Mini Mistakes

Here is something a little different! It's a 227 Morris Mini-Cooper body on a 226 Morris Mini-Minor base. I bought it for my friend and Corgi collector, Andi, who lives abroad, where the seller wasn't keen to post stuff to. Having it delivered to me here in the UK also gave me the chance to take a closer look at it. It could, of course, have simply been something someone had made from almost any old 226 using a drill and just a Code 3 of not really of great interest. However the paint on the inside of the holes and around the edges is untouched and so this is most likely to have been mistake at the Corgi factory.

I can imagine how a rack of 227 bodies could have been sent to the painting area and a dose of 226 lilac-blue was applied instead of the darker shade of 227 blue or even primrose. At a pinch, I can just about imagine how these blue 227 bodies found themselves further down the production line and being attached to 226 bases. More difficult might be understanding how these got past Quality Control unless you remember that there wasn't a great deal of either consistent quality or control going on! Or maybe they didn't get any further, this one and a few others finding their way into workers' pockets and back home for the kids to play with.

Clearly, how this one reached freedom outside the factory walls in or around 1966 we shall never know but it certainly didn't get played with and is as unmarked as if it had remained in the pocket of a pair of overalls ever after. The rivets are particularly clean and very new-looking. I did have my suspicions that these may have been replacements but the design and imprint is identical to others I have seen and they really do look like Corgi factory rivets.

One odd thing about this model is the fact that the body is a Type 1, the first casting, whereas the cast wheel base is the latest casting used and one might have expected anything with cast wheels to have had the Type II body. I have seen, however, this combination before so it's probably better to say that it's not so much odd but a little less common.

My friend is quite keen to have this and put some jewels in the holes so that it looks like a 227 in the 226 blue. I've cautioned him, though, that to do the job properly would require bezels or metal holder for the jewels and inserting those would inevitably damage the paint and destroy the model's provenance. He might as well buy any old 226 and drill a couple of holes and achieve the same end result. OK, finding a Type 1 body with cast wheels as clean as these isn't that easy but it would be preferable to spoiling something which someone might like to have as it stands for their collection of Corgi Mini mistakes.

As it happens, I have the reverse 'factory mistake' in the form of a 226 Morris Mini-Minor body on a 227 Morris Mini-Minor base. I have suggested that, instead of sending them to him for jewel insertion, I put the pair up for sale and see if anyone's interested. I would value each of them at around £250 so I'll be asking £350 for the two. I guess that will bring howls of protest from some quarters but a single decent and unmarked, somewhat scarce normal Mini in exceptional condition would sell for £60 and something like this factory error must be worth at least three or four times as much.

The 226 body / 227 base model is in the earlier pale blue rather than the lilac-blue of my friend's 227/226 model so the colours don't match and the base styles are some years apart but they still make an interesting pair.

While I'm at it, here's another nice pair that I have available at a similar price, this time Austin Seven bodies on Morris Mini-Minor and Morris Mini-Cooper bases! Oh, what fun you can have with Corgi Minis!

Minis 4 My Birthday

It's my birthday today so here's a post on one of my favourite Corgis. The little Austin Seven, as it was first named in 1959, first appeared as a Corgi model in January 1961 when it was listed as an Austin SE7EN. By then the actual car's name was being changed to Austin Mini but Corgi's stayed as Austin se7en on the box. In catalogues it started as an Austin 7 Saloon in the 1960 catalogue, where it appears in primrose, a scarce early colour and without any 'Available Later' tag despite not being in the shops, according to the Great Book of Corgi, until 1961. I wonder now whether that launch date is right?

It stays, somewhat inaccurately, as an Austin 7 Saloon in the 1961 catalogue but is now red and it remains red in future catalogues but with just the name Austin 7 in the 1963, 1965 and 1966 catalogues, disappearing in the 1967 one, somewhat later than the Great Book's suggestion of withdrawal in 1965.

It starts with fixed smooth wheels, then gets fixed shaped wheels and finally free spinning wheels from around 1963.

I happen to have just four models on my desk this morning and each is different, something which makes these models quite interesting to collect.

 

You'll see that these are, from left to right,

• type 1a text on angled sides, holes in base
• type 1c text on angled sides, no holes in base
• type 2a text all on flat surface, no panels
• type 2b text all on flat surface, no panels, post near sump.

