As everyone can see, the Sand Scorcher is based on a Beetle body, and chassis as well. The below pictures show a beetle built after the Tamiya model, so this is not the car Tamiya looked at when making the model. Tamiya probably did not design the livery according to a real car. But it is without a doubt that Tamiya again looked to the desert races being held in south western parts of USA, like the Baja 500.