The mysterious Aston Martin Competition model

Look through the 1965 Corgi Toy Catalogue and on page 12 you'll see the 309 Aston Martin Competition model with spoked wheels

This was an update on the 1963 catalogue in which the illustration showed normal shaped wheels. The little red book that was issued with The Great Book of Corgi (1st Edition) also lists this quite specifically with an issue date of December 1964.

The same catalogue and leaflet also show the 303S and 304S Mercedes 300SL models getting the same treatment. For a long time I had assumed that this referred to the issue of the Mercedes cars with cast wheels with a louvre pattern of the same type found on other models. I had seena  few of those. Then I discovered genuine original examples of the Mercedes with 'spoked' (wire) wheels and had to accept that they did exist, eventually owning both.

The Aston Martin, however, remains, in my opinion, one of the scarcest models of all if, indeed, it does actually exist. The date for sales ending is shown as 1965 so a December 1964 release would imply low numbers anyway. We know that the Mercedes are few and far between. I have encountered three so far in about 7 years and that includes many views of Vectis and QDT auction lists. I have neither seen nor heard of the Aston Martin and that intrigues me.

Fitting wire wheels (as I call them) makes so much sense and I have always though that they would look fabulous on the model. Eventually I found a late issue 309 (with the closed vent) that was in reasonably good condition and available at a reasonable price too and have used this to make a copy of that elusive holy grail of a model. 

The wheels are from a Ferrari Berlinetta of similar vintage and the axles are as fitted to the original Aston Martin model. Removing the shaped wheel was quite hard work and required a bit of patience to file down the ends of the axles without damaging the paintwork but otherwise replacement was a pretty simple job.

This will now take a prominent position in a cabinet at home until either a real one does actually appear at a price I can afford, (or persuade myself that I can afford!) or until someone pays the very silly price that I shall ask for this one. Hopefully the promotion of it will encourage more people to have a look through my catalogue and stock and buy something or, often equally valuable, bring me some useful background information or technical knowledge.