Here is the latest issue from the Corgi Model Club, #447 Wall's Ice Cream Van on a Ford Thames. The one without music. The original was released in March 1965 but only stayed in the order lists for a few months, disappearing the following year. The musical version, with a massive handle at the back, seems to have been a rapid rethink of what might sell by Corgi and came out later in 1965 and lasted much longer through to 1968.
The Model Club's very first issue was the musical edition, #477 in January 2020, with a second issue of this in 2021 and I wrote about the two Thames here in 2021. This, then is actually the third ice cream van you will need to have a complete collection.
This is the edition with a small road and pavement display on which we can position the ice cream seller and a small boy. I prefer this one as it looks much more realistic than the #477 with its handle. I didn't want either as a child but now I have to have all three!
The box that this arrives in is not very strong and a sort of cube shape instead of the familiar flat pack. Mine had been crushed in transit and this packing did not protect the box very well but it is still intact and I was able to straighten things out fairly well. The model itself is wrapped in paper with two lumps of white foam to prevent it moving around in the box too much. The characters arrive in a plastic bag. You may miss the stickers which are packed in the base of the plinth!
It is a very smart and accurate reproduction of the original.
As is now usual, the typeface for the smaller text on the box is not right. Computer-generated fonts just don't match the original as they come but it should not be that difficult to adjust them to do so. I could produce the artwork for them if they ask me. The digits in the red ovals do appear better, though.
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