[REVIEW] Tomica Mazda Savanna RX-7

Tomica time, Land of the Rising Sun-day is here again. Today we examine Tomica 50-3, the Mazda Savanna RX-7. This casting entered the range in January 1979, remaining until April 1986, and is quite a nice car:

The RX-7 was a hit from new, and a car I remember clearly from my childhood. When I was maybe 4, ca. 1981, the family across the street got a white one. I really had a thing for that car - the family had kids roughly my age, and I recall volunteering to ride with them whenever they took the car out, I remember being driven to kindergarten in it. Via those memories, I have a fondness for these cars. The Tomica model of this car certainly does it justice. This is an accurate casting that serves as a scale model as much as a toy, and has excellent proportion. Scale is claimed to be 1:60, likely accurate. There is ample fine line casting detail even with the badge cast-in to the fender in an accurate font, something expected of Tomica of this era. There is somewhat firm (sports car) but springy suspension, along with the crisp glazing and snappy door action we all admire. From all angles, this casting is something of a little beauty:

Doors open to reveal a detailed interior and accurate steering wheel:

The front and rear have similar detail, with “Mazda” on the hood in the correct font being a nice touch, along with the license plates:

The base is metal, which adds heft and contains ample technical and identifying data:

This is definitely one I am glad to have in my collection, and a nice way to wrap up this batch of unboxed models. As mentioned, I have a minor connection to the car, and this model is of very high quality for its size, era, and original price point. This variant, on wide wheels, is also maybe the most attractive in my opinion, due to those wheels. My reference books lists 26 (!) variations of this casting, but only one on wide wheels. I have a couple others on button wheels, which are nice as well, but these wheels really give it a nice look, in my eyes anyway. For a lucky $5 toy show find, I couldn’t be more pleased:

And some 1:1 images from classicandperformancecar.com, bringatrailer, classiccarratings.com, autoevolution.com, and a couple old ads from revlimiter.net - I remember Mazda used the “Just One Look” slogan and song back during this era: