Tomica Mazda Atenza (6) (2001) and Hyundai Veloster Turbo

Here's a few more yellow Tomica's, including the first-generation Mazda 6 and Hyundai Veloster Turbo.

Mazda Atenza (6) (2001)

As mentioned before in the last article the first Mazda 6 arrived in 2001 and really changed the way Mazda cars looked.  Now they have a more sporty appearance and bold styling.  The 6 was even more bold offering sedan, hatchback sedan, and wagon models.  The headlights and taillights have multiple round reflectors with a clear housing for a more sporty appearance, the interior has hints of aluminum trim, and manual transmissions can be offered for both engine's.  A 2.3L I-4 or a Ford Duratec 3.0L V6 was offered along with four-speed automatic or five-speed manual for both engine's.  Handling features all-independent setup and excellent traction.  The chassis also served as the basis for the U.S. based Ford Fusion sedan in 2006.

This Tomica casting is done in yellow so it has that sporty Mazda yellow color of the time.  Also this is a 5-door hatchback where the rear hatch does open, but once again the dogleg hinges infringe on rear seat space.  The front has slender headlights, body-colored Mazda grille, and lower grille openings and foglights.  The sides have a clean sedan profile where I added black trim to the windows, as well as the headlight and taillight reflector details (looks rather flat without them).  The rear has oval taillights, a rear spoiler, and oddly a baseplate tab showing off on the rear bumper.  The interior has seating for five, supportive front seats, 3-spoke steering wheel, and a dashboard with silver trim accents.  Unfortunately being an early Tomica it lacks a dashboard.  The base shows off some suspension components and the Tomica wheels look great on this model.

Hyundai Veloster Turbo

Hyundai has been making some bold moves in the 2010's with stylish vehicles that are competitive and memorable.  One of the rather odd moves during this time was the Veloster, a three-door hatchback trying to act hard as a coupe.  It was based on a HND3 show car from 2007 that most would believe would not make production, but it does and it replaces the sporty Tiburon coupe.  The front-end has a more bolder look with a larger grille than other Hyundai models, the roof is all-glass, the access door for the rear seats is cleverly concealed, and on Turbo models the exhaust exits out at the center.  It does have that look of a concept car.  The interior is very similar to the Elantra but with smaller rear seats and cargo area in this hatchback coupe profile.  The engine is a 1.6L DOHC turbo I-4 that produces 201 horsepower through a six-speed manual transmission.  The suspension is all-independent and tuned for a sporty driving experience, but it is hardly considered a respectable sports car.

This Tomica casting is interesting for a few reasons: no opening parts, left-hand drive, and lots of excellent details.  The look in yellow is striking and adding a few missing details completes the overall look of the car.  The front has aggressive swept-back headlights that connect to invisible vertical lines to the lower foglights.  The grille is large and painted black, while the pillars are blacked out to give the car that helmet profile aided by the sloping roofline.  On the sides you can see the hidden rear doorline on the passenger-side and the blacked-out Tomica wheels are wider and fit perfectly well with this car.  This and the working suspension gives the Veloster excellent handling capabilities.  At the rear the taillights carve into the rear hatch, the rear spoiler sits just below the roofline window design with gridded defroster lines on the rear window, Hyundai badge on the hatch, dual exhausts in the center, and side black ducts to add a bit of sport.  The base underneath shows off the detailed engine and suspension components, while the interior has seating for four, 3-spoke steering wheel, and dashboard with detailed center control stack.  It is a rather surprisingly well-done Tomica model, one that has no opening parts and left-hand drive steering when other models have right-hand drive and some form of opening parts.