Tamiya Drivers

Maybe this is a strange concern, but as far as I know, very few information is available about this: some of our dear models have a driver. Those very same drivers who can't scream their terror when we make them go full throttle. Nevertheless, sometimes we paint them, sometimes we forget or don't dare to give them a "mug". Some of them do even have a name, others are emmblematic of the véhicle their drive, and some don't exist but make us dream of who they could be.
Anyway, I'm sure that if mine were alive, they would open the window and vomit because of what I give them

The first 43 models have a driver, even a co-pilot for a few of them. In the rest of Tamiya production, they become rare: it is a shame for realism.
These drivers have different forms. Some have their upper body molded on a plastic plate (often to cover the inner chassis), others hang at the door or are screwed on their vehicle roof, and others have their body molded into their seat.

Some examples:

Hanging at the door (Monster Beetle)	Screwed to the roof (Grasshopper II)	Screwed to a tube (Boomerang)
On a chassis plate (The Fox)	Glued to the seat (XR311)	Screwed at the seat (Wild Willy)
	A Star among Stars

Drivers are more or less realistic, but all contribute to the model general aspect. They look the same and their shape finally depends on how they can be fixed into the vehicle. But there is one driver above them all, I'm talking about Wild Willy (1 and 2) driver: the vehicle in itself is already quite special to drive, but its driver's mad look may even be more emblematic. Fans can paint them "state of the art" like the last presented Willy.

Even better, some of these drivers have a name! I'm not talking about real car replica like Formula 1 or rally cars driven by famous people like Laffite, Loeb or Mäkinen. I'm talking about names invented by Tamiya to make the models more realistic.

The first driver to have a name in Tamiya production is Al Ernat, the Super Champ (58034) driver. The second one is Willy... not on the Wild Willy 1 (58035), but on the Willy's Wheeler (58039) kit. Other pilots exist but remain anonymous. Here is the hall of fame:

Number(s)	Model	Driver		Number(s)	Model	Driver
58004	XR311	Anonymous		58062	Hot Shot II	"Upset" Unwin
58007	Lamborghini Cheetah	Anonymous		58066	Super Sabre	Harry Hurryup
58015	Rough Rider	Anonymous		58067 / 58361	Thunder Shot	Bullitt Benny
58016	Sand Scorcher	Anonymous		58071	Sonic Fighter	E. Whittle
58023	Holiday Buggy	Anonymous		58072	Avante	Paranoid Perry
58024	Sand Rover	Anonymous		58073	Thunder Dragon	Anonymous
58027	Ford F150 Ranger XLT	Anonymous		58074	Grasshopper II	Big Daddy Evans
58028	Toyota 4x4 Pick Up	Anonymous		58075	Terra Scorcher	Arnold Applewhite
58029	Blazing Blazer	Anonymous		58076	Vanquish	Evert Edwards
58034	Super Champ	Al Ernat		58077	Mud Blaster	Rusty Rumpott
58035 / 58242	Wild Willy Willys M38	Anonymous (Willy)		58078 / 58403	Fire Dragon	Anonymous
58038 / 58384	Subaru Brat	Anonymous		58079	Egress	Hairy Ogre
58039 / 58242	Willy's Wheeler	Willy		58080	Astute	Fabulous Frey
58041 / 58354	The Frog	Glenn Morris		58083	Saint Dragon	Hinomoto Rikimaru
58043 / 58346	Grasshopper	Frank Evans		58085	Avante 2001	Balmy Baldwin
58045 / 58336	The Hornet	Greg Martin		58093	Bear Hawk	Andy Antsinpants
58046	Fast Attack Vehicle	Anonymous		58110	Super Blackfoot	Anonymous
58047 / 58391	Hotshot	Crash Cramer		58122	Blitzer Beetle	Barry Volkson Jr
58050	Wild One	Ray Lynch		58124	Super Hornet	Anonymous
58051	The Fox	Tony Toudor		58184	Fighter Buggy RX	Mini 4 Fighter
58054	Super Shot	"Terrible" Tony Atkins		58205	Madbull	Barf'n Berry
58055	The Boomerang	"Eager" Ted Edwards		58275	Mad Fighter	Anonymous
58056	The Falcon	"Frantic" Freddie Wilson		58340	Super Fighter G	Anonymous
58057	The Bigwig	Levy Lancaster		58416	Rising Fighter	Anonymous
58058	Blackfoot	Ramblin Ron
58060	Monster Beetle	Albert Attaboy
58061	Striker	"Shakey" Roop

An interesting case is "Vibrant" Vannie: she is the Lunch Box (58063 and 58347) driver, but no one has ever seen her... because she doesn't exist except with her name . This inspires the craziest dreams as she is the one and only woman driver in all Tamiya production. Except Michèle Mouton (58036 Audi Quattro Rally) who is a real woman who participated to the world rally championship back in the 80's.

Other vehicles mention a driver name, but nobody's on board. Here is the hall of fame of these famous unknowns noone has ever seen:

Number(s)	Model	Driver		Number(s)	Model	Driver
58048	Toyota 4x4 Bruiser	Calvin Brookman		58115	Terra Conqueror	Fumbling Freddie
58063 / 58347	Lunch Box	"Vibrant" Vannie		58116	Dyna Storm	Barf'n Berry
58065	Clod Buster	Klem Klubfoot		58123	Dyna Blaster	Barf'n Berry
58070 / 58365	Midnight Pumkin	E.T. Everett		58181	Stadium Thunder	Sammy Screwloose
58081	Nissan King Cab	Fuzzy Flynn		58192	King Blackfoot	Mighty Mike
58082	Madcap	Sammy Screwloose		58204	Blazing Star	Harry Hurryup
58086	Hilux Monster Racer	Ivan Stewart		58221	Baja Champ	Fabulous Frey
58087 / 58360	Manta Ray	Slippery Sam		58231	Wild Dagger	Barry Volkson
58089	Bullhead	Barbarian Benny		58232	Juggernaut	Rusty Rumpott
58097	Super Astute	Easy Eddie		58246	Stadium Raider	Sammy ???
58101	Bush Devil	Ronny Redneck		58256	Juggernaut 2	Rusty Rumpott
58106	Stadium Blitzer	Salty Sam Snookums

You can notice some original names in these halls of fame: Hairy Ogre (Egress), Sammy Screwloose (Madcap, Stadium Thunder), Andy Antsinpants (Bear Hawk) or even Barf'n Berry ("vomiting Berry" for non-US readers). There are also families represented: the Evans (Franck on the Grasshopper and his father Big Daddy on the Grasshopper II), the Volkson (Barry Jr on the Blitzer Beetle and his father mentioned on the Wild Dagger). Some drivers have several cars, even if they may not be physically on board in all their vehicles: Fabulous Frey (Astute, Baja Champ), Harry Hurryup (Super Sabre, Blazing Star), Rusty Rumpott (Mud Blaster, Juggernaut 1 & 2), Sammy Screwloose (Madcap, Stadium Thunder) and Barf'n Berry (Dyna Storm, Dyna Blaster, Madbull).

All other models do not have drivers: they must drive on their own

I want to mention here the members of the Vintage-RC forum who helped me a lot compiling these halls of fame: THANKS mates!

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First publication: october 04, 2008 Last modified: august 11, 2009

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