The strange case of the stolen Toyota

[S-PCS]

Maybe I'm making this up, maybe not, it's getting increasingly harder to tell. 

I very clearly remember a picture that must have been a Tamiya promo photo, an action shot, one that I most likely saw in some sort of Tamiya sales literature, decades back, in the late 80s probably. 

It showed a pickup truck going thru a puddle at speed. At least that's how I remember it. I also remember very clearly that the pic was black and white, while at the same time I'm 100% sure the truck was red. 

But what I really remember is the truck's front plate, a California blue plate, a vanity plate to be exact, that read STOLEN. 

Every other detail might be just my mind trying to fill in the gaps, but it WAS a (Tamiya) truck and it HAD that plate. 

I've been leafing thru the period's guide books and catalogs, but to no avail. I can't find the picture. 

Is my mind playing tricks on me, or does anybody else remember this picture? 

[IBIFTKH]

I don't remember the photo you're talking about but the original Sand Rover had 'Stolen' number plates.

[S-PCS]

Very good, thanks a lot. That explains where the plate came from and indirectly proves the existence of the picture I described.

[TWINSET]

Any help?

 

It's got a few non-kit decals on it - here's the decal sheet;

 

Looks like the numbers on the doors came from the Ford Ranger sheet

 

[S-PCS]

Oh yes. This is it. Wow. Haven't seen it in more than 30 years. Thank you very much. 

[markbt73]

Slightly off-topic, but that F150 decal sheet points out another long-standing Tamiya irritation of mine: Direct Connection was the factory hot-rod parts division of Chrysler, not Ford. But then, if you have a Ford truck body on a VW chassis, I guess scale correctness has gone out the window anyway.

[OCD]

39 minutes ago, markbt73 said:

Slightly off-topic, but that F150 decal sheet points out another long-standing Tamiya irritation of mine: Direct Connection was the factory hot-rod parts division of Chrysler, not Ford. But then, if you have a Ford truck body on a VW chassis, I guess scale correctness has gone out the window anyway.

I've thought about this too, and you've just echoed the best explanation I could come up with

FWIW, Walker Evans (a Baja racing pioneer) drove a Ford early on, and then switched to Mopar soon after.

[markbt73]

27 minutes ago, OCD said:

I've thought about this too, and you've just echoed the best explanation I could come up with

FWIW, Walker Evans (a Baja racing pioneer) drove a Ford early on, and then switched to Mopar soon after.

Oh great, as if I didn't have enough project ideas already, now I want to build a model of this truck...

[S-PCS]

Well, you know where you can get the Direct Connection decals from, so that's a start