toyotageek's Xanga

New Year

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The 2010 Nippon New Year Toyota 2000GT from Apita.

AKEMASHITE OMEDETOU!

Wishing all the Toyota enthusiasts a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

2010 - the year of the Tiger!

Tomica Shimajirou Toyota Estima

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TOMYTEC

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:00:59 GMT

NEW STUFF from JAPAN
TOMYTEC - THE CAR COLLECTION
Vol. 4 - 1960's Generations

TOMYTEC has been making making 'micro' scale vehicles for some time. They are for use with train sets and dioramas. Two scales are available - 1/80 and 1/150. These are the standard size for Japanese HO Gauge and N Gauge respectively (the Japanese vesions of these gauges is slightly different than the US and European standards). Fortunately for me, there are a lot of Toyota offered and they are relatively inexpensive. I recently purchased a number of the N Gauge cars off Yahoo Auction Japan. The vehicles are Crown and Crown Deluxe from The Car Collection Vol. 4. They come three cars to a box - two standard colors and one special color (version), for a total of 5 versions of each vehicle. I was able to get all the Crown station wagons, and all but one of the Crown Deluxes (I'm still missing the taxi).

So what good are a bunch of tiny cars if you don't have something to display them with. Well, TOMYTEC makes a whole bunch of buildings to go along with the cars, trucks, and buses. I'd like to get a lot of them, but for now I only have one - a neat little taxi company garage. I took some photos of the garage with some cars, and even though it's just one building, looking at the pictures reminded me of many street scenes that I saw in the more rural parts of Kanagawa, Japan.

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CHORO-Q

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:30:01 GMT

NEW STUFF from JAPAN
TAKARA TOMY - CHIBIKKO CHORO-Q

When I was in Japan during 2008, I saw a Chibikko Choro-Q Toyota Motorsports Transporter on display at an auto parts store. Unfortunately it wasn't for sale. I learned it was supposed to be sold at 7-Eleven stores, but all the stores we visited were sold out. At the end of my trip, I left Japan without that little Chibikko Choro-Q. By-the-way, Chibikko means Tiny in Japanese, so Chibikko Choro-Q is Tiny Choro-Q ~ ~ Isn't that just Kawaii!! (Cute!!)

One year later, back home in California, I accidently found the same transporter for sale online as a set of two transporters in a store display box, from 7-Eleven Japan at a 50% discount. Well, I went ahead and bought it even though I didn't need the whole set. The set contains two transporters - the Toyota Motorsports Transporter with a Sprinter Trueno AE86 and a ADVAN Yokohama Transporter with a Skyline GT-R. Now that I've got two transporters, it looks like I'm going to have to build up my Chibikko Choro-Q racing car collection!

TRANSPORTER SET 4
Toyota Motorsports Transporter with a Sprinter Trueno AE86
ADVAN Yokohama Transporter with a Skyline GT-R

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TOMYTEC

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:00:59 GMT

NEW STUFF
TOMYTEC
TOMICA LIMITED VINTAGE

This is a model of a delivery truck for the company Senko Denki. Senko Denki is an electrical supply company that was founded in 1959 in the Mie Prefecture of Japan. The truck is a 1965 Toyota Toyoace PK31. This model is equipped with a removable canvas top for the cargo area, and cargo that consists of electrical wire wrapped in paper.

LV-41c TOYOACE SENKO DENKI
TOMICA © 2006 TOMY - S=1/64 - MADE IN CHINA

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TOMICA

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:00:16 GMT

NEW STUFF
TOMICA

Back in July I posted about some new Tomica that were coming soon, and one car was this 2000GT from Apita. I first mentioned this model back in when it went on pre-order throught the Apita website (only in Japan). The model came out several months ago, but I only just recently received it from Japan. Even though this model probably represents a fantasy vehicle, I like it a lot. Nice color scheme and the detailing and wheels look great!

This series from Apita seems to be very popular. A third car is available now, and the first two cars are already sold out. Number two in the Toyota 2000GT World series from Apita...

APITA PIAGO ORIGINAL < TOYOTA 2000GT WORLD > No. 2 RALLY CAR TYPE
TOMICA © 2002 TOMY - S = 1/59 - MADE IN CHINA

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TOMICA

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:00:00 GMT

NEW STUFF
TOMICA

From Aeon comes yet another series, the Fire Fighter Collection.

FIRE FIGHTER COLLECTION
NO. 1 TOYOTA HIMEDIC COMMAND VEHICLE
TOMICA © 2006 TOMY - NO. 79 - S=1/64 - MADE IN CHINA

FIRE FIGHTER COLLECTION
NO. 2 HINO LADDER TRUCK
TOMICA © 2002 TOMY - NO. 108 - S=1/139 - MADE IN VIETNAM

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Motormax

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:00:00 GMT

NEW STUFF
MINICAR TRADE

I recently made a trade with a member, Valuetad, of the MCCH board for this model from Hong Kong - a Toyota Hiace delivery van. This is a promotional minicar for a Hong Kong courier service. According to Valuetad, he brought several of these back from a trip to Asia many years ago. The only real piece of information I could find about this model came from toynutz.com: the model was produced by Motormax and the courier company went out of business in December 2000. Thanks to Valuetad at MCCH for the trade!