These have free spinning wheels except for the first which has smooth fixed wheels. The base types are the most frequently encountered and I have written more about these across the mini range, for which there is a link on the front page of the news blog.

To the best of my knowledge, all the Austin minis have the first type of body, Type 1 which shows smooth front wings as the most obvious of several casting features. Type 2 of the Mini body has a distinct horizontal line and angle line on the side of the front wings and this can be seen on the later Morris editions. If, as I believe, this casting began to be used in around 1966 then it would seem that production of the Austin would have ended earlier. However, it remains something I always look out for, like the 226 mistakenly painted red and 225 mistakenly painted blue which do appear from time to time.

I only have a US 1960 catalogue to hand but the 1961 catalogue prices it at 3/5d whereas the 1966 catalogue has it at just 3/3d.

The one box that I have shows the higher price of 3/5d. Later catalogues, however, all have the 3/3d price for both the Minis.

Time to go: a few surplus items from my own collection

For some reason there are quite a lot of models that have accumulated in drawers or boxes but never made it into my store as they have mostly been part of my own collection over the years. In a big 'administrative tidying-up operation' I shall try to ensure that everything gets featured and here are the first few that I have found.

A late edition of the 218 Aston Martin with free spinning wheels and closed vent.

An unusual variation of the Plymouth Sports Suburban - with a cream colour base instead of grey.

A late edition of the 222 Renault Floride with free spinning wheels in metallic blue and red interior.

A factory error that has put a 227 Morris Mini-Cooper base on a 225 Austin seven body!

Nothing unusual about this one - just a very, very nice example of the delightful early 252 Rover 2000 in light silver-blue.

These are all now available in my store if anyone is interested.

Austin red, Morris blue.

 

My fellow collector, Andi from Kneitlingen in Germany, will shortly have an interesting pair of Corgi Minis. I was successful in acquiring for him a blue Austin Seven to sit next to his red Morris Mini-Minor.

These are quite delightful production errors, where it would appear that an Austin body gets included with the Morrises and gets sprayed blue and then attached to a Morris base and escapes the attention of the Quality Control chap. He also misses the occasional Morris body that gets a red coat of paint and then attached to an Austin base, an example of which my colleague discovered a while ago.

Bids for this particular model were sitting happily at £2.20 for most of its period on sale and I did wonder whether I might finish up getting the Bargain of The Year but in a frenzy of digits on screen at the very last few seconds it rose to £120. One other individual had spotted the Austin badge on the blue bonnet in the seller's photos but his efforts were in vain as my colleague's top price was just slightly above the other player's.

The Morris has a type 1c base - clearly narrower front section below the bumper - which is normally used with those models fitted with free spinning wheels but this one has fixed, shaped wheels. The Austin is an earlier edition with a type 1b base with the wider lower front bumper section, more normal with fixed wheels too.

I am sure these variations will be found amongst earlier and later models too, although I doubt we'll see a maroon Austin Seven.

I would love to find these for myself some day. In my own collection I have a primrose Austin on a Morris Mini-Minor base and two Morris Mini-Minors on Mini-Cooper bases but these don't look particularly different on display as the bodies are essentially the correct colour for the badge. That's what sets these two models apart and a quite valuable pair.

New arrivals in 2020 Pt 1

The 305 Whizzwheels version of the Mini Marcos is lacking a passenger seat but has more paint than any others I have seen for a long time! I have no idea when I'll find another seat, though. So I expect it will be around for a long time.

This Land Rover has been in a drawer for several years but I finally found a girl handing out leaflets at a reasonable price.

Another collection is completed with the arrival of this 214 Ford Thunderbird. It looks pretty normal but is the scarce version with smooth wheels but no 1959 on the rear plate. There are three versions of each of the 214 and 215 models: smooth 1959, smooth blank and fixed shaped blank.

Having sold the lovely dark grey E Type I had to get another one. These are one of my favourites. Although they were only issued with the plum red top, I do like the black version of the canopy that Mr Flowers sells.

This pretty well-weathered Austin Cambridge is the 201M edition and was advertised as 'white'. I had assumed it was cream or grey, colours I know about. It turns up, though, in a sort of green-grey-brown shade which is entirely different. I have no idea where this comes from and it may be a sample which found its way into the playground. All quite original so I'll see what others have to say about it.

