Why I hate Tomica Limited Vintage...

Tomica Limited Vintage cars look great...   Amazing castings that are often unique from ordinary Tomica castings, with correct wheels and highly detailed paint jobs, all from my favorite toy company...  What's not to like...?

Quite simply, the scale, that's what. 

When you buy Tomica Limited Vintage over the internet vs. in person at a store (and in the USA, the only place to buy them is over the internet), you don't get a sense for the physical size of the car.  You don't get that sense until you've paid $5-10 in shipping costs per car and had them shipped all the way from Tokyo or Hong Kong...   ...and realize that they are SMALL... 

Looking through all of the Tomica Limited Vintages in my collection, in the vast majority of cases, they feel under-scale to me - more like 1:70 scale vs. 1:64. 

The pictures illustrate this.  The car in question is a 1980's Toyota Town-Ace minivan - the same Toyota mini-van that Toyota sold in the USA in the late '80s to compete with the Dodge Caravan (the one where the engine was accessed from under the driver's seat...    ...and that was eventually replaced by the Previa, which was replaced by the Sienna).  I've lined up 3 other white minivans to compare it with - minivans that you might recognize from my recent minivan post.  In the first 2 photos, the Town-Ace is the 2nd from the right.  And you can see that it is NOTICEABLY smaller than the other white minivans - when in fact it should be essentially the same size as the others... 

I'm here to tell you that this is not an isolated case.  I have many other Limited Vintages in my collection which have this same problem... 

This is why I hate them...   ...you get all excited about how good they look on their own - and then are so disappointed when they end up being small...  

P.S.  They also frequently feel lightweight to me... 

P.P.S.  I also hate that Tomica has "vintage" in the name, which makes it very difficult to hunt through EBAY for true vintage Tomicas... 

closer to their size

Nissan Z Cars throughout the years; Matchbox vs. Tomica

Datsun/Nissan Z cars have never been my favorite Japanese sports car (although I am a sucker for the twin turbo 1990-96 version), I've always been a Mazda RX7 guy rather than a 300ZX guy...   But since it came out in the early '70s, the Z car has become a mainstay, perhaps even the embodiment, of the Japanese sports car scene...

Interestingly, both Matchbox and Tomica have covered the multiple generations of the Z car, and as my 2 favorite brands, it seems only appropriate to see who covered them better!  Therefore this is a different type of a comparison - not comparing one model - but an entire slate of models....   Can Matchbox match Tomica when it comes to Z cars...?

Going in chronological order, we start off with the 1st Z car - the 240Z.   Only Tomica covered the 240, but Matchbox covered the longer and later 260Z (which Tomica didn't cover), so we'll compare these 2 models for the 1st comparison...

In this case, there is just no comparison.  The Tomica model is a jewel of a model, with beautiful covered headlights, opening doors, fantastic trim detail, a soft suspension, a wonderfully detailed metal baseplate, a slim chrome front bumper running across the front, a Datsun script visible across the rear deck, etc.  Even the rear window has defroster lines in it.  My only complaint about it is the uninspired brown/copper color of it.  Overall, this is an excellent example of why vintage Tomicas (as opposed to upper-case V "Vintage Tomicas" - a sub-brand of Tomica) are such amazing models...

In contrast, the Lesney era Matchbox model is one of the duds of the Lesney years.  I've never liked the model - and I've had it since childhood (although I've lost that particular example).  Mostly the car just always appeared to long - it's the scale-length of a Cadillac!  And while the 260Z was a longer car than the 240 - the model is longer than it needs to be.  It came in magenta (mine) and silver with red.  The silver with red is the better color.  It has opening doors, but no suspension to speak off (superfast...  Really?).  Overall it is an uninspired model, competing head-to-head with one of Tomica's best castings...  Winner?  Tomica by a mile!

But Matchbox redeemed itself (sort-of) when it came to the 280Z.  They actually made 2 280Z models - one of the first time in history - and maybe the only time in history - when Matchbox made 2 distinct castings - in the same period (i.e. not one coming 40 years later) of the same model.  The first is the Hong Kong version (badged as a Fairlady Z), with the tiny Hong Kong wheels.  This one came in black and red (my childhood example - and not found in time for this photo shoot) as well as black and orange.  I actually slightly prefer the black and red version, but this particular black and orange version is in much better shape than my childhood black and red, so it'll photograph much better...  It is nicely sized, with a soft suspension, opening doors, excellent detail and metalwork, and a nice baseplate and interior.  At first glance, there appears to be nothing wrong with this model...

For some odd reason, Matchbox then replaced it with an entirely new 280ZX 2+2 Macau casting.  This one is huge - a hulking oversize beast of a casting.  It sits up high like a truck, with huge (but nice) wheels - in one case laser discs, in the other starbursts.   Again it has opening doors and nice metal work, and even outlines on the roof for t-tops.  But the size is really unfortunate - making the earlier Hong Kong casting the easy contender for Matchbox...

The Tomica 280Z version is a step-down from the jewel-like 240.   It switches to a plastic (but still detailed) baseplate.  The version I have is in blue and is pretty beat-up, which doesn't help the comparison.  The metal detail on the casting is fine, and it even has a rear window wiper (but no front wipers - the inverse of the Hong Kong Matchbox).  It has painted-on t-tops on the roof.

Comparing the Hong Kong Matchbox with the Tomica is a bit of a close call, but in the end the choice is easy.  Matchbox wins based on overall feel.  The Tomica just doesn't look/feel as nice - a bit too small, and somehow proportioned wrong vs. the earlier 240 Tomica.

The mid-80s 300ZX battle will again be rough...  The Matchbox version was one of the first vintage cars I got when I started collecting again in my early 20s.  I got the white with green FUJI film version, which of course was unable to be found for this photoshoot, but the 2 silver and red versions are just as nice and so stand-in well.  These ones are nice models, trading opening doors for an opening hood.  The 300ZX was a bigger car - and while these are a bit oversize, they don't feel it too much.  The cars have a hood scoop for the turbo, a metal baseplate and trim detail that includes the Nissan and 300ZX Turbo lettering on the back. The silver and FUJI versions come in 8 dot wheels, the red in starburst.  Either way you get it, it's a nice model...

But Tomica doesn't take this fight sitting down...!  The version I have is a consumer version in silver, with 300ZX V6 Turbo lettering on the side (there is also a police version which I don't own).  It's also got a Turbo hood scoop offset on the left side of the hood.  Both Matchbox and Tomica have a nice soft suspension, so it's a tie there.   The rear lights on the Tomica are a separate plastic (glass-like) piece - a real quality look - looking just like the real car (see above photo).   The front lights should be as well - but the plastic is broken and missing on my model.  Overall, it's a close fight, with the Matchbox appearing to be sized well until compared with the smaller Tomica model.  Picking a winner is difficult....!

I end up picking the winner the old fashioned way - just based on which one I like better....  And while I love the Matchbox model, the Tomica just feels better...   Winner - TOMICA (but it was close!)!

Fast forward to 1990, and the new 300 HP Nissan 300ZX...   Wow! - this was a great car in real life - a personal favorite of mine.  And I loved the Matchbox model.  Mine was in yellow - though the yellow one pictured was a mint example that I picked up later.  No opening parts, but great detail and glass T-Tops (and glass headlights!).  It came in a variety of colors, of which the silver version is nicest.

The Tomica is just not as nice.- based on its overall shape.  It's not as squat as the real and Matchbox versions - too long vs. wide.  The T-Tops are painted in...  While the opening doors are nice, and the separate piece headlights are cool (but unrealistic) it just doesn't wow the way the Matchbox does....  The police version is no better than the red consumer version.  Overall, it's not a bad car, but not as nice as the Matchbox...   Winner - Matchbox!

And now we get up to the 350Z/370Z version...  All I've got is the Matchbox 350Z in gold (pictured), but its available in a few other colors, competing against the Tomica 370Z (I've got 2 hardtops - one in yellow and one in graphite, as well as a black convertible).  I imagine that Tomica did a 350Z, but I don't have it.

This comparison is easy.  The Matchbox is an OK model, correct, but a little plain.  Detail is painted in, and there is nothing really wrong with the model.  But the Tomica just eclipses it - but more body contours, opening doors, better quality paint detail, etc.  I don't know what it is, but the Tomica easily wins.

So there you have it.  5 comparisons - across 5 (OK - really 7) different generations of the Datsun/Nissan Z car.  Tomica runs away with the first comparison, only to lose the second, barely win the third, lose the fourth, and again win the 5th...   Score, Tomica 3, Matchbox 2...  so does this mean that Tomica wins overall...?  Is Tomica the best scale-model maker of Z cars...?  

I'm not really sure, but I know I'm thrilled to have gotten the chance to do this comparison.  Most of these models (Matchbox 260Z excluded) are nice models - and I'm glad to have them all (Matchbox 260Z included).  Therefore I declare Matchbox and Tomica BOTH equal winners in modeling Nissan Z cars throughout the years...!

Late '70s Firebirds... Smoky and the Bandit... Firechickens... If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

I've been complaining about this subject for so long, that everyone is sick of hearing me on my soapbox...  About how we all have so many models of "cool" cars (Corvettes, '69 Camaros, etc.) and so few models of ordinary cars (Hyundai Elantras, Nissan Altimas, etc.).  But at least with all these different castings of the same cool car, this gives me an excellent chance to have a comparison test, in this case, of the late '70s Firebird (or "Firechickens" as my friends in high school called them...).  (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!).

I grew up in the early '80s, so this car is the quintessential Firebird to me.  Made famous by the movie "Smoky and the Bandit", available with a huge (but emission-choked) V8...  10 times cooler than the similar Camaro...

I've got the car in at least 8 distinct castings, though depending how you count unique castings you can argue that I've got it in as many as 11 distinct castings, and more than 20 color variations (I found 20, but know that I've got a few more Firebirds in other colors stashed in various places).

The first casting I'll consider is the Lesney "Pontiac" casting,  I had the olive green one shown as a kid, and eventually also acquired the same casting in white (though I couldn't find it for the photoshoot).  As an adult I got the tan/bronze example.  The silver and red cars are the same casting but with T-Tops cut into their roof (does this make it count as a unique casting...?), I'm missing the black T-Top version.  This casting has been roundly critized by Firebird aficionados for having the incorrect non-wrap-around rear window of the earlier Firebird, because Matchbox was too cheap to create a new casting and instead simply slapped a new nose and hood onto the older No. 4 "Pontiac Firebird" blue casting...  The positives of this casting is that it has a nice heft to it, and it includes detail such as silver headlights from the baseplate (an excellent trait that several of these castings share).  However its got a bunch of negatives, including the big negative mentioned above, the fact that its a little big for its scale, and the boring metal baseplate with no detail on it.  But the biggest negative is that I just don't like it very much...   Ever since I was a kid, it never really felt like it adequately represented a late '70s Firebird to me...   This Lesney Matchbox may be a well known casting, but it's not going to compare well to its competition...

The other well-known Firebird casting from my childhood, and one that I was always a bit jealous about since I didn't have it, is of course the entry from Hot Wheels, the "Hot Bird"...  This again was best known as being available in black, but was also sold in other colors.  This gold example is a beautiful car, though I actually prefer the gold wheels on the black car over the standard wheels on the gold car.  The casting has T-Tops, which aren't deep enough, and its' rear light detail is a bit lame, but it's front lights are beautiful, silver in color and with amazing detail, another example of headlights created by having silver metal from the baseplates poking through the headlight holes.  There is no real suspension to speak of, but the car still rolls well, and most importantly - it really looks like the real Firebird.  This Hot Bird is a better casting than the Matchbox and so will be in contention for the best Firebird award....

Playing Mantis Johnny Lightning supplies the modern retro version.  I liked this one so much I have it in 2 casting variations - the '78 in black, yellow, bronze and red, and the '79 (more attractive nose) in maroon, blue and silver.  All are nice with beautiful paint colors, glassed in T-Tops, opening hoods (but that barely open...), and I have 6 different types of alloy wheels across my 7 colors.  3 have plastic tires, 4 (maroon, red, yellow and black) have rubber tires.  The phoenix (firechicken?) hood decal is beautiful...  My favorite of them all is the blue and then the silver, though none are losers.  I should note however that the front headlights themselves are a bit of a let down relative to the silver metal baseplate driven detailed ones on the Hot Wheels and some of the other castings.  Overall, it's a really nice casting - and a definite contender for best casting...

The 4 remaining castings are rarer...

I recently showed the Yatming casting in a "Top 30 Yatmings of all time" posting...  The Yatming is in my collection in red, blue and yellow, all with opening doors and cast t-tops, a metal base, a soft suspension, and again metal headlights showing through from the baseplate (but that aren't as nicely detailed as those on the Hot Wheels).  Again, a definite contender...

2 different black ERTLs make a showing.  The left most car is the higher quality model, with opening doors and a metal baseplate, but like the blue Matchbox it is the earlier version of the Firebird with the alternate nose and non-wrap-around rear window.  It's a bit large in scale, with oversize wheels.  While it has opening doors and a metal baseplate, those factors aren't enough to put it into contention for the best casting award, instead it'll be close to the back of the pack... 

The right most model is the "Smoky and the Bandit" casting - but although its more of a correct model for this particular comparison, its just not as nice of a model.  It feels like a cheap toy, with a plastic base and no opening features.  I didn't find it until after I'd done most of the multi-car photos - so its not included in those photos.   Again, it'll be close to the back of the pack... 

Kidco makes an appearance (leftmost car in the below photo of 3 black cars) with another black Firebird with an opening hood and T-tops.  The size is nice and small, but the baseplate is plastic, the standard Kidco wheels are cheaply, the headlights have NO detail, etc.  Overall, this car is quickly determined to be the last place finisher, giving Matchbox and the 2 ERTLs the chance to battle it for 2nd to last...  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that I've got this casting, it just doesn't stand a chance of being the best...

That leaves the last casting, by my favorite toymaker, Tomica (middle of the above 3 car photo, rightmost of the 7 car photo to the right)...  ....And this is a REALLY nice Tomica.  It's an F series, made for America, with a silky suspension, classic black color, opening doors, highly detailed headlights that are silver metal from the baseplate, etc.  Definitely a contender for best Firebird...

So which one wins?

Well, the Tomica, the Yatming, the Johnny Lightning and the Hot Wheels are all in contention for 1st place...   Of the 4, the Johnny Lightning gets eliminated first.  I love the casting and its colors, but there is just something special about vintage castings, that make them feel more authentic.  Or maybe, its just that I remember the vintage ones from my childhood...?  In addition, the lack of a suspension hurts the car.  It ends up in a strong 4th place, feeling more like a display piece than a toy.

The next to go is the Yatming.  It's a nice casting, and feels Tomica-like in its execution, until it is compared to the real Tomica, when it suddenly feels like a copy vs. the authentic...  It's a bit big, and just doesn't feel as jewel-like perfect as the Tomica.  It's opening doors are a nice touch, and it has a metal base with mechanical detail, but headlights just aren't as nice as those of the Tomica and Hot Wheels...   It goes home with its head held high in 3rd place.

After that, the choice becomes easy. I can't believe that the simple and common Hot WHeels, without any opening pieces, and with a half done t-top, is even able to make it to 2nd place against such strong competition, but it does.  The car is beautiful in either black or gold, and rolls great.  And it's headlights are gorgeous! In short, a great toy, and a well-deserved 2nd place finish. 

And leaves the Tomica in 1st place, an easy win in the end, a beautiful casting and well deserving of the best Firebird title.  It IS a bit ironic that a Japanese brand beat out all of the American brands for one of the most iconic American cars ever... 

Regardless, Burt Reynolds would be proud....!

P.S.  I realize that I didn't announce 5th - 7th place - the winner of the 2 ERTL / Matchbox fight...  Obviously the newer (and cheaper) ERTL will take 7th - but what about 5th and 6th?   I'm having a tough time picking, so I'm declaring it a tie! 

Fine Mercedes 300 E / TE castings by Matchbox, Corgi and Majorette

More Mercedes castings...  I'm not sure why I find Mercedes passenger cars in 1:64 scale to be SO irresistible... 

The early '90s Matchbox 300 E is a very high quality casting - with a nice heft, nice detail, door mirrors, opening doors, 8 dot wheels, a separate grill, etc.   I have it in the 2 common colors, it's probably available in others but these are the 2 that I most often see - a civilian version in light blue, and a German police version in white with green lettering.  Both colors are nice.  I wish I had it in other colors...  This casting would be an excellent candidate for a customization/re-spray - the problem is that they are somewhat rare - so these are the only 2 examples I have...  Both are very nice and represent the best of Matchbox from this period. 

However, fans of the mid-size 300 cars, and fans of wagons in general (me!) have additional options...  Majorette made a very nice blue 300 TE station wagon, with an opening rear hatch.  The 2 that I have are in the same blue color, but with minor trim differences.  The car is nicely sized from a length perspective, but sits a little high for my tastes.  The standard issue Majorette wheels are also a bit of a letdown - the Matchbox 8 dot wheels just look nicer.  Overall, the casting is a bit of a mixed bag, with the nice (the hatch, the heft, the integrated roof rack) being offset by the not as nice (the bumpers look plasticky, the high stance, the cheapy wheels).  But still a good enough casting that you should try to get it... 

Lastly, Corgi also had a 300 TE wagon, in this version at least in ambulance guise (not sure if it was available in civilian colors).  This is the definite 3rd place casting relative to the nicer Matchbox (1st place) and Majorette (2nd place).  While the size is nice (its within a smidge of being as long as the Majorette, and is actually a bit wider - giving it a chunkier appearance) and the metal detail is reasonable, it has no opening parts, ultra-cheap standard 4 dot Corgi wheels that would look cheap on a Maisto/Fast Lane, a grossly done light bar (its the cheapest police light bar that I've seen on any die-cast car - ever!), etc.  Overall, while I'm happy to have it in my collection, I wouldn't recommend that other collectors seek it out to buy it.  It's only a marginal casting, and being a Corgi is hard to find and frequently a bit pricier than other brands, so its probably not worth the money you'll have to pay... 

Extremely rare Superfast teal Lincoln Continental

The Lincoln Continental is one of the best Matchbox castings ever done.  In real life the Lincoln was a big square car, and the die-cast version of it is correctly in scale, big and square, with beautiful metal detail in the grill and an opening trunk.  When introduced as a regular wheels car, it came in a slightly unfortunate teal (really Lesney...  teal?) or a less common (but more formal looking and hence desirable) dark blue.  When they converted it to Superfast spec, (with a new and beautiful olive-gold paint color, nice wheels and a super-soft suspension), the height of the car was raised to modern standards, taking a nice casting and elevating it (pun intended) to one of the nicest castings in all of Matchbox land...

But as pretty and great as the olive gold transitional car is, don't you kind of wish you could have ALSO had the superfast in the original dark blue or teal colors...?   In short, don't you wish that you had the teal car pictured here...?!?

But you won't find this car easily.  It's listed in the variations listing of my matchbox books by Charlie Mack (The Big Book of Superfast Matchbox Toys) as being worth $2000+ (and that was 10 years ago...).

So did I buy this one for $2000?   No, it's a fake.  A simple baseplate swap... 

I had a beat-up transitional gold car that was missing its trunk lid.  I had a beat up teal regular wheels car, that was so beaten up that I didn't value it.  I combined the body of the regular wheels car with the baseplate of the missing-trunk-superfast car, and suddenly, I had the one-of-a-kind car that I'd always wanted... 

Actually, I like that it is so beaten up.  It looks legitimate that way, as if its a surviving car, un-restored, parked outside on the streets and subject to the rain and sun... 

Only the baseplate shows the truth, the drilled-out rivets a gaping hole and testament to its non-legitimacy... 

How to store a Matchbox car collection... (or maybe, lessons on visualizing how big sixty-five hundred is...!).

If you're a toy collector, chances are you struggle with questions like:  "How much is too much", or "I like so many types of cars, how do I decide where to set my boundaries" or most especially, "if a Matchbox car is so small, how does a collection of them manage to take up SO much space!!!". 

20 years ago, pre-kids, and having only (a paltry!) 2000 cars, I had the luxury of having an entire room devoted to my hobby...  but those days are long gone.  Now my collection lives mostly in an attic closet, under the eaves of the roof, with a few more boxes scattered throughout the basement and in other closets.  When I want to find a certain car for this blog, I start pulling out case, after case, after case, after case...   Pretty soon my room looks like these photos (or in many cases, much worse!).  And pretty soon after that, my wife gets upset about what a mess it is, or about how much "clutter" I have, and I try to cram it all back into a closet and pretend to be a normal 42 year old again... 

These photos give a glimpse of what part of a roughly 6,500 piece Matchbox car collection looks like... 

I'm convinced that I learned basic math skills from a Matchbox case.  They almost always had 12 car trays.  Most cases either held 2 trays (a 24 car case) or 4 trays (a 48 car case).  Later, when the see-through Plano "Jammers" came out, they also held 48 cars, preserving the case logic.  When Matchbox sold the red "Matchbox Across America" 50 state cases (top of the big pile in the foreground above), they advertised it as holding 50 vehicles.  In my mind they were cheating, assuming you could double up some motorcycles and other small cars.  In reality, the cases had 4*12=48 slots...

Occasionally you saw a 72 or a 36 or a 12 car case, but they were rare.  Rarer still were the real oddballs - the 40 car cases, or the steering wheel shaped 20 car cases.   So most cases held some multiple of 12 cars.  Even now, when multiplying 12 times 6, I think about the trifold 72 car cases (spread out on the right side of the floor in the photo) and get to my answer. 

The 24 for small/48 for large numeric consistency also makes it easy to estimate collection sizes when your collection moves from monstrous to overwhelming...  Just round up by 1 or 2, and count by 25s and 50s...   By that logic, the biggest stack of cases in the center rear of the above photo has roughly 550 cars in it.  The slightly smaller stack to its left has roughly 400 cars in it, as does the tall stack in the foreground.  The smaller stack to the right (again center foreground) has only 200 cars.  The assorted cases scattered around the remainder of the floor and table have another 950 cars in them, for a total of roughly 2500 cars. 

Now that those 2500 cars were out of the closet, I could actually crawl into the closet, taking the below photo...:  


There are 30 Jammers style cases there (a few are hidden by other cases or out of range of the camera angle, holding roughly 1500 cars.  The various cardboard boxes shown hold probably another 300 cars.  Then there are 13 smaller Rubbermaid containers, each with about 100 cars individually wrapped up, for about another 1300 cars.   A few more smaller containers in the closet add on another 100 or so cars, for a total of about 3200 additional cars. 

In other places in my basement and closets I've got a few larger Rubbermaid containers of unopened MIP cars, (maybe 300?), plus another several boxes of cars (500?) that I plan to sell someday - junky cars, cars I don't like, duplicate cars, etc.   These add maybe another 800 to my estimation, for a total of at least 6,500.  I work with numbers and statistics for a living, I don't think I'm estimating overly high.  If anything, I'm probably low.  I'm sure that if I really thought about it, I'd remember a few other places that I've stashed cars... 

6,500+ cars?!?  Yikes...  Please don't sign me up to be a candidate for the TV show "Hoarders"! 

On the other hand, if the 10 year old version of me could see this collection, I would be very, Very, VERY happy with myself...! 

 

Nissan Ambulances - by Tomica

Ambulances are an interesting segment of die-cast culture, and this is actually my 2nd post that is just about ambulances, which is odd since I'm not an OVERLY huge fan of ambulances... 

Anyway, Tomica has a huge variety of minivans (see my recent minivan post), and therefore have a lot of castings that they can make into ambulances, resulting in 4-5 distinct ambulances made from Nissan vans!

