Here we are with more Tomica Time, on this Land of the Rising Sun-Day. Today we take a look at Tomica F45-1, the Maserati Merak SS. This casting entered the range in March 1978, remaining until February 1982, and is a vehicle type not yet seen much in my reviews here:
That is, an Italian exotic. The Merak, a Giugiaro/Italdesign product, hails from time when exotics seemed to be more exotic relative to mainstream cars than today. This model contains the fine line casting detail and accurate proportion we expect from vintage Tomica, and the sharp Italdesign and Maserati tampos add interest and appear as-new. This casting has the crisp glazing and springy suspension we enjoy in old Tomica, but doors don't open, although there is a detailed interior. Scale is claimed to be 1:62, likely accurate, and roughly the standard of small scale. From all angles, one can imagine this buttressed wedge zooming down an Autostrada among Fiat 124s and Alfa Berlinas, in the background of a Cannonball Run movie, or cruising on a malaise era American thoroughfare, looking like a spaceship among the Granadas, Chevettes, and Volares:
Instead of opening doors, this has an opening engine cover, hinged in a sturdy plastic with a heavy closing action - hard to make it stay open long enough to get a pic of the detailed engine:
Front and rear have similar quality detail matching the rest of the casting, with the chrome highlighted front bumper (not the USDM 5 mph type) being a nice touch:
The base is metal, which adds heft and contains technical and identifying data:
This model is lucky enough to live its nice original box:
I'm happy to have this model in my collection, as it is a cool car, and I have a couple variants. These were widely sold as Pocket Cars, so if one wants an example, it shouldn't be difficult or expensive:
Images of a similar 1:1 from a classified ad at hemmings.com:
Beautiful piece