Merry Corgi Christmas

 

I wish all my Corgi friends

and customers, wherever you are,

a very merry Christmas and

a happy New Year.

I am glad to hear that so many of you enjoy my articles on things Corgi. I have had one or two enquiries as to why I had been quiet for a while recently. Firstly there were no new issues in December 1963 so I got a break from the Corgi toys @ 60 series. Having a much greater impact, though, has been the need to move house. My house in Astcote here in England is falling apart and it has been necessary to find a new home, not the simplest of tasks when you're as ancient as me and have boxes and more boxes and yet more boxes (as well as the usual bits and pieces one accumulates over 70 odd years!)

I am delighted to say that, after a great deal of searching and form-filling, we shall be moving to the village of Bozeat, a few miles further east, over the Christmas period and hopefully up and running again as from the beginning of 2024. I have not had a chance to make the 2024 Calendar pages yet but will get these done sometime in January if you can hold on for a while.

You shouldn't notice much of a change in any of the web sites, email or stores where you'll find the new mailing address if needed. The landline number will stop working so use +44 07712 817958 should you need to call.

Hoping for some peace in 2024 and, with particular thought for Ukraine, whose people are about to enter a third year of war's uncertainty and anguish, all profits from Corgi.Toys in January will go towards helping our friends and families there.

Could this be the rare Gift Set 2 model?

I've been looking everywhere for a fawn Land Rover with yellow interior. It's usually red but there are a few around with yellow. I did have one but I sold it and almost immediately afterwards wished I hadn't and there is a space where it needs to go in my collection.

The fawn edition first appeared in late 1962 and is only found in Gift Set 2, towing a fawn and cream Pony Trailer. 

You will probably have already noticed that this is a repainted model. I know, you're asking me why on Earth I should buy a repainted fawn Land Rover. It's really not something I would normally do but this one was intriguing. From what I could tell from the pictures provided with the listing, this Land Rover had not been taken apart. The base had not been taken off as the rivets were looking sound and original and the best evidence for me was where the owner had not been as careful as he should have been with the brush, one stroke covering both a small piece of the base and the lower edge of one side.

With no other way that the interior could have been changed, I reckoned that this could well be what I was looking for and, whilst the repainting is a bit annoying, it will do for now until another comes along.

The model itself arrived yesterday and, whilst the painting isn't great, with brush strokes evident here and there and dust has been allowed to spoil the finish in places, the colour is a good match. There is what looks like an original fawn colour under the wheel arches and in places which would be very difficult to reach with the brush so I was quite pleased with this purchase. 

Underneath, everything looks pretty fawn in colour and the rivet intact - even with a hook that hasn't been bent or broken.

Then I looked at the other end . . . Oh dear. Now you'll see what I'd missed earlier and which was not visible in the seller's photos - that little bit of red in the gap between the base and the front bumper. 

And I looked again at teh rives and they have that little dot of red too. This was, once upon a time, a red Land Rover from a Chipperfields or Ferrari Gift Set and is not what I had hoped for after all.

I have to say that the painter did a very good job as that is the sole evidence of the model's original colour and even now I look twice to check that the red is really red and not just fawn looking dark in the shadows!

So there is another warning to us all - not everything may be as it seems at first, or even second - take a good third look too to avoid disappointment.

Yes, I am disappointed but, as I said to a friend at the time I bought it, I really would prefer that I hadn't seen it because I didn't really want a repainted model but  . . . it had that yellow interior and I couldn't resist the temptation to have a closer look. However, I am not particularly sad. it only cost £20 and I do have a decent Pony Trailer with the scarcer fixed wheels (and a pin that hasn't been broken!), a good pony and a reproduction box which might help sell one of my other many Gift Set 2s.

The Land Rover will be £5 if anyone's interested!

 

Corgi Model Club - a magnificent Mini Magnifique

 

The Corgi Club have really excelled themselves this time. Their reproduction is fabulous and, so far, I cannot fault it.

They have chosen the metallic blue edition which is my favourite of the two original colours issued. This is model #334 and was issued in a window box with a header card included in the design rather than as a separate insert. This has been very well copied, including the slightly awkward folds at each end of the tray! The model sits firmly in its place and there is no protective included this time anywhere.

This is an intricate model with everything opening and closing, and quite precise chrome elements. they looked good in the original model and, with new production techniques, are possibly even better now, with super grille and bumper corners as well as the strip running around the wheel arches and sills. I remember that this seldom stayed in place for long on the real Minis that I knew!

You'll see that the headlamps still have a rather too plastic-looking 'jewels', although I have to say that on this example one 'jewel' is remarkably better than the other, which makes me wonder whether they have found a new supplier or changed to something that looks more like the glass of the original, this one getting one of the new ones and one of the old ones.

One of the features which did cause trouble with the original is the boot. Often difficult to open or, in some cases, difficult to close. This new model does present a minor challenge and there is a knack to making opening successful by pressing in at the bottom to create a small gap which you may then, large fingers permitting, use to pull the top down. Mine worked well, if a little stiff, but I have read reports of people having trouble with this again.

The little cast wheels are super and look exactly right. I haven't counted the 'spokes' yet. I think this is the first Club model with this style of wheel. (No, the Ambulance had these, although they were larger).

The Corgi Model Club used the version with narrower stripes in the sliding roof which I believe to be the more commonly seen. There is a version of the original which has thicker stripes but I have only seen this in metallic green to date.

All in all, a great reproduction.