One area of interest that seems to be taking off in the scale replica world lately is that of Japanese cars, particularly older cars from the ‘70s and even early ‘80s. There’s not a lot written in North America about these cars in comparison to the domestics of the period, and this air of mystery has helped fuel the increasing popularity of these rarely seen and little-known automobiles.
Interestingly, there were a lot more kits of older Japanese cars back in the day, when they were current, than you can find now. Sure, some have been reissued, and many “updated” to match the current vogue of the Tuner scene, but these don’t compare to the number of kits from when these cars were new. If you want to get a feel for one of these Japanese beauties, you have to commit to going back in time and looking at that era’s kits.
Unfortunately, the relative obscurity of these cars in North America meant there was little call to import them in kit form, so there are not as many 50-year-old Japanese car kits as there are American cars of the same age. Thankfully, though, there were a few exceptions; the Entex corporation loved to bring various Japanese kits over. Some, like their planes, were by Otaki. Others, like their 1/20 cars, were Bandai’s creations.
Thanks to my brother, I was able to get my hands on one of the 1/20 Entex Mazda RX-3 models. This is a classic in its own right, so put on your best bell bottoms and fire up the Wayback Machine as we take a look at this forgotten classic at the link below!