The Story of the Century

This is a story about the time I saw the real car and then bought the miniature of it just a couple hours later. In fact, I must add that I was on my way to the shop to purchase the miniature when destiny called and the real thing showed up in front of me. No, I'm not talking about seeing a Civic, or a Mustang, or something you see every day on the streets. That would be far too easy and not worthy of posting. I'm talking about seeing what is essentially a unicorn, and then purchasing a 1/64 scale version of said unicorn, the unicorn being the Toyota Century.

It was this past summer and I was in Tokyo. During the trip, I had pretty much caught up on all the Tomica releases I wanted, except for one. This one. I had just arrived at Tokyo Station, late afternoon, en route to the Tomica Shop, specifically looking for the Tomica Limited Vintage Toyota Century. I walked out of the exit and was greeted by not one, not two, but three of these beasts.

 I'd never seen one before in person and I may never see one again. They were there, waiting to pick up the Emperor from Tokyo Station. I couldn't see very clearly through the swarm of people, but the one in the very front, parked directly in front of the entrance, may be the Century Royal, which is a one-off specifically for the Emperor. Knowing I'll probably never have the opportunity to see this again, I anxiously stood and waited about an hour for him to show up, wave at the crowd, and be escorted away by the motorcade.

Later at the Tomica Shop, I successfully found what I was looking for. Well, not quite. I really wanted the black one, but they were already sold out. I settled on this one, in a dark grey metallic. What a fabulous piece it is. The detail on the wheels is especially incredible, each individual spoke molded out perfectly. The chrome trim skirts are individual parts. I only have a handful of TLV's, but this one easily takes the top spot.

Much like the Nissan IDx from a few posts ago, this one comes with fender-mounted side mirrors that you have to attach yourself. With this one, I tried to do it but I couldn't. There are no inserts or holes in the bodywork as guidance. The positioning is completely dependent upon your hands-on skills. I still have the mirror pieces stashed somewhere. When I get the confidence to do it, I'll give it another shot. Adding those little details would definitely make this model even more superb, but it's a shame it didn't come like that already.