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 1970 Catalogue

A totally different cover in 1970 introduces a very different range. Gone is the young boy and his dad, strange scenes of oddly drawn models and its their place are two smart and fast-looking car illustrations with just graphic rather than accurate presence. It works as a modern cover  of the day but doesn't bear much resemblance to what's on offer.

This is where Whizzwheels came in. Some models had been released in 1969 and no doubt the 1970 catalogue became available in that year too. The first page of cars has an orange Lancia and three experimental-looking cars so that was a pretty good sign of where things might be going! Whilst the Adams Probe did appear in A Clockwork Orange the film got banned so even that fame may not have helped sales after all. I doubt if anyone ever encountered the Alfa Romeo or Chevrolet Astro.

Some more familiar cars appear on the next pages of Whizzwheels including the ones that had been intended to come out with Golden Jacks in the previous year's catalogue. The Mercedes C111 has an 'artist's impression' type of drawing and is 'available later'. When it does appear it looks nothing like the illustration or, in many commentators' views it seems, the real thing! There's the Jaguar E type now devoid of opening doors but still hanging on to its mirrors. There is also a very yellow Bentley version of the Rolls Royce. I have seen pink versions but was there really ever a yellow one? The illustration looks like a photo and, whilst 'available later' makes me wonder if there is a rare variant somewhere to be found.

There is also 'Project X'. That sounds exciting. Unfortunately, the number associated with the intriguing image is #313 which would be the very unexciting Ford Cortina Mk III! It was a great model, to be fair, but hardly deserving the 'Project X' mystery.

There then follow a few more pages of cars that had been revived with Whizzwheels for better or worse. No, just for worse. You'll see the red Chevrolet Stingray there which actually only made it in blue or pink to my knowledge. However, this is a fascinating period because in the changeover I am sure there must have been several models in the original colours that got fitted with Whizzwheels bases and I would love to try and find some of them.

At the end of the Whizzwheels pages there is a promotion for something I never actually saw but which sort of justifies the Whizzwheels thing - the plastic tracking. You could certainly have some fun running some of the models around a good length of that yellow plastic lifted at one end or down a decent slope in the garden. That may account for why so many Whizzwheels models are in terrible condition - being slammed into each other or turfed off track at speed.

The appearance on page 12 of four old-style Corgis does look a little sad. Still going are the #334 Mini, the #226 Mini and, remarkably, #233 Bubble car! The fourth is the Oldsmobile Toronado and speedboat Gift Set. It's the blue one that's illustrated (without Golden Jacks) whereas on the next page you'll see the red one with them! there's also the original Rolls so how they can have expected the Bentley to sell in comparison I do not know, unless it would be a lot cheaper. There were still lots of Golden Jacks models that presumably were all done and so couldn't be reworked as Whizzwheels at that time so there are some more pages of these, including a decidedly pink Chevrolet Stingray which was only actually red and green!

A few old style sports cars make the catalogue as does the Grand Prix Racing Gift Set. TV and Screen favourites aren't quite as high profile as before but there are still plenty of them and The Hardy Boys version of an old Rolls Royce Silver Ghost is featured. This is one of the models that sold least of any and must be a future real rarity. I have never seen one but hope to have one coming in before long if the bids don't go crazy.

Farm equipment occupies another few pages and then there's the latest Transporter page, now with six cars, all Whizzwheels. There always seems to be a car on the Transporter that is totally wrong. before it would be a Sunbeam or Mini rally car and this time it's the ruddy Saint's Volvo! That just doesn't work at all for me! It is also ranks as one of the worst of the conversions too.

The surviving Citroen Safari in #513 mode is still there along with a weird selection of old style Commercial and Utility vehicles. There's a Concorde plane too! Finally, we get the very big and flashy fire engine things and a bus and the camera vans are still there, with the cut-out Citroen coupé making a very late appearance on the Tour de France model list (another items that is really quite difficult to find at a reasonable price these days).

At the very end is a promotion for Rockets. If you hadn't already realised that the good days were over then you should now, with things like 'Golden Keys' and more track for some pretty dodgy looking matchbox size versions. Things are in quite a mess now and the brand will never really recover.

This is the last catalogue post I can do. I have the cover and a few pages from the 1971-72 book but after than the 1:36 scale will strat to dominate, presumably and so there may not be much point my writing about any more. I shall try and get hold of a full 1971-72 catalogue as that could be quite interesting and who knows what I'll unearth in a 1973 one (if there is one).

The 1971-72 cover with my addition of model numbers