Four of one and four of the other

 

The little Triumph Herald Coupé was a remarkable model and a little more interesting than you may have appreciated. 

Firstly, in November 1961 it was only the second car to be issued with free-spinning wheels from the start. The Bentley Continental was the first, of course, but the Triumph was the first with the smaller wheels. The small wheels first appeared on cars in January 1960 on the Morris Mini-Minor, followed by the Austin Seven a year later and the Chevrolet Corvair in July 1961. All these three, however, started with fixed smooth wheels, then they got fixed shaped wheels and finally the free-spinning variety some time later.

The first Mercedes-Benz 300SL models with suspension, 303S and 304S also had free-spinning wheels which were a little curious, being smooth on both sides. The first Triumph Heralds had a similar smooth free-spinning wheel, in the smaller size. Later the shaped style is fitted and these wheels are smooth on one side and shaped on the other. I can imagine that mistakes would have been made on the production line, with some wheels being fitted with the smooth side out but the two models shown here are not mistakes. The blue one has wheels that are the older type, smooth on both sides.

I had thought for a long time that the first issue must have been gold and white and that all of them had smooth wheels and all the later blue and white issues had shaped wheels but I learned some time ago that the other combinations existed. They're not that common, though and definitely worth a little more than the usual pair.

There are also two type of construction, as I discovered when I took some damaged models apart, mixed up the parts and wondered why they didn't go together again! It seems to concern how the bonnet hinge and radiator grille interact and the bases are quite different, with what look like filled holes painted on one type and just one rivet at the rear.

Both my models have the three rivets unpainted which I think is the earlier type.

I have seen many blue models with each type of base, whether with smooth or shaped wheels. However, every gold one I have seen to date has the three rivet type. I am sure there must be some gold models with the single rivet type but I have still to find one. It took a while to find the shaped wheel edition but, as is the case with so many Corgis, as soon as you find one variation, another one presents itself as a possibility and the search continues!

I probably wouldn't have it any other way.

Corgi Model Club: two more Aston Martins, a teal sports car and a nice box.

 

You may have been confused by a recent note from the Corgi Model Club, encouraging us all to buy the #270 James Bond's Aston Martin with silver grille and bumpers, having had one encouraging us to buy the #270 James Bond's Aston Martin with gold grille and bumpers just a short while ago. I had ordered the one with a gold bits in November and, quite frankly, forgotten all about it so I rushed to order the one with silver bits just in case it sold out as these things tend to. Luckily I remembered that I had also had a list of items I should be getting as a member and, indeed, the one with silver bits should be arriving sometime in a few weeks. The one with gold bits is, I assume, on its way too.

I had thought that the masses were going to get the gold edition from the shop, with the silver edition being just for members but I see now this is not the case. There is no asterisk on the list and so lots of people will be getting this before I do as I seem to be a few weeks behind with my Club arrivals, the Ecurie Ecosse Transporter still to reach my village.

So, if you are a member, and only want one silver edition, you don't have to do anything. No need to panic. It will come in its own time when you reach that point on the list. If you want the gold one, though, you need to buy it from the shop and, despite the claim that members get a nice discount, they pay the same price as everyone else for anything other than their single monthly Club items.

Coming up soon you will see two issues that will be for members only and not available in the shop. These are an orange #233 Heinkel Bubble, sorry, Economy Car and a #302 MGA in teal. I expect there will be a red #233 in the shop which we'll need to buy at the normal price but maybe no further MGAs, the red one being available already. Perhaps the Club will hang on to some teal paint and use some for a #300 Austin Healey at some point. That's a model that's very hard to find as an original. I think teal would be about right. I have two originals but both had been frustratingly overpainted with a slightly different shade of blue for reasons I fail to understand.

This one has a new steering wheel and screen too.

This one has a complete covering of the new blue, with silver bits added here and there, as well as a silly screen from Mr Flowers.

Neither base seems to have been removed, though, and there's blue in places a paintbrush wouldn't reach.

I feel confident that both are the scarce blue issue but it is such a pity that they received this later treatment. A lesson for us all, of course, as more and more models are getting 'restored'. Maybe you good restoration artist people could just stick to restoring the common ones and leave something scarce alone. I am amazed at the skills some people do have but I would much prefer a bashed-up old original to a pristine-looking model with shiny rivets (or glue!)

By the same token, however lovely the Corgi Model Club models will be, whether with silver or gold bits, I'll be selling both of them and happier looking to spend the money on a fair to average original. For those who like to display their models, however, there is a lot to be said for the 'bubble-style' boxes that come with the Club models. Good reproductions of these are not cheap.

This one is very good but nearly £50! 

The bubble bit is not easy and all the usual suppliers offer just the later window box types.

So, if you 'don't look back' (or maybe under) the Corgi Model Club editions may be worthwhile after all! Flog the car and keep the box.

Mystery model

 

I would be grateful for any help anyone may be able to provide in identifying this model which I found in a Charity Shop a few years ago. Obviously not a Corgi, I know! It's just been troubling me for ages and I can find nothing like it anywhere.

