This is not a childhood memory but it is part of growing up. Many people do not know some of my Tomica stories, not even close friends. As I was chatting with Martin, owner of "It's All About Cars", from The Philippines, he told me that Tomica actually save his life. Somehow, Tomica did save mine too. To be a little precise, Tomica help me to be who I am today in my career life.
I started working as a sales engineer in a safety instrument company in my early 20s. I had to travel within Singapore island to meet all the safety officer from all area of industries. I appreciate that my previous employer gave me a chance for the position although I had no working experience and no mode of transport. Initially, I had to depend on my colleague to send me to the customer's site but I do not want to create any inconveniences to him. I tried taking cabs to my destinations instead for the rest of the first month. I thought to myself that I can't go on doing this without a vehicle but how can I afford a car if I have no savings. I told my parents that I will get a car but they are furious that they asked me to resign instead.
At that time, I was also a seller in eBay and was selling mainly regular Tomica in order to fund my cravings for vintage ones. If I recalled it well, I sold a Tomica Falken Toyota Supra online and someone wanted this model in multiples. The buyer was from Hong Kong and he was a famous Tomica collector in Hong Kong as well. I was following his Tomica website then. Some who collect Tomica long enough should know him. I like he named his website as "busybeetoys" and I was a close follower then. I called up the store, reserve 100 pcs and I drove my manager's car to collect the Falken Supras. I pack all cars and off they flew to Hong Kong. I made some quick cash from this deal and combined my new drawn salary the following month, I found myself in the used car centre ready to hunt for the right car. Eventually I bought a 8 year old compact hatchback as my first ride. I had to hide this car for 2 months before my parents discovered it.
Some 8 or 9 years later, I decided to thank him personally and made a trip to his showroom in Hong Kong. He told me that he stopped buying the new Tomica as the quality was disappointing. He sold a big portion of his collection as well. I was kind of sad to hear that. I told him that I like the Tomica HK taxi he produced and was still looking for the earlier Cedric which they nicknamed it "shark head". I told him my purpose of visit. He was surprised that he has indirectly helped me by buying a hundred Falken Supras from me. This Tomica model started my career in my life and he indirectly became my saviour in life. He is now a distributor for a brand of model car.
Thank you Falken Supra and thank you, Danny.
Hot Wheels Mercedes Benz 300 SL (W198)
18 hours ago
Hello Julian, Martin here of IAAC. By any chance do you know where I can source a piece of this Falken Supra? I need one for my collection. Will appreciate any leads :) Great article and yes, Tomica saved my life too. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Martin, how did you get your name as Catherine? I had one last year but sold it. I did tried to contact the store last year but they told me that they have zero stock since years ago. I will see if I can find a spare one if it comes along the way.
ReplyDeleteHello Julian, sorry I am just using my wife's gmail account to post here. I would appreciate it a lot regarding this supra. This is one of my holy grails. =)
DeleteI am quite surprise you do not have this. Is this rare?
ReplyDelete