Since Toyota is celebrating the heritage of the Corolla at the moment (to somewhat mixed results ad-wise), we thought we would join in the fun. And look, it isn't the AE86.
We go pre-drift with Tomica Limited Vintage Neo's 1979 Corolla 1500GL, the first of the fourth-generation Corollas. While I am not a Corolla expert, I know this is an early 4th-gen because of the four round headlights. Later versions went square.
Other than that I know little. I do know that while the current Corolla doesn't make much of a statement on the road (but Toyota appears to be trying to change that with the latest ad campaign), the Corolla name is iconic. There have been quite a few Corollas sold all over the world, and it definitely deserves the "icon" label. And this early 4th-gen was released right in the Corolla's heyday.
And that is why we love Tomica Limited Vintage. The minis they create can seem a little bland, especially to those of us who grew up seeing a lot of them on the road. But Tomica is helping us remember these cars, especially those that fall outside of the 510/240Z/Skyline/AE86/Celica realm. The models represent the cars as bone-stock new, how you would see them while driving past the lot in 1970's. And that is why Tomica Limited Vintage has become my favorite brand to collect. Crazy, eh?
We will continue to showcase TLV on Lamley, and we hope to convince a few of you at a time to get a few. These models, by far, are the best 1:64 models out there, and we hope to someday make it as easy as possible for them to be collected here in the US.
For now, there are some great places to get them. For the latest, try Daboxtoys. For the harder-to-find models, patocar-com
is my store of choice. And great news. Patocar-com is currently offering ALL their models for 25% off. That means some of the hardest models to find, like the Land Cruisers, Datsun Wagons, and these very popular Corollas are ALL on sale. And trust us when we say you won't find these models cheaper than patocar's prices, at least outside of Japan. Go check out his store:
Tomica Limited Vintage from patocar-com
(We just took advantage of the sale, and a healthy 3-figures later we have some great models coming...)
Tomica Limited Vintage Neo 1979 Toyota Corolla 1500GL:
