Strange Studebaker

This Studebaker Golden Hawk model is up for sale as I write. The seller proclaims to be a Corgi 'man' and he has some excellent-looking stock amongst other items. This one caught my attention, though, with its smooth wheels, a variation I am not sure existed but have been looking for just in case it might.

Unfortunately, I'm still not 100% sure and thought I would share these images and see what others think.

The seller's text seems reassuring, although it should be noted that he never actually declares the model to be original! He does say 'No', however, to the 'Modified item' question.

There are so many of these that have now been repainted, with varying degrees of success, that I am always cautious anyway and my suspicions have been raised by the text. So I look at the photos again.

Frustratingly, they're all a bit out of focus. It's a technique that I fear many sellers are known to use if they don't want us to look too closely at their wares! However, it is also just one of those things that someone who may not be great with a camera will find happens from time to time. And this may just have been one of those times. Who knows.

The white fin paint looks a little too 'white' and the gold just a shade different to what I think the real one should be. But I carry on looking as that may just be one of those things too.

I am encouraged now by the silver paintwork on the front. It's not perfect, with some gold showing on the overriders. Typical Corgi missed spray, perhaps. People doing repaints usually go a bit over the top on the bumpers and want to cover everything well. So this is OK, and the box looks genuine enough.

Then I start to wonder. Should that rear panel be silver? Did this edition have painted rear lights? And they do look very neat, not at all like the usual Corgi red additions, if there were to have been any.

Suspicions back again, I look at the base. You have to say that this looks pretty reassuring once more. It is a bit blurred but the rivets are not obviously fiddled with. I do have my doubts that they're the shape I'd expect and don't you think that grey base is just a little too shiny? Did they have such a shiny grey painted base? Wasn't it just a thin coat which allowed the text to stand out better?

Here's a genuine one. See the rear panel. It's gold, not silver. The rear lights - not a sign of red paint anywhere. Below you'll see the genuine base from this one too. It's not conclusive, though, as there is something of a shine there but I don't think it's as thick a coat as the blurred image of the seller's seems to suggest.

So I looked elsewhere for more examples of this model and, guess what, I came across just one other with fixed wheels that was sold by QDT back in 2008. There are plenty of examples of QDT not looking too closely before listing so ignore any claim they may make as to it being original, of course!

Look at the shade of gold, the paint placing on the front and . . .

 . . . the silver paint on the back panel and the red tail lights!

I am very much inclined to say that this is the same model. Someone in the States acquired it, either from QDT in 2008 or at some subsequent sale and it eventually finishes up here on Ebay with the Corgi 'man'. And maybe he doesn't know any better. It might never have occurred to him that there might be anything wrong or, for that matter, that he might have a one-off from the factory. The paint colour tends to rule that one out for me, though, and I reckon he's got simply a very well-done restoration.

Here, just to remind us, is another genuine model.

Yes, his is not the real deal. That means I shall not be bidding. Nevertheless I would quite like to have the model, if only for a closer look and to satisfy myself completely that it isn't what I've been looking for.

So I wrote to the Corgi 'man' and told him what I thought, hoping that he might take it off sale and offer it to me as a restoration for a few pounds. I mean the box is worth $30, maybe a bit more, so the car and box could reasonably be priced at $60. Just not the $130 he wants plus what would be a further $60 just to get it to my door here in England.

At one point I was on the verge of bidding and may well have spent best part of $200 on something that really is either deliberately misrepresented or just something that Corgi 'man' hasn't noticed himself. I didn't get a reply to my suggestion that he revise his listing which tends to make me believe that he knows it's not quite right. So there you go - take care out there. If, as someone who thinks he knows his Corgi stuff, I can nearly get caught then so can many of you.

In the meantime, if you do spot any 211S models in gold paint with smooth wheels, do let me know.