Corgi Toys @ 60: Two Old Renaults and a Mustang

 I know what I preferred when I saw the new arrivals in April 1965 at the local toy shop. Like many other children at the time, I didn't give the Corgi Classic Renaults a second glance. They may have been well-made but they had no play value and parts which could easily fall off and screens which would not survive mothers dropping the model into wooden toy boxes every evening.

This came in a sturdy box and illustrated lid, with the model protected by a piece of foam rubber which no-one now is quite sure how it should be placed. I think it goes on top of the model but then the box lid doesn't fit as well as it does when the wheels are pressing down into the foam when it's placed underneath.

There were two colours issued at the same time: a pale primrose and something approaching lavender, each with matching wheels. I have seen some variations in the colour of the primrose one and there are different finishes to the lamps but you can still pick up near-perfect models in boxes for just a few pounds, 60 years later.

This will be the penultimate Classics issue in this era, with the final one coming next year in the ghastly shape of the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. (I am not counting the Basil Brush or Hardy Boys editions!)

Now, moving on to what is one of my favourites and a 'proper Corgi' from this era, the Ford Mustang Fastback 2+2.

This delightful model comes in four colours and three wheel types. There is pea green, metallic blue, metallic silver and metallic lilac. The early issues will have plain shaped wheels. Most of the production has wire wheels with some later editions getting the cast 'louvre/spoke effect' wheels.

In my experience the most common wheel types are the wire wheels, with shaped wheels being quite scarce on the pea green and lilac models in particular and I haven't seen many in these colours with cast wheels either, now I think about it.

This is only the second issue by Corgi to have opening doors, the first being the Ghia L6.4 some 18 months earlier. They're quite chunky doors and many would not close nicely in line. They did have a half-open widow attached to the door, however, which was a new feature. With chrome-plated bumpers and jewels for headlamps this was just what we wanted at the time. The seats folded down inside too, although the pale cream interior would soon get discoloured. Interestingly, the silver edition had a deep red interior. All the models had a Corgi dog on the rear shelf. In the Ghias, the dog would come in two sizes and I have yet to research whether the small dog came first or the other way around. I am also not sure whether there are different sizes of dogs in this model but my guess is that they're all the same.

The suspension on these models is vulnerable and you'll now find many that have collapsed. It is provided by plastic elements in the chassis which have become brittle and crack very easily now. Do be careful with any models that you have where the suspension has survived.

This model will be around for a long time in one form or another, as you'll discover, although you'll need to wait until 2031 for the final one!

An attractive Toyota 2000GT

 

This Toyota 2000GT is the Whizzwheels edition of the model that had previously appeared as the 338 James Bond model (with missiles that fired from the boot). Corgi used some gorgeous paint on this one and you'll find it in a liquid metallic finish of either blue or purple. Apart from the wheels, this is a very attractive model. So when one arrived with some faults which I couldn't repair without removing the base, I decided to do something about those wheels!

The result is lovely as wire wheels really do suit the car.

And here's my purple original Toyota, missing an aerial, with Whizzwheels.

Be a little careful with these as the Whizzwheels are very easy to remove, so dealers can replace them with red spot wheels and claim that they're very scarce or something like that. They were not fitted with red spot wheels at the factory. You may also find some with a much later style of wheel which was not actually available until some time after production of this model ceased.

The blue model will invariably have the first type of Whizzwheels - the pepperpot style. There may be a few blue models with the later four crowns style, which also seems to be the normal wheel for the later purple issue as in my example above.

Corgi Model Club: The Bentley Continental in black over silver

 

From the Corgi Model Club, this month's issue is the lovely 224 Bentley Continental in the splendid black over silver finish that I have always thought looked the best.

You'll see that they have chosen to fit normal black tyres to this one rather than the grey type used for the green and cream issue. The original Corgi issue, of course, would have had the grey type but I think I prefer the black on this one. It's simple to change them anyway.

As always, the production is first class and it really is a stunning model. Looking at this image now as I write, it seems to me that the fog lamps are slightly larger than the original.  The jewelled lights are still plastic which I find always to be a bit of a pity. These things are very cheap to buy in glass and look so much better. If it were easy to extract the plastic ones I would swap them over but I suspect it won't be.

I had to check with my own original. You'll see now that the fog lamps are pretty accurate but it is the grille that is significantly wider on the Club issue. I remember now noticing this on the green and cream one way back in November 2021.

On my model the boot lid doesn't stay open at its widest setting but it does close in line.

In the box you'll find the model arrives extremely well-protected with not only that thin foam wrapped around both ends but there's tape wrapped around that as well which makes a tight fit around the front and back chrome elements. You have to be very careful when removing this because it is so tight and there is a risk of damage either from whatever tool use use to cut the tape or just from the foam catching the emblem at the front or overriders or a light fitting at the rear when extracted.

With the model you get an updated certificate and what I believe must be the first catalogue of CMC models. That will be worth keeping carefully for the future, I think, as it will be changed quite quickly.

The 224 box looks the same as for the first issue but is actually different on the information panel with reference to 'black and silver' and different layout of the panels and a new bar code reference too.

Yellow, red and orange

 

It was really nice to return home from a week or so abroad and find three new arrivals waiting for me. Each comes from the very early days of fixed smooth wheels and no suspension or interior but they all have a certain charm and I am more than pleased to add them to my store, with one maybe staying in my collection.

First is a well-played-with 203 Vauxhall Velox. It came with the Standard Vanguard (below) so is a sort of bonus. It's the second edition of the Vauxhall, Corgi deciding that a fresh coat of paint might help them sell a few more in 1959. Most of the early range get a two-tone finish in 1959 and for Vauxhall the previous dull yellow or cream turns to quite a bright and cheery yellow with a red roof (and window frames). I think all these second editions had chrome fluting on the bonnet. This was seemingly randomly missing on the first editions, both in normal and Mechanical form.

The second is another Vauxhall Velox but this time it's the 203M model with not only a nice, smoothly working motor but also a pretty nice coat of orange paint (and no fluting). This is a notably scarcer finish as most I have encountered have been red. Having said that, all the red ones I have had to date have only had, at best, 50% of the paint left! I don't know why but these mechanical Vauxhalls in red seemed to lose their darker paint in large chunks. It's not as if they could have hit skirting boards or other models at great speed. Perhaps they simply couldn't be moved out of the way of a speeding non-mechanical model quickly enough. Anyway, it's nice to have the orange version which still has most of its paint. You'll see that this one also has tinted windows. These appear to be about as common as clear windows on all the older models.

Now for the star of the three, not that it really looks very special at first glance. This is a model that only a few months ago I wrote about, querying whether it actually existed or was just a production sample being offered by some dealer at a massive four figure sum at an auction I had spotted. Well, as several readers assured me, it was an issued model. They'd had one or seen one and I had to admit to being wrong that time. It was just so unusual for me to find a completely new variation after all these years! And now here it is in the flesh, on my desk and I can say it is, indeed, real.

Yes, this one is pretty worn but all original and no-one has been taking it apart. It is the Standard Vanguard III in a pale yellow with a red roof and window frames.

This one has the first type of red finish but the later type of base. I have examples of the normal pale green and red edition having the type 1 red paint with a grey base.

The yellow colour could be one of the many shades I have found for the 207M and the view is generally taken that when the 207was discontinued there may have been a batch of models in the 207M colour that needed to be sold as 207s. So a coat of red paint was added across the pale yellow to produce what I suspect must be quite a small number of these models.

Earlier thoughts that these had been accidentally painted in the second edition 203 colours are not correct.

So that's a new addition to the catalogue and my collection! It's not the prettiest of cars but, judging by how many I have seen in all the years I have been looking, it ranks up there with the blue Mini Marcos in the list of rare issued Corgi models.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Nine new releases for March 1965!

 I don't think there will have been many children getting all the new issues which March 1965 brought to their local toy shop. There were no less than seven new models and two gift sets this month 60 years ago.

One was the almost iconic Corgi gift set - the Monte Carlo Gift Set of three 1965 rally models.

Record indicate that just 72000 of these were sold, not many for those times, and these sets are extremely expensive now, with prices reaching £1500 or more for a set in its original box. The box may be one of the most expensive pieces of folded cardboard around as the cars can be found individually for around £120 each in unmarked condition so the box adds a massive £1200!

It's an attractive set and features the 321 Mini Cooper which was released in February plus the new Citroën and Rover which were simultaneously released individually his month too.

The Citroën DS19 is catalogue number 323 and is the 210S model with four small jewels as fog lamps and the Monte Carlo decals. Individually it was issued in its own illustrated box. A classic problem with this model has been the aerial which can become brittle and is not easily replaced.

The Rover 2000 is the 252 model with Monte Carlo decals and two jewels added to the grille. The individual models were first issued in a 252 model box with a 'Special Release' label over one end. Later issues had their own illustrated boxes.

Another Mini appears this month in the shape of the Austin Mini Countryman.

I would have dated this rather later than 1965 but it did, indeed, come out this month 60 years ago. This is a substantially revised casting, previously seen as the Minivan and Police Van, now with woodwork and windows and a chrome-plated roof rack and two surf boards. In the box is a young chap in swimming trunks in a position where he neds to be holding the surfboard to avoid looking a bit strange.

It's a nice model and will eventually get cast wheels to replace the first issue's shaped wheels. There is also a little known and seemingly very scarce variation where there is no fuel filler on the rear left wing.

I believe this is a very early edition but have no further information about this.

A commercial vehicle gets revised this month in the shape of the quite ancient Jeep FC-150. First issued in April 1959, the Jeep now gets an interior and suspension as well as a plastic canopy.

There are three initial releases, two in blue and one in a sort of green-beige colour, often referred to as avocado. The blue can be found quite easily with either red or lemon interiors but the avocado version seems to be mostly red, with lemon being a scarce variation.

Later this model will get cast wheels and it stays in the catalogue for many years through to 1972.

The Saint's Volvo P1800 is issued this month too. This is a straightforward adaptation of the July 1962 228 model with the addition of a character at the wheel and a 'Saint' emblem on the bonnet.

Later editions get a red or blue label which covers the whole of the bonnet and has the Saint emblem in white. The red is usually found with cast wheels. The blue label edition is quite scarce. The same body and character will stay in the catalogue until 1972 too, the red label edition getting Whizzwheels and a different interior in 1970 as #201.

The 'Simon Templar' character appears to be the same as the driver inserted in the 215S Ford Thunderbird.

Next we have some models brining us some refreshments. First is a Karrier Van, looking rather old-fashioned now, but with an interior and suspension and a nice 'trans-o-lite' feature that lights up the 'Snack Bar' sign at the front.

You'll find two versions of this - the usual one is Joe's Diner but there's a nice Belgian variation advertising patates frites.

After your snack you might have fancied an ice cream and the next model is the Ford Thames Ice Cream Van in Wall's livery.

You get a model of the ice cream seller and a young lad on a pavement with a 'hopscotch' design. This was a short-lived issue, however, being replaced after just a few months in October by a 'musical' version. The characters and display scene go and instead you get an ugly handle at the back which plays a tune when turned.

Finally for this month, the second issue of the Fordson Tractor is paired with a Beast Carrier in Gift Set 33.

This is the first appearance of the Beast Carrier trailer, which will not be available individually in a box until later in 1965. It comes with four calves on a card straw design in the trailer and a green plastic mesh stretched across the top. There is also a driver on the tractor in this set.

This is quite a scarce set because it gets the new Ford 5000 tractor at the end of 1966 and is renamed Gift Set 1. The Beast Carrier itself is another very long-running model, staying in the catalogue until 1972.

Simple memories

 

I just glanced at my desk today and realised how lovely ordinary, not quite perfect, played-with every day Corgi Toys can be. I had been cleaning a few recent arrivals. None would satisfy the purist collector who requires a model to be flawless and, ideally, still in its original box and packing with a membership leaflet too, of course. For me, though, these arrivals are a pleasure to see. I don't know why but perhaps seeing models with signs of wear sparks something in my memory and takes me back to sometime in 1964 when a 12-year-old me would have had these lying around on a layout his dad had helped  build.

