US Military models

 

Here is a complete set of the US Army models from  1960, 1963 and 1965 that I now have available. All but the Tanker and one of the #357 Land Rovers have been carefully handled and show no marks or darkening of the vulnerable matt finish. Most also all have original boxes in good or excellent condition.

355 Commer Military Police Vehicle

356 VW Personnel Van

357 Land Rover Weapons Carrier

357 Land Rover Weapons Carrier

358 Oldsmobile HQ Staff Car

359 Army Field Kitchen

414 Bedford CA Military Ambulance

500 US Army Land Rover

1133 Troop Transporter

1134 Fuel Tanker

1135 Heavy Equipment Transporter

The #1135 Heavy Equipment Transporter is particularly rare with only around 28,000 produced, of which most will have been exported to America. It appears that roughly one-third of the production had a red interior fitted so there may only have been less than 10,000 of these, a number which puts the model, already in the same league as the 351S RAF Land Rover in total numbers, on a similar scale of scarcity to the Rocket Age, Garage and Silverstone Gift Sets.

It is currently missing the tray insert which has been lost. I am going to sell this with a tray that has the 'Carrimore Detachable Axle Machinery Carrier' text on the side, taken from an earlier #1131 model. Although most #1135s I have seen have had 'Heavy Machinery Carrier', there have been a few with the earlier text. Whether they are as issued or have been changed at some point I cannot tell. When the #1135 was being prepared for issue there would certainly have been the #1131 trays around as that was also in production. With a 'Heavy Equipment' tray I would expect this model to sell for around £500 but I shall adjust the price to £400 and agree to swap the tray should another come to light. There is, as I write, another model someone has advertised at £450 with the 'Carrimore with detachable axle' text. Whether that is original or a later replacement, I don't know. 

Big Bedford cabs and suspension

 

Now here's a funny little thing that has started to intrigue me. It's the familiar 'Big Bedford' cab in what was probably a brighter shade of red when it was made. I bought it with a transporter unit, thinking the pair were an original 1101 item. However, when they arrived, I noticed that the transporter section had suspension so my first thoughts were that someone had simply combined a 1101 cab with a 1105 transporter and not known any better when advertising this. There weren't many pictures so I didn't see any bases.

Looking around, though, I have found precious few transporters with  a red cab with shaped wheels. One, strangely, also is attached to a transporter section with suspension. (It's easy to tell the difference as the bases look completely different and this time there were pictures.)

So I am wondering whether there might have been a transitional issue, sold as 1101 but with the Big Bedford cab attached to a transporter with suspension?

1101 first appeared in October 1957. It would be over five years before 1105 was issued in November 1962. We see suspension arriving with the Renault Floride in 1959 and shaped wheels were fitted to most new models from issue from mid-1961 on and would have gradually replaced smooth wheels on existing models still in production from then on. So a shaped wheel cab is very much to be expected in the late issues in the few months before the change to a TK cab type. Could it be that the transporter section, which also has shaped wheels in the examples of this combination I have seen, was upgraded before being attached to the new cab?

The only other explanation is that both sellers have mixed up their cabs and transporters, which, of course, is also entirely feasible!

The cab was also used for several other issues such as the 1100 Low Loader, 1104 Machinery Carrier and 1110 Mobilgas Tanker. It would be extraordinarily late, December 1965 before the Mobilgas Tanker gets the TK cab (although the tanker still doesn't get suspension!) so all production prior to that will have had a red Big Bedford cab and most of the later production would surely have had shaped wheels. That would support the mix-up of components by a seller.

I am still a little intrigued by the possibility of a transitional issue, though. If anyone knows more about this do get in touch.

Update: I have since found several 1101 models with shaped wheels and both the red cab and transporter section but they're few and far between in comparison to the smooth wheel editions. There is also the problem with the different bases on the cabs. Early models have a black base and these appear all to have three rivets. The later models, however, with grey bases, can have either two or three rivets and either smooth or shaped wheels for each type! So far that's five different red cabs!

