The Avengers Gift Set 40

I need to move some Avengers stock fairly soon as it has been around for a while. Sets have been selling well but I do have far too many parts! Here's what I have at the moment for GS40 sets. The boxes, brollies and most characters are reproductions but the cars are untouched except for a possible replacement screen on one or two Bentleys and what looks like a replacement wheel on another.

I sell the sets at £50 plus the cost of the two cars. That includes the figures and brollies and box as well as UK postage and packing. 

With original boxed sets going for over £350 this is a pretty reasonable alternative and few other than us specialists will notice the difference anyway! What I would like to do is sell off or re-use all my 'average condition' stock and concentrate on really good condition items for these sets. Items can be hard to find at reasonable prices but I'll try. 

You can see more details about condition on my site. They are numbered B1,3-7 for the red Bentleys, G1-7 for the green bentleys and L2-5 for the Lotus Elans, the last being in normal stock as 318 with cast wheels.

It is difficult making a suitable GS40 with a green Bentley as ideally you need a 9004 from the Jeeves & Wooster set which doesn't have any racing numbers. The front one comes off easily but not the rear one. I have placed a small rectangle of plastic tape over that on a couple of models and that actually works really well! There is still the Union Flag on the left door, though. The 9004 has black running boards / mudguards like the red one but a much redder shade of seats and interior.

So many that I see advertised as 'genuine, original' sets are simply made up with a 9001, some still with the racing numbers on! The red is simpler as it can be a 9002 with a hood change and that is virtually undetectable. The red wheels will invariably have originated as 9002.

The one with green wheels above is actually a C361 later edition 'special Edition' from 1985 where the original mould was used to excellent effect. These will also have silver metal exhausts and not the brass colour of the 1960s models.

The Lotuses are, apart from a couple, not in the best of condition. The suspension is very poor, relying on a plastic X piece that has in many cases become permanently bowed now. I actually prefer my restored Lotus Elans which I use for the 'alternative' Avengers sets. In either white or silver-blue and with the correct registration plates added they look good.

I supply these with a green Bentley in a box that I designed and print myself. I've run out of silver-blue so may well consider breaking some of the poorer Lotus cars for the alternative set if no-one buys them at the modest prices I'm seeking.

The Bentleys are from £25 to £60 and Lotus Elans from £20 to £40 except for the cast wheel version which is quite rare and worth a lot more.