The history of TOMICA
Tomica (トミカ) is the line of die-cast toy vehicles and related products that Tomy Co. of Japan produces. Tomy Co. of Japan was founded in the late 1920’s and produced various toys throughout its existence, but it’s not until 1970 when they realized the surge of interest in die-cast cars that they started to produce Tomica. Although Tomica of various scales have been made, the term “Tomica” when used alone refers to the 3-inch models. Regular Tomica refers to the mainstream Tomica sold at the regular price—domestic series, foreign series, or common series, depending on the time of release.
The Tomica Domestic Line
Initially, Tomy only produced Japanese cars. This started out with the concurrent release of 6 models in 1970. The seventh model was issued later in 1970. From then on, the Tomica line grew in number until there was a total of 109 concurrently-sold models in 1978—no.1 – 108 plus no.110. The first no.109 model was proposed and seen in catalogue but was never realized. The variety of models also expanded from the initial coupes and saloons to taxis, buses, lorries, work vehicles and other commercial vehicles, to even steam engine and an ocean cruiser. As new models were issued, each was assigned a number within 1 to 110, thus replacing the existing model. The replaced model was called a discontinued model. In the early 1980’s, Tomy experienced financial difficulties. Subsequently, the domestic model line was down sized to only 80 models (no.1 – 80) in 1983. These models were mainly packaged in picture boxes. At first, the boxes used a black background. Since 1984, each new model came with a new style box with red-and-white background, while existing models issued before 1984 kept using the older style box with black background until 1988, when all boxes were updated to the new style. Hence, domestic models are commonly referred to as the “black box” or “red-and-white Box” models depending on their boxes.
Tomica Foreign Series
During the first six years of production, Tomy based their original line of superbly modeled and highly detailed Tomicas entirely on Japanese vehicles. Although this line experienced significant growth through the seventies, it lacked a strong worldwide appeal since many people outside of Japan weren’t entirely captivated by such Japanese vehicles like the Nissan Laurel 2000GX or the Fuso container truck. Imagine that ! In order to appeal to the tastes of a wider world market, Tomy introduced a special ‘F’ series in distinctive packaging in 1976. As some of you may guess, the ‘F’ in ‘F’ series stood for foreign vehicles, albeit as in foreign to the Japanese. The debut line of foreign vehicles consisted of eighteen models based on popular English, German, and American vehicles. As a result of this release’s success, 1977 saw the line expanded to thirty two models, including two vehicles from Italy, the Lancia Stratos and the Fiat X1/9. In 1978, as the number of foreign models increased to fifty two, France made its mark in the line with the addition of the Citroen SM and the Alpine Renault A442 Turbo. Ultimately, by 1979, the ‘F’ series grew to a healthy seventy models. Like their domestic Japanese brethren, the ‘F’ series were beautiful works of art - all sporting excellent attention to detail, sturdy construction, and vibrant, rich paint.
Something else about Tomica including : Long Tomica, Combat Tomica, Tomica Dandy, Motorized Tomica, Pullback Tomica, R/C Tomica, Tomica Limited Vintage, Specialized Character Tomica, Specialty Products, Tomica Town.
