[REVIEW] Tomica Honda Dax

Tomica time is here again, also Land of the Rising Sun-day. This is something different, the first Tomica motorbike I have featured here. I notice the HW ‘Monkey Bike’ has some fans, this relative to that bike should have some too. Today we examine Tomica 66-1, the Honda Dax. This casting entered the range in July 1973, and remained until March 1977. It features the quality one expects for Tomica of this vintage:

Small bikes were a trend in the late 60s and early 70s, the Dax was sold as the Honda Trail in NA. A little larger than a monkey bike, I think, but the same idea. This casting has some interesting details. Scale is a claimed 1:33, quite large for small scale, but this is a tiny bike, and I suspect the scale is accurate. It’s roughly the size of a normal ~1:60 car. The frame, fender, and suspension of this bike are metal, but the other bits are plastic, probably for ease of casting thin small pieces. One can see it has small outboard wheels to keep it upright - a different theory on how to make a small scale bike. Lesney Matchbox initially made models of sidecar bikes, then made a bike with a kickstand to keep it from falling over. Modern HW have funny wide wheels to keep the bikes up, and a Siku in my collection also has a kickstand. The outboard wheels may distract, but they allow the bike to be pushed along freely without risk of tipping over. This adds some play value. From all angles, detail abounds:

Front and rear have similar detail. The cast-in “Dax” license plate is a nice touch:

Underside, showing the wheel assembly:

This one is lucky enough to live in its original box, and still has the un-applied decal set:

I am pleased to have this in my collection. These little bikes are a fun historical footnote, and the Tomica casting is charming piece of the past:

1:1 from nippon-classic.de and a period ads from ct70honda.com and z-workshop.fr, showing the small size of these bikes: