Retro Comp.: Rally With Tamiya!

This entry is a tribute to one of my favourite vintage Tamiya promotional posters.

Tamiya's 'rally car' lineup in the 1980s was all about big tires, cartoonish stances, and handling which cannot be described in many stretches of the imagination as 'precise.' Nonetheless, they are undeniably a part of Tamiya RC car lore, and hold a special place in my heart.

An old RiKo poster encouraged the viewer to 'Rally With Tamiya.' Box-art depictions of the Lancia Rally, Audi Quattro, and Opel Ascona 400 were set to small caption boxes detailing the models. For subject matter and the ambience of the 1980s, it is a favourite of mine.

I recreated elements of it using photos of three old-style rally cars I owned: a Lancia Rally on a re-release ORV chassis; an Opel Ascona 400 reproduction on an extended WR-02C chassis, and a genuine Audi Quattro. I have deviated from the original poster in places, but I did use the original text boxes from the old poster!

The end result is my homage to 1980s Tamiya: dynamic photography, RiKo, and those weird and wonderful models that we took onto the backyard special stages around the world.

A vintage poster, reimagined, is the subject of this showroom entry.

Edit (July 10): the original RiKo poster has been added for context.