I actually have 4, with a 5th being a police van that seems like it could double for an ambulance...  I've shown them in order of age, oldest to newest, with the first one (a Nissan Caball) being more of a police van.  The 4th is the El Grand and is the same casting as the safety car El Grand shown in my Tomica van post.

All are nice castings, you won't go wrong with any of them.  As usual the older ones feel nicer and higher quality, though none are cheap-feeling.

I particularly like the 2nd oldest Caravan-based ambulance.  It's rear opens (though it doesn't stay open for a photo).  It is still old enough to be made in Japan, and has that silky suspension that older Tomicas are known for.

Overall, incredible to find 5 ambulance models all by Nissan, all made by Tomica...

(Updated photos) The dearth of Minivans in the die-cast world... so thank goodness for Tomica...!

Minivans....  One of the most ubiquitous types of cars on the road, but easily the most under-represented type of car in die-cast. 

If you ignore the VW vans (which due to the coolness factor of VW Transporters are the most modeled minivan brand), and the full-size vans (again which have a slightly higher coolness quotient), there are VERY few mainstream castings of minivans such as Ford Windstars, Kia Sedonas, Nissan Quests, etc....

1.  Matchbox did the original '84 Dodge Caravan (the car the launched and still defined the actual mini-van market in the USA) in the '80s.  My casting was the black one to the right (actual example from my childhood collection - though now I've also got it in white), and it was an important piece of my collection, in no small part since my family had an '85 Plymouth Voyager (identical to a Caravan).  This casting was a pretty nice casting, with a working sliding side door (Matchbox' first and possibly only ever sliding door).  Plus it had the chunkier truck wheels on it, giving it a bit more of an SUV/off-road look, which was a whole lot nicer than the factory K-Car wheels with plastic wheel covers that our real family car came with... 

2.  Hot Wheels brought out a slightly customized late '90s Dodge Caravan in the late '90s.  The one I've got is in maroon with heavily tinted windows and overly radical 3 spoke alloy wheels, not sure if it came in other colors.  While it's not a favorite casting of mine, it still is a decent effort and worthy of mention in this severely under-done segment.   

3.  And a recent addition, the Matchbox Ford Transit Connect.

From the mainstream Matchbox and Hot Wheels brands over the last 30 years, that's it for non-VW-minivans...  Very sad! 

If we expand to other toy brands, we get:

4.  The late '80s Pontiac Transport from Majorette (in blue on the right), which unfortunately had the un-realistic see-through roof that robbed the car of realism... 

5.  The Toyota Hi-Ace from Majorette, which came with an opening lift-gate. 

6.  Maisto had a beige European-market Ford Galaxy, that was done in typical Maisto cheapness, but was at least another entry into the list...   

I can't think of any Johnny Lightning or Greenlight or Racing Champion models...

7.  I think I've got a late '90s Ford Galaxy/VW Sharon (same car) from Siku buried some place in the collection, but I'm not sure I'm able to pull it out quickly... 

In sum, 7 castings, from all but 1 of the major die-cast producers, over the 30 years since the original Caravan/Voyager came out!  The point I'm hopefully effectively making is that for such a popular car type, it is amazingly un-modeled in the die-cast world. 

Enter the minivan savior...  ...Tomica! 

In the last 25 years, Tomica has produced well over 25 distinct minivan castings, with multiple spin-off variations that could be considered unique models on their own, like the police, road crew and ambulance variations.  If I include the recent slew of hard-to-categorize cars that might be small minivans or tall station wagons (Toyota Ipsum, etc.), the number could easily pass 35....  On top of that, most of the castings have opening features - usually a sliding door or an opening tailgate.  Wow.  In short, if you're a collector who wants a diverse slate of car types, and who values unique and well-modeled castings, you NEED to consider expanding your Tomica collection. 

