ride! Custom decals would be printed; all others could be sourced from a Wild Willy 2 decal sheet and/or another re-released model sheet for generic Tamiya sponsor logos.

Since a Tamiya ORV chassis would take some work to pop wheelies, perhaps other elements that add to an entertaining drive could be incorporated, such as the original pogo-stick friction dampers.

As a build goes, styrene work would be the primary task to merge the Wild Willy features with the Lancia shell, but sawing off the front lower fascia of the stock shell and fabricating/rigging up a spring-loaded front bumper would also be involved. Otherwise, the ORV chassis could be left stock.

Will I start this project? Given that I already own a Lancia Rally and will probably allot my RC funds to other unrelated projects first (I have yet to drive a touring car, for example), I was hoping that this could inspire a fellow TCer to begin a similar venture. However, it could be (understandably) difficult to cut an original Lancia Rally shell - the reason I came up with the Wild Willy bumper was because I own a spare body with a trashed lower bumper...

So: while I cannot afford to pursue elaborate RC projects just yet, I am still thinking about them, and hope something like this can inspire fellow forum members to tackle their own works!

[mr crispy]

The concept works. I like the 037 body but never liked it on that chassis because of the wheels hanging out. Turning it into a "Willy" car ties in the comic proportions and if you detailed the cockpit like you said with a bit of rollcage it would looked pretty good to me.

[kaylon]

They did release a long wheel based Willy Mk1 Audi rally.. It was a lot of fun... was one of the last cars I had back in the day...

[JennyMo]

I like this idea a lot!

The 037 was always one of my favourite cars (I wanted their bread-and-butter Monte Carlo back in the early 80's), and I think with a bit of work, I could make one of those shells fit a WR-02 or perhaps even better the GF-01?, even though the real 037 wasn't 4WD of course...

Hmmmmm.... another hard shell, stumpified with Willy at the wheel!

Jx

[Grastens]

Ah, but there was a 4WD 037, which Ing. Sergio Limone (the car's chief engineer) devised for autocross events. It never raced at the time, but is now in Volta colours and sees action today:

The project was feasible, but ultimately politics prevented it from competing as Lancia was developing its Delta S4 and that would soon race. The idea of a 4WD 037 challenging the S4 did not sit well with Lancia!

I actually did think of you and your stump-style projects, Jenny... If I get enough money to mail out my beater shell, I may be able to donate it to the project Besides, I have a spare 037 shell - if I tackle this project myself, I could either use the spare or my current one (after I write it off )

Although I do not want to limit your imagination with a sketch right away, I think I will draw a stumpy Lancia Rally and see how that works! In the meantime, have a badly-cropped photo of what one may look like:

It involved removing a center section of the body, just before the air intakes, and a section of the front hood just before the windshield. I would believe both to be necessary to complement each other and produce much more convincing 'stumpy' proportions.

The alternative would be a re-release shell, which may work if the wheel arches are increased in size to accommodate the larger wheels. The arches could then be customized to suit the chassis. At least there are more of them around!

[markbt73]

I like this idea a lot! I was thinking a while ago about sort of a Neo Willys Wheeler, using a toy Smart car body I spotted in a toy store, but I never got past "wouldn't it be cool if..."

[Grastens]

All amazing ideas - a Neo Willys Wheeler would be fantastic (maybe it needs something other than a Smart car ), and a stumpified Lancia Rally did not result in a sketch from me, but it captured my imagination for a while!

In the meantime, a bout with a deep funk (hesitant to call it depression) has prompted me to begin collecting pieces for a Willys Rally - I think Wild Willy would cheer me up more than any other Tamiya car, so this is a project I will look to begin.