Gulliver64 Japanese Taxis: Green Cab & Keikyu Transit Toyota Crown Comfort Sedan

Yes, Crown again.  Yes, the "comfort" in the title reeks of Engrish, or Japanglish.  Not only that, outside Tomica or Kyosho, do we ever even see a Toyota Crown diecast, or minicar?  Can you imagine Mr. JDM Jun Imai at Hot Wheels going "challenge accepted!"???  Well, not yet at least.

I picked up these things on AmiAmi for about $15, each.  I wish I was made out of money, because I could use couple more of these neat little, but very detailed taxis made by Gulliver(especially my Hanshin Tigers vers.).  A brand I have zero knowledge on.

One thing I do know about them, they are ANAL about the small details.  If you've ridden on a Japanese taxi, looking at all the little decals/tampos damn near give you nostalgia.

I'm impressed.  Every time I run into 1/64 with insane detailing, it puts a grin on my face.  :)

UPDATE - I do have the Hanshin Tigers vers. & also Tokyo Musen now.

Kyosho Minicar Collection: Toyota II - Crown....... in hot pink?

I LOVE Toyota Crown.  Before Lexus, when I was a little boy, Crown was the domestic luxury sedan.  Sure, they had the Toyota Century & Nissan President, but they were VIP cars.  Totally unrealistic unless you were a politician, or yakuza, etc.

The color was the draw in this case.  I don't buy lot of Kyoshos, but this color...... and the model being one of my favorite sedans in the world, I decided to get one off eBay.

I couldn't find much info on the hot pink, except that it was a special color prepared for the 2013 model year, and that over 9 out of 10 ordered in this color were hybrid.  Cool story bro.

Johnny Lightning Cars from the Simpsons

I doubt that they are that good anymore, but the Simpsons were great in the 90's.  Being a immigrant from the home of mangas & animes, "cartoons" were different animal altogether, but I was really entertained by this show, especially by Homer.  lol

Before Mattel, and their basic/mainline hot wheels & Retro Entertainment release of "The Homer", Johnny Lightning made really nice looking Simpsons cars.  I've been meaning to do "The Johnny Lightning" post, but I've been putting it off.  This also may be just the second JL post with this one being the first.  Anyway, the cars.  Let's start off with the orange stationwagon any Simpsons viewers should recognize:

Marge's Wagon - Gotta love the roof rack.

Springfield Elementary School....  or just Otto's School Bus

Chief Wiggum's Police Cruiser

Homer's Sedan - Soon to be released by Mattel in 2015, I believe as a basic/mainline Hot Wheels.

Eat my shorts.

*Pictures were all lost due to Photobucket photo hijacking, but it was restored today(09/18/17).  Price paid for this set was $31, shipped.  I'm going to check eBay now for today's pricing(get the feeling it's more than that now days).....  Last three set(of four) went for $60+, shipped.  I doubled my money!  :D

ルパン三世: Tomica does Lupin the Third

Lupin III is as old school as anime gets.  I'm as old as dirt, and this anime is before my time.  XD

Soon after Hot Wheels created bit of wave with the release of their new, modern Fiat 500, Tomica released this original Fiat 500 from Lupin the Third, and man, did they do this right.  Sure beats another mundane release from Retro Entertainment(obviously doesn't apply to Ecto hearses lol).

One downside:  One piece plastic used for the windshield also covers up the open top.  

You can't win'em all.

Tomica Limited Vintage Neo: Daihatsu Delta Wide Wagon + Toyota Townace Hi-Roof Wagon

I love Japanese minivans.  Especially these cabover type weird things from the 70's & 80's.  I don't think I'll ever want to drive one, but they are cool to look at.  lol

LV-97b Daihatsu Delta Wide Wagon High Roof 1800 Custom Extra

LV-N96b Toyota Townace Hi-Roof Wagon 1300DX

You may be thinking how these vans look too much alike.  Toyota has has been the majority shareholder of Daihatsu since the late-80's, and their Delta wagons & trucks were rebadged Toyotas.

I just realized that Spacegoat from GTPlanet has I think now three of these vans.  I shall ask for his help again.

Edit:  And he comes through for us once again.  Thank you very much, Jarrod:

トミカリミテッドヴィンテージ ネオ LV-N104a タウンエース1800ハイルーフカスタム

AKA "Townace with wood on the side"

LV-N97a Daihatsu Delta Wide Wagon

In fact, check out other neat models from his collection here.  Oh, yes.  He's got some cool cars.  :)

Hot Wheels 2012 Toy Fair: Camaro ZL-1 Updated: 2010 Ford Mustang from 2008 L.A. Auto Show

I'm not a Camaro fan, but I liked the look of this one so much, when I saw a loose one online on TTP for cheap, I couldn't resist.  I wish I did.

After griping about it to the hot wheels community on GTPlanet, John from Lamley Group brought up that these "loose" Toy Fair cars are often rejects(rejected by quality control).  If true, it would make sense(and total sucker out of me).  I negotiated ten dollars off for the damage, but of course, you still rather not touch something like this in the first place.

Thankfully, other than those chips pointed out in those pics, car was fine, and still very awesome.

Nice tampos, love the black rims & real riders.

Edit:  Noteworthy is the 2010 Ford Mustang, which Ford gave away at the 2008 L.A. Auto Show.

 Unbelievably, at least to me, you can still get this car for $9.99, plus shipping on hot wheels collector website.  Unless you don't like Fords or something, I think this one's a no-brainer.  Even the case is cool.

Mainline Tomica #86: Honda CR-Z Safety Car...... with ties to Gran Turismo?

This car sort of do have ties to Gran Turismo video games.  Before it was featured in Gran Turismo, I don't think most people had ever heard of the race track called "Twin Ring Motegi".  This CR-Z is based on the real life safety car used there.

I think they skipped the opening doors for extra detail.  Good going, Takara Tomy......