Welcome to Hot Sixty 4th in which I show off my DLM 1/64 and smaller and sometimes larger collections. Had you ever ordered some die cast online and had reached your limit for the month and after several days you notice that the model you are interested in but missed out due to out of stock is restock? What do you do then? For me I made an exception since the price is still near the MSRP but added a couple more die cast to meet the threshold for free shipping. On my 233rd post is not the one that got restock (that will come later) but nevertheless a casting that I also wanted is none other than LV-147 (a) Toyopet Crown by TLV.
This car was Toyota’s first full size passenger car and the first Japanese car to be sold in the US.
The first two Crown models docked in California on 25 August. On 31st of October 1957, Toyota Motor Sales was established in a former Rambler dealership in Hollywood.
While this model was well received in Japan, it was having difficulty getting Americans to buy this car. Even Toyota sales administrator James McGraw wasn’t impressed, commenting: “This thing is underpowered, overpriced and it won’t sell.”
Although the 1.5-litre engine may not have been particularly powerful compared to an American V8, it was ahead of its time as it not only offered up to 33mpg which is definitely great for today’s gas prices, it was specifically designed for easy maintenance.
The Tomica casting is a nice replica of the actual car as seen below.
