New arrivals and fond memories

 

Here are some of the recent additions to my shelves, all from the best Corgi Toys era and each provides a fond memory of the layout that I was fortunate to have at home in the mid 1960s, which would have had all of these at one time or another. When my brother went to start his apprenticeship with Bamfords in Uttoxeter, a small spare room became available. My dad cut a piece of hardboard to fit over the iron bed frame occupying half the room. On this huge space I could mark out roads with Floral Garden fences and pathways and place Bayko houses and garages here and there. I remember how much better this was for driving models like the Mercedes-Benz 220SE, VW1200 and Austin A60 which struggled on carpet due to their very low ground clearance.

Whilst I managed to build up a monstrous pile of Bayko bits and pieces, the Floral Garden items were much too expensive. The few trees and flowers did look lovely, though, but I never did get enough for a good display. I still have the Bayko pieces, and sets do come along from time to time at quite reasonable prices. Floral Garden items are also available but, with one or two exceptions, can be very expensive as you need several items of the right sort to make a useful contribution to a display.

The scarcer blue and white edition of the beautiful #259 Citroen 'Le Dandy' Coupé, in excellent condition and with a lovely original box too.

The #477 Land Rover breakdown Truck, indistinguishable from #417S other than it now gets a big, plastic canopy. This example is in excellent condition.

I finally got round to removing the old transfers, which had been printed with an annoying white background and never looked right, and applying some much better ones to this maybe a little worn but otherwise original 'Pop Art' Mini.

A nice, clean Gift Set 40 with original models and characters in an excellent reproduction box and tray.

A very clean early #210 Citroen DS19

A lovely example of the scarcer cream edition of the #200 Ford Consul.

A rare #252 Rover 2000 with cast wheels from a late Transporter Gift set.

One of my favourites - the Mercedes 220SE in black, as first issued with steering as model #230

A nice late edition of the #222 Renault Floride in metallic blue with a red interior and free spinning wheels

A very good example of the first #303S Mercedes-Benz Roadster with free-spinning smooth wheels and a white interior, a scarce variant.

A working #1401 Service Ramp which is pretty much unmarked. This was issued in April 1958 and did not sell particularly well, being discontinued a couple of years later. It was brought into the Corgi range as it had previously been a Mettoy branded product in red back in the 1950s.

I also now have here in England some marvellous US Army models which I shall feature in the next post.

Corgi Toys @ 60: another VW1200 and Corgi's first Rolls Royce

 

It's May 1966 and there are two new models on the local toy shop shelves. The first is Corgi's second  issue of what will prove to be a very, very long list of Volkswagen 1200s. Indeed, I shall have to survive until 2037 in order to remind you about the very last, which appeared in October 1977! This one is the East Africa Safari Rally car in a new paint finish, a beacon on the roof and some stickers to convert it into what is described as a 'European Police Car'.

Just like the earlier model, this is fun to play with, with its excellent steering. The bonnet and rear engine cover open as before, not that we tended to bother with that a great deal as there was no room in the front to put anything. The clever use of a bright metal base to provide shiny bumpers remains, as do the two jewelled headlamps. Whereas I believe some late editions of the #256 had the jewels replaced with chrome inserts (although I have never seen one) all the #492 models seem to have jewels.

They all seem to be left hand drive too, unlike the #256 which can be found with either left or right hand drive interiors.

There are two quite hard to find export editions of the #492 model. One is the Dutch edition in all white and with POLITE on the bonnet and an emblem on each door. The other is a Swiss version with POLIZEI stickers on the doors and on the bonnet.

The other release in May was the last individual Corgi Classics model, the #9041 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost (apologies for the error in the first edition).

I found these models totally at odds with Corgi's range at the time. They couldn't really be played with, lacked suspension which made them awkward to move around a layout and this one, with its nasty plastic main body section, felt cheap - and that is despite the massive jewels in the headlamps, lots of chrome and pretty wheels.

This was actually Corgi's first Rolls Royce too. As a teenager in the 1960s, a Rolls Royce was simply something that you have to have in your collection, to park outside the big Bayko House. It was 'the best car in the world' and we all wanted one, having to put up with the Dinky model at the time. This was not what we wanted, though, and whoever bought them probably just put them on a shelf or in a cabinet, older people, not children. The Classics series was not pursued after this and now you can buy a mint example in a bubble pack for £20 or less. I have several and can't even give them away.

I have spotted a few oddities on these models - few seem to have wheels all the same colour, with combinations of gold and steel colour. The rear wheels have a different deign to the front and sometimes they're mixed up at the factory. There are different colour exhausts too. None seem to have any significant value.

You will see the model get reused for the Hardy Boys issue in June 1970 in a ghastly multicoloured finish and accompanied by the characters in a TV group that no-one in the UK had a clue about at the time, and is probably not a great deal wiser now. Because that one had very paltry sales it does have a high price tag now but this silver original release will cost you a lot less than the equivalent of its price then. 14/11d, (or nearly 15 shillings, three quarters of £1). Remarkably, you could have bought a Monte Carlo Gift Set 38 for less!!