Yes, that title is a mouthful.
To help, we will break it down:
- This model is from the Tomica Limited Vintage (TLV) line.
- This model is a Tomica Shop exclusive, making it...uh...well...limited.
- Many of the Tomica Shop TLV's come in police livery, just like this Land Cruiser. Lamley has five of the Tomica Shop police vehicles, and we will be featuring all of them over time.
- The "non-exclusive" Land Cruisers are wildly popular among TLV collectors, and acquiring one
Does that help?
With those few tidbits, where do you start with this model?
We can start with the actual vehicle. How can you not love a Land Cruiser? Recent incarnations may have lost a bit of that luster, but the 50 Series, like the 40 Series before and 60 Series after, speak to exactly how most of think of the Land Cruiser. Big, tough, and invincible. Maybe not fast, but there are other cars for that. Fast cars aren't nicknamed the "iron pig". Land Cruisers are. The 50 Series is the first "station wagon" Land Cruiser, and this elongated style is actually the style I personally prefer. The FJ40 might be the most iconic, but the 50 and (especially) the 60 are my favorites. This specific version done by Tomica, the 56, was only available in Japan.
How about this model's police livery?
I have no police heritage. No relatives on any police force. But I love police cars. Certain police cars. Maybe it is an aesthetics thing. Police cars seem to be the car at its best. Everything a car is built to do, fully functioning. Slap a good design on it, and to me it is pure car perfection. And seeing that my design preferences favor the clean and simple, most police liveries I like are older. A simple "police" on the side, and one or two colors, and I am thrilled. There are still good current police liveries, like the California and Utah Highway Patrols in the US, but a ton of bad ones too.
That is one of the reasons I love the Japanese "keisatsu" design. It may the most perfect design of all police vehicles. Instantly recognizable, just a bit sporty, and it looks good on ANYTHING. Which is a good thing, because the Japanese police might throw just about any car into their fleet. There have been some doozies, and not always Japanese in origin:
(Ok, the yonmeri might be a custom build, but I don't ever skip a chance to show one of my favorite cars ever featured on JNC...)
So I have just a bit of a thing for keisatsu cars. And my TLV police collection is growing. I think I am up to 7 or 8, and I am looking forward to adding a few more. And of all, this Land Cruiser may be my favorite.
Which leads me to a bit of a plug. I want to highlight the ebay seller who has helped me acquire these. He is out of Japan, and only sells police vehicles. He was very good to me, considering the cost of TLV's, especially Tomica Store exclusives, and I want to recommend him to anyone interested. Follow this link, and you will see an amazing group of models for sale (and I just noticed...on sale):
patocar-com Japanese Police Store
These models take commitment to collect, and the only thing missing from collecting TLV's is regret that you started. Promise.
Tomica Limited Vintage Tomica Shop exclusive Toyota Land Cruiser FJ56V Police:
The next Tomica Shop TLV Police model we will feature, the Skyline Van:
