トミカリミテッドヴィンテージ(Tomica Limited Vintage): Mysterious Brand Every Collector Should Be Familiar With

Nissan Skyline Super Silhouette

Tomica Limited Vintage is a unknown brand in the U.S.  It is my impression that, outside Japan, TLVs are collected mainly by advanced collectors, or collectors who are WAY actively engaged with the hobby.  First of all, Tomica Limited Vintage cars are very expensive.  Today, their cheapest cars would cost you around ten dollars, plus shipping. Living up to their "Limited" name, TLV do not re-release same car twice, so their older cars can be pretty scarce.  Of course, that leads to high premium pricing in the secondary market, like on eBay.

LV-N49a Shell Tanker and LV-N49b Idemitsu

Tomica Limited Vintage is the premium line from Tomytec(subsidiary of Takara-Tomy), and by my observation, there are two big reasons for their success.

1. Their approach to the game. - TLV cars, at the risk of sounding like a fanboy, features quality that are second to none.  Accurate scaling, quality parts & assembly, also amazing detailing.
2. Vehicle selection - If you like obscure classic imports, or JDM classics, TLV cars can be a godsend.  They make cars that nobody else bothers to.  Just look at the Hino KB314 Shell & Idemitsu tank lorry above.

Few interesting facts about Tomica Limited Vintage team:

• When choosing their upcoming release, it could come from something like the upcoming anniversary of certain car, or from random daily conversation.
• Once they target the vehicle they want to do, the hunt begins for the real life car to take measurements from.  According to the head chief Kobayashi-san, they've worked with cars in museum, private ownership(even non-running car in storage), or from the used car lot.  From far north as Hokkaido(northernmost prefecture) to Yamaguchi(far south). 
• TLV will not use measurements found in publications.  They find it that 'nuances' are often missed when not physically taking measurements from the real life car.
• Mock-ups are actually produced by their Chinese factory team, who are not familiar with any classic cars from Japan, causing two sides to go back & forth as they try to complete the mockup.
• They tweak the factory paint colors, as lighting and angles people observe the real life cars & toy cars are different.........  deep, amirite?

LV-N71a Volkswagen Golf II CLi

LV-Ra05 Nissan Cedric Bunka Housou(Cultural Broadcast) Topicar

If you would like to check out these cars little bit more, here are some websites I recommend:

Lamley Group - One of the most well known hot wheels blog happens to be a huge fan of Tomica Limited Vintage.  

Japan Booster - Before Japan Booster opened their eBay store, older, discontinued TLVs were very hard, sometimes impossible to come by.  This store changed that to say the least.

AmiAmi - The cheapest prices you'll find on newer TLVs.  While they rarely carry older releases, their preorder system is top notch, combine that with fast shipping & low prices, what's not to like?

LV-N22b Honda Ballade Sports CR-X

I usually have couple of TLVs in here as well(my TTP listings).  

Ladder Truck Fire Engine + Suzuki Alto Kei-Car