You can see that it's almost certainly 1:10 scale, measuring over 40cms in total. It weighs nearly 1½ kilos and appears to be made out of some type of heavy non-metallic material for the main body.

The wheels are metal with hard plastic-like tyres. The interior is a hard material made to look like cloth for the seats, with a quite detailed but roughly hewn dashboard.

In appearance only, it resembles products made in the Vintage Transport range by Lesser & Pavey Ltd. However their advertised models are all tin and their sales people didn't recognise this from an earlier time.

Nothing opens and there's no steering, nor is there any sign of brand on the base. So I do wonder if it was made by someone from some mould and parts supplied for the bumpers and steering wheel. The addition of silver, black and orange paint definitely looks less than professional but the overall cream finish is interestingly 'weathered' in appearance and not the finish you'd expect from an amateur.

Perhaps someone out there might recognise this and help me. I am not expecting it to have any great value or to be particularly ancient. It's a nice object to have sitting in the office but is starting to get in the way. However I need to be sure I'm not giving away or selling too cheaply something I later discover to have been valuable.

Update 6 January 2026:

Corgi Toys @ 60: A Ford, Monte Carlo and The Avengers

 January 1966 and Corgi bring three new models to your local toy shop, although only one is completely new.

The lovely Ford Consul Cortina Super Estate Car is all new and a delightful model in rich metallic blue with a bright, almost white interior. The rear door opens and it originally appears on a tray insert with a golfer and boy caddy with the golf trolley which you will recognise from the 'surprise in the boot' of the Chrysler Imperial issued a few months earlier in August 1965.

This model will be released later as #491 on its own in September 1966, when it will appear also in metallic red and metallic grey, with cast wheels being fitted towards the end of production but very seldom will you see these on a blue model.

It appears likely that only the blue model was used for the first issues of #440 but, of course, now it is impossible to know whether a red or grey has been substituted or if they really were in the box when bought.

Perhaps the 'star' attraction for this month will have been The Avengers Gift Set 40.

This set helped sell some more of the old Bentleys that had not been very popular as well as bringing new life to the sales of the Lotus Elan, previously in metallic blue as #318 in July 1965. Now with the "I've got a tiger in my tank" transfer removed and in white the Lotus is a good representation of the car driven by Emma Peel in the first series of the TV programme. The red Bentley, however, is not so accurate!

Early sets featured a green Bentley which would have been a preferable colour for Steed (albeit somewhat bright, I feel) but on no account would he have driven anything with red wheels! 

The set has plastic figures for Steed and Mrs Peel, neither looking very attractive when viewed closely but acceptable at a distance, and three brollies. Original brollies are very hard to find now and most sets you will find have replacements which can be identified with a magnifying glass (see a recent article on this subject).

Beware the many, many reproduction sets of poor quality or downright incorrect composition. Many dealers use a reproduction Steed that is actually from a mould of Jeeves from the #9004 World of Wooster set. The figure supplied by a major 'spare parts' company in Leicestershire was Jeeves in a grey suit and may still be, although I have not ordered any for some time. They may have mended their ways in this respect since. Original Emmas usually have two or more black stripes at the bottom of her trousers but I have also seen what may well be originals with just the single stripe so it is not so easy to tell with her. Some have very poor facial definition and painting, however, and these are likely to be reproductions.

Most reproduction boxes are poor copies too, with colours that are too bright, the wrong quality card and, of course, there are many produced with printers at home on white card as well. I sell many sets and use a particularly fine reproduction box but most I see are nothing like as good, even from those better-known repro box people.

Although you will encounter many variations of the composition, there really are just the two original sets as illustrated here. You will find gold wheels instead of steel colour on the red Bentley, but seldom will all five be the same shade. The Lotus may get cast wheels towards the end of its production run too. That is all, however, apart from the factory one-off samples. I know of a green Bentley with black mudguards and steel wheels, for instance, which is a much better match for those in the series but this would have been a sample for marketing consideration.

Although Mrs Peel drove a powder blue Elan in the second series, the issued sets only ever feature a white car. Some made-up sets show a green #9001 Bentley with the Union flag and RN3 transfers removed and a folded hood replacing the original type alongside a white or metallic blue Elan. These can be nice displays and maybe slightly more accurate but are not original. A green Bentley in the original set always had red wheels and was a slightly different shade to the #9002 model too so any attempt to switch wheels can be identified and needs to be looked out for.

The other not so new model is a 1966 edition of the Monte Carlo BMC Mini-Cooper. Corgi retained the #321 catalogue number for this but it is completely different to the 1965 #321 in several ways. Obviously this one has RN2 on the doors and a transfer of two drivers' signatures on the roof. You will also see that the Mini is a quite different casting, with no fog lights in the metal and this has just the two jewelled fog lights instead of the three before.

The first issues came in the #321 box with an illustration of the RN52 model and a sticker added to distinguish it. Later a box is produced with the RN2 model illustrated.