[REVIEW] Tomica Dodge Coronet Fire Chief Car

Tomica time, Land of the Rising Sun-day, is upon us again, and once again today’s review fits just via the maker of the featured model. This is Tomica F10-1, the Dodge Coronet Custom in Fire Chief livery. This casting entered the range in May 1976, remaining until May 1979, and is a good follow up to the red model seen last week:

Tomica got a lot of mileage out of this casting, offering it in police, taxi, fire chief, and civilian variants (listed on the base, F8-1, F9-1, F10-1, F18-1). No doubt this car was made to appeal to the US market, introduced at a time when Pocket Cars were hitting their stride - this is very much the typical American car of the era. Scale is claimed to be 1:74, which seems a little small, but this is a large car, and the casting isn’t huge.  Detail and proportion are as fine as one expects from this maker, and it includes the crisp glazing, snappy door action, and springy suspension we all enjoy from Tomica of this era. This has stickers rather than tampos, and they have aged well. The red dome light adds realism and some play value. From all angles, you can imagine seeing it on an episode of CHiPs or Dukes of Hazzard:

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

Front and rear views show similar quality, the front end detail being especially nice:

The base is metal, the style of the time, and contains technical and identifying detail:

This is another unboxed model I am pleased to have in my collection. It has survived the past 40+ years as-new, and shows well with my other Coronets. For those who like it, it was sold widely as a Pocket Cars, and does not appear to be rare, so it shouldn’t break the bank. Something of another era:

A 1:1 image of a similar B-body from illinoisfiretrucks.com - a surviving identical fire chief car may not exist today, as these were the kind of cars that were used up and thrown away, especially in service use: