Corgi Kits from Batley to Chalet

I have been looking at the kits that were available, mostly between 1961 and 1969. As well as being components of the two big Gift Sets that every collector would love to acquire but which few will ever even see, the Silverstone Racing Layout and the Garage Layout, they were sold individually.

The plastic pieces required painting and gluing together so if we do find any that have been made up now the appearance of the product is very much down to the skills of the youngster who made it. Buildings ought to be OK but I'm not so sure about the telephone boxes. The later public and police boxes came with characters that needed to be painted and they would be quite difficult to get right for most of us. I can see very few of these kits for sale in made-up form in my early searches. I guess that those listing them on Ebay, for instance, will not necessarily know they are Corgi or even kits so perhaps by using those two search terms I wouldn't get a great many anyway now I think about it.

I would like to get hold of examples of all of them now but suspect this could take a while. I can find most of the unmade kits in nice original boxes but I wouldn't want to spoil those - and, anyway, they're extremely expensive!

My spreadsheet lists now include the kits 601 to 611. I think that's all of them. Here they are for quick reference:

601	Batley Leofric Garage
602	AA and RAC Telephone boxes
603	Silverstone Pits
604	Silverstone Press Box
605	Silverstone Club Hose and Timekeeper's Box
606	Lamp Standards
607	Chipperfields Circus Elephant Cage and elephant kit
608	Fuel Station Building
609	Fuel Forecourt Accessories
610	Public Telephone and Police telephone boxes
611	Motel Chalet

Below I include illustrations from the 1961 and 1965 catalogue pages. As and when I can find some decent complete models then I will add those too but I fear that could be some time. Of course, if anyone happens to find some reasonable models, or even part-completed items, that they can let me have at a modest price so that I can feature these things better, do get in touch.

Memories (now better illustrated!)

Someone asked me this afternoon why and when I started what has become this Corgi Toys business. I say what has become because what I'm doing now is not what I had originally planned. I took her back to the mid-1960s and my first Corgis. That meant I had to try and recall just what my first model had been. As my father worked for an agricultural machinery depot, the first items may have been the Massey Ferguson tractor and trailer Gift Set 7. I know now that it must have been the early one as there was no Farmer George on the seat. I also had Gift Set 2 but, as that had a deep green Series II Land Rover it would most likely have been Christmas 1962 so that wasn't the first.

I did have a 216 Austin A40 but I only bought that at a later stage because I wanted to paint it red as my father's was an A40 Countryman version, red all over. (There were no 216Ms available at that time or I'm sure I would have spent the extra 3d and just painted the roof!)

I am pretty certain that my first car will have been the Jaguar E Type. It was the plum red version which, coincidentally, I have been looking for for some time now. Back then everyone had the plum red version and I didn't even know the pretty metallic dark grey existed. That, as it happens, was also one of the very first models I acquired when I did start this business. Now all that is see for sale are the metallic dark grey versions. Odd, but probably just one of those things. Mine had the matching plastic removable roof and both survived intact and more or less unmarked for more than 50 years.

Second would have been a gold and white Triumph Herald with its little removable black air filter on the engine accessed by folding forward the whole of the upper front body section.

I know that the Bentley Continental was available but it was expensive at 7/7d. (That strange looking price construction means 7 shillings and 7 pence. In 1961 there were 20 shillings in a pound and 12 pence in a shilling. 7 and 7 pence as we would have said then is about 38p in today's decimal currency.) I did get a two tone green model but suspect that came as a present in 1962. What I did get next was the Mercedes 220SE. I had a black one and think I still have it too. The paintwork did suffer a bit but that wonderful steering meant that it was played with a great deal.

Apart from the Austin A40, which I don't really count as I didn't play with that, the only model I had with fixed wheels was the Austin Seven. I remember how much better it was to play with the Morris Mini Minor which I bought later. I also didn't have any models without suspension and was completely unaware of the early models and certainly knew little of their Mechanical cousins.

By 1963 I was in the first form at school and getting enough pocket money from odd jobs and saving dinner money to buy almost every new car that came out. I say car because I had little interest then in the commercial vehicles. My father bought me a Bedford Machinery Carrier, to which I applied an Agricastrol transfer, and I also had a Carrimore Car Transporter but that was pretty much the extent of my trucks or vans. Just one exception - an Austin Mini Van, which I found great fun to play with as you could put a finger or two through the rear doors and kind of drive it and push the back out round corners!

