Corgi Toys @ 60: Jaguar E Type and a strange Tractor

 

March 1962 sees the arrival of a model we all wanted as children - the lovely E Type Jaguar. It was produced as an open top car and came with a detachable hard top. This was only the second model to be issued from the outset with free spinning wheels.

There were two main colours: a plum shade of red and a very dark metallic grey. There is very little variation in the red colour but you'll find some quite intensely dark shades of the grey as well as something resembling gunmetal in shade. In 1962 I seldom saw the dark grey model. All my friends had the red one as I did. More recently, however, I had quite a job finding a nice red one to buy for my own collection whilst there were plenty of the grey ones around.

The model has nice suspension which will have survived to this day and will continue to keep the car looking great for years to come. The plastic hard top, though, is pretty vulnerable to cracks and getting broken. Luckily, or confusingly, depending upon your stance, Model Supplies have excellent copy plastic hard tops and it takes a very well-trained eye to detect any difference in the red type.

The company also produce a black variety. This was not available with the models issued by Corgi but does look really nice and a lot more appropriate when fitted on the grey models.

I am also aware of two varieties of base on the 307 model - one has one rivet and the other has two. From what I can tell, the vast majority of models have two and I haven't, in fact, yet been able to buy any with just one to examine whether the text or anything else changes.

The catalogue number is interesting in that 301-5 were used for the very early 1956 issues and the TR3A replacement of 302 in 1960. 306 was missed for some reason (although used  a decade later for a Morris Marina) and I wonder what might have been. All the 300 numbers were sports cars.

Also on the shelves in March would be the Fordson Power Major Tractor (as model 55 issued in May 1961) with four rear wheels, a track running around one normal size and one slightly smaller wheel behind it. Original tracks were grey rubber but you may find black too as they may have degraded over the years and been replaced.

Black tracks were, however, fitted at the outset to a later edition which was based on the revised Fordson Power Major in 1965. This has a different steering mechanism as well as the headlamps being placed inside the grille. You'll have to wait a while for more about that one.