This has been quite a month and it is ending on a potentially very high note. This little car appeared in a German seller's listing on Ebay. He had incorrectly titled the listing and referred to a 341 model which, of course, is the maroon one with Golden Jacks. That was encouraging and gave me some hope that the wealthy Walloon and dastardly Dortmund people who usually bid several times more than I can afford for interesting models may not have spotted it.
Naturally, I asked him whether he might sell straightaway. He was too busy, apparently, and preferred just to let the auction proceed and he would simply send it to whoever won and paid. I did ask a friend in Germany to enquire whether this might be original. There was no photo of the base and you have to be suspicious, indeed assume the worst, when there is no picture of the base. Having said that, there is a counter argument which says that there is no picture of the base because the seller has no clue as to why that might be important which, in a sense, is a little encouraging!
Anyway, my friend comes up with a base photo. I hope like mad that this doesn't also get added to the others displayed for others to see. The photos were all pretty good and, try as I might, I couldn't see a great deal to say this was not the real thing. But I was fairly sure that it must be a repaint - items as rare as this should not just pop up looking pristine and new like this one and certainly not remain within a price range I can cope with. The rivet was not perfect. There was a slightly rough edge and it was on a slight slant. Was that glue residue? It looked like a real old rivet head for sure. I suppose they can be refitted. I had also seen plenty of real ones looking just like that so I was not swayed either way.
My other bit of scrutiny had been what I thought was some white paint on the inner side of a window pillar. That rather sealed the thing for me at the time. It was a white 305 with the decals removed, taken apart and sprayed the right colour.
Well, I won it. For a very modest amount as only one or two other persons were involved and they didn't have my software and/or cannot have set much by way of a maximum. It arrived yesterday and I have to say I am none the wiser really. I thought something would be obvious and I would be quite happy to have a lovely copy to fill the space and take photographs of for the catalogue. If anything, I am inclined more to believe it is the genuine article now. The window thing must have been a trick of the light as the pillars are all blue as they should be.
The rivet looks OK but, yes, I guess someone could, very, very smartly have removed a rivet head and reattached it but, if so, their work is immaculate. The only thing that I am concerned about really now is the paint. It is all totally unmarked and the right colour everywhere that it should be, including in those places only a proper spray could reach. The texture just seems a little plasticky and not as glossy as normal Corgi paint. Having said that, I am comparing it with earlier models that I have cleaned and polished and which may simply have an older sort of paint that looks different. Perhaps this would polish up just the same and look brilliant and reflective too. I just don't dare try!
So here I am with something that could be extremely valuable. I would guess around £500 is reasonable for this. I haven't seen one in all the time I have been doing this catalogue research, other than an extremely damaged one that had few wheels, badly broken widows, was missing a door, had little paint on most panels, a bent bonnet and still made £50. Alternatively, it is a very, very smart copy that someone has made and I can only acknowledge their abilities if that is the case.
It is missing the sill transfer which is shown in the photos of most (but not all) examples I have seen in books and on auction sites. That is another indication that it may be a copy but then these things were often missed, especially in the 1970s when this would have been made, at the factory in Swansea! So that doesn't weigh heavily on the side of the debate for me.
Anyway, here are some photos of one or the other!
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