Tomica Time, Land of the Rising Sunday, is here for its final installment of 2023. Today we take a look at Tomica 15-5, the Nissan Fairlady Z 300ZX. This casting entered the range in June 1990, remaining until May 2002, and is something that has become an icon of its time:
As the 90s dawned, Tomica started to change a little. To my eyes, the castings became a little softer and less precise, and production would soon slowly but surely start to migrate from Japan. This vehicle, the Z32 series Z car, shows those elements, but even with this evolution, it is still a nice model. Proportion is still nice, and detail is more than adequate. I kind of wish the T-tops were translucent rather than painted on, but Tomica did the same with another Z, and in real life they were tinted black. Although this was moving into a newer era for Tomica, this model still feaures the crisp glazing, springy suspension, and snappy door action we all no doubt admire. This is a model I bought back around 1995 or so, I saw an ad somewhere for an importer selling Tomica, and impulse bought a few - I had been a fan of the Z32, so this was an easy choice. Probably 28 years later, no regrets, although I have mixed feelings about the superdetailing I applied with silver paint back in the day. Scale is claimed to be 1:59, likely accurate, and close to the standard of small scale. From all angles, one can imagine this timeless sports touring car crusing down a winding road, or being called a "pornographer's car" on an old episode of Top Gear:
Doors open to reveal a detailed interior and accurate (if not a little too small and tilted upwards) steering wheel:
Front and rear have ample detail, with contrasting plastic for the headlight area being a nice touch:
The base is plastic, typical for the era, which contains technical detail and identifying data - notice this was still Made in Japan:
This model is lucky enough to live in its original box:
I'm pleased to have this model in my collection, as I have always liked the car:
Image of a similar 1:1 from carsandbids.com:
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