Best Motorcycle 2014: Model of the Day: Tomica Limited Vintage Datsun Bluebird Estate Patrol Car (and other TLV Police cars)...

This weekend will be all about Matchbox. The Gathering to attend, models to preview, models to buy, collectors to intermingle with, Mattel Design and Marketing to chat with, and so on. This is a great weekend for yours truly to put on his geek hat and do all things Matchbox.

But with all that Matchbox-ness, there is a little sideshow that happens with yours truly. With all the Matchbox to talk about and buy, I might come home with more Tomica Limited Vintage than anything else. TLV guru Jeff Koch will be there, as will a friend from Japan who has helped me acquire a nice amount of models that are very hard-to-find here in the States. Corollas, Subarus, Toyotas, Skylines, you name it. I will be in JDM heaven (and I will be broke).

But there is one model I am looking forward to having more than any other. I will finally have the red Datsun Bluebird Estate (and the silver will be following shortly). Combine my love for JDM with my love for station wagons, and mix in a little personal nostalgia, and you have a model I have been looking high and low to find.

Up until this weekend, the Datsun Wagon Patrol Car has tided me over. And it has done a nice job. I have already professed my love for the simplicity of the Osaka Police livery, and that it looks good on just about anything that falls in the "vehicle" category. The Datsun Wagon is no exception. Better, I will let you be the judge.

The Bluebird Patrol Car is part of the exclusive Tomica Shop line. They are only sold at the Tomica Shop in Japan as a store promotion. I don't know much more than that, but it appears that the Tomica Shop exclusives favor a police deco. I have five Tomica Shop exclusives, all police cars, all but one in Osaka livery: the Datsun, the Skyline Van, the Land Cruiser, and Porsche 912. The last, a Toyota Crown, is an unmarked police car. If you want, you can see them all below...

Alright, I will go back to thinking Matchbox for the next four days, but I will reserve a little spot in the brain for TLV...

(There is one TLV Datsun Patrol Car on ebay

right now, but I would also check out this seller

who has some fantastic TLV Police models [and I have used him before]...)

Tomica Limited Vintage Datsun Bluebird Estate Patrol Car (Tomica Shop exclusive):