Rumor Mill – Tamiya Blackfoot 2016 Rerelease Stompin’ Around!

With the 2016 Nuremberg Toy Fair going on right now in Nuremberg, Germany, Tamiya may have hinted at their next rerelease. A placard featuring a truck covered in a red drape with the words “Reissue Item of 1986” and the copy “Blackfoot 2016” at the bottom lend themselves to a new(ish) version of the Blackfoot. From the photo it also hints that not only has driver Ramblin’ Ron updated his truck with a new twin cab body, but also dropped the light bar from the back of the truck.

While there have been numerous updates and editions to the truck that started it all, our guess is that the 2016 Blackfoot will take its body styling from the recently released full-size 2016 Ford Ranger. It remains to be seen what will be “under the hood” in terms of chassis and our thoughts are that it could go a few different directions. First, and the one we hope for the most, is that the 2016 BF will be based on the recently reissues Monster Beetle which holds most true to the original platform. As for the body, while it initially looks like a dual cab and the Ranger argument is a valid one, it could just be a normal Blackfoot III style body that they omitted the lights from. Could the “2nd window” really just be the gap between the cab and roll bar?Another theory is that, keeping in line with every generation of the Blackfoot getting a new platform, the new Ranger body could be sitting atop Tamiya’s latest WT-01N chassis that is featured in their new Volkswagen Amarok vehicle. Finally we could also guess at a myriad of other chassis’ that have come out over the past year and even an entirely new one from the Twin Stars all together.

Only time will tell exactly what this new rerelease is from Tamiya but we anticipate having more details for you very soon. In the meantime, here’s a quick peak at each generation of the Blackfoot to date.

The original Blackfoot was released in October of 1986 and set some may argue that it set the monster truck phenomenon in motion. While there were others from various manufacturers before it, the Blackfoot was the first one to really go mainstream and as the first from Tamiya, put them on the monster truck map. It was truly unique for its time and featured the ORV space frame chassis, hex bones and trailing arm and lateral rear shock from the Brat/Frog platform. All new yellow wheels with Bruiser tires and a Ford F-150 body finished off the Blackfoot and gave it a realistic monster truck look.

Next came the Super Blackfoot in December of 1992 and while it kept the same space frame and the body only received a new grill, the Super Blackfoot resolved a lot of the design issues from the first truck. The biggest update was without a doubt its new gearbox, dogbones and double wishbone suspension. Along with the all new rear end, the SBF also received new shocks and updated tires from the Monster Beetle and Mudblaster.

image courtesy of Tamiyaclub

In July of 1997 Tamiya overhauled the rest of the Blackfoot platform with a whole new long arm front suspension. The King Blackfoot kept the space frame remained for one more version but was now blacked out and the body was further edited to remove the “Ford” moniker. The more generic truck represented the final iteration of the original platform as there was nothing left to change but the chassis.

Fresh for December of 2003 Tamiya launched the Blackfoot Xtreme. This Mountain Dew chugging, snowboard riding action model may have missed the “extreme” fad of the late 90s by a few years but nonetheless it featured an all new chassis under the King’s body (with new hood scoop and grill updates) and utilized a symmetrical WT-01 chassis that could be switched over to dual-motor 4WD by removing the front end and replacing it with another transmission and rear suspension. While the truck was only sold as a 2WD, Tamiya offered 4WD versions as the Wild Dagger and Twin Detonator.

By the late 2000s and early 2010’s Tamiya had staked quite a name for themselves in the vintage community becoming the leader in rereleased vehicles so when they announced the Blackfoot III in August of 2011, they easily grabbed the attention of collectors around the world. To everyone’s surprise, the III featured the same WT-01 chassis from the Xtreme but marked the return of the Ford styled body of the earlier editions. New metal plated wheels finished off the III along with the spiked Chevron style tires of all but the original version of the Blackfoot came with.