The two tankers released in December 1965 were, incidentally, almost the last 'normal' models to have no suspension (on the rear tanker section, that is, which didn't get updated and still has its ancient tin plate base so beware people swapping that cabs as the red TK cab is fairly easy to find but a genuine later Mobilgas original model is not.). I'm excluding Classics, farm machinery and the like, as well as the Man From U.N.C.L.E. Oldsmobile and the Monkeemobile which leaves just the odd 319 Lotus Elan S2 as the last normal vehicle to be issued without suspension. I remember being disappointed when I bought it. OK, the chassis could be removed but surely it could not have been that difficult to include some suspension in the chassis? Only a month earlier they had issued the 1142 Holmes Recovery Truck with a mass of devices included and a month later we could buy the Lincoln Continental with a TV screen inside which could light up! Suspension on a 319 chassis would surely have been simple in comparison.

Corgi Toys @ 60: The Sting Ray and two Gift Sets

 

It's August and, as a child starting a long school holiday, you can imagine the delight at seeing this in my St. Albans toy shop in French Row! The Chevrolet Sting Ray was a smart model you just had to have, with its twin jewelled headlamps which could be opened up and closed. This was the first to have twin jewels. The Jaguar Mk X had four jewels at the front but two were smaller and not quite the same as twin headlamps like these. This particular model is in a scarce bronze finish and will have been issued a little later, always having wire wheels.

Now this is an imposter, I add quickly before you all write in and tell me that's not a Corgi. Look closely, though, and you'll see that this is an exact copy of the Corgi from Auto-Pilen in 1970. They added opening doors and a better quality interior but otherwise this is the Corgi casting (or a made from one!)

This metallic pink-crimson edition was the first on the scene, with normal wheels when first issued. It would get wire wheels a few months later.

All the silver models appear to have wire wheels. there are two editions in silver. One is a quite thin, metallic silver finish similar to the James Bond Aston Martin. The other has a more pearlescent finish - I call it champagne silver and it can display a slight gold effect in some lights.

These Sting Rays did look rather better with their lights closed. The device that holds the jewels never quite sits as nicely as it should when open but it was nevertheless a super model and very popular.

Also in August 1963 the Commer Construction Gift set 24 was released.

This was my own set and note the coin that I used to release the different sections. This is a super set and provided us with all sorts of possibilities - four different vehicles with a red base and four different vehicles with a white base. If you happened to have the Police Commer Van then you could extend the range even further as that had the same release on the base! 

The red chassis always had Trans-o-lite headlamps, the white chassis did not.

The last addition for August 1963 was the Gift Set 27 with a Priestman Cub Shovel on the Bedford Machinery Carrier.

This was a long-running item, as can be evidenced by the wheels on the Carrier. Initially issued with normal shaped wheels it gets the louvre-type spoke effect wheels in around 1967 and then the larger commercial truck wheels in 1968.

Whilst I am sure there must be some other small variations in these models, all that I have encountered appear the same, with yellow interior to the light blue cab and a black removable rear axle.

The rear Chevrolet Corvette Stingray! Corgi were not wrong with their choice of colour for the first issue!

Corgi Toys @ 60: Car Transporter gets suspension

 

Just one new addition at the shops in November 1962, the revised Car Transporter. A Bedford TK cab now pulls the transporter section which gets suspension too.

I only know this issue with a red cab pulling the blue and very pale bluish-white trailer.

The cab is the same as that issued in the previous month and which will be added to several different trailers in years to come. The wing mirrors should have small reflective pieces attached to the vertical faces at each end. With this issue the interior should always be lemon.

The wheels are the normal shaped type but in the larger size for the Major model and fitted with a fat round profile tyre. Very late cabs might have been fitted with the cast type of wheel which have been seen on the Machinery Carrier and so it is feasible that someone might swap a cab from another issue to this 1105 model. As far as I can tell, however, only shaped wheels were fitted with production ending in 1966 and a totally different Ford Cab and Trailer were introduced.

Corgi Toys @ 60: An ambulance, lights, new cab and a long-lived horse transporter

October 1962 sees the arrival of two new models on the local toy shop shelves, a Chipperfields Horse Transporter and a dramatic-looking American ambulance.

The Horse Transporter is the Corgi Majors model 1130 featuring the new Bedford TK cab with its nice wing mirrors and suspension. This would be the first appearance of this cab, later to be linked with a whole range of old and new trailers. The cab is always red and the trailer is in Chipperfield colours. The upper section is rather cheaply produced in plastic, something else new for Corgi.

Inside the trailer are six white horses, each carefully separated by cardboard in the original packing. The whole model sits on a tray and there is a familiar piece of white corrugated card wrapped around the sides and roof in the outer thin card box.

