Vertex Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86




Lucky Star!!!!! Yeah... many Japanese anime fans would know this series, it is after all one of those most popular anime that have quite a decent commercial success in various types of merchandise items from figures to apparels and many more....

Evidently, this article is about a 1/64 die cast car model produced by Aoshima. The name of this product is "Vertex AE86 Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 with Lucky Star Itasha Decals" or something like that ^__^ from their "1/64 Itasha Miniature Car Collections series".


The box/packaging;









As you can see from the information/pictures around the box/packaging, apart from this Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86, they also have the popular Mazda RX-7 Efini FD3S in this series but the one that we will review in here is of coz the "86".


Out of the box/packaging;





The AE86 generation of the Toyota Corolla Levin and Toyota Sprinter Trueno is a small, lightweight coupe introduced by Toyota in 1983 as part of the fifth generation Toyota Corolla lineup. For the purpose of brevity, the insider-chassis code of "AE86" is used to describe the whole range.

In classic Toyota code, the "A" represents the engine that came in the car (4A series), "E" represents the Corolla, "8" represents the fifth generation (E80 series) and "6" represents the variation within this generation.

The Levin has fixed-headlights and the Trueno has retractable headlights. The export model name Corolla covers both variations. The AE86 (along with the lower spec 1,452 cubic centimetres (1.452 L) AE85 and 1587 cc SR5 versions) was rear wheel drive (unlike the front wheel drive CE80, EE80 and AE82 models), and is among the last rear-drive cars of its type, at a time when most passenger cars were being switched to front-drive.

In 1987, there was a limited edition model of the AE86 called "Black Limited" that served as a send-off model before the AE86 chassis was replaced later that year by the front wheel drive AE92 Corolla/Sprinter range. In Japan, the AE86 was also known as the Hachi-Roku (ハチロク?), Japanese for "eight-six".

Again, it is important for us to mentioned that this car have become a lot more popular than it used to be especially after many people watch the anime/movie of Initial D.

Among those who utilized this car was Japanese racing legend Keiichi Tsuchiya also known as the Dori-Kin ("Drift King" in Japanese) who happen to be involved in the production of that anime Initial D as well.

The AE86's FR configuration made it well suited for "drift" and currently the car is a mainstay of drift shows and competitions.

Frankly speaking, this car is not really all that powerful but many professional drivers especially those involved in drift motorsports events, never deny the fact that this car is really fun to drive.

Nonetheless, let's have a look at this 1/64 scale die cast car model;











Minus those decals, the exterior detailing is quite brilliant, Aoshima did a great job.

And then of coz no matter what, we can't ignore the decals either.... for a big fans of "Lucky Star" anime, like me, I actually love all those "Itasha" decals on this car and I consider it as an added bonus;









This is how it looks like down there;





Now, let's have look at the interior;







Interior detailing wise, it is not great, just slightly better than those from Takara Tomy and/or Tomica Limited.




Overall, this is a wonderful 1/64 scale die cast car model version of the popular "Hachi-Roku" (86). I've always wanted to get this car at this scale and finally now, my dream came true. The exterior detailing is brilliant, I have nothing to complain about. This car is basically based on the actual similar model tuned by Vertex, a popular "car tuner" but I don't see that as a deal breaker at all and in fact we should consider it as another additional bonus. The interior detailing is just above average, I'm happy though coz the most important thing for me is that this car comes with right hand steering wheel (British/Japanese style).






Side by side with the 1/64 scale "Vertex LANG" Nissan S15;






Side by side with the 1/64 scale Tomica Limited Toyota Celica 2800 GT;





All the 3 wonderful cars together;






All 3 of our "Trueno AE86" in our collection - 1/25 scale, 1/43 scale and 1/64 scale;






If you love the :"Trueno AE86" so much, then I guess you would love this model and if you love "Lucky Star" anime, there are chances that you might like this too....







end

Comments

  1. i have not seen Lucky Star... the only thing i know about it is that in this series there are some parodies of the most popular anime series (self-referential) and mockery about the anime fans (which is very healthy LOL)... Aoshima diecast uhmmmm... interesting =) (now what’s next... Kotobukiya diecast ??? LOL)... the work on the exteriors is quite good and a lot better than interiors... the wheels and decor detail is remarkable and call me "old schoolish" but i’m not quite "sold" with the plastic chassis although is better for customizers (i’m not one of them)...

    you disappear for a while and then BOOM !!! a burst of toys, HECK !!! XD

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  2. hi chris, thanx for ur comments as usual, after Good Friday and Easter Holiday, I was busy moving into a new house.... and thus after that i was busy with many stuff and now finally I have the time to update this blog again :-)

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  3. I still love the original plain white and black stripe AE86. "D

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  4. The packaging is so sweet and packed wif cuteness... Love the decals and characters on the car. Reminds me of the Initial D parody in lucky Star...

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