Italian Mirage

Italy had an interesting take on the Pre-TF Mirage. Stamped 'patent pending', these guys came with a 'Ligier' badge on the sides, instead of 'Citanes', like the American ones:


But wait! There's more! There is a transitional sticker-version of Ligier (pasted over the Citanes). For more explanation on why this occurred, please see the Italian page. The short version is because of lisencing. :-)


An interesting conversation between Frank and Maz, as to why this might have occurred: "Well, at the time "Gitanes" (not "Citanes") was the main sponsor for the French "Ligier" Formula 1 team back in the early 80s."

"So, in a nutshell, Takara in Japan may not have had rights for either "Gitanes" the main sponsor, or "Ligier" the official team name. But GiG had the rights for "Ligier", the official team name. So they probably made a choice about which was better, go for accuracy but use the wrong spelling of the sponsor, or forget accuracy and use the official team name. We know what they chose. That's just my theory though."

"I was always under the impression that it was changed because 'Gitanes' are a brand of French cigarette (my brand of choice in Europe, btb)."

Interestingly enough, the Joustra (French) Pre-TF Mirage was identical to the Japanese one (Citaines sided):



(See Also: Italian TFs)