Accessory Packs

 A reader asked me what the strange-looking whitewall tyres were on some models that he had seen advertised.

This is a Ford Thunderbird Open Sports that happens to be for sale at the moment and, with its original box and packing piece I can see how models like this can be a bit confusing if you're not familiar with Corgi Toys Accessory Packs.

The 1960 Corgi Toy Catalogue was the first one to feature these and just 4 were initially available.

From 1961 through to 1966 inclusive the five packs were featured. Although still available at stores for several years afterwards, they seem to have ceased production in 1967.

Here I summarise the five main packs that were available (and another which I don't know much about, I'm sorry to admit).

A pack, catalogue no. 1460 had number plates, round tax discs, GB plates that those going abroad from Great Britain needed to apply on real cars and 'Running In' stickers which owners would place in the rear window of a motor that was either very new or had had a new engine fitted a short while previously. Nowadays we don't have any tax discs at all and we have to put a quite unsightly UK sticker on our vehicles when abroad. (For me the design of most UK labels is ugly but that's neither here nor there.) I wonder whether there were ever 'Export' packs for those buying their Corgis in other countries? I suspect not produced by Corgi but no doubt each country will have had some similar stickers appropriate to their signs and practices.

B pack was catalogue no. 1461 and is the one with the 'Styla Sportsdiscs Tyre Trims' and some more number plates. The discs are what you will often see still today on models. They were intended to fit on the smooth fixed wheels but can be found on the shaped and even the free spinning variety although the centre would need to be punctured to fit properly on the latter.

C pack was catalogue no. 1462 and contained items mostly for Commercial vehicles, like the different type of tax discs they had and maximum speed warning signs required on many trucks and trailers in those days. There would also be more number plates.

D pack was catalogue no. 1463 and, as well as number plates, contained CD plates (which designated a car used by officially recognised diplomatic services, usually another nation's embassy staff), L plates for learner drivers and quite a few odd things like the tiny flags or pennants that people used to collect from different places they visited.

E pack was catalogue no. 1464 and was available a little later it seems as it didn't appear until the 1961 Catalogue. This had quite different content too, with AA and RAC badges and other more specialist labels like 'Press' and 'Taxi' plates as well as garage trade plates. This pack appears not to have normal number plates.

Those normal number plates were always black with silver letters and numbers, as would have been the style in those times. The combination often hinted at a particular model, I recall, with letter combinations like PLY which must have been intended for a Plymouth and I do think it was PLY 219 as well! There is 215 FTB visible in one of the packs above, nice for the Ford Thunderbird. You'll also see MC 202, RP 205 which I am sure you can guess where they should go.

This last pack seems to have just number plates, tax discs, GB plates and 'Running In' labels. Perhaps it was issued with a Gift Set or as an extra item people could order separately. The pack design looks very similar so I doubt if it is particularly earlier or later.

There is, of course, another type of 'wheel' that I often get asked about. With a small range of models, Corgi supplied a pack of six (I think it was 6) stick on wheel covers which made them look a little bit like wire wheels. You'll find these on Aston Martin DB4s in the main although I believe there would be some other models that had them too. I see many on the old BRM and Vanwall Racing cars too. Interestingly both these and the 218 Aston Martin were issued with a cast wheel that had a 'criss-cross' pattern to resemble wire wheels too.

Like the 'Styla' trims, these had a strong adhesive and many have survived to this day quite intact. This example illustrated is particularly fine.

Sometimes you get a pleasant surprise

 Whilst I am only too fully aware of the number of models sold on Ebay which are far from what they seem and have descriptions which, even those written by AI, veer markedly from the truth, I do sometimes strike lucky. I bought those illustrated below plus a couple of other Corgis for £30. They did look a bit dirty and the photos provided weren't very well-focussed but I was happy to pay a lot more for just one of them - what looked like a lovely example of a #322 Rover 2000 Monte Carlo, one of my favourite models.

