My eleventh Rover 90 arrived today. I cannot resist these old models. They seem to be the least loved of the first 1956 launch group and the casting often seems flawed and was regarded as the worst of the group by Marcel Van Cleemput himself by all accounts. Nevertheless, I like this old thing. It may be because I had a Rover 100 myself many years ago when I was at St. Andrews University and regularly drove to Edinburgh and back, stopping to get out and knock the fuel pump with a screwdriver whenever it ceased working!
The 204 model seemed very uninteresting at first when I started this catalogue project and I really didn't pay much attention to it. I thought there was a lightish colour normal model, a green M edition and the two-tone one and that was it.
The story is, however, rather more fun. First the 204 comes in two main flavours: light grey and ivory.
The two-tone is a quite stunning pale pink over metallic crimson.
The 204M models appear at first to have two finishes: a metallic bluish green and a solid dark green.
Then along comes a distinctly different solid bright green!
These two shades of green remind me of the two shades that seem to exist for the 301 Triumph TR2 and 405 Bedford CA Fire Tender. I am beginning to wonder, too, whether I need to take another look at my 406 Land Rovers from Gift Set 2 now!
Actually, now I look again at this photo from above that I took this morning, I can see three shades of the solid green. I had placed the one with worn paint next to what I'd thought was a dark one, thinking it was the same shade but it is neither the same as the 'dark green' nor the 'bright green'! I guess I shall have to call it 'rich bright green' and add this to the catalogue. From what I can tell (apart from the new discovery) the colours are fairly evenly distributed with, in my experience, none seeming significantly scarcer than the other.
What is decidedly scarce is this one shown below. It is a non-mechanical 204 but finished in the 204M metallic bluish green. These - and you'll find similar delights across the early range - resulted from one of two things: either by simple mistake, attaching a 204 base to a 204M body or as a way to use up 204M bodies that had been painted shortly prior to the production of friction motor models being abandoned.
Finally, for now, there is yet another variation to look out for and that is on the base. There are two types. One, which I call Type A as I think it is the earliest, has British and Made placed either side of Corgi Toys. The other, Type B, has Patent and Pending in those positions and a revised text on the front axle. As what I call Type B has blanking plates it would appear that that is the one that has been revised and hence would be the later but I am only taking a guess.
Other early issues have a similar set of Type A/B bases, complicated by some with a grey base too! I will take a look at these as my next job but I don't have that many examples to work with so any help would be appreciated if you could have a look at yours.
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