I saw this blue Bedford CA Van in a pile of adverts and wondered what it was. At first I thought it might be the Corgi 422 one without any yellow. I know they came in all sorts of combinations of yellow and a similar blue so the idea of one being all blue wasn't that impossible! From what I could tell it wasn't a repainted item so I looked around a bit further. The seller had it with some other items and didn't provide any clues either and it wasn't something anyone would find other than by chance. Google Images came up with the answer: AVRO, a Dutch broadcasting company, had a magazine called Avrobode or maybe Avro Bode and they had come to an arrangement whereby Corgi made 650 of these as a promotional thing.
That sort of made sense as 421 on general release was an Evening Standard van.
They would have had black paper stickers on the sides which were missing on this one, the merest tears remaining. From some decent images I found of one on an auction site (priced at £2000!) I was able to recreate my own labels which I am really pleased with as they are pretty much undetectable as replacements unless you start examining the paper and glue.
It is the second type of van with the revised front and single screen and dates from 1960. With only 650 produced this is a seriously scarce item. Mine is in excellent condition. There are signs of wear but no chips or dents. I have no idea what it's worth. If you're interested then make an offer.
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