Corgi Model Club: Green Hornet

 

Here's the Model Club's latest issue - this being their reproduction of the #268 Green Hornet car. This was not a model I was particularly interested in myself at the time and I don't recall any of my friends having one but they did, apparently sell well. Of course, that may have been mostly to the States where the TV series was broadcast and well-known. No-one here had a clue what it was.

This is quite a brute of a car but looks to be replicated well. One has to wonder just what they provided the Chinese with by way of a sample to work from as this has the base with Phillips screws as per the first re-issue, also from China. I have not seen that edition but suspect that this may be identical. One of our regular readers will know and may already have told me. Once I get a chance to review correspondence I will update this accordingly.

One of best things about this model, as I recall from reviews of the original, is the firing of scanners from the boot / trunk. There is a good strong spring and a reliable bit of architecture inside which seems to work very well and copes better over time than the ejector seat on the Astons.

This comes with a pack of one missile and a few scanners, tucked away with the instruction leaflet which, jn turn, is tucked away in the plinth. Now here's a warning: the ends of the plinth are very difficult to open. I used a very thin blade to lift one tab and then was able to open the end itself but, as with the bubble packs, I can see many getting torn. So if you're hoping to keep this as an investment I would suggest not bothering to try. Actually, I don't think you should bother about keeping this as an investment anyway as it will almost certainly be available at pretty much the same price in years to come, if not less. If you want an investment, buy the original.

My example has a radiator grille which does stay firmly upright when closed. So many of the originals, and, I hear, these copies, do not and leave an unattractive gap at the top. I clearly did not look very closely at my own original as I do not recognise at all the shiny chrome laser guns that are displayed as well when the button is pressed at the side for the main gun.

The Club have reproduced the later model with cast wheels. Early originals had shaped wheels.

All in all this will no doubt please the fans of TV and film-related issues, even if they have two or three earlier issues already. Otherwise it is not really anything to get excited about - a competent copy in a nice reproduction package and, to the best of my knowledge, without errors, for a change, in the certificate text!

New arrivals this month

 Here are some more arrivals, all in really nice condition and most have original boxes too. The images are links to my web site where you can find more details.

The Avengers Gift Set 40 has two original brollies! I would quite like to keep them so have offered to replace them and reduce the price. I also have another original set with a Lotus with cast wheels. Something else with which I am not really wanting to part company.

One of the last 1:43 (or thereabouts) scale Gift Sets which was not around for long. The tractor looks and feels very basic compared to the fine detail on their previous issues but the expressions on the faces of the two characters on the hay never fail to make me laugh! Rare to find one of these sets complete and it gets quite rapidly replaced by Gift Set 5 without the hay.

In the US 'Esso' is the 'Exxon' brand and this is a scarce export model #1158. It is, though, another example of the economies and short-cuts made by Corgi in their declining years. This model has no suspension and the cab, whilst lifting to show the engine and gear shift, is so much less detailed.

Even with an original box these Whizzwheels Taxis are cheap.

Almost the last 1:43 scale model issued by Corgi from the 1956-70s era, this weird-looking VW1300 is quite fun to play with. No suspension but lovely rich metallic blue paint and this is a nice example with all four wheels in gold. I have the original box but I am waiting to get the bollards which were included with it. This is #400, not be confused with #401 which is the same car and bollards in a different box.

One of the last Ford mustang Competition models made, here with the fat eight-spoke cast wheels. Previously it had been fitted with shaped wheels, spoked wheels and cast spoke effect wheels. Scarce now with good suspension as the chrome element that runs from front to back provides this with small plastic tabs that have become very brittle over the years.

More often found in the Transporter Gift Set in this finish, this comes in an early Whizzwheels window box

I was a big fan of the Monkees, being just 14 when they began to appear in an early evening TV show. It's strange to recall now that there'd be parties in those days which started at around 5 o'clock and we'd get tea, watch the show and then the parents would disappear and leave us free to play games like 'Spin The Bottle' and share 7" discs. When this model appeared, however, in late 1968, the Monkees' release of D W Washburn had scarcely troubled the charts and most of the early excitement had faded in the UK and their album Head left most early teenage fans wondering what that was all about.

The Corgi Monkeemobile didn't sell particularly well and is now quite hard to find in a nice box. Even more difficult to find is a box with an original header card.

In something of a contrast to the Monkeemobile, the revision of Corgi's so successful #261 Aston Martin so that the #270 model did look more like a DB5 and was in the 'right' silver birch colour, would sell vast quantities. Normally that might make them cheap and easy to find at low prices but, due to changes being made during production, some of the five main versions are now particularly sought after as they were not around for long.

This is the very first issue, with silver bumpers and grille, and only produced for a short time in 1968 before being replaced by the gold trim edition.

June 2026 is the Rambler's 60th anniversary of issue, as reported earlier, and here is a later version of that model with quite clean cast wheels - and suspension!

I remember being quite disappointed by the 'surprise' in the boot of the Chrysler Imperial when I had spent a hard-earnt 9/3d. This seemed very over-priced as you could have a Breakdown Truck for 5/11d, a Ford Mustang with opening doors and jewelled lights for 6/9d. I always thought it was an ugly, chunkily square model which didn't inspire me to want a Chrysler one day. The best thing about mine and this one is the shaped wheels, only fitted to the first issues in 1965.

Having said that, I would really like to find a kingfisher metallic blue version which Corgi produced in very small numbers as a proposed new Bermuda Taxi. When that idea got shelved they sold the blue ones they had produced at that stage, with the gold caddy in the boot and characters planted in the front seats, in a 246 box. These versions have spaces behind the rear seats where the plastic roof supports would have been fitted and always had the alternative chalky blue interior. I had one a long time ago and now dearly wish I had kept it.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Rambler Marlin Fastback

 

June 1965 saw just one new release - the quite dramatic-looking Rambler Marlin Fastback.

Not something you would see on British roads but an impressive addition to my collection as I recall admiring the shiny black descending from the roof down to the back and flashes around the windows.

The first issues had normal shaped wheels but these were replaced by the cast wheel with spoke effect and the majority of models now available have the later style.

I think I am correct in saying that this was only the second car to have a tow-bar. The first was the Buick Riviera some two years earlier, for which we eventually got a boat on a trailer to pull along. Otherwise apart from some old trailers and a horse box there wasn't much in the Corgi range to pull. 

It would be two years before the Rambler gets a fresh coat of paint and a revised Pennyburn Trailer to pull with Kayaks aloft in Gift Set 10. In the meantime you'd have to use the boat if you had one or, perhaps, the Racing Trailer from Gift Set 13, although I am not sure that would fit over the button-style hook. 

With chunky opening doors and a beautifully clean-looking white-cream interior, with folding front seats, this was a pretty car and one where keeping the chrome front and rear nice and complete and shiny was important.

The suspension on these can fail, many models now looking much lower-slung than they were when they were new.

The cast wheels may have been bright when first issued but they quickly lose that shine and become quite grey. So despite the more realistic design, I actually prefer the less common model with the good old shaped wheels.