Our First TLV

The idea came to me when my fellow collector Jarrod mentioned his first Tomica Limited Vintage(TLV) casting.  It reminded me of my first TLV purchase & I thought it was kinda neat how we could still recall our first TLV casting & why.  Most of us probably wouldn't remember our very first Hot Wheels, Matchbox, or even Tomica, since for adult collectors like us, that's like before recorded history, dude.

 TLV being such a new & unique brand that targets adult audience, it got me wondering about other collectors' first TLV selection & why.  What made them want to give this quirky brand a try in the first place?  I asked this to few collectors I know, and without further ado....

Bertrand from Sixty Four Ever Diecast - France

"This is not a denunciation, but sir, this is the two guilty...
In fact, these are the first two!"

"Back in september 2013, few months after be falling in love with M2 Machines, the brand that introduced me to 1/64 scale, wandering on the net, on ebay, I discovered Kyosho's models.  At this time, after few research, I fell off on this incredible quality models: A metallic grey Honda S800 Coupe & a vivid red Toyota Sports 800 from Tomica Limited Vintage!  Generally I love Japanese cars, especially Toyota & Honda.  But this midget cars was too irresistible for me, and so detailed.  This is the reason why I chose (or tried) these two constructors: The first, because when I was a kid, my parents had a Toyota LiteAce (French version of the TownAce), the second because a comic hero from my childhood, Spirou, had a late 60s' Honda S800 Roadster.So simply, I can't not falling in love for it... And this was the beginning of a great passion!"

Check out his spectacular 1/64 scale cars from his collection on Sixy Four Ever Diecast.   I like variety & he's got them all covered.  Some really unique & interesting cars you've never seen before, too!

RCKakashi14 - Philippines

"First, I'm a Porsche fan.

Second, I've seen a Lamley post about all of those 911s. 

Third, I've been curious about TLVs.

Fourth, I want a balance of old-school and modern 911s."

Like with most of us, Kakashi collects little bit of everything, but he is a seasoned Kyosho collector.  You can see many of his cars in  the 1/64 Model Collectors Thread on GTPlanet.

"I went for the Gemini because it was sold down here as a Holden and I'd never seen a scale model of it before."

I apologize for the glitch that seems to have turned your name, and...... location upside down(it happens just with you for some reason, Jarrod!).   I can totally relate with you on TLV thing though.  TLV builds cars that other manufacturers never even dream of  adding to their line-up.  Check out Jarrod's collection on Flickr.  Something new there every month!

Kevin - USA

"Can't say it was just one TLV. Bought three all at once when I heard of the Japan Booster damaged box sale. (Well, not the Mazda)

Never really went for higher quality 1/64's until I heard about TLV and how they make a bunch of cool classic Japanese cars."

You can stop trying to decide what to get me for Christmas now, Kevin.  It's small, it's red, it says Tomica Limited Vintage Toyopet Corona on the box!  :D

a6m5(Yours Truly) - USA

"At the time, it was probably the most money I had ever spent on a single casting.  When I was a newbie Hot Wheels collector, I remember seeing TLV cars online & just being mind blown.  They.  Looked.  Real..........  Considering.  

Still, spending $10, $20 on a single casting was something very foreign to me at the time.  That did change one day on eBay(of course, it had to be eBay....).  I spent over $30 for this sweet Land Cruiser, and this is way, way before most of us discovered Japan Booster, and their free shipping promotion.

FJ56V Land Cruiser, JAF version(Japan Automobile Federation).  Having grown up in Japan, I was not able to resist."  

.....You seem to resist very little these days.

Dr. Nessy Ford*, Nessy Ford Clinical Institute - U.K.

"This isn't my pic (obviously) but this is the Porsche 911 that I purchased from 'crosssea222' (Japan Booster).
I was actually aware of crosssea's TLV items on e-bay, before I'd even heard of 'Lamleys blogspot' and it served as my first exposure to 'Tomica Limited Vintage'. I'd always wanted one of the exquisite Nissan Silhouette cars.. Unfortunately, they were always out of my price bracket, but one day (after a initial experimentation with epoxy putty and custom diecast) I decided to purchase the fine TLV Porsche (seen above), with the intention of recreating a 'Singer' modified 911.
(Slightly off topic)
For me to have even the slightest chance of achieving the finished look of the 'Singer', I knew I had to start with the highest/most accurate cast of the 911 I could find, hence the acquisition of the TLV. I actually chose that specific 911 over the nicer looking 911S.. simply due to the headlight bezels being smaller. I have to say, the TLV is the highest quality 1/64 diecast I've had the joy of owning and I was blown away by how good the sprung suspension feels (no stranger to this having owned MBX and Majorette over the years), but the whole thing just screams quality. So much so that no amount of high quality pics of this TLV Porsche, does justice to how it actually looks in the flesh (I imagine the same can be said for all TLV).
I only wish i'd taken pics of it before I tore it apart...
Here's my custom 'Singer 911' it needs a lot of work doing to it and the arches need reducing a lot more if I ever hope of achieving something close to what i'm after. Please excuse the poor quality pic (quite old now)."

