Cool is Cool is Cool: Tomica Limited Vintage Seibu Keisatsu Nissan Laurel & Gloria Police Cars...

We have been wanting to show these for awhile.

With all the Matchbox and other new models to show, we haven't been able to dive into another Cool is Cool post here on Lamley.  We knew we could return to the series soon, and we knew exactly what models we would show.

We have a soft spot here at Lamley for police cars, especially vintage police cars.  And since no one here has any link to law enforcement outside of the occasional traffic stop and conversations with police collectors, our main connection is through television.

And police shows on television, at least when I was a kid, like to blow shit up.

I have only seen one SWAT raid in my life (while walking home from school, I watched as they raided a mansion down the street that was ground zero for a suspected international prostitution ring. Never knew what came of it, but it was fun to watch) and that is about as exciting as it has gotten for me.  Unfortunately I have never seen a bad guy or a doomed-from-the-start faceless police car hit another parked car so perfectly that it shot in the air and twisted just enough to land on its roof.  It must happen a lot because TV is reality and it happened 5 or 6 times on every episode of the A-Team.

And since that happened a lot back in the 70's and 80's, whether on Knight Rider or Dukes of Hazzard or the aforementioned Team of A's, it was always a bland sedan from that era that met its airborne fate.

But not across the pond in Japan.  The most popular TV show of that era in Japan was Seibu Keisatsu, which loosely translates to "Western Police".  More accurately, it means "One Hour of Nissan-focused Mayhem", as it crashed and blew up a whole load of cars, and by whole load we mean Nissans.

The show was a thrill ride, with fights, guns, chases, crashes, and a ton of explosions.  Just have a gander at this DVD promo ad:



If you watched it you saw a ton of police cars crashing into all kinds of things.  Nissan was a sponsor of the show, and it provided many of those victims for the show to have their way with.  So the Laurel, Cedric, and Gloria became the Dodge Monacos of Japan.

Tomica Limited Vintage has been doing a series of models dedicated to the series, and as we get them we will keep showing them.  We love the 240Z they did, replicating the car that jumped a river, as well as the 3 RS Machines, all based on the RS 2000 Skyline.

But our favorite models in the series are the police cars.  Not only because any police car in the Japanese black-and-white livery looks good, but because TLV sported them up with killer custom wheels, just like the show.  And the results are fantastic.

These two two police cars, one a Laurel and one a Gloria, and as cool as it gets.  The photos will do the models more justice that what I write, and you won't be able to get past the detail.  And keep in mind the weight is solid, and the model has shocks.  These are amazing models, and well worth the price it takes to get one or fifty to you.

We have tried to pinpoint our favorite TLV model, and at gunpoint we would still say the Skyline Van, but these two police cars may actually be our favorite.  It does not get any cooler than these two.  We dare you to take a look at these two and NOT want them in your collection.

And good news.  We emailed Japan Booster last night and they said they would put several TLV models from the Seibu Keisatu series up for sale at their store.  And remember, free shipping on orders over $50.  Follow the link:

Tomica Limited Vintage Seibu Keisatsu at Japan Booster

Enjoy the pics:


Tomica Limited Vintage Nissan Laurel C130 & Nissan Gloria 230 (Seibu Keisatsu Series):

Cool is Cool is Cool, Fourth of July Edition: Sam Posey's '70 Dodge Challenger by Hot Wheels...

To all of you in the United States, Happy Fourth of July.

Since we too reside here in the States, it seems appropriate to showcase an American car.  And we picked a good one.

We have already professed our love for the Trans Am Racing circuit cars before, so there is no need to rehash that.  But in articles past we have failed to give Hot Wheels version of Sam Posey's Challenger its proper due.

Speaking solely aesthetically, the Posey Challenger is one of the best Trans Am race cars around.  It starts with the bright green and racing deco, then goes to the Minilite wheels, and finishes with that ridiculous yet perfect chin-spoiler.

So take a few minutes to get a sense of the Trans Am Series with this video, and then enjoy the pics.



(If you are looking, there are a few Posey '70 Challengers on ebay right now...)


Hot Wheels Sam Posey's '70 Dodge Challenger (2011 Vintage Racing):

Cool is Cool is Cool, Part 1: Hasemi's Nissan Skyline Super Silhouette by Tomica Limited Vintage Neo...

Bosozoku.

We are sure a good number of you are familiar with that term.  If you are not, think Mad Manga, the Hot Wheels model we famously named our Model of the Year for 2012.  Bosozoku is the most extreme of Japanese car scenes, with their mind-boggling exhausts, chin spoilers, shark noses, and less-than-subtle colors.

A car culture like that had to start somewhere, and it wasn't an "oops, I dropped chocolate in this peanut butter and holy shit that's good" moment that started it.  It had to start with something that made car fans giddy.  Giddy enough to start replicating it with their own cars, soon moving from replicating to evolving, and then creating a whole scene in and of itself.

So where did it start?  It started with the Super Silhouettes, a class of Japanese racers in the early 80's that were as over-the-top looks-wise as they were fast.  The Group 5 racers were part of the Fuji Grand Championship Series from 1979 to 1983, and had to follow some very strict rules.

Those rules?  The race car must have the same silhouette as its street-driving counterpart, and pretty much anything else was allowed.  So the modifying began, and the results are nothing short of complete 80's automotive excess.  The cars were wide, sported enormous spoilers, and always led with bulldozer-inspired front spoilers.  And these cars became the dream cars of the car obsessed Japanese youth.

And none more so than Masahiro Hasemi's Nissan Skyline, sponsored by Tomica.  Google the term "super silhouette" and some of the first images you will see will be Hasemi's flame-belching behemoth in red and black.

These cars are legendary, and that is why we are so happy Tomica Limited Vintage decided to take them on a few years ago.  There is no diecast maker more qualified to do a 1:64 replica, mainly because there is no better 1:64 diecast maker, and also because they sponsored the damn Skyline.

And we are lucky enough to have one, thanks to Japan Booster.  Actually lucky enough to have three, with another coming.  One Skyline, and two Bluebirds, and we want to showcase them here.

So we are going to start with the Skyline, and return later to showcase the Bluebirds.  The Skyline, as our friends and Japanese Nostalgic Car have said, along with the Bluebirds may be the most detailed 1:64 models around.  We don't know what could be better.

So yes, mix 80's excess with a kid-worshipped car, and it give it looks like the Skyline, and you have an obvious Cool is Cool is Cool...

The detail means these models don't come cheap, but we have asked our friends at Japan Booster to list a few and they said they would, as well as honor the free shipping deal on any orders over $50.  It is well worth it...


Tomica Limited Vintage Nissan Skyline Super Silhouette: