Nikko Audi Quattro (1982)

A beautiful and realistic R/C model of the Audi Quattro rally, released when the real car was at the height of its powers in the World Rally Championship. And possibly still the best looking R/C Audi Quattro ever made? Maybe. But if you owned one of these as a kid in 1982, you were very lucky indeed…

My earliest memories of the ‘Group B’ era of the World Rally Championship are of seeing cars like the Audi Quattro, Lancia 037 and others flying over jumps in the early-mid 1980s, with huge crowds of spectators seemingly stepping out of the way at the last moment. These scenes were often shown here in Australia on the weekend during a TV show called ‘Wide World of Sports’ – a sort of magazine-style recap of various sports events from the past week. It always ran for about four hours, and would repeatedly list what was “Coming up after the break!” – only for those segments to be 1-2 hours away. Particularly annoying if you were hanging out to see 5 minutes of rally or F1 or Paris-Dakar rally news. But alas in those pre-Internet days, a TV show like this was literally all we had.

I was only a little kid at that time. But now I lament the fact that while I saw these beautiful rally cars on the TV, I really wasn’t very cognizant of what was actually happening in the World Rally Championship between 1982 and 1986. For those were the years of the Group B category, when rally car development was virtually unlimited in terms of performance and engine power. And manufacturers only needed small production runs of new prototype cars, in order to enter the competition.

This meant the competing vehicles became increasingly exotic and experimental racing machines – the stuff of bedroom wall-poster dreams. And rival manufacturers kept pushing the envelope year after year.

One of the biggest initial advances came with the Audi Quattro – the very first 4WD rally car.

It’s strange to think today that prior to the Quattro’s arrival, other manufacturers were actually skeptical of the benefits of 4WD in rally competition – believing it too complicated and heavy. But after a Quattro won the very first rally it ever entered (a European Rally championship event in 1981), the landscape quickly began to shift.

During it’s debut season in the World Rally Championship in 1981, the Quattro then picked up a total of three rally wins – with drivers Hannu Mikola and Michèle Mouton finishing 3rd and 8th respectively, in the driver’s championship. Remarkably, one of these wins came when Mouton became the first ever female winner of a WRC event, winning the 1981 San Remo Rally.

By 1982, the Quattro team had found their footing. And it was Mouton this time who actually led the driver’s championship, scoring three individual rally wins – arguably making her the greatest female rally driver in history. Tragically though, she fell short of the title at the end of the season. With her father terminally ill, the driver’s championship was snatched away by the great Walter Röhrl when Mouton failed to finish at the Ivory Coast Rally. Nevertheless, Mouton and Hannu Mikola had done enough to win the 1982 Manufacturer’s Championship, and the Audi Quattro’s legend was sealed.

Meanwhile, over in Japan, the land of toys…

A few budding R/C car manufacturers were beginning to pay attention to the growing popularity of the World Rally Championship, and the exotic and innovative machines on display. With buggy and other off-road style R/C vehicles only just beginning to appear on the market 1982, most models were of the on-road variety. The popularity of rally presented a step in-between – racing cars that looked like road cars, but had an element of “off-road flair” about them. The question was: how far off-road, could any toy version go?

And so it was that in 1982, Nikko produced this incredibly well-proportioned and detailed R/C model of the Audi Quattro, in 1/10 scale. Below is the official Nikko production image of the model, taken from the (ultra rare) Nikko 1982 product catalogue from Japan…

Here also, is an image taken from a very rare 1982 Japanese collector’s guide to R/C models…

Many will recall that the great Tamiya corporation also produced a 1/10 scale Audi Quattro R/C model kit around this time, which they called the ‘Audi Quattro Rally’.

But it’s worth noting that the Nikko model was actually released first – by more than a year. The Tamiya model was not released until July 1983. (Side-note: If you’d like to see archival photos of Michèle Mouton’s Audi co-driver Fabrizia Pons, playing with the Tamiya Audi Quattro Rally at a real rally event in the 1980s, see my old article Racing Drivers & R/C Cars).

Some years ago I also recall that many Tamiya R/C collectors quite fondly remembered this Nikko model, as it was arguably the most scale-like Audi Quattro ever produced until that time. And maybe it still is? While there have been quite a few polycarbonate-bodied kits over the years, I am not sure they quite eclipse this one.

Either way, it remains a timeless and stunning toy. And about 15 years ago I managed to obtain one mint, new in box example…

As you can see, the box says “1982” in the lower left corner. And it’s interesting to note that the box art model features different wheels to the production model. In my experience, I have never seen a consumer example with those box art wheels. So I can only assume it was a pre-production version.

Personally, I greatly prefer the production wheels anyway, as I think the white wheels and rim pattern suit the car much better.

The box also has the original Japanese shop price sticker on it – 19,800 yen (one of the images above also quotes this as the normal price). Which was comparable to a lot of the hobby grade kit models at the time. So this was not a toy within reach of everyone.

Other fun facts about the box include that it says “1/11” scale – however, Nikko’s own catalogue says “1/10”. It also mentions “for rough and smooth surfaces” . The car does have some ground clearance and some basic suspension – enough for a garden path or very minor off-road. But anything more than that would have been pushing it.

Which brings me to a key aspect – this is a beautiful example of the famous rally car, but it’s more like the tarmac rally edition. And it is unfortunately not 4WD. While Nikko were producing their first 4WD models around this time, like the Nikko Toyota Hilux 4WD, apparently they weren’t ready to squeeze that transmission into a sedan-style model yet.

Elsewhere on the box, you can see images of other impressive features – some of them never seen before on an R/C model of this kind…

Automatic trunk opening?!

Yes. In addition to being a glorious, realistic 1/10 scale model with Digital Proportional control, this model came with some unique and advanced features for the time.

Let’s take a look…

This model is now 42 years old. But what a beauty.

But I think it has aged as well as any examples I have seen, given it has somehow remained boxed and brand new for that entire time. White plastic is very prone to discoloration with time, too, so it’s important to keep models like this away from too much light. Some of the clear vinyl decals do show against the white styrol resin body, but I think this is as good as it can be after so many years.

The body colours of brown/grey/red are actually spray painted on the body. Meaning those large sections are (thankfully) not decals – it’s just the logos that are decals.

So let’s talk about the logos. It seems Nikko wanted to faithfully reproduce a real, individual car. But which specific car would it be? I think it might be something of an amalgamation between a rally version and the road-going version…

On the bonnet we see there is a 1981 Monte Carlo rally decal…

Hannu Mikola and Michèle Mouton did compete at the 1981 Monte Carlo rally in their Audi Quattros. However, both cars finished quite poorly in that event. So it’s funny that Nikko chose this for event banner on the bonnet.

On the other hand, neither driver drove “#7” at this event anyway. So – we might just say it’s a hypothetical competitor. In 1982 – a lot of toys required imagination.

But then digging a bit further, some #7 liveried Audis competed in other rallies. The image below shows Michèle Mouton and Fabrizia Pons in a #7 example during the Rally of Portugal in 1982 – an event they actually won. This car even has the white wheels…

Perhaps this victorious example also inspired Nikko’s model?

Either way – the spirit of a winning example of the Quattro is certainly captured. But with a few exception – like the angled black sun-roof! Something I don’t think would ever have appeared in a rally version. I also note that the rally image above does not feature dual-headlights, and there are differences in the grill… suggesting the Nikko model also took inspiration from the road-going version. In all likelihood – Nikko designers would have had zero access to a real rally version. And were probably using magazine articles + whatever road-going versions they could find, as a guide.

OK, enough nitpicking. None of this minutiae would have even mattered to me, had I got one of these for Christmas in 1982. Because I would just have been too excited.

Sometimes my low/front-facing photographs end up quite popular on this site… so I’ve tried to capture another sharp one below. I love that Nikko reproduced the simple, square, but elegant lines so incredibly well. And even tiny details such as the grill, badge, and even the reflective lines and shape within the headlights, are all faithfully captured…

Inside the box, this model came with an accessory packet containing the two side-mirrors, which needed to be clipped on. There was also (rather extraordinarily) a thin black plastic decorative antenna piece that slots into the centre of the roof. This piece is so fragile that we can be certain 99.9% of used examples of this model no longer have it… like so many tiny 80s toy accessories, it would have been lost, eaten, or sucked into vaccuum cleaners. It always amazes me how toy makers included so many tiny accessories (especially with R/C cars) in those days.

The rear view also captures the aggressive stance of the Audi Quattro.

(Before anyone raises it – I noticed how the “Audi” decal above is slightly misaligned after I captured these photos. Rest assured, I intend to carefully adjust that decal soon 😉Otherwise, I may lose some sleep!).

Back to the front, and I note also that the model has quite conservative black plastic bumpers. This is in contrast to some later Nikko models (such as their Porsche 959 from the late 1980s which featured huge and pretty ugly bumpers). I think they look ok and don’t detract too much from the aesthetics, while offering some play protection by being made from a more rubberized plastic than the rest of the car.

As always, it is great to see a good selection of genuine, authentic sponsor logos as well…

This branding even carries through to the tyres. Notice how they are embossed as Kléber tyres. Kléber is a tyre company whose history dates back to 1910, and which was acquired by Michelin in 1981. This is the actual tyre brand that the Audi team used during the World Rally Championship in 1981/1982. You don’t see that kind of detail on many R/C toys these days. And just imagine the Nikko designers in their office, molding that logo into the tyre rubber mold, in 1981…

And now to performance.

The model requires a typically large number of batteries, for this era. And it’s quite heavy once fully laden up. A total of 6 x C cells and 4 x AA for the car, with 6 x AA for the transmitter. Which is comparable voltage to a Tamiya kit model.

Performance however, is a little more relaxed than racy. I suspect the motor size is either Mabuchi 380, or possibly smaller. And the car will build up gradually to a decent speed. But it does not accelerate especially quickly. The entire impression is one of really beautiful, scale authenticity.

And that’s just as well, I think, because you wouldn’t want to collide with anything. Just as was the case with Tamiya’s early, on-road models which were also fragile works of art in scale model terms.

The transmitter is beautiful, and the highest quality type that Nikko had produced by 1982.

Another factor is that when the model is running there are other powered features, namely:

• Working headlights (activated via push button on top-left of transmitter)
• Opening/closing rear trunk door (activated via push button on top-right of transmitter)
• Flashing indicators at front and rear, based on direction of turn.

Similar to the Tomy Radica A Lancia Stratos, it’s quite remarkable how just a few years into the era of electric radio controlled cars (commencing about 1976), some brands were already producing these types of multi-featured R/C models with remotely operated moving parts, gears, lights and so forth, in addition to the functions of the car. (The Lancia is truly remarkable to me, given the even earlier year in which it was made).

Here’s the Audi with those beautiful headlights turned on…

And here, showing the indicators (mid-flash) when the steering is activated…

Last but certainly not least, is the powered, opening rear trunk. This is operated by holding down the transmitter button which then alternates from fully closing, to fully opening, and then closing again… and so on. It all works smoothly and flawlessly. And at no point did I experience a single jitter or moment of interference when testing the car – unlike many cheaper R/C cars of the period.

Inside the rear trunk is where you also find a recharging jack – giving the opening feature an actual purpose. You can just imagine being a kid and “refueling” the car by pulling alongside a recharging cable, and activating the motorized trunk. I think if I knew another kid in 1982 with a toy like this, I’d have thought it was the pinnacle of “cool”. Because it was exciting enough just to have a toy car you could drive from a distance, let alone one that operated other functions like lights or doors – all from the transmitter.

Beneath the car, there are also 2 gear options – High and Low. And the car also has the novel ability of being able to change crystals to enable races against other vehicles – something that was highly unusual to see on any ready-to-run R/C model (but commonplace on kit models). I wish all 80s ready-to-run R/C models had kept this feature.

Nikko must also have been so proud of this release and their official license from Audi, because the underside battery door, front bumper and rear bumper all have the word “Quattro” embossed into them as part of the plastic mold. Really cool. And kind of adorable.

Packed away, there are a lot of cross-pieces of polystyrene for safety. The box also contains two antenna ribbons. Below – at the front of the box, you can see the little bag containing side mirrors and that fragile roof aerial that I mentioned earlier.

As far as I can tell, Nikko continued to sell this amazing Audi Quattro for a few years, through until about 1985.

By then, a wave of true off-road R/C buggies was beginning to take over the R/C market. And many on-road models were discontinued.

Some collectors will remember that Tandy/Radio Shack stores released an Audi Quattro R/C model in 1986/1987. This was the same mold and manufactured by Nikko – but technically a different model because the electronics were significantly stripped back. It does not have the same transmitter, nor functions like the remote operable rear trunk, working indicators, or transmitter-operable headlights. It also has different livery. But it is still beautiful and much beloved by those who were lucky enough to own one in the mid 1980s.

So in conclusion…

Finding a mint in box example is going to be very hard. But I have owned a few used examples over the years. One of the main places where they can be found is in Europe, where clearly Nikko had hoped this model would sell well (and I think it did) under Technotoy co-branding. Even in Europe and even in used condition they are not common these days, but I’d expect to see a few up for sale each year.

I don’t believe this model ever made it to Australian shores. Nor other large R/C markets like the US or Canada… at least not until the Radio Shack edition was released over there. I also don’t think this one was available in the UK, but I am happy to be corrected if anyone remembers it.

Nevertheless, it goes without saying that this is a model not to be missed if you love vintage Nikko, or vintage rally and the Group B era. A true R/C collector’s gem! And you can also see one in the collection that was featured on Italian TV a couple of years ago.

As always, happy collecting!

Model History: Nikko Audi Quattro (1982)

The original model was the Nikko Audi Quattro. Over time, there may have been different releases around the world with different distributor branding and so forth. The table below lists all releases of this model that we know of. If you think you have found another not shown here, feel free to contact me. To learn more, please also visit the Models, Releases and Variants page.

Release	Name	Description	Sold in...	Year	Image
Nikko	"Audi Quattro"	Original release of the car by Nikko.	Japan	1982
Technotoy/Nikko	"Audi Quattro"	Technotoy/Nikko release in Europe. Some of these had a little tie-in with rally driver Walter Röhrl by including a Walter Röhrl sticker.	Europe	1982