As has been mentioned earlier in this blog, one of the really impressive things about Tomica is that they are constantly updating their castings.  I've got 3 unique Toyota Alphards, all amazing in a crème white, representing 3 different generations of Toyota Alphards (shown at right in order of release, with the black the most recent).  Even if the Alphard changed its looks dramatically over those 3 generations, that would still be shocking attention to detail from any other toy-maker.  However the Alphard DIDN'T change it's looks dramatically with each re-fresh.  But Tomica STILL felt the need to bring out a new casting for each generation...  For context, Matchbox NEVER updated their Caravan casting, continuing to sell the original casting after Dodge had re-freshed, and then entirely re-designed, the real Caravan...




I've got 3 different castings of Honda Stepwagons, with the oldest (light blue below) casting in 3 colors and the newest (dark blus below) casting in 2...  ...And that doesn't count the other Honda minivans, including Odyssey and Elysian...

1 of my favorite Tomica minivans of all time (and one of the first that I found - which might explain my fascination with it) is this Mazda Bongo.  I think I like it so much due both to the boxy (VW Eurovan-esque) shape of it, as well as the Eurovan-Westphalia-esque pop-up roof (maybe another comparison test is in order - again with the Hot Wheels "Sundowner" Vanagon matched up against this Bongo in the battle of the pop-up roof minivan campers!).























Tomica has done 2 generations of the Nissan El-Grand, both of which come in both normal consumer (I've got the old one in white and the new one in black) as well as yellow safety car guise, allowing this crazy photo of 2 generations of El Grand safety cars (newest on the left).  While the older El Grand's large size made it a favorite of mine (I have it in white - and it looks so nice against the equivalently sized Alphard!), the new El Grand is noticeably smaller (though it claims to be in the same 1/64 scale) and has no opening features, making it a bit of a disappointment.






















Another favorite Tomica minivan is the Mitsubishi Dilica - just a cool looking van, sporting silver and sage-green paint in my collection.

The Mitsubishi Grandis isn't quite as nice looking, though it is still a worthy effort and a good model.  I have it in white and light blue.

I have 2 generations of Nissan Serena's - the older in silver and bronze and white, the newer in an eggplant purple.  I like the older one a bit more - there is more detail in it.

My least favorite Tomica minivans are these Toyota Estimas.  I might dislike it so much due to the bland beige paint that I have it in...  Amazingly, Tomica offered the newer one in almost the same color of off-putting paint, allowing me to not like it in both generations....





This Honda Elysion (in light blue) is another highly regarded Tomica minivan of mine...











These Toyota Noah's come in 3 colors, though one of them is tagged as a Voxy instead - with a unique number on the baseplate.  However they are all the same identical casting.








A Mazda MPV (in red) and a Toyota Wish (blue) are 2 additional reasonable minivans by Tomica.  The detail is nice and they are definitively collectible, though I don't like either ENOUGH to make them favorites of mine (even though I actually owned a real MPV for a while).





Then there are these 2 unfavorites from Honda - the Airwave (blue) and the Odyssey (white).  Mostly I dislike their size - they seem too low for a minivan.










As I get to the end of this amazing list, I wanted to show another favorite casting, the Toyota Probox, in 3 different versions...  I like the looks of this casting a lot, and really appreciate the 3 versions.







And finally, no discussion of Tomica minivans would be complete without the most prototypical of all Japanese minivans, the Toyota Hi-Ace...  I could only find 2 castings of the Hi-Ace, though I'm willing to be that I'm missing a few...  In fact I know that I'm missing at least one, which is on order and being shipped from Japan as I type...

Well, that's close to a wrap on the die-cast minivan situation.  A remarkably under-represented segment of modeled cars by the major toy makers, with Tomica utterly saving and utterly dominating the market.  And if anyone from Tomica is reading this - then here is my request for you to do the Hyundai H1 - a ubiquitous and cleanly styled minivan seen everywhere in the Caribbean and Latin America....

P .S.  There is one other minivan producer - from a quality toy maker that I often forget about due to their complete lack of a US presence...  ...and that of course is Norev.  On a trip to France around 2010 I picked up every Norev that I could find, including several minivans...  All were models of French vans - Renaults and Peugeots.  But this discussion of Norevs is probably worthy of its own post someday...