Toyota Soarer

[ianmacc]

Hi all.

 

was the Toyota Soarer ever sold in the uk? In particular the earlier versions in the 1980s as I know there were 90s and onwards iterations on our roads but I suspect they were later imports? 

 

They look familiar but again that could be imports as I was only 5 in 1981! 

 

Edited July 21, 2019 by ianmacc
Image and clarification

[PhilJ W]

Japanese market only but sold in other markets as the Lexus SC.

[ianmacc]

28 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Japanese market only but sold in other markets as the Lexus SC.

Does that include the uk? I cannot recall Lexus cars before the 90s here 

[giz]

7 minutes ago, ianmacc said:

Does that include the uk? I cannot recall Lexus cars before the 90s here 

The SC wasn't sold in the UK until 2001. The previous version wasn't sold officially here but was in the US. It was the Soarer in Japan and a number were imported, some were re-badged as Lexus unofficially. There were no Lexus badged cars anywhere before the original LS in about 1990.

[ianmacc]

8 minutes ago, giz said:

The SC wasn't sold in the UK until 2001. The previous version wasn't sold officially here but was in the US. It was the Soarer in Japan and a number were imported, some were re-badged as Lexus unofficially. There were no Lexus badged cars anywhere before the original LS in about 1990.

 

Ok thanks. Found lots of them in useful near 00 1:80 scale on eBay by a company called silhouette from japan.  Their entire range bar a couple are Japanese only so sadly no use for a uk layout...

[BernardTPM]

I've had a silver over black Silhouette Toyota Celica XX (Supra) for many years. That was definitely in the UK Toyota range. Nice little model and even featured a pull-back-and-go mech. A bit more about the range here.

[crompton 33]

Back in the mid 1980's till the late 1990's i worked for Toyota.  I had a celica in silver back then so yes they where inported here from Japan.  At that time i was getting free fuel/road tax/ insurance.  Was offerd this instead of a pay rise at the time.

[BernardTPM]

Forgot, I already had a picture of the Celica Supra model:

 

[ianmacc]

1 hour ago, BernardTPM said:

Forgot, I already had a picture of the Celica Supra model:

 

Very nice. Passable with 1:76 models like the tomytec range? The eye accepts slightly too small easier than slightly too large I think. My tomytec models blend in ok on the layout but the real-x ones at 1:72 just don’t look right (way too big) and need to be a long way from true 00 vehicles not to jar. 

 

Incidentally I have a spare Datsun Skyline if anybody is interested due to reasons above. Happy to swap for something. 

[quicksilvercoaches]

I'd never heard of Silhouette but they made some interesting stuff - I particularly like the look of the Isuzu Piazza, which was available in the UK but is near extinct now. 1/80 models look fine with 1/76 to me and I have a set of Nissan Skylines by Tomytec that are virtually the same size as the Oxford Diecast Cavalier. That generation of Skyline was never sold in the UK but was quite similar to the Laurel that was and can pass as a generic 1980s big Japanese saloon so I'm very happy with them.

[ianmacc]

On 31/07/2019 at 21:45, quicksilvercoaches said:

I'd never heard of Silhouette but they made some interesting stuff - I particularly like the look of the Isuzu Piazza, which was available in the UK but is near extinct now. 1/80 models look fine with 1/76 to me and I have a set of Nissan Skylines by Tomytec that are virtually the same size as the Oxford Diecast Cavalier. That generation of Skyline was never sold in the UK but was quite similar to the Laurel that was and can pass as a generic 1980s big Japanese saloon so I'm very happy with them.

 

I just bought one of those Isuzu Piazzas from eBay. Cost more for postage than the car! Thanks for the heads up that they were sold in the U.K. I’ll take a picture of it next to some oxford diecasts when it arrives from Spain in the next week or two. 

 

Incidentally there are 15 Piazzas left on U.K. roads and 28 Soarers! More imported cars than native ones lol.

 

Edited August 8, 2019 by ianmacc
Inserted picture

[ianmacc]

On 31/07/2019 at 21:45, quicksilvercoaches said:

I'd never heard of Silhouette but they made some interesting stuff - I particularly like the look of the Isuzu Piazza, which was available in the UK but is near extinct now. 1/80 models look fine with 1/76 to me and I have a set of Nissan Skylines by Tomytec that are virtually the same size as the Oxford Diecast Cavalier. That generation of Skyline was never sold in the UK but was quite similar to the Laurel that was and can pass as a generic 1980s big Japanese saloon so I'm very happy with them.

 

The 1:80 Isuzu Piazza arrived a couple of days back. Need to add U.K. plates but here it is size wise with some 1:76 vehicles. Not sure how big the Piazza was in real life but it’s about the size of an Astra on my layout. 

 

Strangely it looks very big next to the Maxi but that’s the camera angle to an extent...

Edited August 16, 2019 by ianmacc
Added info