[REVIEW] Tomica Nissan Cedric Wagon

Land of the Rising Sun-day, Tomica time is here again. Today we examine Tomica 47-1, the (Nissan) Cedric Wagon. This casting entered the range in August 1973, remaining until January 1977, and is something from the old days:

Talk about a difference. The last Tomica installment was a wacky concept car, today’s vehicle is as conventional as can be - a station wagon. Delivery vehicle? Military motor pool hauler? The somewhat drab color hints at commercial or service use, although such colors were popular during the period in general. As this is a Tomica from the era when casting quality was hitting its stride, there is plenty of fine line casting detail, proportion appears laudable, and the “old wheels” look right on a vehicle from an era when hubcaps were the norm. Scale is claimed to be 1:65, likely accurate. This model features the crisp glazing and springy suspension we all admire in vintage Tomica, but the snappy door action is replaced by something else. I think this model also inspired a copy with the Zylmex Datsun wagon. From all angles, this Tomica has the high quality we expect:

Front and rear feature similarly high quality:

The base is metal, the norm for the era, and features technical and identifying detail:

This example is lucky enough to live in its original black box. With the “old wheels”, it dates from roughly around the 1974 copyright on the base:

Now for what replaces the snappy door action. As one has probably already noticed, the rear hatch opens. Not as snappy as typical Tomica doors, but still moves with precision:

No surprise, I am pleased to have this casting in my collection. I like models of normal everyday cars, and this one fits that description to a tee:

A couple 1:1 images from webcarstory.com: