Land of the Rising Sun-day, Tomica Time, has returned. This installment is a switching of gears from the last several Tomica reviews, as we move from the F-series foreign vehicles back to JDM material. Today we examine Tomica 3-3, the Nissan Caravan. This casting entered the range in July 1980, remaining until September 1988, and is something that definitely represents its homeland:
A cabover/forward control van, something Japanese makers embraced for decades. This Nissan Caravan, using a name that predates the Mopar minivans, has that old JDM look that some find endearing, and the crisp tampo adds period character. This casting features the springy suspension and crisp glazing we enjoy in vintage Tomica, but no traditional snappy door action, more on that in a moment. Scale is claimed to be 1:67, likely accurate - this is a chunky model of a real world vehicle that wasn't small. From all angles, one can imagine this van out on the road making deliveries of goods or people day in day out:
Front and rear have ample detail, with the detailed grille/lights area and cast-in Caravan logo at front being a nice touch:
The base is metal, which adds heft and contains technical and identifying detail:
This model is fortunate enough to live in its nice original box:
Rather than snappy door action, this model features an opening rear door, showing interior detail within:
I'm pleased to have this casting in my collection, as it is a neat example of its era:
Images of similar vans from nissan-global.com and curbsideclassic.com:
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