Just as these memories flood back now, so they had done in 2013 sometime when, having retired from lecturing and helping to introduce technology in education, Corgi Toys were one of the first things that came to mind when I thought about starting a new business. My plan was then to buy wrecks and restore them. I bought all sorts of equipment which I thought would be useful but it wasn't long before I realised that collectors were not very interested in restored models. They much preferred an original, even if it was not in great condition. I had hoped to get £20 or more for decent restorations but you could buy played-with but still decent originals of the more common editions for that amount.

So the restoration plan was binned and I carried on the other part of the plan which was to build a nice web site that could be a useful and genuinely comprehensive catalogue too. That took shape in 2014 and I bought lots of models with money inherited when my mother died. Once I'd taken some photographs and studied the models I began to sell them so that I could have funds for the next ones required. It just carried on from there.

I never expected it to be much of a business. I hoped people would enjoy reading my news from time to time and I tended to write about whatever came in as and when it occurred to me. It still tends to be that way although the Corgi Toys @ 60 series I started in 2016 has provided some structure. The rest is rather random as anyone who is still reading this will have appreciated!

I have since had a look at Ebay and there are models I've had for sale there for over 5 years! Clearly I am either asking too much or the photos are bad or the descriptions are poor. Maybe all three. Now there's a job for the next few weeks - to try and revive interest in these. I get a number of models listed free but, as my total number of items is well in excess of that, these listings have effectively been costing me a few pence every month and 60 times x pence means I've probably spent more listing them than some are worth! Expect to see some 'special offers' soon!

For those who may also have played with Corgi Toys in the 1960s, my layout was a piece of hardboard that my father had cut to fit nicely over the metal frame of a single bed in the spare room at the first house I lived in. I had made roads using thin strips of masking tape with additional edges from various pieces of Floral Garden and Bayko. Bayko provided a few nice buildings and garages that cars could actually be driven into. The Floral Garden stuff was quite delightful too. I would love to get some again but prices are even higher now than Corgis!

The one Corgi building that I had was a BP Filling Station. Well, it was the shop part and some sort of panelled bit at the side. No pumps but I may have had a BP sign. As I recall I could choose between BP and Shell logos (although the box image I've found just refers to Shell. Were there two?) I still have this tucked away somewhere. I should get it out and use it for some of the photos in future if it is respectable still. I have been looking to buy some kits but they are mostly very expensive. In fact, I'd be happy with a made-up kit rather than the unopened bag of pieces.

Looking to add pictures, I couldn't find any of the Filling Station building, which I had. I shall have to dig out my own - and seemingly take good care of it!

So that was a pleasant trip down memory lane.

Corgi Toys @ 60: new models, revamped models and a launch ramp.

Here are the new items on the shelves at your local toy shop in October 1960. Quite a selection! I guess this might have been some sort of planning for Christmas too as no further models were apparently released that year.

The first is the launch module for the Corporal missile. It's a highly detailed and wonderfully well-engineered little thing, with stabilisers or feet which screw down individually to ensure correct positioning on uneven surfaces. The wheels can be removed and the support arms fit into grooves on the side of the missile. It has a tow bar and would usually be pulled along behind an International Army Truck with which it appears in Gift Sets. This item would in most instances have been obtained in one of the Gift Sets with the missile and maybe with the Missile Carrier vehicle too so it is unusual to find it in its own box these days. Very few were sold individually, one in a good box now being well worth getting hold of.

Another Corgi Major and the first Chipperfields Circus model arrives in the shape of the International Truck now with a re-worked rear section that carries a jib. Compared to the army models this is rather basic and crude engineering. The jib is bare metal and raised by hand in three steps on a simple ratchet device. There's a large and not very pretty handle to lift or drop the hook.

The six wheels are now painted Circus blue and the old truck gets an extension to its life. Indeed, it will even get suspension later, which the army version never does.

Amongst the commercials Corgi produced another Bedford CA Van with a single screen and revised front end, appropriately bearing Corgi Toys transfers. It gets a new catalogue number, 422, following on from 421 for the Evening Standard version. To the confusion of children then, but much to the delight of collectors now, Corgi seemed to be unable to make their mind up for some time as to where the blue should go and to what extent. So you will find this half-and-half model as well as one that is blue but with a yellow roof and another that is yellow with a blue roof.

