The Rally de Portugal in 1978 — better known in period as the TAP Rally — was a full round of the World Rally Championship, run on the gravel roads of Portugal. Among the privateer entries was car No. 47, a Porsche 911 Carrera RS piloted by Portuguese driver José Gonçalves alongside co-driver Miguel Oliveira. Finished in a distinctive copper tone, theirs was exactly the kind of locally entered, nationally significant car that mainstream 1:43 producers routinely overlook.
The Porsche 911 Carrera RS in Group 4 Competition
The 911 Carrera RS was a homologation-derived variant of the 911, its naturally aspirated flat-six giving it handling characteristics unlike anything else on loose surfaces — unpredictable to the uninitiated, devastatingly fast in experienced hands. Through the mid-to-late 1970s, the Carrera RS became a fixture of Group 4 rally competition worldwide, prized by privateer crews for its combination of reliability and outright pace.
No. 47 at the 1978 TAP Rally
The 1978 Rally de Portugal drew entries from across Europe and the Iberian peninsula, with the WRC points on offer attracting both factory-backed machinery and privateer 911s. Gonçalves and Oliveira represented the Portuguese contingent with car No. 47, their Carrera RS dressed in a copper livery that stands apart from the white, red and yellow schemes more commonly preserved in die-cast form. Privateer Iberian entries of this era are among the least documented chapters of 1970s WRC history, which gives this particular competition car an archival value that extends beyond its visual appeal.
Trofeu and the 1:43 Scale Model
Trofeu is a Portuguese specialist die-cast manufacturer with a long-standing focus on Iberian and Portuguese motorsport subjects — precisely the niche where major producers leave gaps. This 1:43 scale model reproduces the No. 47 car in die-cast metal, capturing the copper livery, the period Group 4 bodywork and the race number carried by Gonçalves and Oliveira in 1978. For collectors who value historically traceable provenance — a named crew, a confirmed WRC entry number, a specific event — this model represents the kind of documentation that the broader rally die-cast market rarely delivers.
