Silver, black and gold, or red perhaps

While I am on the subject of colours, some Corgi Toys are particularly hard to find in certain colours. The #230 Mercedes 220SE looks best in black but most were cream or red. The colour does show the knocks and scratches, though, as this picture shows. Sitting here on my desk it looked great and very respectable and I had saved it from the Black List where it has originally been going. I was not so sure when I first published this but, looking at the photo again, I see red! That is surely a remarkable restoration as the rivets look just as they should be, presumably old heads stuck on as they appear worn and the general pattern of silver looks exactly as others I have and the quality of the paint is superb, albeit knocked. Only on a tiny section of the rim of the boot is it clear that there is red beneath the black and the small dots you can see in the photo that I'd thought were overspay from something else must be beneath after all. It is an easy car to take to pieces and put back together again and I have a couple undergoing Black List treatment so this will join them now after all. I do have a black one in similar condition - but definitely original - in my own collection that I have had since the 1960s.

Had I not written this and attached the photo I may well have not noticed, kept this one in the box I have mine in and sent my own original into the acid bath! That was close.

I finally tracked down a gold Ghia L6.4 and, of course, two came along. Unbelievably, neither cost more than their postage - I really did strike lucky there. One is a bit scrappy but worth retaining as an original but this one illustrated above is near perfect, a lovely example of this strange-coloured model.

Another rare colour I have been looking for has come along too - the #310 Chevrolet Stingray in silver. This has excellent chrome too - something that usually turns yellow as the chrome flakes off. Not a mark anywhere and this will be added to the site Stock List soon. It won't be cheap. I have another in pieces that I shall try in black and I do also have several beautiful original crimson cars. This silver one and at least two of the crimson ones also have original boxes in good condition.