Corgi Catalogues 1958 to 1972

You may have noticed that I have changed the site's home page. That has been necessary because I would like to be easier for collectors to find when they search for Corgi Toys. Google now say that web sites should adjust automatically to match the type of device they are being viewed on. So there need to be different versions for big desktop monitors, large tablets, small tablets and phones held one way or the other. They punish those sites that don't comply with low rankings. It's annoying bvut that's life these days. You can imagine that the coding for all that can be something of a nightmare!

Luckily, there are some nice people out there who not only make templates we can use but they also include code that detects the type of device and makes all the adjustments automatically. It's all quite impressive. I can just about manage to figure out most of it but it isn't that straightforward to transfer data from one place to another. So I found it considerably simpler to make a few new pages with the new style and leave all the rest as it was.

I am really hoping that Google will now start giving me some credit for this, although there are still 1000+ pages that do not comply with their requirements. The chances of me ever changing all of them are extremely thin unless someone out there has a particularly bright idea and some spare free time!

The new home page does enable me to show some nice images in king-size view and each one relates to a different section of the site: British cars, American cars etc.

The new 'latest additions' page works in a similar way, with links on the big picture page to the main site description etc.

While I was at it I decided to make the catalogues more accessible to collectors. These are great sources of information and just lovely to scroll through for hours on end. I still feature them under Lists in the main site but they can now be seen directly from the Corgi Catalogues link on the new home page. I have published nice quality pages from complete catalogues from 1958 all the way through to 1972, which I acquired recently.

I used to offer to supply digital copies of catalogues at a small fee but now you can download images as you wish without charge. A customer did ask me if I could make printed versions of these and I can imagine that they would be very popular. However, with many having 40 or more pages I would have to pay for at least 10 double sided pages. In small quantities they would come out at about £8 and setting up the pages in the right order so that they make a booklet at the end of the day isn't as simple as it sounds at all! So they would have to cost at least £10 and, guess what, that's about the price you can buy originals for if you look around! So, until I can find a cheaper print solution I will leave it to people to print their own if they wish.

Some of the catalogues are American or European versions. Sorry if the prices are confusing but these are the best I have at the moment.

Corgi Toy 1967-68 Catalogue

The word mazak appears in The Corgi Story on the first page. I missed that at the time and I had to look it up when I discovered it on the base on some models a few weeks ago. The main focus now is on some big models - in size as well as fame. The cover has the ridiculously big Lincoln Continental which I never actually wanted at the time and only now keep in stock with some reluctance. It is simply too big and looks crazy with the other models as I illustrated in a previous article.

Joining the TV and Film fame set are a couple of new Bond cars, the silver #270 Aston, now with a slightly reshaped rear end to look a little more like the DB5 it should have been and a Toyota 2000GT. Both these are still 'available later' and it is the gold one that remains on sale when the catalogue is issued. Batman's Batmobile has a boat attachment and then there's some Green Hornet affair. I do not remember either the car or the TV series or film it was associated with and still don't have much of a clue, I'm afraid, nor examples of either in stock. They seem to command extremely high prices for such a common model.

Completing the 'fame' models on the first few pages of this catalogue are The Man From U.N.C.L.E's Thrush Buster, The Avengers Gift Set 40 and, looking quite sad now in comparison, The Saint's Volvo P1800. (The Volvo, though, will continue to be available long after some of the others disappear!)

The new 'normal' model is the Jaguar E Type 2+2, oddly illustrated in dark pink in the catalogue but mercifully released initially in the red as in a drawing or in a very nice metallic blue. This was another 'big' model, though, in comparison to most. Not as bad as the Lincoln but you still had to keep the #307 and #335 E types away from each other.

In the 'Available Later' category in 1967 were the Austin Mini Countryman (interestingly, without surfer or roofrack!), the Lancia Fulvia Zagato (illustrated in gold) and the Citroen Le Dandy Coupé and MGC GT in blue and white. I have never seen the MGC GT in those colours and the Citroen is very rare in two-tone.

The Kits have disappeared but there are several Racing Sets and combinations now. 

The Daktari Land Rover is illustrated in white, not the green it actually appears in - the white being issued later as the Lions of Longleat set.

Whilst #9022 Daimler was 'Available Later' in the 1966 catalogue, #9021 Daimler is now 'Available Later' in this one. Odd.

Cast wheels appear on #339 Mini Cooper and #264 Oldsmobile Toronado. Many of the newer illustrations are now very realistic and I am sure most of photographs with some post-processing effects - like the speed lines on the axles of the competition cars.Some old stagers are still clearly drawn, however, and re-used for yet another year!