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Do you remember having any one of these Aviva Peanuts vehicles while growing up? I grew up watching Charlie Brown & Snoopy cartoons, it was not my favourite but it still made my eyes glued to the screen. I remember playing Snoopy & the red barons video games on Atari as well and I was hooked. My mum only allows me to play video games during school holidays so I treasure the time playing my Atari.
Among all the Aviva Peanuts vehicles, the Charlie Brown racing car is the one I had connections with. I had this when I was a kid and I am trying to collect all the childhood toys I felt connected to. I thought this racing car is made by Tomica then because it looks identical to my Tomica Mazda Sigma MC74. Aviva produced the toy under licence so there are a few Avivas which were Tomicas in disguise. It was an interesting toy to me then because Charlie Brown is on the driver seat of a "Tomica".
My cousin had one of these trucks too which I believe was the button wheels version. I believed that our toys were bought together which I couldn't recall at all. I tried to exchange my Charlie Brown with her Snoopy but was not successful. Probably she like Snoopy over Charlie Brown. It is surprising that the button wheel Hiace Truck was made in Japan while the rest of all vehicles here are made in Hong Kong. This is also one of my favorite Peanuts vehicles beside the Mazda Sigma.
Here are some other Aviva vehicles which are based on Tomica casting. I think the Datsun No.1 is missing, any other cars missing which you think I should start hunting?
During the 80s, it was common to buy fabric to tailor made your own clothes. My mum and aunt often brought me out for their fabric shopping during those days. They would usually go to Beauty World, Chinatown or nearby Boon Lay Shopping Centre. I am totally not interested in fabric for sure and I will resort to ways of cutting the trip short. I will tell my mum that I wanted to go home or any excuses to make things go my way. My "Ah Yee“ (my mum's sister) will usually pacify me asking me to be good and she will buy me toys after their shopping. It was an afternoon trip to Boon Lay Shopping Centre, after their shopping, my aunt brought me to a departmental store where NTUC sits today. I don't have the slightest idea what is the name of that departmental store. Any kind souls who are old enough to recall let me know the name of the store? My dad brought me to the same store to buy my first RC car (actually it's a van). I was welcomed by the 2 Tomica display cases filled up with Tomica. If I remembered it correctly, the cases should be red resembling the one above. The display cases were placed on top of a glass cabinet which displayed RC toy cars made by either Taiyo or Nikko. The sales girl stands behind the counter and I choose the car I want. She will take the car I need from her counter instead of self service today.
As usual, I will need to pick 2 cars which one will be for my brother who isn't there at the scene. The Honda City for myself while the Red Suzuki Cervo for my brother. I usually choose a hatchback over a saloon car when I was a kid. I always had the impression that a hatchback looks more beautiful than a car with a boot. That might explains why I had 3 hatchbacks and never a saloon car as my daily ride. Did you realise that the Cervo and the City comes with black and red box respectively? I believe it was during the transition period from black to red box. I guess it was the mid 80s then.
1984 Honda City Turbo II. This is one of my favourite Honda cars although I am seriously not a Honda fan. I find that Honda made the best cars during the 80s (in terms of styling). To name a few, the '87 Accord Aerodeck, '83 and '87 Civic 3dr and '85 Quint Integra. Note that all are coincidentally hatchbacks. The City is one of the few Hondas which incorporate a turbocharger on their engine.
1982 Suzuki Cervo. Not very sure why I chose this then. I guess it's a hatch and it's a nice little car. I have sentiments on Tomica I used to play as a kid so I have to get a mint version when I can afford them.
Before I picked the 2 little hatches, I pointed this to the sales girl and she told me that it was out of stock. I was attracted to this car because of the unique colour. I was kind of disappointed then as I wanted this Pontiac Firebird Trans AM very much (because of the colour) but never did I imagine I could buy this car when I grow up. Thanks to the creators of eBay that I could buy this some years ago.
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