The last combination is the one that is by far the most common, the other two being really quite expensive to acquire now. Indeed, I have had to steal a photo of the 50-50 edition from QDT as I have always been beaten in bidding to date and it has not turned up in any collections I've handled.

The wheels are usually smooth on these models and, from my research, exclusively so for the two less common types. The yellow model with a blue roof has shaped wheels on its later issues.

418 is the Austin Taxi. It appears here for the first time in an extremely long run as it will stay in the catalogue right through to the 1970s when a 1:36 scale version eventually replaces it. I think that makes it the longest-running model without a change to the body. Land Rovers and Minis have a good life too but they get quite a few adjustments made along the line. The Austin Taxi stays just as it was in October 1960, getting only different wheels, interior colour, screen tint and a couple of drivers at various points.

Another commercial and another outing for the Karrier Bantam, now as 413, a Mobile Butcher's Shop. It's very similar to the 407 Mobile Shop, little changing over three years and this has the same style of metal with illustrations visible at the rear and paper stickers at the side and front. Early editions have smooth wheels, later ones have shaped wheels, all fixed.

Two cars are issued too this month - the TR2 gets a re-worked front end and becomes a TR3. It is always in a pale metallic olive-green with red seats. Early editions have smooth wheels and later ones shaped wheels but always fixed. Although production continued for some years I don't believe any got free spinning wheels.

The final items on the October agenda is the revised Jaguar 2.4 Litre, now as 208S and with an interior, suspension and a coat of pale yellow paint. Again, early editions have fixed smooth wheels and later ones fixed shaped wheels. This doesn't get free spinning wheels.

Trophy Models

I have a second BRM available. For a change, the wheels are not as blackened as many of these become (and I haven't yet found a good way to revive them as they were a fairly miserable grey in the first place) but you'll see that one has been fitted the wrong way round!

On a model like this I don't think the error adds to its value (as it would for a normal Corgi edition). The gold plating is pretty good, some flakes on the rear and side only and it doesn't suffer from the rough corrosion I have seen on some.

These models are not easy to find these days and I have yet to find one on its plinth, never mind with a box! From what I can gather, these didn't sell particularly well at Marks & Spencer and not a great many were produced anyway. Here are all five, although I do need a better Austin Healey or, at the very least a less ridiculous-looking screen!

Update 17 September: I have re-loaded the images on this page as I am aware of some issues with those published previously. If you do experience any problems with any images in my articles on this blog please let me know.

A Bentley 1927 3 Litre in Pewter

 

This Pewter Edition Bentley 1927 3 Litre arrived in a bundle of Corgi Classic models a few days ago. I was surprised to find that it appears to be an exact copy of the 1965 Corgi model in virtually every respect. 

Even the seats and windscreen are produced in pewter metal. I might have preferred the windscreen left as a piece of perspex but at least this one is less likely to break! The wheels turn too and, again, might have been better left as the nice wire variety with rubber tyres of the original models. It is, though, obviously not something to be played with but an item to be displayed in a cabinet.

I cannot find a great deal about this online. Some information appears to identify it as a Corgi premier Collection model that was produced for mail order in 1989. Another source suggests that it had a limited production run of 800, using the casting tools for the 1985 C861 editions.

This could be the highlight of someone's Corgi Bentley 1927 3 Litre collection but I have no idea what price to ask. I simply have never seen anything like this before. Were there other Premier Collection models? How were they packed? Information gratefully received from anyone who recognises this. Looking at the lack of response that similar requests have had over the years on the few places Google found for me, however, I am not expecting a flood of replies!

Yellow, Astons and two very different Fords

 

When the Land Rover was updated in 1962 it was issued as 406S and came in this very bright yellow finish. For reasons I have not being able to establish it didn't last for more than a few months before being replaced by a deep green version with the 438 model number. Maybe it was because this was a completely new model as a Series II Land Rover whereas the S suffix tended to indicate merely the addition of suspension and an interior to an existing model.

Whatever the case, these are rare and almost all that I find have a lot of chips, broken windows or missing middle strut on the window. Seldom is the hook still there or the front bumper even approximately straight. So when this arrived I was delighted. Yes, there are some chips and they do show up in this colour, but it remains the best I've had so far.

Also in yellow, but no such a dramatic shade, is another rare item which you might not expect to be rare. The 218 Aston Martin with fixed shaped wheels was only produced for a very short time, most fixed wheel editions having either the original smooth wheels or the cast type with a sort of criss-cross design that was supposed to indicate wire wheels but never worked in my view.

