Welcome to Past Tense where we look at seldom seen toys and toy manufacturers.
Before JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) became a popular term, here is a vintage Friction powered Toyopet Crown Deluxe toy, this time made of tin and was manufactured in Japan.
As you can see, the name of this model is probably written in Japanese which probably meant Fire Chief’s car.and the only english is the abbreviation T.N (lower right in oval), friction powered and “Toyopet Crown Deluxe” tag on the box. For some reason the tag on the actual model is written in Japanese. If you haven’t figure out the size yet, this model is around 19 inches long.
I remember this was a gift to me by one of my aunt on the my mother’s side. I can’t remember the occasion but most likely it was Christmas.
Here is what I gathered about this company. The full name is called
NOMURA TOY CO., LTD.
The name Nomura is derived from a Japanese surname.
Their logo T.N stands for Toy Nomura but here is an interesting thing I learned from Kevin Dockerills website which talks about tin toys. The letters “T.N” inside a diamond is actually read from right to left which should be read as N.T for Nomura Toy).
Formed in Tokyo sometime in the mid 1940′s Nomura Toys produced some excellent tin toys until the early – mid 1970′s when, like many other japanese toy companies, it had to make the move into diecast in order to survive. Nomura continued in one form or another until it was bought in 1992 by the largest toy company in the world at that time - Hasbro.
The pictures above showed what they look like now but before then this is what they look like.
It was difficult to removed most of the stains on the box but I manage to restore it as a whole. Enjoy the rest of the pictures.
Lastly I admire how the Japanese did their tin toys to look almost realistic.