It has two or three small marks to the paintwork but none in obvious places and is totally original. No one has attempted to repaint the roof and it has the correct original decals with that slightly unusual font which most dealers supplying replacements get wrong. And the rear window isn't cracked where the Trans-o-lite system joins. Amazing! Prior to starting the catalogue and my Corgi business I had always kept my own Rover model on a shelf or on my desk at an office for many many years. It was one of the first models that I searched for in 2013 because my own model had disappeared. I did need one now for a Gift Set 38 I am building to take advantage of a reasonable reproduction box that has come my way but I tend to buy these when they're at reasonable prices anyway. It must be something about the colour and I do love jewelled headlamps and, of course, the super Trans-o-lite double headlamps.

In the group was this little #328 Monte Carlo Hillman Imp. Now I did expect this to arrive with something wrong, most probably broken suspension which these Imps so often suffer from. However, apart from some flat spots on the tyres, which were rock hard and have now been replaced, and some wear to the decals on the sides, this is a super little example. It is also the version with a yellow interior whereas most I've had have been white.

The #314 that was in the group is not a model I like very much and they all do seem to be very cheap and plentiful so the £5 I effectively paid for this one isn't quite so much of a bargain and I probably won't sell it for ages and even then at only £10 if I'm lucky. It's clean, though, and just missing the Ferrari transfer and a RN4 on one side. Unlike the other two I have at the moment, this one does have both exhausts! They seem to break very easily, being thin pieces of chrome-plated plastic and a little vulnerable at the rear. I know of only two variations for this model and that is in the lines on the base. Early models have two simple parallel lines. Later models have an angled section at the rear end of each line. This was around for such a long time that there may well be other differences that emerged with time but I have yet to know about any. I do notice different RN transfers - colour and style of numeral but wonder that these may just be poor reproductions.

Another model I have managed to avoid having for many years is this #151A, the second outing for the rather bland-looking Lotus Mark 11. The first edition from 1958 was a little interesting in that there are some scarce colours like red and silver to discover but for this one it's just smooth or shaped wheels and RN3 or 7. This one does have a driver although I am not sure it's the correct character as he appears to be much too high above the screen. Having said that, the Simon Templar father-figure in the #215S Thunderbird would suffer at any speed as he sits several inches above the top of the screen in that car too.

I am quite happy to have this, though, as it is very clean, all original and a colleague in Australia sent me a sample reproduction box in return for my assistance with design and dimensions for it. His work is excellent, rather better than some we may be more familiar with and I can now sell this model with his box, which has been lying around for a couple of years at least. 

I am also most relieved that the tyres are OK on this one. I have no idea how anyone can change them!

I shall not bother to bore you with photos of the other two models, for which £5 was probably about the right price to pay if I am going to get any profit at all from them. One was a #309 Aston Martin Competition, a late model with the small, closed vent. The paintwork was not good, though, showing a lot of playwear so it could be something someone might wish to restore. The only other fault is a small scratch on the front screen so I really don't want to break it apart as the decals, suspension, wheels are all sound and, despite being well worn, it is still all original. So someone might like it for a few pounds.

The other was a #155 Lotus-Climax Racing Car. It looked great, with a driver and suspension is intact and the paintwork very good. Unfortunately, though, it has lost the twin chrome exhausts. It does look an easy repair and one that ought to be worth doing as the end product will be a lot better than some restoration repaint. There's no need to break it so perhaps that'll appeal for a few pounds too.

This article was just about some of the every day models we see come and go and to share how sometimes you can do well on Ebay. The site is much-criticised and some people seem to want to avoid Ebay like the plague but I don't have a lot of trouble there. The costs of selling are high but it is the only site which I feel reaches a large enough audience of people who are interested in what I have to sell. I would much rather everyone buys from my own store, where I do get to keep a lot more of the proceeds and, accordingly, list products at lower prices, but it's simply not anything like as well-publicised.

You do have to be careful - and I feel sorry for whoever bought a fawn-coloured 'Pre-production sample' of a #241 Ghia L6.4 this week for £166. I did write to the seller when I first saw it to say that he would be disappointing a buyer as there were several signs that this was most definitely not a pre-production sample but merely something someone had repainted and screwed back together. The seller maintained that the screw was the same type as another that had been illustrated, possibly in the Great Book of Corgi, of a factory sample of a Ghia Mangusta 5000 De Tomaso and even included that illustration in his listing. The two screws were quite obviously different and, whilst I doubt Corgi had any 'standard screws' for holding models together anyway, I am sure that a pre-production sample, which would be from 1962/3 would not be identical to a 1968/9 one for the later Ghia!

I have had many genuine colour trials and factory samples and they have rarely been screwed together. The base is either riveted as per a normal issue or where the model is very much something being worked on and a very early sample, the base is held on by elastic bands. Screws may have been used sometimes and I am sure some people will have genuine examples but that badly-painted brown Ghia was not good. Unfortunately, now that it has achieved that price once this will be used by someone to justify another high price next time it appears on the market and, much as we may criticise Ebay sellers, there are plenty of similarly inaccurate descriptions at all the major auction houses where I suspect this will finish up one day at £400.

But that is all another story. For now I just wished to share you some of the nice surprises that can be found on Ebay.

Update on Corgi Model Club issue plans

 Here are the next few months' models, as proposed by the Club:

492		VW 1200 European Police Car (Dutch edition)
107		Batboat + Trailer
334		BMC Mini Magnifique (green)
430		Bermuda Taxi
348		Ford Mustang Flower Power
1126		Ecurie Ecosse Racing Car Transporter
270		James Bond's Aston Martin (silver grille)
270		James Bond's Aston Martin (gold grille)
233		Heinkel Economy Car
248		Chevrolet Impala

and here are two further issues to be added to the list:

268 The Green Hornet's 'Black Beauty'

416 RAC Radio Rescue Land Rover

The earliest dates that anyone will have received the #406 Land Rover in yellow with a black roof will have been mid-June so add a month for each row and that'll give you an idea of the when you should see these first appear.

So there may be some lucky people getting an Ecurie Ecosse Racing Car Transporter for Christmas!

With the Batboat will be the device issued originally to connect to the first issue of the Batmobile, fitting over the flame-thrower at the back. These devices are very hard to find as originals as you can imagine how easily they can get lost so expect sales for this little boat to soar. It will, of course, also attach as normal to the second issue which is also available from the Corgi Store.

The two silver Aston Martins are expected to be issued at the same time in January, members getting the one with a silver grille and the other version being available for anyone to buy from the Club Store. As for the matt black Batmobile, expect to see several appear at high prices for the member editions as they will be in comparatively short supply, certainly at first. The matt black Batmobile still sells quite easily at £100.

The Mini will be a green edition of the blue one issued in November 2023. I rather suspect that it will be no more than a fresh coat of paint at the factory with the sliding roof remaining with narrow bars and not the wider variety, so you'll still have to search for an original of that one!

The Dutch edition of the VW Police Car is all white and a good-looking model that is hard to find and usually expensive if you do. It's a model I have never had myself so I won't be able to do a side by side comparison. It will, no doubt, be just the May 2023 issue with different paint and decals.

The Bermuda Taxi will be the November 2021 issue with some fresh paint, a change of driver and a funny roof. That could be a useful addition as many collectors will have lost the driver and roof from the original or may even need the roof for a Ghia Jolly. There appear to be two different drivers for the Thunderbird in its Bermuda Taxi guise so it will be interesting to see which survives through to 2025.

The little 'Bubble' car was issued in a few colours: red, shades of mostly pale lilac, metallic blue and orange with either fixed smooth wheels or free spinning cast wheels. I have only seen the orange edition with both types, the other colours having only the fixed smooth type. I wonder what the model club will provide us with? 

I am a big fan of the coffee and cream Impala so look forward to that one. The Club are certainly making the most out of the split casting but one can hardly blame them. I just hope the price reflects the fact that they have had a lot less work to pay for in its production (although I would be delighted if they changed the wheels for some cast ones). In contrast, however, the Ecurie Ecosse Transporter, their first Corgi Major, will have cost a veritable fortune, even in Chinese yuan. So that's not going to be cheap but perhaps by charging the 'normal' £30 or so for the Impala and some other relatively cheap variations the price of the Transporter will be reasonable. Needless to say, I see it being extremely popular and is typical of a model which many of my generation will have had on their Christmas lists for a few years but not received.

There are many variations of that model too but these are early days. There will be some previews in a while but my money is on the raker shade of metallic blue with yellow lettering and a lemon interior. As for the extent of silver paint around the front, I have no idea and can hardly recall the different editions as I write! My guess is that the precise silver paintwork will be like none of the originals at all.

Update 5 July:

I have just noticed two more proposed issues that I have now added to the text above.

Black Beauty is probably one I shall not be too concerned with although I can see it will be poplar amongst the Film and TV-related model collectors, especially if the grille stays closed!

The Land Rover casting gets another outing with what appears to be the early edition of the RAC Radio Rescue Truck. Now, will it have a headboard? Smooth wheels or will be finally get to see some fixed shaped wheels? A clean and well-shaped tin canopy will be useful to replace a worn one, or more often missing) on an original!

Corgi Toys @ 60: Lotus Elan and a boat

 

It's July 1965 and the sun is shing. Let's fold back the roof and take a drive in a lovely Lotus Elan S2. And to remind us how scarce diesels were in those days, there's a 'I've got a tiger in my tank' sticker across the boot lid, promoting Esso petrol. I still have my tiger's tail, something you could get from Esso but I can't for the life of me remember how. I don't think I had to pay for it. The stickers were free but were somewhat smaller than the Corgi design! They were meant for bumpers when bumpers were chrome and just a few inches high.

Corgi's model was an attractive addition to the range and had side windows which slid up and down and seats that tilted forward. I never quite understood why because there was absolutely no room for anything, never mind anyone behind them! The bonnet also opened to reveal a nice silver engine (and everything else under there). It came with a blue helmeted racing driver and some numbers on black circular stickers which could be attached.

I preferred the car without the driver and without the stickers but at least we all had a choice.

The predominant colour for this model was metallic blue but there are also examples in white. The Elan in white, without the sticker or driver, would be included in The Avengers Gift Set 40 later.

There are also scarce variations of both the metallic blue and white models with cast wheels from very late in the production period of the blue model in 1967. Although the Gift Set was available through to 1969, white editions with cast wheels are just as scarce.

A common problem with these models is failure of the suspension. That is provided by a thin piece of plastic in an X shape with each end covering an axle. This plastic gets brittle and simply breaks.

There are two types of casting, one with a small hole at the front end, barely visible in the photo below.

There also seem to be shades of 'white' from very pure, almost blue-white through to a thick, creamy finish. Many of the cream may turn out to be from homes of smokers, of course! 

If the weather were fine then you could take the other July issue out on the river, lake or sea. This was one of precious few things that you could tow with a Corgi, not that there were many cars with tow hooks either.

This is #104 Dolphin 20 Cruiser on a Wincheon trailer with tiny wheels. The Skipper comes with the box. There is a stripe on the roof. The boat is all plastic and I guess it actually does float although I've never tried. At the back is a quite detailed outboard motor that can be pulled up out of the 'water'. The little propeller turns too. There's no suspension on the trailer but you will find later models have a tiny cast wheel in place of the original free-spinning smooth type.

This is, of course, the same model as first appeared in December 1964 in the Riviera Gift Set 31.

At this time there was a very limited choice as to what you could attach it to. In fact the only motor car at this time would have been the Buick again. For variety you'd need to use a Land Rover or Jeep FC-150 or one of the old lorries. Even after a few years the only additions would be a Renault 16TS, Rambler Marlin or the later issue of the Oldsmobile Toronado with Golden Jack wheels. (The first issue was only fitted with a tow hook in Gift Set 36 with the Glastron speedboat.)

As I said, there wasn't much to tow anyway, apart from some farm equipment, a Workmen's trailer, a couple of other trailers and a horsebox or two. 

"Durable, adorable and endlessly entertaining"

 

Google has an interesting program called Canvas which uses AI to generate images and now this can run to website design too, with complete coding supplied, all free. In a matter of minutes something that would have taken me ages is ready to launch. Indeed, I am not sure my coding skills are good enough anyway, no matter how long the ages. My own Corgi website has been pretty much unchanged for many years so I thought I should give Canvas a try.

All I wrote was this:

"make a landing page for my https://corgi.toys website"

For a moment, I felt I should add 'please' somewhere in the request. That's a sign of my age! But then I reminded myself self that I am communicating with a pile of code and, whilst the idea that behind all this AI stuff is a room full of very bright people clattering away at keyboards never quite gets completely erased from my mind and brings a welcome smile from time to time, good manners are really quite superfluous in this instance.

So here are a few pages of what the AI people came up with . . .

Yes, they think / it thinks that I am dealing with some nice toys for corgi dogs to play with!! 

It's so amusing and yet so good in its way that I just had to share it with you. Whilst being of no use whatsoever I have to say how impressed I am with the little touches like the logo and 'what parents say'. Compared to the dreadful and increasingly tiresome and repetitive AI-provided text that we are now having to read on most Ebay listings, this is really quite excellent.

I shall, of course, try again sometime and provide rather more specific guidance for Canvas AI to work with and, if the results are good, I may well make use of them and bring you more news about that in due course.

Sellotape, twisted wires and Chitty Chitty nearly bang bang

 I suppose  it is only fair to warn you that I am not a fan of the Corgi Chitty Chitty Bang Bang model so any review of the Model Club's latest offering probably wouldn't have been glowing. Indeed, I hadn't planned to do one at all as I knew it would be difficult to avoid bad language or just sounding a little bored with it all, at best. However, here I am and, although, this advice may be a little late as many people will have had theirs already, let me start by saying that unless you really do wish to pretend to fly it around the room or display it sans boîte on a shelf, leave it in its box. Don't attempt to remove it.

Firstly you have to open the flap which I am sure every collector now knows is likely to tear something unless you follow the instructions that several people have now posted in various forums and have various tools handy to release it. I was very lucky; the club had sent me one which was already open at one end. Once you have done so you will find that tugging at neither the card nor plastic protective cover achieves much. I proceeded to try to open the flap at the other end with a view to pushing rather than pulling the contents but, not having the appropriate tools or instructions to hand, I decided not to and returned to make a second attempt.

Although this image doesn't really show the problem very well, the Chinese people doing the packing were clearly in a hurry to head home when doing this one as the sellotape was very haphazardly applied and some elements had attached themselves to the inside of the box, so preventing any movement. I have no idea how this was presented in the original but one would hope it was rather better and I don't recall much use of tape by Corgi in the 60s.

So, with a little jiggling around I did finally get the unit containing the model out on a white plastic cloud. Now comes the really difficult part. The model is attached by two pieces of plastic-coated wire, one piece around each axle and threaded through some holes in the cloud. On this example they were incredibly tightly twisted to the extent that it was not easy to figure out which way to unwind them. After I while I did get them loose but then you have to be oh so careful in unthreading the wire back through fairly delicate cloud plastic and then over the wheels and avoiding the many bits and pieces which stick out on this model and look only too vulnerable to being accidentally knocked.

So finally, it's out and I can run it around the desk and try whatever operating features it has. I look at the box to discover how to operate these and discover that there is actually only one and there are no instructions on the panel headed OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS. I guess that's how it must have been in 1968, though, so I cannot really moan about that. 

It arrives in the box with the side wings out and the front and rear 'stabilisers' fitted. It took me a while but I eventually discovered that you need to pull the lever by the driver to have the wings fly out once they been pushed back. (Later I read how to do this on the back of the Certificate!)

It released them quite satisfactorily the first time I tried but it was decidedly vague on the following attempts and I needed to tug a little more firmly on the lever than I really felt comfortable doing as this model would be heading across the Pond to a customer in the States in a while. But it did work. Several customers have reported this to be a problem. I was surprised to find the lever made of plastic. I am pretty sure the original would have been metal.

