Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Wagons Ho! Japanese Station Wagons Part 3 of 4

In part three of this series, we will take a visual look at some of my Japanese Station wagons. Most of these are Tomica (TOMY) which is currently re-entering the US market through Toys R Us stores. Part 4 will look at Service Station wagons such as police, fire and roadside assistance vehicles from all automakers. Til next time....Tot Ziens!

Zee

Tomica

Tomica Datsun

Tomica Nissan

Tomica Honda Civic

Tomica Nissan

Tomica Suburu

Tomica Nissan

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Finds from the York, PA Toyshow

I just love these old Schucos and when I can get them mint in the box for a decent price ($25 for the pair) it is even better. I also picked up a long sought after Siku VW. Hope you like them.



Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Pic of the Day - Custom HWs Tahoe with Matchbox Camping trailer

Let me know what you all think of this creation. I hope HWs will do a stock version of this but I am afraid that they have already modified the casting for the police version.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Wagons Ho! - European Station Wagons Part 2 of 4





Schuco Open Kadett Caravan
Welcome back. Today we will continue with our theme of Station Wagons...only this time we will be covering European releases from German, French and Swedish companies. Most of these are from the German company Siku and have been purchased by me either in the Netherlands or in Germany itself over the years. Let me know if you have any questions of what the models represent. Japanese Wagons will make up Part 3 of this story.
Matchbox Ciroen CX Break

Siku Ford Granada
Impy
Matchbox
Siku Audi




Opel Omega Estate
Siku Volvo
Hot Wheels Mercedes
Siku VW Passat
Siku Opel Kadett
Corgi Jr Volvo


Yatming Volvo Estate
Siku Opel Omega Estate
Siku Mercedes



Matchbox Mercedes E-Class Estate
Siku Mercedes Estate

Siku VW Passat
Matchbox Audi
Corgi Citroen Safari
Siku Audi

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

More American Wagons





Just thought I would add a few more American samples. Many of these are customs that I repainted, or in some cases cut apart and added the front end from one toy car to the rear of another. I hope you all like em....

Olds Vista Cruisers
Custom Olds Vista Cruiser


JL Chevrolet Caprice Estate
Matchbox Dodge Magmums
Matchbox Mercury Commuter
Matchbox Mercury Commuter
Matchbox Mercury Villager
Maisto '62 Chevy Wagons
Matchbox Mercury Sable Wagon
Custom HWs Buick GSX Wagon
Custom Matchbox Studebaker



Matchbox Mercury Commuter
And a last ride none of us want to take...Cadillac Hearse!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Wagons Ho! - American Station Wagons - Part I of 4







Station wagons used to be the main choice of travel for family vacations as they were quite large and could hold everything but the kitchen sink. As the gas shortage of the 1970s caused us to re-evaluate our priorities, they got smaller to the point where new opportunities would arise for car companies to come up with something different such as Chrysler's Minivan. The introduction of the Caravan along with several competing entries started the long death spiral for the popularity of our beloved wagons. And depending where one lives, they could also be known as an Estate, Caravan, Break, Combi (Kombi), Tourist, Touring, Shooting Brake, Variant, Traveller, Countryman, Woody, Avant, Weekend, Sportswagon or even as Chevy Chase called his in the movie 'Vacation', the Family Truckster.

Thankfully, not all wagons went away, the Europeans continued to produce very nice offerings while we in the states were offered only entry level versions such as Escorts and the like. Station wagons still have a niche in the market and mostly all luxury brands have them available in the US, but not as many that are still offered in other parts of the world where Opel, Holden, Ford, BMW, Mercedes, Fiat, Citroen etc all have nice cars available. In the US, Volvo and BMW are struggling to sell them, but Cadillac has just released the new CTS and CTS-V station wagons and they are beautiful. For more information on the history of Station wagons, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_wagon for some wonderful pictures of the real things as I will show you some cool American 3inch versions below. Until next time, Tot Ziens!

JL '41 Special Deluxe
1954 Chevy Corvette Nomad
Hot Wheels Woody

RC '40 Ford Woody
Johnny Lightning (JL)




 

JL '55 Chevy Nomad
HWs Ford 8 Crate
HWs Classic Nomad
HWs Custom 59 Chevy
HWs Custom '57 Chevy Nomad
JL Custom '57 Chevy Nomad
JL Olds Vista Cruiser
HWs Custom 66 GTO Wagon
JL '73 Chevy Caprice
Yatming Mercury Station Wagon
JL '60 Ford Country Squire
'79 Chrysler LeBaron

Matchbox Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser
JL '65 Ford Falcon Wagon
Matchbox Mercury Commuter
JL Chevelle Wagon
HWs Custom '70 Sportswagon
Maisto Chevy Biscayne
Matchbox Studebaker Lark
HWs Packin AMC Pacer
HWs Dodge Aries K Wagon
Matchbox Mercury Sable
Matchbox Dodge Magnum
Pre-pro Matchbox Cadillac CTS-V Wagon
For part II, I will be dedicating this blog to European Station Wagons. I hope you have enjoyed this update.

KEY:
JL - Johnny Lightning
RC - Racing Champions
HWs - Hot Wheels