Land of the Rising Sun-day, Tomica Time, returns again. Today we take a look at Tomica F14-2, the Panther 6. This casting entered the range in September 1979, remaining until October 1987, and is definitely unique:
The Panther 6 - a mid-engine (Cadillac 500 of all things) 6 wheeled car made by Panther in 1977. Two were built, none in red, but Tomica must have thought the color suited the car. This was a pretty wild concept/low production car. Both front wheels steer, the car had a TV in the dash, and top speed was claimed to be 200 mph. Nothing opens on this casting to reveal the detailed interior, but it does have the crisp glazing and springy suspension we enjoy in vintage Tomica. Scale is claimed to be 1:67, likely accurate, close to the standard of small scale. From all angles, one can imagine this six wheeled marvel that to me looks like something from a Thunderbirds episode on the stand at a show or turning heads in disco era London:
Front and rear have ample detail, the cast-in detail at rear being a neat touch:
The base is plastic, a trend of the time, and contains ample identifying and technical detail and shows off the six wheels:
This model is fortunate to live in its nice original box:
I'm quite happy to have this model in my collection, it's really something different and I doubt many other diecast versions made it to production:
Images from silodrome.com:
In the red, it looks like something out of Ultra Seven or one of the other Ultraman series. Although the Thunderbirds do come to mind as well.
Thunderbirds, ...was my first thought. I looked this one up on the googleplex and there's some interesting info and photos out there. I found that this one makes it look the most awkward and/or ungainly, almost like an RC toy