In the house where I lived at that time there was what we called a box room. It was about 6 feet square and half the room was occupied by a bedstead. That was almost never used as a bed, however, and instead of a mattress there was a piece of hardboard that fitted across the whole of the bedstead. Onto that I had used strips of masking tape to create road markings, Bayko buildings provided some buildings where I could park some cars and Floral Garden items made everything quite attractive with their trees, walls, fences and paving cards, of which I had a large quantity as they were so useful in making road edges.

The nice thing about this layout was that I didn't have to tidy the cars away every evening. So they survived pretty well with only minor chips from time to time. I did keep quite a few boxes but all the models I liked would usually be out on the layout somewhere.

I remember now how much easier it was to drive the models around where they had free-spinning wheels. My Morris Mini-Minor had these but the Austin Seven had fixed wheels and was much less fun. Now I think about it, the only other models I had with fixed wheels were a Renault Floride and an Austin A40. I had bought the Austin A40 because my dad had one. His was all red and was the 'Countryman' type with an opening window and boot at the back. I didn't know about the Mechanical models and I guess I was too late for these anyway when I started buying Corgis for myself so I had bought the two-tone blue 216 model and used some Massey-Ferguson red paint to try and get closer to my dad's car in appearance. (He worked for an agricultural machinery depot so we always had paint in machinery colours!)

So the Citroën in the picture here would not have been on my layout and I completely missed all the original 1950s issues. My friend Andi in Germany had spotted the Citroën at a very reasonable price and I was lucky to win that one. Both the green / black and yellow / red editions are hard to find in good condition nowadays, the yellow one showing little marks much more obviously than the green. The Citroëns make quite a little collection on their own as you need to find two versions of each - early editions with 'differential' bulges and the later smooth base variety. Then there are the blue-tinted windows and plain windows, probably for each type too. That makes 8 models you need to collect! And you thought that was a simple model in just a couple of colours!

There may even be some variations in the base that someone can tell me about. I seem to recall spotting something (other than the differential or a hole where the revised smooth casting has malfunctioned) but can't recall what now. It may have been that some bases are silver and others grey but I cannot be sure about that.

Somewhat simpler indeed is the E Type Jaguar. As a child I only knew about the red one. I liked this car a lot, much better than the later 335 issue which was annoyingly too big and just didn't look right sat next to the 307. The metallic grey is lovely, though, and I would definitely have been to the shop and bought one had I known at the time. I always found the red plastic top a bit odd and felt it should be black and, of course, you can now buy black replacements which look great. As it was, the top usually was left to one side and I played without it. You could sort of 'get in' with your fingers and drive around that way.

That reminds me of one of my favourites for playing with - the Austin Mini Van. I had two of these and you really could whizz these little cars around like mad, 'driving' them from inside the rear section. You could put things in the back too, although I always wished there had been windows on the rear doors. I think I put some perspex on mine which improved their appearance a bit. I was always impressed that Corgi had put jewels on this lowly van! They made it a bit special.

Back to the E Type, you will find some variations in the intensity of the metallic grey finish, some being quite distinctly black as opposed to grey in my view. The plum red always seems to be pretty much plum red, however. Otherwise I did read some time ago about there being bases with one rivet as opposed to two but I have to say I have not yet managed to find any of the former.

The car most well focussed by my camera is the delightful Chevrolet Sting Ray, here in that gorgeous metallic cerise colour and plain shaped wheels. I know it also looks lovely with the wire wheels but somehow this one always catches my eye and I find them very hard to resist when they come up for sale. Mine as a child was in this lovely shade but I had the wire wheels. The Buick Riviera was the first model to be issued with wire wheels from the start but I have a feeling the Chevrolet may have been the first car we could buy with them if they were fitted before June 1964.

This particular example that I have acquired has lights that look really nice and in line with the front and top edge. Most get loose and never sit quite right. They can also look a bit awkward when open and viewed from the front but this one actually looks fine. I may well hang on to this one in my own collection. Having twin jewelled headlamps was a bit special too. We had had four jewels on the Jaguar Mk X earlier but here we had two full-size side by side. Nice. I did like those jewels and I am very surprised that the Corgi Model Club has been using quite dull plastic instead.

Elsewhere in the picture you'll catch a glimpse of the lovely Rover 2000, the original model in metallic slate-blue. I have written before about this model and the small casting differences in the badge and grille. The colour always seems to be consistent, though, so, apart from the maroon edition and the very scarce cast wheel maroon model, there are not too many to collect of this one. The 'Trans-o-lite' dual headlamps are great and I had no end of enjoyment at night with a torch making beams from the front.

Because the Volkswagen 'Toblerone' Van had completely passed me by I was not aware of these lights until I got the Rover. I must have had some catalogues at the time but I really don't think I spent a lot of time studying them as I simply didn't know about several models. The 253 Mercedes 220SE was a surprise to me when I re-started my collection. I'd always thought there was a blue edition of the 230 model! Something else which I would definitely had bought had I realised it was available was the Oldsmobile Toronado in its first outing as 264 in super metallic blue and almost pure white interior. It didn't do much but looked wonderful and is another I find hard to resist now.

On the subject of Oldsmobiles the last models in the picture are a pair of 235s, one in the more familiar metallic slate-blue (very similar to the Rover colour) and the solid sky blue colour. I didn't have these as a child but would have been very happy had someone bought one for me. They're very simple - and you only need the two for a complete collection - and they're nice to drive around. One of the problems with the Jaguar Mk X and Ford Consul Classic was that their bonnets often opened when you hit the brakes! The Jaguar was hard work driving around corners too. I had one in a terrible shade of pale green which I was never particularly happy with (although I would be very glad to have one in that rarer shade now!) and, as soon as I found the new metallic cerise shade in my local shop, I bought a replacement for the chipped model I had on the layout. Again, I had no idea just how many different finishes that model was produced in. It's probably just as well as my earnings from helping out at a local farm and a bit of lawn-mowing probably wouldn't have been enough. By 1966 it would be records that I spent my money on too, or tapes on which to record tracks from the radio. 

So forgive me for my simple memories from some very ordinary models rather than writing about some exciting new discovery or variation. In a couple of days it'll be March and I'll have nine issues to tell you about so that'll keep me busy tomorrow!

Corgi Model Club - the other Cadillac Superior Ambulance

 

You will remember that the Model Club issued their version of #437 quite a while ago in August 2022. That was the later version with cast wheels and the second system for operation of the lights.

I think they had probably decided to make that version because the early system may well have been pretty fiddly to reproduce and still not functioned very well. So that was a sensible decision and meant that they could continue to claim to be reproducing the original models as closely as they could. 

The red and cream issue that is now available retains the later system that was fitted to the blue and white model. So, for the organisation, this entails just a few fairly simple changes and will be somewhat more profitable as a result. It's really just a change of finish and new decals and wheels, plus what look to be different coloured tubes for the small lights.

Lists of models

Someone recently asked me whether there is any information on how many models Corgi produced. Whilst I have not seen any figures for production, the Great Book of Corgi does include a figure in the information panels for many models indicating sales. I may have confused these terms myself in various articles and lists but I think it is safe to assume that the majority of those figures will be a good representation of the likely scarcity of a model. There have to be caveats, though; the most important one being that these are numbers copied by me from a database published by another Andrew on an early Little Wheels website which, in turn, were copied from the Great Book itself and so it is quite possible that there are some errors. An extra digit or missing zero on the right makes a huge difference!

Another aspect to bear in mind is that the figure for any model shows the total sales and this will be for all the variations. So there may be a model that looks relatively common with large sales but which may have had a small number issued with a different type of wheel, different colour or other changes, one or more of which may have applied in just a tiny percentage of sold models.

