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Motor Tomica Vehicles
First written May 2024Expanded September 2024, February 2025, September 2026
Reformatted September 2026
In the mid 1990s Tomy developed the battery-powered die-cast B/O Tomica range of motorized cars that ran on a plastic road system. Around the end of 1996 the name was changed to Motor Tomica (モータートミカ). Production shifted from Japan to China. The Motor Tomica boxes had a plastic window to show off the toy car inside. After the Plarail range was refreshed in the early 2000s the Motor Tomica range was also reformatted in 2004 as Plaroad.
Motor Tomica cars were typically powered from the somewhat odd N size battery. Tomy included N size batteries with most sets and individual cars including overseas Tomica World releases. Thomas-series vehicles use AAA batteries, as do the Action Motor Tomica and most later Plaroad vehicles.
A-01 Subaru Legacy Touring Wagon (Motor Tomica) (1997)
The first entry in the reformatted 1997 Motor Tomica range was a new blue version of the Subaru Legacy released in green as B-19 in the later B/O Tomica era. It was released as the Subaru Legacy Touring Wagon (スバルレガシィツーリングワゴン).
This example dates to March 2000, and is in rather nice condition.
A-02 Honda CR-V (Motor Tomica) (1997)
In 1997 the Honda CR-V became the second car in the revamped Motor Tomica lineup in a new silver-grey color with similar slanted CR-V decoration on the side as well as a new purple and yellow design lower on the doors.
These CR-Vs were made in China like other Motor Tomica vehicles. The tooling for the CR-V itself seems unchanged, and the real CR-V kept looking like this into the mid 2000s...
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Also in 1997, the "Tomica Plarail World" Basic Set included a pinky-red Honda CR-V with similar side graphics as the individual Motor Tomica one. A turquoise CR-V was included in the Tomica World Loop Road Set with no side graphics.
A-05 Nissan Skyline GT-R (Motor Tomica) (1997)
Part of the relaunched Motor Tomica lineup was a nice purple version of the Nissan Skyline GT-R previously released in silver.
This one is rather beaten up and has also had a battery leak inside it at some time.
A-12 Toyota TownAce (Motor Tomica) (1997)
The Toyota TownAce is a passenger van based on Toyota's LiteAce van. A blue Motor Tomica version was released in 1997 as A-12 トヨタ タウンエースノア. There is a neat design along the side of the van.
The example shown here is marked TW-04 as it comes from an export Tomica World set. Other than this TW mark instead of A-12, these releases are identical. The Toyota TownAce was included in the Tomica World 1998 Mega Set and the 1999 Super Mega Set version. A July 1999 date code is stamped into the plastic.
AM-1 TV Network Car (Action Motor Tomica) (1997)
The first in the Action Motor Tomica subrange, this neat TV van with rotating satellite dish was released as AM-1 TV Network Car (AM-1 TV中継車).
These Action Motor Tomica cars (all both of them) use AAA batteries, which is nice, although the dish falls out whenever you open the battery compartment. It is easy to pull the dish out anyways, and it is almost always missing from used ones.
Indeed, before finding the August 1997 production example shown above I had previously acquired an April 1998 van missing the dish.
AM-2 Advertisement Car (Action Motor Tomica) (1997)
One of only two of the "Action Motor Tomica" series vehicles released, this boxy truck has a rotating banner on one side that changes between a Plarail and Tomica message as it runs along. Released as AM-2 広告ボードカー in 1997.
This truck (and the other Action Motor vehicle shown above, a TV van with rotating satellite dish) uses a AAA battery and has a sliding catch that is used to hold the body on instead of a screw. This catch is pretty tight, and I feel like its going to break... so I tend to leave it unlatched. When I got this example the negative battery contact was broken off so I replaced it by cutting and bending a strip of metal to the approximate shape of the original, drilled out the old rivet, and replaced it with a new one that contacted correctly with the power switch inside.
The small spring-loaded gear on the sliding shaft that engages the rear wheels when switched on was also loose on the shaft, so I glued it back on. Some of the other gears are showing signs of splitting, and several of them are rather small...
A subtle difference between Motor Tomica and B/O Tomica is that the older tires are smooth while Motor Tomica brought about treaded tires.