One of the models that almost every collector seemed to have is the lovely Ghia 6.4 litre, boxed as L6.4 with Chrysler engine. Sales were well over a million. I think the real car just made double figures! Quite how the Corgi production team decided upon this unusual model I do not know but it really worked well for them, even if it didn't for the Ghia company itself.
I had a mid-blue metallic one and when I started to earn a little money I remember buying a sage green one as the blue one had become a little chipped. Until I started building this catalogue, I had no idea that these were not the only two colours!
This mid-blue metallic with red interior would look like being the most common combination.
The same blue shade also has a cream interior, although it has been very hard to find one with cream door panels and the same colour bonnet push-up and boot spring devices. They are far more often red. It doesn't matter so much for the bonnet and boot devices but the red door inserts look a bit odd.
You can just see the red door inserts on this one. I can understand the boot / bonnet devices being a different colour as that strip of plastic provides various functions but you would have expected the factory workers to put matching door inserts in.
Next is the sage green metallic, quite a grey green colour and I think you'll find these all have a nice cream interior, including door inserts and even the boot and bonnet bits.
The gold examples are quite scarce and also have the same combinations as the blue ones. I have seen all red, all cream and a combination like this one.
This copper colour is the star of the show, though, and very difficult to track down. I have seen so few that I don not have much to go on regarding interiors but the few I have encountered have all had the full cream interiors.This particular one has just come in. The front suspension has gone like seems to be the case on so many of these models. I managed to effect a nice temporary repair, though, using some bluetac or rubber in the 'air filter' thing where the bonnet push-up rises. By preventing that from rising, there is some semblance of suspension again and the car sits nice and evenly too.
If you are unlucky and have one with no rear suspension either, however, then you might as well give up and take it to bits as I cannot see a quick fix for that.
Last in the production line is this lemon gold model, with a new, bright yellow interior. It also has cast spoke-effect wheels.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the only model that will have the cast wheels, all the others being the normal type and all free spinning.
There are two further examples that I have still to find at reasonable prices. These are a very deep, rich shade of blue metallic, quite distinct from the examples shown above, and a much lighter, almost silver shade or blue. Both are fairly easy to find but, to date, have been mostly of the immaculate boxed variety sold by dealers expecting a fortune. I am sure there will be some in people's collections that I can get more cheaply in due course.
The box reminds us of how many extras this remarkable model brought us.
Look a little more carefully at the second box below, though... that's a strange place to put driving mirrors and where has the dog gone?
I have had this for years and only just noticed the error. It is not something I have seen documented anywhere and now I must look more closely to see whether there are variations (or even errors!) in other boxes!
I have no idea what to ask for this one now - it is the box for the copper coloured Ghia and so isn't going to be cheap anyway!
No comments:
Post a Comment