Corgi Model Club: the next issues

The next issues of 'new old Corgi Toys' will be:

417 Land Rover Breakdown Truck

325 Ford Mustang 2+2 Fastback Competition

271 Ghia Mangusta De Tomaso

224 Bentley Continental Sports Saloon

It remains to be seen which version we get of the Mustang but I expect it will be the wire wheels edition and without the red sill stripe. But chalky blue or chalky green interior? Original or revised rear shelf? Numbers in the box to apply if we wish?

There were just two variations of the Ghia - so will it be the original 'Ghia' logo on the bonnet or the later 'T' type? I am aware that the box will have a header card too, a scarce item that I don't think I have ever seen for sale to date. I can see that being detached and buyers may need to be particularly aware of the possibility of these being sold with 1969 issue boxes as the real thing, such is the quality of the form's new production. However, to date their boxes have been noticeably reproduction and I don't mean because of the 'China' panel but the printing process gives an unnatural sheen to the finish that is clearly not from the 1960s. Perhaps the header card will also suffer this fate and, therefore, not be so readily sold at a vast sum later this year.

The Bentley Continental will be the green and cream (or maybe very pale pea green with pale green or even white with pea green!) edition, not the black over silver one. I think i would have said do the latter as the 'classier' finish but there is also something particularly 60s and Corgi about the green and cream which does make it quite iconic.

We are also told that the 261 James Bond Aston Martin is to be produced. If the above four models, as I believe they will, come in August, September, October and November then that may leave December free for the Christmas buying period and, if they do get the timing right, we may see many old people getting a repeat Christmas present! I am a little surprised, though, that this model is being included because Corgi already have a plethora of similar models. There have been several gold editions produced, including metallic gold paint finishes as opposed to the obviously different gold-plated ones. However, all these have had the revolving number plates and tyre slashers which 261 did not have and they are based on a revised casting to correct the 'DB4' mistake of the original issue. So a re-issue of the 261 as an exact copy will be a new item and I suspect it will be very popular and should ensure the series is well-funded to continue to what I will personally find more interesting in 2022 when they look at possibly making variations of existing models to make more money from their castings as well as more new models.

While these issues remain available directly only to UK buyers, I do have spares of all the issues to date available as a colleague decided not to keep his and these can be shipped anywhere abroad.