The Corgi Model Club's release for April 2024 is something even us oldies will not be able to resist playing with! It's the Austin A60 De Luxe Saloon as the Corgi Driving School car complete with the enormous red thing on top which is not really like anything I remember seeing on driving school cars in those days but it does serve the purpose of allowing us the steer the car around our layout roads.
It was nearly 60 years ago, in June 1964, when the original was released and it was very popular. We had had steering on the Bentley and Mercedes-Benz 220SE, far superior to anything that Dinky could offer, but this was one further step forward.
The re-issue is excellent and nothing strikes me as incorrect other than the prefect painting by Chinese children. The pleasantly pale blue colour is spot on and every aspect looks great. It even has the poor suspension at the front and very low ground clearance which, with the small wheels, made use on anything other than a smooth surface hard work.
The L plates are transfers not stickers and are exceedingly cleaner than any I have ever encountered! The letter L also looks slightly taller than it should be, or perhaps it is positioned closer to the edge and Corgi logo than on an original. I do not have an original to hand but it doesn't look quite right to me. These are minor points and do not detract from the overall excellence of this issue.
When I decided to spend a little money rebuilding my own collection in 2012 I knew nothing about Ebay and the only place I thought I might be able to buy models was the NEC, where model toy events were held from time time. I visited one with a friend and this Austin A60 was one of the first two models I bought. An original in very good condition but no box cost me £25. The other model, incidentally, was a Bentley Continental in black over silver, excellent and with a decent box but I paid a crazy £225 for that! But that's another story. I eventually discovered more reasonable prices.
In the box with this model you will find two chunks of plastic foam to protect the bonnet and boot and the car itself is wrapped in a larger piece of thin soft paper. There is a single-sided sheet with instructions how to steer the model and another with red highlighting, entitled the Corgi Junior Highway Code, with some examples of how to do something, just like was illustrated in the real Highway Code in 1964. There is even a guide to indicate the width of a typical road in the same scale as the model so you could make your driving tests more realistic for activities like three-point-turns and reversing around a corner.
I honestly don't remember seeing these documents when I had mine at the age of 11. I did manage to hang on to most of the boxes in those days but seldom the documents included.
How long, I wonder, will it be before we see a 255 edition in Left Hand Drive and a darker shade of blue? As I recall, the L boards are in the same position so it is merely a different interior and finish that is required. Of course L may not mean a great deal in other countries other than America and the British Commonwealth but it still sold pretty well abroad from the figures I have read. About 1 million were made of both types and a third were LHD. Despite that number, they're quite hard to find now in the UK in decent condition although I suppose if you have a friend in Europe they'll be able to help.
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