Now I have both red and yellow editions but, like the Land Rover, I still need to find something in more reasonable condition. This one may appear quite decent but the roof is badly scraped.

Another fairly scarce model is this Aston Martin James Bond model. The 270 in silver was issued in 1968 and started with silver grille and bumpers. For some reason these were very quickly replaced by gold fittings. Later changes when Whizzwheels were introduced have resulted in a couple of the very last editions also being quite rear with different base features and you can read about these in my Catalogue. This first edition, though, is the one that is most sought after. Despite there being a large quantity being produced these are still hard to find in original condition and with everything still functioning (and you'll need to consult your bank manager if you want an original bubble-style box and all the contents!).

This one is pretty good with an almost flat roof when at rest but, like many I have seen, it came without a front bumper. As the only bits that appear missing are the left and right sections and there is a large open gap between the body and base where they could be slotted in, I had a go at repairing it. It seems to have worked pretty well. OK, so it's not now entirely original but clean examples of these still make over £100 even in modestly good condition.

I tend to give most Whizzwheels models quite a wide berth but by 1973 someone had done something about the terrible plastic wheels and models were sporting some quite attractive wheels and looking smart again. One fine example is the Ford Mustang Mach 1, usually seen in red as a James Bond edition. That was 391 and available for a short period in 1972. Clearly, there must have been a lot of models still to come to market and someone decided to paint them a pleasant shade of metallic green and call them a Rally Edition.

All would have been well but probably the same person decided to add some paper stickers not just to the doors but to the bonnet, roof and, for good measure, why not the upper rear wings too! I can only guess that they must have been a nightmare to attach as I have only ever seen two with them looking reasonably straight. Fortunately, a few models escaped without the stickers and they look so much better.

If you're thinking that it's just a model with the stickers removed then, having tried that in the past and failed miserably, I'd say that was less likely than it being issued this way. Exposed to the air the adhesive used seems to turn to some sort of rock-hard super glue compound. Try peeling a sticker off and the paper tears leaving the annoying substance affixed to the paint. Most attempts to remove that will remove a layer of paint finish too which rather defeats the whole purpose!

Lastly for this post, I have a spare Chrome edition of the 2006 50th Anniversary edition of the Ford Consul. With made in China on the base it is not something I would normally want to promote but I do like the few 50th Anniversary models and have quite a lot of respect for the production quality of this model (and the four other variations).

With a limited edition of just 650 they are quite scarce although they do regularly appear for sale. Unlike something like the AVRO BODE edition of the Bedford CA 421 van in 1961 which had a similar production quantity, most of the Ford Consuls have been kept safely on shelves in collectors' homes! As with mine, they'll also have their original boxes, packing and leaflets. That packing isn't, though, something to get excited about. This model was placed unceremoniously in a ghastly bit of thin phlegm-coloured plastic shaped for the car that early Vanguards model collectors will be familiar with. Horrible but at least the outer box was half-decent.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Bluebird, Skips and Churns

153 Proteus Bluebird was issued in September 1960 and then re-issued in October 1961 as 153A.

Available always in blue, 153 has black plastic wheels. 153A has alloy wheels with rubber tyres.

Models have crossed flags at the front, initially two Union Flags but later a combination of British and USA flags and I have heard of both types of transfer on each of 153 and 153A. The British and US flag combination transfer also includes a blue bird. Whether a blue bird also gets added to any with the two Union flags I don't know but I am assuming not for now.

There has been considerable confusion, it seems, amongst those whom you might have thought would have known better as to which came first and, for a long time, I thought that my own Bluebird model I had had since new was the second edition with plastic wheels and I had convinced myself that it must have had 153A on the box. That would, however, have been the 153 I vaguely did remember.

The copy Corgi leaflet published around the time of issue is a wonderful piece of finally conclusive evidence discovered by my colleague and expert in many things diecast, Lee Harris.

So very soon after issue the car is wrecked in a speed trial. The subsequent Bluebird vehicle that did break the record in 1964 is similar to this model but has a large vertical fin at the rear.

The other item fresh on your local toy shop shelves was another in the Cargoes group, a red metal skip carrying three pleasantly detailed milk churns in Pack No. 1490.

The skip was designed to slot over the rear axle of the Massey Ferguson 65 tractor. The milk churns were way bigger than those in the July Cargoes issue.