#282 TOMICA – MASERATI MERAK SS, LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH LP500S, DETOMASO PANTERA GTS and FERRARI BB 512 (1976, 1978, 1979 and 1993)

This will be a short entry with a few more Tomicas. The first three are cars I own since the early 80s. My father used to buy them in Portugal during his business trips and brought them to me. He loves cars, so it’s no surprise he chose Tomica over Matchbox or Majorette, when he had the chance.

I have selected these, since they’re Italian supersport cars: Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini and DeTomaso. They were even made at the same time, and they’re quite somehow similar, with those flat bonnets.

They’re all played, and some have painted head and rear lights. This is something my father used to do for me. An interesting fact is that the Ferrari and the grey DeTomaso have not the ordinary Tomica wheels. They’re wider and show a ring. Similar models are being used nowadays in many models from the same manufacturer.

Another thing I wanted to remark here is the difference between the 1978 original DeTomaso and it’s reedition from the early 90s (probably 1993). The first one (grey) was made in Japan, while the second one (blue) was already made in China. They’re almost identical, except for the number (F55 and 10) and Made in China instead of Made in Japan. The wheels, as just said, are also different, and the tampographies are much better in the older model.

You can check more Tomicas from the 90s here.

In that entry there’s a (card-)catalogue image in which the model is shown. And it is not surprising that Tomica chose this model and not another one, because the car was in production until 1990. Reference number of the newer DeTomaso Pantera GTS was T10.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MASERATI MERAK SS, LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH LP500S, DETOMASO PANTERA GTS, FERRARI BB 512 and DETOMASO PANTERA GTS (newer release) (Nrs. F45, F50, F55, F57, T10)
• Scale: 1:61 (DeTomaso, Lamborghini) / 1:62 (Maserati, Ferrari)
• Year: 1976, 1978, 1978, 1979 and 1993
• Company: Tomica (Japan)
• Size: approx. 6 cm