Do you remember ‘DATSUN’? Growing up in the late seventies my uncle drove a metallic blue DATSUN 100 – a modest car that introduced me to the brand. So when I first saw the DIACLONE toys in the local Yaohan and Isetan stores, the red and blue Fairlady Z struck a chord with me waaaayyy before ‘Transformers’ was a thing.
Back then, the chunky appearance of those early car robots did nothing to deter young imaginations. The inclusion of real life details like racing numbers and decals brought those inarticulate hunks of plastic and metal to life even without the aid of any cartoons or jingles.
As for Pilot, I didn’t encounter mechanical pencils until I was older, around grade 7 or 8. But boy was it glorious! A classmate had a 2020 Young shaker and I recalled another who flashed a grey H-515. Those shaker MPs were really exotic and drool worthy for an impressionable teenager. It would take another 15 years or so before I would seek them out as an adult.
As for the DATSUN, research showed that the No. 38 ‘transformer’ was actually based on a real No. 83 race car driven by Don Devendorf, who won the 1979 GTU Championship. A true champion in real life as it was in my childhood dreams.
A quick and fun follow up on my Transformers-fueled nostalgia drive… This time it’s a Martini Racing Porsche 935 from 1976 that inspired the Japanese Diaclone ‘car robot’, which became the Autobot Jazz. Something about that combination of red, light blue and dark blue racing stripes swooping over the top and side arches of the 935 made it seem to go 100 miles faster!
And for the racing theme, I thought the Pilot 2020 Flag series was totally appropriate, especially when the white, blue and red pencils were placed side by side.
The toy itself now looks a bit clunky with obvious separation lines and huge gaps at the doors and roof, but never underestimate the imagination of kids!
Another combo inspired by the first generation of Transformer toys, this time it’s the Autobot Hound, an army jeep in disguise. This miniature by Tomica is actually a Mitsubishi Jeep J3R from 1971.
And to keep with the army theme, I picked out the CAMOUFLA by BOXY UB-1006BXC rollerball (dated to 1988), an accompanying eraser… AND an American sidekick, the Parker Vector mechanical pencil in 0.5mm, and dressed in woodland pattern. I particularly like this earlier version of the Vector that came with a matte black clip and button, along with a practical black plastic lattice grip. Just brings back memories of my time in the Singapore Army back in the 1990s!
Oh, and here’s a neat illustration of the original Diaclone car robot before Hasbro licensed it for Transformers…
I drove a pair of ‘82 Datsun 280ZX in college! Both 5-spd manuals. First one had T-tops, which were cool but leaked. Leaked BAD when you failed to reinstall the tops and it rained… wish I had more pics of those cars. Wish I’d kept the second one instead of trading it in. First one was totaled