He's a collector & customizer with a great sense of humor.  If you like his custom TLV you see here, you can check out more of his work on GTPlanet. 

*Not a real doctor.  Minicar Pics 1/64 blog is in no way affiliated with Nessy Ford Clinical Institute, and is not responsible for any collectibles swindled by Dr. Nessy. 

Andy Truong of Epic Collage - Canada

 "The Seibu Keisatsus were bought on Black Friday 2014 (Can't believe it's almost that time again). When you guys were sharing pics of service vehicles, I started growing an interest towards it like a little boy drawn to fire trucks*. Someone hyped up the "Seibu Keisatsu" name at one point, and as little as I know about the TV show, just the name of it sounded really cool and I put that one little catchphrase in the back of my head....

..... Come to think of it, I think it was John. He made a blog post about these particular Skylines, I looked at photos of the real thing, and was very attracted to the badassery of this car... specifically the front. Screw the back put a paper bag over that. :p"

*Ahem* Please do check out his epic collection & epic photography on Epic Collage.  I've seen million hot wheels pics, but he's the only one who could make any mainline cars look like million bucks through photography.

Jason - USA

"Well I work at Nissan, owned several Nissan's, and I really wanted them to build that car so I guess that was the reason." 

Jason, aka 'R1600Turbo' to the fellow collectors on GTPlanet typically hangs around the 1/64 Collector thread there & also is the starter of the Hot Wheels & Matchbox Customizing Thread.  

Daniel - Singapore

"My first TLV if not one of first few.  (Started collecting)Because of the members in the forum and of course the great quality and details. It is definitely not cheap. But once you start you won't be able to stop.."

This truck.  It's in true 1/64 scale.  Need I say more?  It's crates of cola dude!!!

Cano from the Custom Diecast Mexico

"As for the story, as soon as I found out that my friend Ahmed was going to Japan I gave him some money for, er, "souvenirs". Although we kept in touch all along, he never told me what he was gonna buy me until I saw it later on in the night, er, morning. For the record, I think only the poop-green 510 was bought at a hobby store, all others were bought at temple souvenir shops and stuff like that, since you can pick these up in Japan basically anywhere."

He's a old school collector(think vintage Mattel) who's very popular in the collecting community, always happy & willing to help the noobs(I should know).  Legendary Walmart land speed record holder, known to have VTEC kick in when competing with small child for the original Hot Wheels Drag Bus in the toy aisle.  No, he don't regret a damn thing(I wouldn't either Cano lol).

John from the Lamley Group - USA

"Do you know what is great about this model, above everything else?  IT IS A NISSAN SKYLINE C110 WAGON!  (Sorry for yelling.)  "Wagon" is not a synonymous word with "Skyline" the way we perceive them now.  But wagons were offered with many Skylines from the Prince days through the 80's.  I am sure there are many who can give a much better history of the Skyline wagon, including our friends over at JNC, so I will leave that to them.  But props to Tomica for doing this one, and executing the model flawlessly."

Many TLV collectors outside Japan credits John & the Lamley Group as the catalyst in TLV catching fire on the international stage.  Many thanks to John who was very gracious in allowing me to feature the pics & excerpt from this post on his very first TLV.  

Akiyo from Japan Booster

Toyopet Crown, Metro Police patrol car was my first TLV that I found in a recycle shop by chance. I was just passing by the car toys section. I saw something I knew, something very nostalgic out of the corner of my eye, and stopped there. It was the one. My favorite Tomica "Crown Patrol car", not the exactly same model I had, but it clearly reminded me of my childhood, and I just bought it. After that day, I stop by the TLV section every time I visit the recycle shop to make a lucky find. This is how I started collecting TLVs!

P.S.  The original model I used to play with in my childhood was released in 1980, the crown patrol car.

Japan Booster store not only comes up with the latest, hottest models from TLV, Kyosho & more, they also serve the TLV collectors overseas with the access to the old, rare & most coveted TLVs that are hard to find outside Japan.  Check their listings on eBay frequently so you won't miss out on their latest additions.  Personally, I wouldn't have majority of my older TLV cars if it weren't for Japan Booster & their second-to-none customer service.  Thank you Akiyo for sharing your story, and please keep bringing us the coolest TLV cars!  Edit:  They now have online store & are accepting preorders!

I hope this was a enjoyable feature to all the fellow TLV collectors out there.  Again, I want to thank the people who took the time out of their busy day to contribute to this post.  Thank you so much guys!

TLV Official Site