The Civic is cool.
It is cool for a lot of reasons. Around here, there is a good chance that you spent some time in a Civic at some point in life. The ’93 DX Hatch was my wife’s first purchase out of college. The ’98 EX was mine. And when a car reminds you of that time in life, when you are just trying to figure it all out, it is insta-cool.
In fact, my wife smiled wide when she first encountered the two Hatches we are showing today in the Lamley Display. She lamented how much she missed her Civic (even though she would never trade back her Tribeca for one), talked about how sad she was when she wrecked it, and how she misses those days. Same with the EF. That car remains cool, and I sure as shit felt cool in it.
But this is Tomica Limited Vintage, so the Civic replica it has released is pure Japan. Or JDM, if one wants to go there. And that is the cool factor we want to focus on today.
The two 5th-generation Civics we are showing today are replicas of the SiR (white) and SiR-II (red), which featured the most powerful engine in the Civic, and were only offered in Japan.
But there is much more to why these are such important cars in Japan, and it all centers in the city of Osaka. We know many of you are familiar with the Kanjozuko, or Kanjo Racers, but for those who aren’t familiar, this short film from Bowls Films, which we first saw on Japanese Nostalgic Car, is the best way to understand why these little Civics mean so much to many in Japanese car culture:
We especially love how the term “JDM” is explained, and how what is called “JDM” these days is not really JDM. It is lot more pure, and we love the approach from the Kanjozoku. This might help explain why Mattel designer Ryu Asada, who grew up in Osaka, made the Honda Civic EF one of his first designs at Hot Wheels. It all makes sense, doesn’t it?
Anyway, we have been excited to show these, and this is only the beginning of our Tomica Limited Vintage Civic collection. We hope to add more.
That is where Japan Booster comes in. The TLV Civics get gobbled up quickly in Japan, making certain versions, like the SiR-II in red, very difficult to find. Japan Booster has found a few and has made them available at their store, some in auction that will expire in just a couple of days. You can find them here:
Tomica Limited Vintage Honda Civics at Japan Booster
We hope a few of these fall in your hands (and some in ours as well), so good luck. Once you learn how cool these cars are in Japan, TLV’s versions become must-haves…
Tomica Limited Vintage Neo Honda Civic LV-N48a SiR-II & LV-N48d SiR:
The TLV shocks – Insta-Modification!
Kanjozoku is not a style. It's a spirit. For the ones that care, really hope they would understand that.
Nice stuff dear. I like it Citroen car leasing deals & Honda car leasing deals
are you sure the red one is the SiR-ii? I just got myself the grey version of the white one, with those specific hubcapped wheels, and the box says it’s an SiR-ii.