More Beetles

383

As Corgi rolled out the Whizzwheel VW1200s with all the features dismissed and just various shades of orange being offered to attract buyers in the early 1970s they didn't even bother to change the number from one to the other.

It is quite a clean and, if you can get over the colour and forget about the East African Safari edition being charged by a plastic rhinocerous and the green and white European police car with steering and all sorts of goodies, then this would be quite a pretty little model. It doesn't do anything but it sits prettily on the shelf.

383 'Flower Power'

I found this yellow one, though, recently and can't quite figure out where it has come from. The casting is identical to #383 but it has much more realistic wheels, fine detailing in the paintwork and the later Corgi logo with a doggy on the base.

It may well be a Corgi Classics model #67903 and the lack of Made in Great Britain on the base is a bit of a give-away to an Eastern origin. There was a model made specially for a drinks company called Yoohoo and this would be exchanged for several vouchers and some dollars. Usually, in those promotions, the dollars were all the thing cost in the first place but I reckon kids would have got a reasonable deal with this.

My example does look just like this and the base is the same too. I just don't have the stickers and wonder whether Corgi Classics produced models without the promotional guff. That would seem pretty likely but a first search doesn't show anything. I'll just have to keep looking but I guess this isn't what we'd call a 'real' Corgi being dated from the late 1990s I presume. Where the cast is clearly identical, though, I do like to add them in. I have a feeling I may well find a lot more. That could be a whole new ball game and collection! Hopefully, they'll all be really cheap.

Thanks to Nigel's World for this information and image.