[John Drake]

OT354 (3000 ex.)

The proportions are completely wrong. Despite this, I couldn't resist, as it evokes childhood memories. Every evening from the beginning of January 1987, I watched the summaries of the day's stages on TV, seeing this yellow rocket climb from the bottom of the classification to victory with that devil Ari behind the wheel.

Regardless of the poor proportions, the finish is excellent.

I still have to put the decals of the smoking dromedary that OttO had the good idea to put in the box.

😎

 

[Craig]

I have this one too. I love a Dakar car and have a few of them. I don't have any recent ones though.

 

[Pat974]

Same here. Great childhood memories! Didn't buy it as it seemed wrong to me.

 

[stevenmweiner]

Beautiful coloring on this unique piece! 😀

 

[AN02EWC]

Great subject matter but how could they have made it look like an state car and not realise!!!

 

[preisman]

Cool model, I love the oddball French racers. This would be perfect in my collection. Thanks for sharing.

 

[winstoncds]

I love Dakar cars. The adventure related with them is second to none. There is one available online locally but I am not able to pull the trigger on it as there are other cars that keep cropping up. I was looking at pics of the car online and could not figure out what's wrong with the model.

 

[John Drake]

The model is very beautiful and the painting is superb. In hand, it is very attractive.
However, OttO has missed the proportions.

Below, a picture of the real one followed by the one of my model, from the same angle.
The body panel of the model, between the rear window and the roof railing, is far too long.
Also, the one between the front wheel arch and the door is too long.
The rear quarter window should extend further into the air intake.
It seems that the windscreen slope is too pronounced on the model, implying that the door is also a bit too long.

Overall, OttO has stretched the car too much, whereas Peugeot has simply lengthened the footprint of the B-group (to fit a huge fuel tank for the Paris-Dakar stages) between the rear door and the rear window (and by raising the car, of course). It was therefore sufficient to retouch only this part, starting from the EVO1 of the 1984 1000 Lakes that OttO had already released.

Why did they modify everything like that? I don't know. Also, if one day they release the 1988/89 version in Pioneer livery, would they use this mould or would they rework it? Time will tell.

For my part, I had already noticed all these inconsistencies at the presentation of the miniature and had refused to order it at that time, although I had been waiting for it for a long time. However, nostalgia working on me, I finally gave in and I must admit that I was very pleasantly surprised when I unpacked it. The numerous errors are still there, of course, but the magic still works. The object is magnificent when you have it in front of you. I imagine it will be even better once I've put the Camel decals on.