Buy a beverage; keep a minicar - 1:100 Kyosho Miata

Illustration for article titled Buy a beverage; keep a minicar - 1:100 Kyosho Miata

...or rather, 1:100 Eunos Roadster.

Nearly a decade ago, I travelled with some friends to Osaka, Japan — for a Hot Wheels convention, of all things. I'll admit I've only recently become obsessed with diecast mini-things, so on that trip, I eschewed the Hot Wheels convention and opted to explore the city instead.

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But I soon discovered that convenience store beverages often came with a free trinket of some sort, and thus I drank many a bottled beverage. My lone automotive freebie: this tiny Miata. Given the myriad safety warnings on American toys these days, these 1:100 scale Kyosho cars need not worry anyone — I suspect they're small enough to pass through the digestive tracts of toddlers and terriers painlessly.

Illustration for article titled Buy a beverage; keep a minicar - 1:100 Kyosho Miata
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But check out the detail! Precision-painted lights, reasonably accurate interior, and even little rubber tires.

Pah, you say. 1:100 can't be that small.

Illustration for article titled Buy a beverage; keep a minicar - 1:100 Kyosho Miata
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See here, with a Hot Wheels Harley — yeah, it's that small.

You can find all sorts of these Kyoshos on eBay, but at roughly $10 each with shipping, my frugal self balks at buying something the Japanese can snag for free... although I may have three or four in my cart right now...