Corgi Toys @ 60: Ecurie Ecosse Racing Transporter and a revised Bluebird

 

October 1961 sees the arrival of an iconic Corgi model, the Ecurie Ecosse Racing Transporter. This was a lovely looking model and it had steering! Proper steering, not the silly Dinky sort. This is a model that I always wanted as a child but it was expensive at 17/6d and, to this day, I have never owned one. and they're still expensive today - I think I'll have to spend £200 to get a good one and, as you'll see there are several variations too!

It was first seen in late 1961 with a dark metallic blue finish and light blue lettering on the sides. The interior is known in tan, lemon and what appears to be a scarce red.

In 1962 sometime it gets yellow-orange lettering on the sides. There are also some editions that have the dark blue paintwork but the silver painting on the front does not include the top grille line. I have only seen lemon and tan interiors on this second edition. Maybe red exist, I don't know.

In late 1965 it gets a fresh coat of a paler metallic blue with red lettering on the side. The ramps or tracks on the top are also now picked out in silver and all these third types appear to have the reduced silver area at the front. These have been seen with all three interiors: lemon, tan and red.

The Great Book of Corgi indicates that this was withdrawn in 1965 but I think that will prove to be a mistake as this was still featured in the 1966 catalogue and I am inclined to think that date may refer to the first types and that this, in pale blue, continued for at least a couple of years afterwards.

At the same time, Gift Set 16 was issued. This included three racing cars, the recently modified Vanwall, BRM and Lotus Mk 11, 150S, 152S and 151A all, rather amusingly, with their drivers in place still!

In December 1964, the contents of the set were changed to include a 154 Ferrari F1 Racing Car in place of the Lotus. 

You may see all sorts of other combinations of racing cars offered by people with the Transporter in this set but these are really the only two known to be issued. So please try and tell those with the wrong combinations to get them right or buy them and correct them yourselves.

The Transporter is a fabulous model and there is even a little vice on the workbench inside the working area accessed via the sliding side door. The steering, however, is a little awkward, possibly because it is located so close to the front and it is not easy to press in the right way to get gentle turning as you can on the Bentley and Mercedes models. Nevertheless, I still want one.

Here's the real one. Note the much larger area that is occupied by the grille.

Also this month Corgi issued a revised edition of the Bluebird. They replaced the black plastic wheels of the 153 model with alloy wheels with a thin rubber tyre. This was now 153A.

Whilst the model looks better, the rubber tyres are impossible to change. So be very careful when buying this model!