A reader has brought to my attention this page of a leaflet printed in August 1969.
It shows the Lamborghini Muira with 'red spot' wheels. This gives us a little more of a clue as to when the decision was made to switch from Golden Jacks to Whizzwheels, initially of this 'red spot' type.
Here in a 1969 Catalogue, printed in September 1968, we have the Lamborghini with its 'take-off' wheels illustrated. So, assuming that the decision to fit Whizzheels instead of Golden Jacks was taken at a similar time to Whizzwheels being the way to go for models generally, it will have been around Spring 1969 that 'red spot' Whizzwheels would have been produced and the Ferrari gets to lead the field with them in September 1969.
Clearly, there must have been some reason for withholding the Lamborghini issue until February 1970, by which time 'red spots' were coming to an end. Looking at the illustration, the wheels on the Lamborghini do look slightly different. Illustrators for these catalogues and leaflets did not work from imagination but would have had actual models on the desk. In 1968 they had a fairly familiar red car and a black bull but by 1969 they were provided with what looks like a much richer shade of red and a brown bull! The Chevrolet Astro is shown on the same page in a very shiny gold and we know that Corgi were experimenting with liquid, very reflective finishes which made their way onto the issued Chevrolet Corvette models (and later the Toyota 2000GT). Perhaps an early sample was in a similar finish. The wheels, though, are unlikely to have been made deliberately larger by the artist. Perhaps it is just the tyres. Whatever the case it is odd. I wonder whether the 'red spot' wheels that were fitted for the sample did not rotate smoothly on this model, maybe rubbing on some part of the body? This delayed its actual issue to dealers and, with the new plastic variety then becoming the norm, which did fit and rotate without any problem, that's simply what the Lamborghini got.
Like so many questions we have about Corgis from this era, we may never know the answer unless a reader just happens to have been on an appropriate production team in the late 1960s.
Update: a few minute after publishing this, I see this photo on a Corgi Collectors Facebook page!
I am due to meet the owner before long so will enquire as to how genuine he reckons this is.
I have made a table of the Whizzwheels models and am slowly adding the different types of wheel that I have seen fitted to original models. For the early models, there would just be three types as illustrated below (in order of appearance).
 |
| red spot |
 |
| pepperpot |
 |
| four crowns |
Below is just a section of the table for the first few months. The full tabel can be viewed at this link.
I hope this is helpful to anyone looking to collect these models and, if you do have any genuine examples of different wheel types then do let me know. I am, however, very suspicious of 'red spot' wheels on any models later than February 1970. They are so simple to change. The Lamborghini remains a bit of a mystery, though.
Lastly you may not have heard that Corgi, through the Corgi Model Club, are launching a Corgi Whizzwheels Club, to be run along similar lines to the existing subscription arrangement. Initial promotions have been limited to see what reaction they receive. This will be the second, or maybe third, attempt to see whether there really is sufficient demand to make the project worthwhile. I have seen illustrations of a range of models and members who have signed up are now receiving a Porsche Carrera Six. That's a cheap option for Corgi as they've already issued two of that casting.
I do not propose to join this one but will keep an eye out for anything interesting. So far, though, no sign of any 'red spots'!
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