Monte Carlo Sunbeam Imp and NSU Sport Prinz, small variations.

 

Here I look at a couple of small cars that have variations you may not be aware of. Firstly this Sunbeam Imp arrived last week and it is remarkable in having suspension all round! Normally it is broken and I have to find some way to restore some stance to the car without spoiling it by taking off the base. That's not the interesting thing about this one, though. It's the wheel, they're the shaped type. These second issue Monte Carlo Rally Imps usually have cast wheels.

The other small car that arrived recently is the NSU Sport Prinz. This was not a car I knew anything about in 1963 when it was issued. In fact, it still isn't as they were not exactly something you would see on British roads. I had one, nevertheless, in my collection in those times but it seldom got played with and was one of the best looked-after models of all when I came to open up the old boxes a few years ago. 

It was a quite strange bright cerise colour, not dissimilar to the lovely Chevrolet Stingray which had come out a little earlier. Now I have one again in fairly reasonable condition. What i hadn't appreciated at teh time was that there was another colour available.

The other one was a dark metallic brick red, quite distinct and unlike any other model I know. It is definitely a less common colour and may have been missed by many collectors as it doesn't appear in many listings as a separate item to look out for.

Police in shades

No, not Beverley Hills cops in Raybans but an interesting different shade for a 506 Sunbeam Imp Panda car.

In my last post I had included a photo of the little Imp that had arrived more or less free with an NSU I'd wanted. Now I have put it next to the one I had in stock and it really is a completely different colour.

I have also pushed some rubber above the axles which seems to have fixed the lack of suspension. These models are so frustrating in that respect.

Looking various models advertised and on places like QDT, every other example I see is the bright, pure white like the one on the right in the photos above. The latest addition has a much creamier shade and the paint is a little thicker than what seems a very thin coat on the white. There is no doubt that the cream paint is original and I will be interested to see whether there are many more like this.

I have added this as another variation in my main lists.

If you were stopped by one of these it must have been for driving too slowly

Another new model in stock - #506 Police 'Panda' Imp. Now imagine one of these appearing in your rear view mirror... no, only if you were driving through Dunstable on a weekday morning would that have been a likely event. This is another late era model from Corgi who must have had a load of these left over from the Monte Carlo Rally version they'd issued earlier but would have become out of date.

Unlike the Minis, I don't think another Imp won again in major style so what do they do with all those casts with an extended baseplate and that strange shape attachment on the front? Ah, make it a Police car. Of course.

It's a cute little model with an opening rear window which was fine on the normal version but not much good for storing bollards and offering a quick escape route to anyone being taken in. I believe this has luminous paint on the sides - can't wait to see if it still works!