While entry into the World of air-cooled Porsche 911s is currently a rather expensive one, this wasn’t always the case, with many turning a blind eye to these rear engined sports cars from Stuttgart as recently as maybe 5 years back. Back then, vintage 911s were still somewhat of an oddity and bargains could be found if you knew where to look.
Today, with the massive wave of interest generated by internet automotive superstars from the likes of RWB’s Nakai-san, Urban Outlaw’s Magnus Walker and a slew of internet short films praising these machines for their unique “characters”. Prices for these vintage speedsters have pretty much shot through the roof! Needless to say, for those with pockets far less deep (yours truly), our ownership experience with an air-cooled has to start on a somewhat smaller scale, 1/64 to be precise.
Of course to be accurate, what we have here is not a 911, what we have here, is a Porsche 912. Manufactured by Porsche of Germany between 1965 and 1969, the 912 was Porsche’s entry level sports car of the time.
With prices of the Flat-6 911s exceeding the 356s that were being replaced, Porsche executives were worried sales might be affected, so they created a Flat-4 model that would produce higher performance than their 356SC engine, and be less costly and complex than their Carrera 2 engine.
With a body shell that was visually similar to the iconic 911, the Type 912 initially outsold the 911, with more than 32,000 made over its lifespan.
To be honest, i could not gather any information pertaining to Japan’s highway patrol running a Porsche 912. But as with most of these type of police cars, even if they were once roaming the streets, i’d imagine they would have spent more time as “campaign cars” than undergoing actual police duties. Nonetheless, police livery on a Porsche 912 does make for a rather interesting subject matter and Tomica’s Limited Vintage take on this iconic sports car is as always, top notch in the price-for-detail scale.
There are some unique and lovely details in this 1/64, like the separately packed front and rear bullhorns which slot into little ridges in the bodywork. Nice little touches which help make it that bit more special.
An interesting point to note is our Aichi Prefecture car is a Tomica Shop exclusive, standard 912 Patrol cars come with Kanagawa Prefecture decals instead.
While this 912 might sit smallest than every other Tomica i have, its top notch build quality and the car’s unique subject matter does allow this “entry level” Porsche to shine. I like it so much, it sits smack in the middle of my small collection of Tomicas. I even tried to pick up another one on my most recent visit to Tokyo but there were sadly no more left. I guess even in 1/64 scale, the air-cooled fever cannot be tamed.
