Corgi Model Club: Land Rover Public Address Vehicle

 

December's issue from the Corgi Model Club (for those of us who started at the beginning) is the Land Rover Public Address Vehicle, catalogued as 472 when the original was issued back in September 1964.

Sales were not that great at around 147000 which may sound plenty but is comparable to the Chevrolet Taxi and Citroen DS Monte Carlo Edition, both of which are sought after now and, coincidentally, were the two previous Corgi Club releases.

It looks very accurate on first inspection. I only have a worn and partly broken example to compare it with but I have been hard-pressed to find anything worth mentioning with this one. 

There is, of course, what I have always called a 'researcher' for some reason which escapes me now. The box describes her as a 'supporter' which is far more appropriate. She will be one of the reasons this copy will sell well as in most of the original 472s you see now for sale she is missing. People will pay an extra £30 to have what to all intents and purposes looks like an original researcher, I mean, supporter with their nice original Public Address Vehicle and I'm sure dealers will then simply flog off the Land Rover they're left with for whatever they can get and the certificates are worth a bit as people lose those or dealers forget to include them.

At first glance I thought the shade of green was a little too yellow but now I look at it side by side with my old original it seems fine. They have even got the right ventilation lever design on this one. The microphone cable is far too thick on the copy and it reminds me of the ridiculous chunky rope that often is found with the 448 Police Minivan and the Riviera Gift Set if you have Mr Flowers' thick black rope substitutes.

I have to admit that I had always wondered why the researcher, I mean supporter, never appeared to stand up properly in the back of the truck in my own 1964 model. I could understand why so many got lost as she was invariably left to stand somewhere else on the layout or, worse, on some thick carpet, probably never to be seen again after a pet or vacuum cleaner had passed by. Now, only now, a mere, 58 years later, have I noticed the slot in the side where the base of the girl can be fitted to secure her and in such a way that she appears to be leaning out to distribute the gems of wisdom from her local political party.

It was noted at the time that Corgi wisely stayed out of politics and both Labour's red and Conservative's blue were as equally featured as they could manage. The actual General Election, which took place in the month following the original's release was also equally balanced, Labour finishing up with a single seat majority.

In the box you will have a couple of blocks of the familiar white foam stuff stuck in an L shape. This needs to be inserted to protect the loudspeakers on the roof and prevent the model moving in the box. There is also a thin square piece with a hole in the middle. (Only just discovered this!) This last piece may or may not protect the top of the politician. I do think that more attention needs to be paid to the packing pieces. The original had far more effective pieces of folded cardboard. I strongly suggest the Model Club people get the Chinese Re-education Camp Managers who currently put these things together to source some card instead of the foam.

The fonts look a lot better on this issue than most of those that have gone before.

Once again, congratulations to the Corgi Model Club people. Not one of my favourite models in either original or copy form but I do recognise that it is a good one and we Corgi collectors are a hard bunch to please!