Tomica Time, Land of the Rising Sun-day, has returned. Today we examine Tomica F65-1, the Lamborghini Cheetah. This casting entered the range in March 1979, remaining until February 1984, and is something not often seen in the small scale world:
That being a model of the Cheetah concept vehicle, or the LM002 that came later. Not many makers during the era when these vehicles were new decided to make a model of this wild but at the time very niche machine, but Tomica jumped on it, and did it in fine style. The Cheetah (with a Mopar 360 engine) was initially developed in an effort between Lamborghini and a US military contractor - somewhat surprising, and the project was eventually shelved before completion, and went on to influence the LM002. The Tomica version of the Cheetah contains laudable fine line casting detail and accurate proportions, and contains the crisp glazing and springy suspension we associate with the brand - but no snappy door action, as there are no doors. However, other detail contained in the model more than makes up or it. Scale is claimed to be 1:62, likely accurate, roughly the standard of small scale - and this scale is large enough where the model has some presence. From all angles, one can imagine this wild concept jumping some dunes and maybe being abandoned somewhere in the UAE when it breaks:
The lack of doors allows one to view the detailed interior and accurate steering wheel:
Front and rear have excellent high quality detail matching the rest of the casting - the "Cheetah" identifier in accurate font at front along with the Lamborghini crest and winch, and the jerrycans and shovel at rear being nice touches:
The base is metal, which adds considerable heft and contains more than sufficient technical and identifying detail:
This model is lucky enough to live in its nice original box:
I'm more than happy to have this casting in my collection, as it is something cool and obscure, and the model itself is of the highest quality. These were also sold as Pocket Cars - usually in a zebra paint scheme - this version is less common, but not a high rarity, and can be found without huge effort:
Image of a Cheetah. presumably on display at the 1977 Geneva Motor Show, from ebay:
That’s wicked cool!