As well as the dark grey E Type, I also sold the later Whizzwheels 374 version of the bigger 335 2+2 model in red. This is a replacement of the 4.2 version which was not around for long and of which most versions are yellow. It was superseded by the V12 5.3 model, also apparently entirely in yellow. 

On the subject of red and yellow I bought my umpteenth Renault Floride in the belief that it had closed vents only to discover that it hadn't when it arrived. Someone will have to put me out of my misery soon and find me one with closed vents as I am failing miserably to identify them from people's photos. This one is a bit messy but it does have a lemon plastic interior instead of the cream colour of all my other models in red.

A small dark blue-grey elephant has finally, after a long search, completed my Daktari Gift Set 14. A box would be nice but they're simply not to be found. This is an impressive set which is almost all original - just the lion's glasses are replacements. I have made this by extending the Gift Set 7 that I had in an original box and now realise that I need to replace the Land Rover with one with cast wheels which is what would have been fitted when this Gift Set 14 was issued. The Giraffe Transporter, Kew Fargo Truck are also unique to this set, along with the elephant. The elephant is by far the hardest to find, though!

The Jeep FC-150 was around for a long time in the Corgi catalogues, starting without suspension or interior and finishing up with both and cast wheels as well as a plastic canopy. This version with shaped wheels can be found with either lemon or red interior. I am not sure whether both can be found in cast wheel editions.

Another rare Land Rover here - a Pony Club Gift Set 15 model with Whizzwheels and a red interior. Similar to the deep green 438 edition, most were fitted with lemon interiors so these red versions are quite sought after. 

Another little model which looks pretty common but is actually quite scarce, this Austin Seven has what I term a Type 1c base - with a narrow front section to the base and the earlier text layout. With the fixed shaped wheels, this edition will have been likely only to have been produced for a short period in 1962.

  

I didn't notice at first and it was only when I was preparing to advertise this 203 Vauxhall Velox that I noticed the lack of silver paint. Anywhere. I am familiar with some models which did not get the two streaks on the bonnet but this is the first I have encountered with none at all!

With the Vauxhall came a nice little Hillman Husky 206M with a decent motor.

From the same collection as the Vauxhall and Hillman came these two fine 208M Jaguar 2.4s. Very minimal wear to either model and they are quite special with good motors too. Although not obvious from this view, the two cars are slightly different shades, one being noticeably richer and brighter than the other. 

I love this Buick Riviera in the pale blue finish. The colour does tend to show every little flaw to the paintwork so it is a true delight to find one like this which is near immaculate. I am very unlikely to part with this in a hurry. I can see that it is going to have its photo taken rather a lot.

More or less Minis

Nothing seems ever predictable when you're dealing with Corgis and what may or may not have been produced when and which combinations may or may not have been possible. After all my and colleagues' efforts in the late Summer of last year I published some tables but revisions continue!

I have just come across a little 225 Austin with fixed shaped wheels and a 1c base so that needs to be added in to the mix! The original article is at this link.

All the 1c base types I had come across previously have had free spinning shaped wheels so this seems to be quite an unusual variation.

While I am extending the 225 possibilities, I have decided to trim down the 227 table. It was getting very long and, should examples like the 225 above be found - 227s with fixed wheels but a 1c base - then it would be even longer! Now, that may still have to be the case but until I encounter such miscreants I shall make things considerably simpler for you by not only omitting them but also deleting the white bonnet models with free wheels. They may well exist somewhere but, so far, I haven't seen any and so they can stay hidden for now. As and when examples do appear then I'll bring them back in, as will be the case with other variations not included below.

The 226 table, mainly due to the model's longevity, remains pretty much as it was but, of course, may also require further extension if examples similar to the Austin appear. It has changed only in the omission of some colours. I gave up trying to list every conceivable blue shade combination and have just left the lilac blue shade coming in near the end.

Again, there may be more to add to this but I'm sure that will be enough to try and collect for the time being.

I have included a permanent link to the main Mini article in a panel on this blog's front page so that you should be able to find comparisons and information fairly easily.

225 Austin Seven

The second Mini issued, a year after the Morris Mini Minor, was the Austin Seven in January 1961. It can be found in many shades of red as well as primrose.

[Table revised June 2018 to include 1c with fixed wheels]

For an explanation of the different types, please see my article titled Minis - the different types in September 2017.