Ever continuing my mission to replace every single diecast toy car I ever owned, I have recently opened a shipment of 2 Tomica models of Datsuns (oops, I mean “Nissans”) from the early 1970’s. One of these wasn’t terribly hard to find, but the other one was!
The Nissan “Sunny” 1200GX has a baseplate © date of 1974. I remember seeing these little Datsun 2 door fastbacks on the road when I was a kid, although they were somewhat scarce. I don’t recall if they had a model name in the States but I’m pretty sure that even if they did, it wasn’t “Sunny.” I think they were just called “Datsun 1200’s.” They were cute, but of course like all these little tinboxes, they’re all gone now, rusted away and junked just like most of their counterparts. That’s a shame, because the Ricer tintops of the late 60’s and early 70’s are almost universally cool looking, like little British cars that were more reliable and easier to live with. I wish I knew more about these cars, but I don’t know the nuances, other than inferring that the “1200” designation meant a 1.2 litre engine. It couldn’t have been much of a performer with an engine that size, but I know there was a racing version because Tomica modeled that one too!
Look closely and you can see the difference; the Tomica model of the Sunny 1200 racer is easier to find than this original “civvy” model; though made in a variety of color combos, you’ll notice the racing model has pronounced flares around the wheel wells and a deep air dam below the front bumper, which this street version lacks.
It wasn’t easy to lay my hands on this because although I found a lot of them for sale, the prices being asked for them were insane! They were almost universally over $100, with only a few examples I found being in the $60-$90 range. I wasn’t going to pay that much for a “get-back,” so I waited, and one day: BOOM! There was a good clean one, not mint but not bad, for $40! SOLD!
You can see from these pics that after being coated with a black and white paint job courtesy of “Testors and brush,” it met my childhood hammer. I don’t know why, this seems like a cool car I would and should have liked and cared for, but I can’t remember every detail, after all! The important thing is, I now have it back, and I liked it so much, I found a place for it on the diorama, in front of the grocery store!
The other car is also interesting, because my memory failed me on the model. I remembered this car as a 280Z, because that’s exactly what it looks like from the front. When I found the baseplate in my junk box (only the base and one of the doors of my childhood copy remain), I saw that it read “240ZG.” What’s that, I wondered? So I did what I couldn’t do when I was a kid: I Goolag’d it! And it turns out that little “G” at the end of the car’s title that I was unfamiliar with is veeeeeery interesting! This was a special high-performance, high end model that was sold only in Japan, as the Fairlady “Grand.” This model had a nose that did indeed resemble the future (at the time) 280Z rather than the more “Triumph-like” (there’s a new adverb for ya!) “Standard” 240Z we saw here. Referred to by enthusiasts today as the “G-Nose,” the car’s covered headlights, longer front piece, and fender flares gave it a sleeker, more “Euro” look than the Standard “Fairlady.”
Wow, what a bonus! Recapturing a childhood car and learning something new about a cool variant I didn’t even know existed! Nothing not to love there! This one is, again, not in mint condition; its definitely been played with, showing suspension wear and much of the chrome rings around the wheels on one side missing, but overall its decent, and I paid something like $20 for it, which wasn’t bad considering I saw some sellers trying to get as much as $75 for it.
Its worth remembering that I probably paid $1.25 for my first one, so for those of you who are raising young boys, you might want to remind them to treat their toy cars better than I did some of mine, because you never if they might turn out to be a retirement account! Of course, I guess most young boys don’t play with toy cars anymore, but that’s just going to launch me on another rant, so I’ll avoid it…for now.
One last thought for this post that would normally belong in an “Out of the Slot” entry, but I’ll make it quick: I couldn’t resist the urge to show off my magnificent spring blooms, which are busting out like I haven’t seen in years! The long, wet, and not terribly cold winter were obviously ideal conditions for my flowers, because I am getting a show in my front yard that should make me the envy of all my neighbors! Like so many things in life, this beauty is brief and fleeting, so I wanted to make sure I got some good pics and vids of it!
From where I filmed this you can hear my stereo playing inside the house, and you can just make out the old forgotten song “Konga Joe.” That’s significant because, while I won’t dare name the artist yet, I’ll be mentioning that song again in a future post for my upcoming “Theatre of the Less Obvious” series! Some fellow gearheads + movie fans probably already know just what I’m “driving at” (pun totally intended), but for those of you who don’t, stay tuned; there’s always something new to learn at DRAG CITY!
Your right, there is nothing better than getting back these lost items and learning something new about them and the cars in the process. I think this is very interesting and certainly some really neat cars and a great finds! Wow, your iris’s are amazing! You have some nice ones, like that that burgundy and peach colored one. The yellow is beauiful too. Our iris are doing great as well and I’m really surprised since it’s still chilly out.