August 1966 brought two new items on to your local Corgi store shelves. The Lotus Racing Team Gift Set was quite expensive at 36/- (that's 36 shillings, or the equivalent of £1.80) but there was a lot you could do with what it contained.
In the box there are two Lotus Elans, each quite different from the #318 model issued a year earlier in July 1965. The green open top model with a yellow stripe has a red interior and a removable chassis. The hard-top version is in yellow with a green stripe and a white interior, also having a removable chassis. This model would appear in June 1967 as a separate model #319 in a box, although most will be red or blue with a white top.
A separate chassis is also included, mounted on a slightly larger trailer to that used for the Ferrari Gift Set 17 and now in red rather than yellow. That, in turn, is towed by another new model, the VW Breakdown Truck. This is finished in white and has 'Racing Club' stickers on the doors, a winch operated by a wheel at the back and you can open the red plastic lid in the rear section to find a nice array of chrome tools. There should also be be a couple of spare tyres in the space provided, one small and one normal. I'm not sure how they would cope should one of the Lotus F1 Racing Car tyres burst as there's not space for the three sizes they would really need for the cars included. The Lotus Racing Car is the same #155 model as appeared first in December 1964, with the same driver and same RN1 decals.
The VW Breakdown Truck will also be issued as #490 in December 1966 but only in beige initially and with different stickers.
A pack of bollards was included too and I believe this was the first time you could get these. They will appear in later sets and many, many years later with the VW Driving School Car.
Early sets had chassis elements with small size shaped wheels. Later these were replaced by the normal size cast wheels, which quite significantly changed the appearance and stance of the Lotus Elans. As a result of the later change, you may now find 1967 #319 models with shaped wheels, where someone has swapped the chassis with one from an old Gift Set 37.
One oddity for me was the lack of suspension on the chassis pieces. Disregarding some utility items, these Lotus Elans would be the first issues without suspension since late 1960 when the Triumph TR3 was first issued and that appears to have been the last non-suspension car. (I am not counting the Bluebird or revised Lotus XI models).
August was not to be the only month when Corgi abandoned suspension in a new issue, however, as the other new arrival also suffered the same shortcoming!
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - United Network Command for Law Enforcement - was a popular TV series but you very seldom actually saw much of the car the stars drove. It was, in fact, a modified Piranha Coupé, based on a Chevrolet Corvair. Now Corgi did have a Chevrolet Corvair but, for some reason best know to them, they decided to use an Oldsmobile Super 88 instead! Even that would have originally have had suspension, though.
Early editions had shaped wheels but these were fairly quickly changed to cast wheels. There are two colours - a cream edition, which is quite hard to find these days, significantly scarcer than the metallic deep blue edition. The cream model is also a quite different casting, the most obvious difference being on the bonnet, with lines defining the area for the U.N.C.L.E. motif. You will find many people respraying blue models and trying sell them as scarce cream (or even white!) variations but, naturally, they always use the wrong casting.
In the box there is a ring which has an image of both Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin - it changes depending on the angle at which it is viewed. The original rings often get lost or filed away by mothers in a box of assorted animals, characters and bits and pieces when tidying up so are quite valuable now. Reproductions are, however, readily available and actually very good, although different sizes in most cases. So, without an original to compare, buyers need to be wary.
From what I read, early editions had cast metal search lights mounted on the wings, replaced at some point by chrome plated plastic. However, on the early editions that I have had with shaped wheels these lights have been plastic not cast metal. So I am uncertain about some of what is published in this respect and I wonder whether, in fact, the plastic ones came first, later replaced by the metal, possibly due to the delicate plastic breaking when being fitted.
The roof element that needs to be pushed down to move the pair in and out of the windows and make a gunshot noise is plastic.
Even without suspension, this model sold very well and stays on the order sheets through to 1969.
I appreciate that some room might have been needed for the mechanism but Corgi managed to get suspension on the James Bond Aston Martin and other models with steering occupying much of the interior below the seat like the Austin A60, VW 1200 for example. The Oldsmobile would have had the reliable old wires and I am surprised they were not retained. Indeed, I may well have to get a cheap 497 - and there are lots around for a few pounds - and see if I can install some suspension and make the model much more pleasant. I have always liked the Oldsmobile and, whilst a bit dated by then, it deserved better treatment.
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