Land of the Rising Sun-day, Tomica Time, has returned. Today we take a look at Tomica F25-2, the Renault 5 Turbo. This casting entered the range in December 1981, remaining until 1988, and is very well represents its time:
The hot hatch became a trend by the late 70s, and as the 80s dawned, there was a movement towards more hyper hot hatches as turbofied homologation special vehicles became a not-uncommon product. The Renault 5 Turbo was one of these hyper hatches, with its rear-mid engined high performance powertrain and widebody styling differentiating it from the typical Renault 5 aka LeCar. The pleasing metallic paint and quality tampos add appeal to this model. As expected, this casting features the crisp glazing, springy suspension, and snappy door action we enjoy in vintage Tomica. Scale is claimed to be 1:58, likely accurate, close to the standard of small scale. From all angles, one can imagine this exotic zooming down an Autoroute at extra-legal speeds or setting times around a track:
Doors open to reveal a detailed interior and accurate steering wheel:
Front and rear have plentiful detail, the rear wiper being a nice touch:
The base is plastic, a trend of the time, and contains technical and identifying detail, this view showing off the widebody stance:
This model is fortunate enough to live in its nice original box:
I'm happy to have this model in my collection, a fine model of a cool car:
Image of a 1:1 from Bring a Trailer:
That's a little Cutie. Any sight of the top of the engine through those rear windows?