A bus, a box and a bug

 

Some odd things have come in this week which I thought might be of interest to a few readers.

First is what initially looks like any old 468 London Transport bus. It's a later edition, with cast wheels. Indeed, it is a very late edition as, when you see the front, there are no jewels. It's like the Whizzwheels version and must be some sort of transition model with the non-jewelled body being produced but fitted still with cast wheels.

Yes, my example of an old 468 is correct without the additional advertising stickers on the front as that is an old 'Corgi Toys' banner model. The different stickers came with the 'Outspan' banner and subsequent models. What I don't know is whether there were further changes (other than the many banners) to these stickers. The interior changed at some point too, from yellow plastic to clear plastic stairs. I have also noticed that the conductor's hair is brown in early models but blonde in later models.

The second item is a marvellous original old box that came with a two-tone Ford Consul. This has to be one of the best old boxes I have had, with all the flaps in place and the colours are very fresh and clean. The box design switched to blue and yellow at about the same time as this edition was issued in early 1959. For instance, the Jaguar Fire Chief's car, issued January 1959 always seems to be in a yellow and blue box. I suppose there must have been a lot of spare 200 boxes and they may have been used for the first batch of the two-tone Ford Consuls. Most I see for sale now have the yellow and blue box so this is a little unusual. However, one cannot rule out the possibility that someone has switched boxes over the years!

And lastly, for a bit of fun, the 806 Lunar Bug! This is from November 1970 but it didn't stay in the catalogue for long, ceasing production in 1972 after just a bit more than a year, when a more interesting James Bond Moon Buggy came along.

When I started creating the Corgi Catalogue web site I began at #50 and gradually worked my way through in pretty much numerical order, buying models, documenting them and then selling them until I reached the 500s. By the time I reached #513 I moved on to the Majors, leaving the kits and what looked like odd stuff I thought I may well just ignore at the time for another day, or, more likely, year. However, in amongst some collections and job lots, some of the #800s came in and I never bothered actively to chase after the two which, until a few days ago, remained unseen. One was #805, the Hardy Boys Rolls Royce. I have to say that that looked awful in the pictures I saw of it. The #9041 was bad enough but to create a multicoloured version to celebrate a band I had never heard of seemed mad as well as bad. Every one I saw was expensive too, or had something missing. The other was #806, this Lunar Bug. This week I came across this one for a very low price of a pound or two and it looked quite cute and in decent condition. Not that I knew what might be missing, though, being quite unfamiliar with this!

Anyway, the Lunar Bug turned out to be a cheerful sort of oddity and this example is in great condition. After a little research it does appear to be complete, with its fold-out plastic wings and what might be engines on the roof and a drop down panel at the back which I can imagine coming off quite easily. Inside there's room for a small car and I did try out an Alfa P33 and a couple of others without success before realising how crazy it would be to have something like that on the Moon. So I guess that whatever Corgi people might have thought about issuing in due course that we could have put inside never made it to the production line. There is some plentiful yellow-tinted glass along the sides and a roundish clear section at the front. The wheels are on funny axles which never seem to be quite certain where they should rest so you'll see pictures of this model in all sorts of funny poses! The wheels look unique but wouldn't be out of place on Noddy's Car.

The one thing that does strike me about this model is how big it is! I had expected something about the size of a bus but this is a substantial piece of Corgi. Being something that has come totally from the imagination of some Corgi designer, there is, of course, no scale but if you consider people might be standing inside and peering out of the windows then it is probably more suited to a 1:36 environment than the 1:43 I am supposed to be sticking to.

On the sides are flying cigarettes which remind me of when I used to smoke and not feel I was doing any harm to the planet or anyone other than myself. They're not cigarettes, of course, but some sort of rather sad illustration of  the jet engines. I really would have expected better from a late Sixties designer but never mind.

This will sit on the top of my cabinet for a while as I cannot see anyone rushing to buy it. There do seem to be plenty for sale. It is a model that does make me smile, though, and now I would have liked to have had the box as I see the polystyrene base was shaped as an imaginary Moon surface with craters. I might even not be able to resist one if it comes along cheaply enough. As for the Hardy Boys . . . well, they can wait another year or two.