The same thought comes to mind for most of the other elements which appear all over this model. The front lamps, for example, whilst appearing to have slightly better 'jewel' material for the lamps than past Club models are mounted in plastic holders and arms, the same material also being used for the radiator surround. This brown plastic will, I am sure, have been gold coloured metal on the original so this will be a disappointment for many. It also suffers from being rather more bendy than metal. OK, so it may not fracture if you happen to brush against it a couple of times but it does result in the headlamps not necessarily pointing in the same direction. I suspect that very careful heating of the arm and resetting them would be possible but I'll leave that to someone else to try. As it is they look reasonable and I doubt another model will be any better so it's not something worth returning it for.

There's a strap on the bonnet, as the Certificate also reminds us, which I gather was left off in the 90s re-issue and we're also told that the wheels are now as per the original. And so they should be.

I do wonder about the dashboard - surely that would not have been silver plastic? You do feel that these elements would have been worth doing properly in some metal. The windscreen too is in brown plastic. again, I am sure many of the originals will have snapped and this will put up with a little more bruising than metal but it still strikes me as rather unsatisfactory.

I did not attempt to remove the front or rear 'stabilisers'. There are simply too many little things here and there which could be damaged so I decided not to take any risks.

I expect the characters and the main body of the model are not too different. Here are some closer images for your perusal.

Underneath there is no 'Made in China' text which is surprising. However no-one is likely to be fooled into believing this is anything other than a re-issue. What they may wonder, though, is which re-issue this might be if they're not well-versed in straps or wheels. That is because it has a base attached by screws not rivets, rather like the Yellow Submarine which we saw a short while ago.

Perhaps this is to enable more rapid repairs back at the Club should they find a lot getting returned. It is, nevertheless, not likely to go down too well with many collectors. For my part, I would quite like the re-issues to have screws in place of rivets as I could then have fun changing parts and repairing windows or whatever.

All in all, though, the box is well reproduced and the model looks good from a distance, in the box, where I recommend it stays.

Corgi Toys @ 60: A Jeep on the farm and two Chevrolets

 

June 1965 brought us an American trio. I suspect the left-hand drive Jeep would not have been something you'd have seen on many farms at the time but it was another marvel of Corgi engineering. In the box was an attractively illustrated inner tray carrying the Jeep with a farm hand slotted in a corner and four brown sacks. 

This was another re-working of the FC-150 model, now with suspension and an interior. Always in red with a bright yellow conveyor frame, I am not aware of any variations. The wheels appear to be shaped free-spinning and, whilst it stayed in the catalogues until 1969 when other Jeeps got cast wheels, I have not see any of these with that type.

The conveyor mechanism also gets mounted on a trailer and towed by a Ford Tractor next year!

The other two models were the first of the revised Chevrolet Impala castings. It was in December 1959 that the first Impala appeared, only the second Corgi with suspension, and it proved very popular. The classic style with the sweeping rear fins was about the change on the real car but Corgi extended its life in their catalogues by slicing the casting in two and inserting a chromed plastic element which ran the whole length of the model, creating splendid shiny chrome grille, bumpers and a rather fat side lining. Otherwise it had the same interior and suspension and no more features, just fresh colours for the new Police Patrol Car as #481 and the Taxi as #480.

Both models will be found with shaped wheels and cast wheels, although cast wheels on the Taxi are quite scarce. This model was really not around for long, being deleted from dealers' lists almost as soon as it was listed, available for less than a year. So not many had a chance to be fitted with the cast wheels.

The Patrol Car, however, stayed in the lists until 1969 and the majority have cast wheels, with shaped wheels being the slightly less frequently seen. Aerials tend to get broken on these models and I have just noticed that both used in these illustrations have suffered in that respect!

  

You will note that, despite a 6 year period elapsing, the fares didn't change! The same transfer has been used on the new model. The Police Car has stickers on the doors, as did the preceding issue but this time they're quite different. Neither the old nor new Police stickers strike me as being very well done.

I am not aware of any other variations for these two.