1982 Diaclone Toy Catalog Shows Off Proto-Sunstreaker & Ironhide, Reveals Scale of G1 Car Robots

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Car-Robot
Countach
A supercar with great high-speed stability. It changes to a robo.
Total height 4.3 meters
Maximum speed 430 km/h
Inset:Change complete!

Car-Robot
Onebox
Has a special identification computer, and changes to a robo.
Total height 4.7 meters
Maximum speed 240 km/h

At last, we come to the first Pre-Transformers, the differently-colored predecessors of Sunstreaker and Ironhide. Not only are the Car Robots the beginning for TF, but they would increase Diaclone’s popularity to new levels. Car Robot Countach (later disambiguated as Countach LP500S/Super Tuning) is widely regarded as the first robot fully transformable into a car, as is Takara’s own assertion. Its design is the next step in an idea started with Mircoman Cosmo Countach, which had a robot body emerge from the rear half of the car, leaving the front half as-is. It’s also worth noting that no photo of Countach – even a mockup – anywhere in the catalog. The Onebox Vanette is an odd design among Transformer peers, but hearkens back to the concept of machines built with human drivers in mind.
It is also worth noting strongly the bizarre art of the Diaclone personnel running behind the Car Robots, followed in turn by a blue and yellow car carrier. That car carrier is the earliest rendition of a concept that would develop into Battle Convoy – the Pre-TF of Optimus Prime. There exists some stock photography of the prototype that resembles this art, with a futuristic blue cab-over-engine truck pulling a yellow car carrier. The design came full circle when the Battle Convoy cab was redecoed in blue and used with the Powered Convoy car carrier trailer.