UNLEASHING THE BEAST - TAMIYA WILD ONE MAX EDITION
The Tamiya Wild One Max is a full-scale, road-legal electric vehicle built by The Little Car Company in collaboration with Tamiya, faithfully reproducing the iconic Wild One R/C buggy at 1:1 scale. The Launch Edition, limited to the first 100 customers, comes with a carbon fibre dashboard, a titanium plaque, holographic decals, and a matching carbon fibre key fob. This is not a novelty replica: it is a properly engineered EV that meets L7e quadricycle regulations in both the UK and EU, making it legally driveable on public roads.
From Radio-Control Shelf to the Road: How the Wild One Max Works
The original Tamiya Wild One debuted as a radio-controlled buggy in 1985 and became one of the most beloved kits in R/C history. The Tamiya Wild One Max takes that visual identity and builds it around a proper electric powertrain: eight swappable battery packs delivering a combined 14.4 kWh capacity, a peak output of 28 kW (38 bhp), and a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). Estimated road range is 200 km per charge, and the weight comes in at 500 kg. A tubular steel frame, 270 mm of ground clearance, and a 14-inch Maxxis off-road tire set mean this is genuinely capable on surfaces the original R/C car could only dream about.
Launch Edition Cockpit: Bucket Seats, Bilstein Dampers, Brembo Brakes
The cockpit of the Wild One Max Launch Edition has been widened to accommodate two adults side by side in Cobra bucket seats with four-point harnesses. An IP-rated 5-inch digital screen serves as the instrument cluster. Suspension is handled by adjustable Bilstein dampers paired with Eibach springs, and braking comes from Brembo disc brakes on both axles. The approach angle of 34.1 degrees, a breakover angle of 28.4 degrees, and a departure angle of 50.8 degrees make the off-road geometry every bit as capable as the styling suggests. The Launch Edition's titanium dashboard plaque and carbon fibre trim mark it as a distinct collectible within what will ultimately be a small-volume production run.
Why the Wild One Max Matters Beyond Nostalgia
The Wild One Max is easy to read as a piece of nostalgia engineering, and that dimension is real: it explicitly trades on decades of affection for the original kit. But the underlying project is more interesting than a retro tribute. The Little Car Company has demonstrated with previous projects, including its Bugatti Baby II, that this approach to scaling beloved designs up to real-world usability can produce genuinely compelling vehicles. The Wild One Max extends that ambition into a rugged off-road format, making a case that electric vehicles do not have to be clean and restrained to be credible.
Electric Vehicles and Off-Road Performance at TheArsenale
If the Wild One Max captures your imagination, TheArsenale's electric vehicle collection brings together some of the most unusual and design-led EVs on the market. The Ripsaw EV2 tracked luxury vehicle shares the Wild One Max's appetite for terrain that most vehicles avoid, while the broader bike and buggy collection covers the full spectrum of two and four-wheel curiosities.
Photo: Top Gear / NA Clean Energy
