Tomica Shop Exclusive Model Cars

Pictured from left to right: Toyota Land Cruiser FJ56V Police, Nissan Gloria Police, Toyopet Corona Police, Subaru 360 Custom Police, Mazda 360 Carol Police

These exclusive model cars were made by Tomytec for Tomica Limited Vintage to commemorate an anniversary or a newly opened Tomica shop. They are also hard to get since they are not exported outside Japan. Here is a list of what they have released so far:

2006 Mar - TLV's 2nd anniversary - Daihatsu CO10T
2006 Oct - Tomica Shop opening in Nagoya - Toyopet Crown Fire Chief
2007 Mar - TLV's 3rd anniversary - Mazda K360
2007 Jul - Tomica Shop opening in Osaka - Nissan Gloria Police
2007 Oct - Nagoya Shop 1st Anniversary - Toyopet Corona Police
2008 Mar - Tomica Shop opening in Tokyo - Subaru 360 Custom Police
2008 Jul - Osaka Shop 1st Anniversary - Daihatsu Midget
2008 Oct - Nagoya Shop 2nd Anniversary - Toyota FS45V Ambulance
2009 Mar - Tokyo Shop 1st Anniversary - Mazda Carol Police
2009 Jul - Osaka Shop 2nd Anniversary - Subaru Sambar Mail
2009 Oct - Nagoya Shop 3rd Anniversary - Toyopet Crown Ambulance
2010 Mar - Tokyo Shop 2nd Anniversary - Subaru 360 Custom Fire
2010 Jul - Osaka Shop 3rd Anniversary - Datsun 510 Police Wagon
2010 Oct - Nagoya Shop 4th Anniversary - Porsche 912 Aichi Police
2011 Mar - Fukuoka Shop 1st Anniversary - Land Cruiser FJ56V Police
2011 Jul - Osaka Shop 4th Anniversary - Subaru Sambar Firetruck
2011 Oct - Kichijoji Shop 1st Anniversary - Skyline Van Police
2012 Mar - Fukuoka Shop 2nd Anniversary - Crown unmarked Police
2012 Jul - Osaka Shop 5th Anniversary - Nissan Fairlady 260ZE

Pictured from left to right: Toyota FS45V Ambulance, Toyopet Crown Ambulance, Toyopet Crown Fire Chief, Subaru 360 Custom Fire Chief, Subaru Sambar Mail Van

I was lucky to get a few from Hong Kong and from friends who frequent Japan. I still have a long way to go to complete this. I am still missing 9 model cars.

Honda Ballade

These cars are among my favorite Tomica Limited Vintage release and I must say, they really did a great job. I regret not pre-ordering the first release of the CR-X when I had the chance to do so. The model car was so popular in Japan and Asia that it was sold out even before it even reached the hobby stores.

The Honda CR-X was launched as the Honda Ballade Sport in Japan. From what I read, it was a popular car back in the eighties not only because it handles well on the road, but also because of it's fuel efficiency. It was Motor Trend Magazine's Import car of the millenium for 1990 and was listed as Car and Driver magazine's ten best list for 1985.

Tomica's attention to detail definitely made this model car desirable for collectors. Everything is well replicated in spite of the small scale. The wheels are done really well, along with the side mirrors, which Tomica often forget to include on their cars. No Honda collection would be complete without this iconic car. When Tomica released the second and third wave of this highly coveted model car, I was fortunate enough to get a few pieces.

Beetle replacement

Pictured (from left to right) are the Volkswagen Golf Mark II and Volkswagen Mark II GTi Tomica Limited Vintage cars.

Volkswagen has presented the Golf as a long range replacement for the Volkswagen Beetle. The original Volkswagen Golf was designed by the legendary Italian designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro. The Golf was released in 1974, and up to now, is Volkswagen's best selling model. Every generation of Golf has been a runner up in the European Car of the Year awards, except in 1992, when it actually won the award. The Golf name was derived from the German word for gulf stream. It was sold as the Volkswagen Rabbit in the United States and Canada.

This is the second non-Japanese car that Tomica released under it's Limited Vintage series. As usual, the details on these Golf cars are well done. Everything is well replicated and in my opinion, could probably be the best 1/64 scale Volkswagen Golf to come out of the market, sans the side mirrors. You would never have guessed that this model measures almost the same as a regular Hotwheels toy car. This car has a working suspension too!

The First Generation Cedric

The first Cedric was introduced by Nissan in March 1960. It was Nissan's first big car since the Nissan 70.  The Cedric replaced the Austin A50, which Nissan was building under license from the Austin Motor Company. The styling of the Cedric's windscreen and vertical headlights were inspired by the Tobu JNR 151 commuter train. When it first came out, only the sedan was available from the dealerships. The station wagon and van became available at a latter time.

The Cedric was developed to compete with the Prince Skyline and Gloria. According to Nissan, the name "Cedric" was inspired from the main character in Burnett's novel Little Lord Fauntleroy, who was known as a model of beauty, strength and justice.

Tomica Limited Vintage released this model car in 2004. They made six versions of this car. The first four models were numbered LV01 with no alphabetic designations. The brown with white roof and ivory versions were released in January 30, 2004. The black with white roof and the Tokyo taxi were released in February 2004. There are two variants of the Cedric which were released in May 2004 and are numbered LV01e and LV01f, both had different interiors from the others. The Nippon Kotsu Cedric taxi was released in March 2007 as part of their taxi boxed set.

Vintage Shell Gas Station

Tomica first released their Tomicarama Vintage line in 2010. They started with the police station diorama set, then released the Shell gas station a year after. The details are just amazing. Pictured with the set is a Mazda Familia van, a Shell Subaru Sambar service truck, a Honda S600 sports car and a Honda T360.

Japanese Lemon

The Honda 1300 77s is a small compact car which was designed in the mid sixties. Soichiro Honda was so obsessed with air-cooling, that he wanted to incorporate this on the cars that he built. The engineering team of Mr. Honda did not approve of what his vision was. They were worried that once the cars were exported to the United States, they might not meet their emissions standards.

Mr. Honda still had it his way. The 1300 arrived in April 1969. It was the most powerful 1300 car during that time, reaching 110 mph in a straight line but had horrible handling. If Ford Motors have the "Edsel", Honda in turn have the 1300 77s. Delays from production and it's high price against the competition made Honda Motors lose a lot of money.

There is another Tomica Limited Vintage version of this car, the Honda 1300 99s that comes with round headlights and different grills.

The Dynawedge Car

The Colt Galant was made by Mitsubishi to compete with the Ford Pinto, Chevrolet Vega and the AMC Gremlin. Mitsubishi merged with the Chrysler Corporation to import the Mitsubishi Colt Galant to the United States in 1971. The car was rebadged and sold as the Dodge Colt.

It was released in 1969 in Japan as a cutting-edge car with an outstanding capability. The car became a huge success during the 70's. The Colt Galant was powered by a 1300cc or a 1500cc Saturn series SOHC engine. It had an aerodynamically designed shape (dynawedge), which was revolutionary during that time.

A lot of collectors, including me, were excited when Tomica decided to release this in their Limited Vintage line. I get nostalgic whenever I see this car on the road. It brings back a lot of memories from the seventies.