MOTORMAX
6022 TOYOTA HIACE
ezVan 'means we deliver' - No. 71601

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CHORO-Q

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:00:49 GMT

NEW STUFF
RAOK from a FRIEND

A couple of months ago, I met with my friend Ben from Japanese Nostalgic Car. I think I had some car parts for him, and a Tomica or two from Japan. At the time, Ben had some extra Choro-Q that he liberated in my direction. I wasn't expecting anything from Ben that day, but he was kind enough to share some of his collection with me. We minicar collectors call this a Random Act Of Kindness, or a RAOK.

TOYOTA CROWN ROYAL

TOYOPET CROWN
ALWAYS

TOYOTA SOARER
CHORO-Q HG MECHANIC CLEAR SOARER NO. 075

DAIHATSU MIDGET
ALWAYS

Last week I saw Ben again, at a local Hot Wheels flea market. He once again had a RAOK for me. This time it was another pull-back car (in the form of a key-chain?), a Lexus SC430. Ben got this car when he attended SEMA a few weeks ago. This car doesn't even have any manufacturers information on the bottom - but it's cool none-the-less.

TEAM LEMANS ENEOS LEXUS SC430

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MOVIE TRIVIA

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:00:33 GMT

TOYOTA IN FILM
MOTOR PSYCHO

My friend Kimmo enjoys watching motorcycle movies from the 1960's. He recently watched a 1965 B-Movie by Russ Meyer named "Motor Psycho". Shortly after watching the movie, Kimmo emailed me some still pictures from the movie. It seems there were several Toyotas prominantly featured in the film - a Corona and two Land Cruisers. If you think about it, that is actually quite an accomplishment for the time as Toyota was just getting started in the USA.

This probably isn't a movie for the kids to watch, due it it's mature subject matter and violence, but the photos below are still interesting to see and safe for the family by todays standards. This film came out two years before the popular James Bond movie 'You Only Live Twice' which featured a convertible Toyota 2000GT. I would almost guess that Motor Psycho is probably one of the earliest non-Japanese movies to feature Japanese cars. The films credits prominantly show that the vehicles were furnished by Toyota Motor Distributors, Inc. of Hollywood California.

Do you know of any other early 60's movies that featured Toyotas? If you do, please leave a comment and let me know!

MOTOR PSYCHO
1965 Eve Productions Inc.
Directed by Russ Meyer

More information on the movie can be found at the following sites:

Wikipedia

Internet Movie Database

Internet Movie Car Database

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NOREV

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:00:00 GMT

NEW STUFF
from JAPAN

HACHETTE / NOREV

From the JAPANESE CARS COLLECTION by Hachette Fujingaho Collections, model by NOREV; price is ¥1790.

VOL. 91 - 2001 TOYOTA CROWN

I recently checked the Japanese Cars Collection website to re-confirm their schedule of upcoming cars, and found several changes in the line-up. The 2006 Lexus IS 250 that was scheduled to be No. 99 has been moved to No. 150, which should come out in late 2011. Completely removed from the line-up are: No. 118 Toyota Corolla 1100 Special Issue (1966), No. 128 Toyota Mark II X30 (1976), and No. 142 Lexus GS300 (2006). The new Toyota line-up is as follows... (No. 98, the Serra is already available and I am just waiting to receive mine)...

2009

No. 98 Toyota Serra (1990)
No. 102 Toyota Corolla Runx (2001)

2010
No. 106 Toyota RAV4 5 Door (2001)
No. 109 Toyota Sprinter Trueno (1972)
No. 111 Toyota Century (1967)
No. 114 Toyota Mark II (2001)

No. 120 Toyota Soarer (2003)
No. 124 Toyota Aristo (2001)

2011

No. 130 Toyota Estima (2001)
No. 132 Toyota Crown Royal (2004)
No. 135 Toyota Crown Toyopet RS41 (1962)
No. 137 Toyota Windom (1991)
No. 139 Toyota Land Cruiser (1982)
No. 143 Toyota Alphard (2003)
No. 144 Toyota Publica convertible (1963)
No. 146 Toyota Celsior (2001)
No. 149 Toyota Prius (1997)
No. 150 Lexus IS 250 (2006)

Disclaimer: the cars to be produced are tentatively scheduled and subject to change; the release schedule is my best effort to guess when the given cars are to be expected, but is no guarantee as to what or when a model will be available; the list is only meant as a general guide on what to expect.

As I mentioned, the list on the actual Japanese Cars Collection has changed (more than once), so I'm sure there will still be more changes in the future. I noticed one entry, No. 139 Toyota Land Cruiser (1982) is a duplicate description of No. 89 - I wonder if this is an error or if we will see another 1982 Land Cruiser?

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