Always an Eye on the Sky – Nigel De Zilwa

It was around 1991 – 92 that my dad came home with a noisy car that was getting a lot of attention from the older boys in the hood. Owning a garage put my dad in the way of a lot of cars that had come in for repair or sale. And once in a while, he would buy a very cool car which he would use for a while and then switch. This time it was a baby blue Nissan GT-R KPGC 110. At the time I didn’t know the exact meaning of all that, I did know the name Skyline GT-R was associated with speed and was, of course, familiar with the R32 and R33 but history-wise it was all lost on me and I didn’t realize that this was one of the legends that went into making the Skyline legendary.

Now of course the history of the Skyline is everywhere and as a petrol and cast head it would be very hard to miss and if you want a complete run down of the history right now head over to Donut Media and they have a brilliant video on the GT-R.

Addiction

My history with the GT-R badge combined with the opportunity to drive an R35 Track Spec 2017 GT-R put my love for the badge into overdrive. Owning an actual Skyline now is just crazy expensive, although I am on the constant lookout for my dad’s old car and I’ve heard the maintenance on an R35 requires the same amount of cash flow as owning a FERRARI so…. My love will be relegated, to collecting models which judging by the amount of 1/64 GTR’s I pick up, looks like borderline addiction.

Adding to my growing collection of GT-R’s I recently acquired two Tomica Limited classic Skylines and two new Nissan GT-R’s from Majorette’s 2020 line up of premium models. The starkest difference between the two is the price range with Tomica running about double the price of the Majorettes. But both have opening doors and working suspension as well as similarly cast details. In fact, Majorette is a step better in detail because they use plastic headlights as opposed to Tomica’s painted on lights.

But as always the dated look of the Tomica always blends well with the older models they produce so really these two older Skylines look like older Skylines and maintain a very classic look that is slowly getting lost with the arrival of newer brands with better detail. The Tomica cars also came with a little metal plaque that can be placed or mounted in whatever display you have which is a nice, a little fiddley but nice touch. Off this range Tomica Limited there are a lot of oldies not just Skylines. You can get treated to Celica’s, Crown’s, Bluebirds many many 60’s and 70’s perfect for a retro build diorama.

On the other side of the spectrum is Majorette’s R35 GT3’s fresh from the 2020 catalogue complete with fancy tampos and plastic headlights, decorated wheels and large rear wings. A surprising good casting for the price it is like being on the price is right for 1/64 scale cars. This is where Tomica has got to worry. Riding on the coat tails of nostalgia can be very dangerous because at some point the target audience that gets it will be replaced by a younger generation, when that happens not many customers are going to want the old Celica’s or Skylines they won’t even want cars that run on tracks. As it is the choice is overwhelming for the collector.

NIGEL is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of CastHeads Magazine and CastHeads Brand. He is a professional collector, writer and designer who has left a lucrative 20 year career in advertising to have his friends and family question his sanity. Follow CastHeads on Facebook, Instagram and TWITTER as well.