I love Tomica but I’m going to be honest and say I hate their trademark wheels. To me it is the fat man on a bar stool look that really detracts from the casts. The little pizza cutter that give it a negative offset sort of appearance just do nothing for me. The more I get into Tomica the more people I run into that feel the same way. Even a lot of the people that get heavy into collecting them seem to admit to not being entirely won over with the wheels. It is sort of funny to me that the Tomica signature wheels seem to also be their Achilles heel. Could they make a better profit if they placed them on less models? Heritage or appealing to the faithful? I’m sure you guys know more than I do.
Either way I’ve taken to swapping the wheels out for Hotwheels wheels. I have no intention of selling them so I figured why not make them more appealing to my taste. It’s a hard wheel&axle size to find because it is narrow with their small wheels but it kind of mimics the classic tomica button wheels 5 spoke design without looking too overly modified. The Modification usually involves placing scraps of paper under the axle to get your desired ride highlight and rake.
Below is one of the sacrificial HotWheels I used. They have no hope of seeing action again as the wheel size is so hard to find in Hotwheels. I was thinking God may offer some wheels before I cut into it but I guess Isaac lost in this story. The other easy swap is the 62 Mustang Concept. both have the perfect size wheels and axle for the swap.
There are a few off-brand copies that have wheels in good enough shape to swap but I find they are a bit dificult to locate.
