Here is an interesting addition to my collection for 2022. The 245 Buick Riviera in a splendid shade of dark metallic blue with gold 'chrome' at the front and back.
It appears to be an early edition with the 'grab' type of hook. It arrived with the later type of tyre - the post-1967 type with Corgi branding and in line tread - but they clearly cannot have been right so I replaced them with original 'normal' tyres of the right era.
The paint is quite thin but not greatly different to the metallic blue and gold that were the norm (the pale solid blue shade being rather thicker). It is not a coat that someone has added on top of another colour as the photo below shows, so this is either original or the base has been very cleverly refitted with no sign of damage to the rivets or where they might have been removed. The paint does, however, blur the definition of the Riviera motifs on the wings.
So this is a bit of a mystery and the first I have ever seen with gold front and back. It is conceivable that someone has gold plated the original chrome pieces - or maybe gold pieces were available to buy as new parts - and somehow taken it all to bits and rebuilt it but this has been played with and people who make such smart rebuilds tend to look after them, as does whoever subsequently buys them. I am more inclined to the view that this is a production sample when colour schemes and, indeed, gold-plating may have been options on the table for the 245. Gold plating was not to be and the paint on this sample not suitable so it gets rejected.
It then gets taken home by someone at some point and a Corgi chap's child gets to play with it, eventually coming up for sale with a bundle of other Corgis. The seller had no knowledge of its past, just a random collection bought.
I am happy to have this and expect it to stay in my display cabinet for many years before I learn any more about it!
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