Tomica Time, Land of the Rising Sun-day, is here again. Today we take a look at Tomica 24-5, the Toyota RAV4. This casting entered the range in May 1995, remaining until January 2001, and is something unusual for my collection:
That being it is something relatively modern - at least for my time machine type collection. Back in the mid 90s I bought a few then-current model Tomica. At the time my brother was nuts for vintage Star Wars material, and subscribed to magazines and attended shows - I think I picked up material via those sources. This first gen RAV4 is something we are all no doubt familiar with, a "cute ute" that seems more rugged than later models, even with its friendly soft 90s styling maybe accentuated by Tomica's shift to somewhat softer casting detail from the sharper more precise late 70s and 80s. Scale is claimed to be 1:58, likely accurate, marginally larger than the standard of small scale, and this model has a chunky feel. The side tampo matches what was applied to real world vehicles. One may also notice just a little superdetailing, something I did at the time. From all angles, one can imagine this little recreational activity vehicle traversing a mall parking lot or a muddy path with the Macarena or Mr. Boombastic on the radio:
Doors open to reveal a detailed interior and accurate if not amusingly small steering wheel:
Front and rear have ample detail, the chromed lights being typical of the era:
The base is plastic, as usual for the period, and contains much less detail than in older models. Also notice this is the beginning of mainline castings being made in China:
This model is fortunate to live in its original box:
I'm pleased to have this model in my collection, it is now kind of a retro vehicle which feels funny as I bought this new in 1995-96:
A similar 1:1 from this YT video (note the similar side decal) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmiBvyRZpL8 :
I was really surprised that this modern model pop up in your collection. It is really cute.