By Doug Breithaupt

For 14 years, the Honda NSX has carried the flag as Japan's premier supercar. When it was introduced, the NSX showed that exotic mid-engine cars could also be trouble-free and very user-friendly. A modest re-style has changed little on the NSX and Honda is finally preparing an all-new model for production.

Small-scale NSX models were slow to arrive. Novacar of Portugal and Tomica were the first to offer examples. The plastic-bodied Novacar model appeared as a cartoon-carrying Majorette model, still in plastic. It then was done in diecast as a Majorette and continues in the line today. Tomica did the production car first followed by a police version. The roof has always looked too high on this casting. A more recent Tomica is labeled as an NSX-R but is little different from the original casting. In 2003, Racing Champions packaged and re-released the Tomica casting in their 'Fast and Furious' line. Johnny Lightning did an NSX in 1996 but a licensing problem delayed release. Eight year later, it has been released with tuner graphics. The best tuner version is currently part of the Muscle machines line. Maisto has also done a tuner version. Motor Max has done the current NSX with uncovered headlights. This is an excellent casting, especially for less than $1.

The NSX-R is the racing version of Honda's supercar. Both Majorette and Motor Max have offered racing graphics on their NSX castings. The real NSX-R has had success at Le Mans and in other GT racing events. A more accurate NSX-R with racing graphics has been done by Tomica but is quite expensive and not yet in my collection..

Honda NSX (plastic body) - Novacar	Honda NSX (plastic body) - Majorette
Honda NSX - Tomica	Honda NSX Police - Tomica
Honda NSX - Johnny Lightning	Honda NSX - Muscle Machines
Honda NSX (second generation) - Motor Max	Honda NSX-R - Majorette
Honda NSX-R - Tomica

Honda NSX - Majorette

Honda NSX - Tomica/Racing Champions

Honda NSX - Maisto

Honda NSX-R - Motor Max

Tags: Vehicles, Tales of Toy Cars