Some interesting little Imps

 Many, many years ago I came across a #251 Hillman Imp in bronze with jewelled fog lights. This week another one arrived and, unlike the first one, this is in pretty reasonable condition.

It is a strange model. It has the same jewelled fog lights as were added to the first Monte Carlo Hillman Imp #328 but the windscreen is the later style with two horizontal lines as was fitted to the second Monte Carlo (Sunbeam) Imp #340.

It is the same bronze colour as was used for the Transporter Gift Set models, which were also available individually in boxes for some lucky buyers at the time. Although this one came with an original #251 box I have no idea whether that was added later and believe this would have been part of a late set and not issued individually. With its normal shaped wheels it is not the last of the #251 production as I also have the delightful and very scarce edition with cast wheels.

The timeline for Imps starts with the blue (and maybe individual bronze) issues in November 1963.

These were withdrawn from dealers' order lists in 1966 and were absent in the 1967 Corgi Catalogue.

The Car Transporter Gift Sets 41/48 were available from December 1966 to 1968 and these contained the bronze edition.

The first rally edition, #328, had a short life from January 1966 to February 1967 with the #340 edition appearing in March 1967 and staying around until quite late in 1969.

All #328 models had shaped wheels and no lines on the windscreen. They can be found with either yellow or white interiors.

The double lines on the screen were absent from the #328 model but do appear on all #340 models, even the early ones with normal shaped wheels. Later (and most) #340 models have cast wheels.

All the 506 Police Imps were the Sunbeam version, using the #340 style of base, and all these had the double lines on the screen and cast wheels.The Police models often display marks at the front where the holes for four jewels were filled in.

So it would seem that cast wheels were first fitted to Imps in late 1967 or early 1968 and the one I have in bronze would have come from one of the last Transporter sets in 1968.

The bronze edition with jewelled fog lights is likely to have arisen when the #328 was replaced by the #340 and bodies given a bronze coat of paint instead of the metallic blue and, as this would have been in early 1967, I can only imagine the small batch getting this treatment were sold in a few Transporter Gift sets in early-mid 1967. Although it is possible that they were sent out to dealers as a sort of one-off addition, maybe free to them, I suspect the box with this one has been added at some time between 1967 and 2025.

I shall, therefore, put this one with the cast wheel edition in my own collection cabinet and transfer the box to one or other of my #251 models that I have available for sale. I might sell the other two but they will not be cheap as I do think they're pretty scarce models and, at the moment, I have nothing to compare them with in terms of valuation.

I do seem to be accumulating rather a lot of models like this - genuinely very scarce ones for which I have little guidance as to what they may be worth. It is probably the case that values for items like these will very much depend upon the depth of the pockets of those who would like them. For my own part, my resources are quite limited and, even if something wonderful appeared on the market that I had always wanted but never owned, my limit would have to reside in the three figure numbers. For someone fortunate enough to have a far greater amount of funds available, and with other living expenses taken care of so that whatever he has he may spend freely on a hobby such as Corgi Toys, then should he wish to have a model, and that model is likely to appear just once in a blue moon, then he will pay a vast sum for the satisfaction with just a mere small dent in his bank balance.

Corgi Model Club Mini Magnifique again

 

The Corgi Model Club issued another Mini 'Magnifique' recently, this time in metallic green and with wide bands on the sliding roof.

It always struck me as a remarkably sold model, bearing in mind how many things opened or moved, and the Club edition has that same feeling of strength, with a high quality finish, inside and out.

The axle ends, as for the blue one, of course, look a bit large but not big enough to be hub caps and just look slightly odd. This is the case with several Club models.

Both the box and the certificate indicate that this is a different model to the blue edition issued in late 2023.

The blurb on the reverse of the Certificate reminds us that the first Mini had been issued in 1960 and remarks that this model had disappointing sales. The 237,000 that I have seen as recorded sales does not seem too bad, pretty much on par with many other models released in 1969 and 1970, if one ignores the favourites like police cars and racing cars. It was actually not issued until December 1968 so a withdrawal in 1970 would imply this model being available for dealers over a rather shorter period than two years, in which case the sales were not that bad. Indeed, they were four times the figures for the Monkeemobile. Read into that what you will!

It is a nice addition to the Model Club collection and might spice up interest in collectors now looking for the original in the many forms I discussed in a previous article.

Corgi Toys @ 60: James Bond and an Ice Cream Van

 

Yes, this is the month when, 60 years ago, Corgi's most successful model and probably the one they were to become famous across the world for, was issued. #261 James Bond's Aston Martin. It's gold and not silver and a DB4 not a DB5 but no-one seemed too bothered at the time.

You will. I am sure already be familiar with all the variations for this model and this is neither to time nor the place to repeat them all. Have a look in my catalogue where you'll see as many as I have listed. In its massive production quantities it would be inevitable that castings get worn, adjusted and so on.

The other issue was the second Ford Thames Ice Cream Van. #447 had been issued just 7 months earlier but now someone at Corgi decided that it should play a tune so they stopped producing the first one and adapted the second by inserting a device which played notes when an enormous handle at the back was rotated. 

Gone are the old chap selling the ice cream, the young lad with one and the pretty display plinth that came with the first. The music device comprised fine tines that were 'plinked' as a shaft with cam extensions in different positions rotated and many have since got broken tines so the tune doesn't quite work as it should. 

This was, incidentally, the very first model that the Corgi Model Club people decided to make again from scratch. They made a super job of it, so accurate, in fact that the tines break on that model just as quickly! 

Good working models of both the October issues in original boxes with instructions and packing are both very expensive now. Considering how many of the Bond models were made and how many there must be in good working order still in circulation, I am always amazed at the prices they fetch. High prices for the Ice Cream Van are perfectly understandable. It sold only 146000, not a lot in those days for a Corgi issue and very few will have either a box or a working music device, even fewer with both.

The Aston Martin, however, sold nearly 4 million, nearly 27 times as many and, whilst it was a complicated bit of equipment, the features have been remarkably resilient to young people's play. Whilst there are plenty with seats that don't eject very well or at all, there are also many that do still work well. Suspension fails on these and as they get older the plastic becomes ever more brittle and liable to fail so numbers of top quality models will diminish but I still maintain that it's a lot easier to find than a nice Ice Cream Van with working tunes.

I guess there are simply so many fans of film and TV-related models that there is a far wider and better moneyed market for Bond than Wall's Ice Cream.