I remember trying to estimate how many #422 Bedford 'Corgi Toys' Van with a blue body and yellow roof or 50-50 split might have been available. The book says that just 67000 Bedford #422 vans were sold, which isn't many to start with. The period during which it was available for sale was just 24 months as an absolute maximum (we never get months for when a model was withdrawn, only years). During that period smooth wheels were changed to shaped wheels at some point. Let's assume that was half-way during production so there might have been 33500 of each but, as it would be fair to add the assumption that there would have been rather more produced at the start of the period than the end, a more accurate division might be 45000 / 22000. Next, from experience, all the models with different paint finishes have had smooth wheels so the maximum number of any of the three known paint variations would be one-third of 45000 which is 15000.

It is also reasonable to assume that there were rather more of the 'normal' yellow vans with blue roofs made than either of the other two so, if we say 80% of them were 'normal' then just 3000 would have one of the two rare finishes and I've certainly seen more 50-50s than yellow roof examples so I'm inclined to settle on there being around 1000 with the blue body and yellow roof. That's 1000, not 67000, a massive difference and which, incidentally, would make that edition one of Corgi's rarest, but that's another story entirely!

So you can see just how misleading these numbers can be, unless there really were no significant variations during a model's production.

For those who would still like to know, however, I have summarised the numbers on a page on my website. the address is https://www.corgi.toys/models-1956-70s or just click here. You will see small tabs to the lists which will permit them to be shown in different orders.

I hope this is helpful for whoever wrote to me and provides fascinating food for thought for others.

Corgi Model Club update

 

To bring you up-to-date with the Corgi Model Club issues, I have just received the Oldsmobile Super 88 #235. This is a super version, very well reproduced and, whilst I notice that some people have been unsure about the colour, I find it pretty much identical to my original.

As always with the Club issues, the detail is far more accurate than Corgi could have achieved in the 1960s. I think someone does need to have a word with the Chinese, though, about the wheels which have never looked quite right on all the 'shaped wheel' models. You'd think that getting the profile right would have been relatively easy compared to all the bits that they have matched perfectly.

I have always been a fan of this very simple model that has no special features but was great to play with and reliable in that it didn't have anything to go wrong. I only had the metallic silver-blue model myself and was delighted to find this colour many decades later! 

Last month we had another use of the Impala casting, this time in Police Patrol finish. Again, it is a lovely version and just like my original.

The second edition Impalas have also been a favourite of mine and I am always on the look-out for the saloon and taxi editions with cast wheels, considerably scarcer than the shaped wheels which are themselves not that easy to find as production of the originals was very short. The Police and Fire editions, however, did last rather longer and in those cases it is the shaped wheel editions that are less common.

Two months ago saw the arrival of another use of the Mini casting. 

The RAC International Rally edition #333 is reproduced in its later 'Morris' badged form with cast wheels. The axle ends are a little big, I feel. As always, the detail is super but those plastic 'jewels' are simply not 'jewels' and let things down a bit.

We get a fortunately peelable label across the ends of a 225 Austin Seven box, reflecting well what was on the shelves at the time of the original issue.

Another favourite - there are so many interesting variations of the Mini-Cooper (never mind the Minis generally!) - so this group has been nice to receive and briefly review.

I wrote about the previous issue - the #276 Oldsmobile Toronado some time ago. The next models due to come our way are as follows:

• #224 Bentley Continental in black over silver
• #803 Yellow Submarine (red hatch edition)
• #436 Citroen Safari ID19
• #266 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
• #406 Land Rover in yellow with black cab roof
• #492 VW European Police Car (Dutch export edition in white)
• #107 Bat Boat & Trailer (incl. connector piece)
• #334 BMC Mini-Cooper Manifique in green

I detect a considerable amount of influence on production by those fans of TV/Film-related issues! I guess that's also where the profits are with a wider audience than just those of us happy with fairly 'normal' vehicles. This particular group has no really new issues other than the Yellow Submarine, Chitty Chitty and the Bat Boat which must have meant a good saving on production costs, especially with the Bentley, Citroen, VW and Mini which required merely some fresh paint and a decal or two.

These also follow, as I am sure you will have noticed, three models that are re-workings of a previous release in each case.

I continue to receive these models but only now keep one or two of particular interest. I have several of the releases over the last few months available should anyone wish to have these at not a great deal more than cost price, including some matt black Batmobiles which will be more expensive although not as much as some seem to go for on Ebay at the moment.