Corgi Model Club: Ford Thunderbird

The most recent release in their excellent series of Corgi reproductions is the 215S Ford Thunderbird, the Open Top edition with suspension and a driver.

In the same size box as the original a piece of polystyrene protects the screen and driver's head. This is particularly useful as I have always found the driver to be a bit ridiculous, being way too tall, as well as looking very much like the character who would be chopped down to Roger Moore in The Saint's car three years later. I may be wrong there. Maybe he re-appears in the Mercedes 300SL. But that's all another story. So here, nearly 60 years later, is a fine and remarkably accurate reproduction of the car.

The original 215S I had always thought sat a little too high. The 215 was as it should be. I presume the requirements for suspension movement meant the height had to be increased. Here's a fairly similar vintage sitting in the village just around the corner from me.

The model itself has a lovely coat or two of the right colour red and the silver paint has been very well copied, being a strong feature on the original. Perhaps the detailing is a little too precise on the headlamps and at the back end but that's hardly a criticism.

The interior is just as ghastly as the original, and you still have to wonder where passengers put their legs. The colour is perhaps a little darker, more brown than the 1962 issue. The screen is very accurate.

The only thing that struck me as a little odd when I first took it out of the box was the wheel design. As these were supposed to be just the normal shaped wheels they'd produced very nicely on several preceding issues, I was surprised that these seemed slightly different. From some angles they're pretty near perfect but from others they look wrong.

The base is nicely very similar to the original with just the reference to China instead of Gt. Britain. The box has been well done. I think the font for the model title is slightly wrong and the box has that bright finish which is unnatural but really this is a very good effort.

All in all, this may not be my favourite Corgi but I am still delighted to have this in my collection and I have to congratulate the good people at Blue DTC Brands, whoever they are, for their efforts once more. This series is proving a huge success and all just as collectible and exciting to look forward to as the originals.