The trailer has suspension and you'll see this again, many years later in 1973, in green and yellow in a Racing Horse Transporter 1004, still with a Bedford TK cab (but the economy version without mirrors), and again, attached to a Berliet cab in 1976 in brown and white. That's 14 years for the trailer casting with just a change of paint and plastic colour.

The ambulance was billed as a 'Superior Ambulance on Cadillac Chassis'. I am assuming that Superior was the brand name of the bodywork conversion people. This is another 'first' for Corgi with the inclusion of a battery in a compartment underneath which powered a 1½ volt bulb and some tubes also conveyed the light to two 'lights' front and another two at the rear. Maybe this gave developers the idea of the 'Trans-o-lite' system and similar use of light via some plastic on a few other vehicles to follow.

This was the first version of the Superior Ambulance. Like the Commer Police Van and Military Police Van to appear later, the rear axle had a cam which pushed a thin piece of copper to complete a circuit and light the bulb. The faster the ambulance ran, the faster the bulb flashed (in theory). In practice, this resulted in the merest flicker when the driving was enthusiastic along the carpet and the connection was often a bit scratchy too, resulting in a less than clear 'flash'.

The system would be updated across the range in a few years with a simple on-off switch and a 'flashing' bulb, operated by a filament which connected and disconnected with temperature changes inside the bulb itself.

The ambulance would be re-issued with the same 437 catalogue number but will appear in a totally different colour scheme of blue and white with different decals too.

Once again, the Corgi model Club have also almost matched a new release with a 60th birthday of an original, as their reproduction of the 437 model has recently reached our doorsteps. Theirs, though, is the later colour scheme.

The first 437 may have slightly different design and colour for the four plastic 'lights'

This edition has distinct yellow conical shape instead of the white sharper triangular shape.

All 437 models that I have seen had fixed shaped wheels. The rear wheels would have to be fixed to ensure the cam rotated. Later blue and white editions will have either shaped free spinning or cast wheels.

Big Daktari (and a small elephant)

 

It has taken a while but I finally have all the components for the second Daktari Gift Set. This is Gift Set 14, issued in May 1969 and including some unique items.

By 1969, the normal Land Rover and Dodge Kew Fargo trucks would have been fitted with cast wheels but it seems that these sets often had both with shaped wheels, as I have here. I don't know the distribution but I would expect these sets to have had predominantly cast wheel editions of these two. You could imagine that Corgi had several boxes full of the Land Rover left over from its outing in Gift Set 7 but that set too was available not only with cast wheels on the Land Rover but with Whizzwheels too! So, if you read the books, you'll be told that Gift Set 7 ceased production in 1969 which was when Gift Set 14 started to be issued. Logically, there really should not be any Daktari Land Rovers with Whizzwheels but, clearly, there are, and many of them too, judging by the low prices most sell at. I think, therefore, we can take it that Gift Set 7 remained in production well into the early 1970s and that, in turn, is much more likely to justify the sales of nearly 1 million, according to the same books.

In this set, however, it appears that Whizzwheels were not fitted to any of the models, despite the books telling us that it ran through to 1973. Sales of a mere 100,000 or so, however, may have been just the first few production runs of the models and there was never a need to replace them. It simply did not sell as well and is now extremely hard to find, especially if you seek a box. I have seen two boxes so far in my several years of looking and there are no reproductions being made either, presumably because they cannot get hold of an original to copy.

The Kew Fargo Truck never got Whizzwheels anyway, this being its final appearance in new colours and the Daktari decals being added as paper stickers. Most models suffer from the usual suspension problem, resulting from a bent prop shaft. If you search this blog for Kew Fargo Truck you will find my instructions on how this can be repaired without taking the base off or spoiling anything.

The Land Rover, as I have said, is identical to that issued with Gift Set 7.

The third model is the Bedford Giraffe Transport vehicle, being the same thing as the June 1964 Chipperfields edition getting a fresh lease of life here. It now has nice pale brown paintwork and the carrier section has a two-tone brown giraffe pattern, bearing the Wameru Sub-District decal in red. As with later editions of the Chipperfields version, this truck has the attractive and quite realistic cast wheels as fitted to some later commercial vehicles.

All the Gift Set 7 characters moved to Gift Set 14 with the Land Rover; that's Paula on the lion and the lion has a pair of spectacles, together with the doctor wearing a stethoscope and with a chimpanzee on his lap. These are all present and original here - the glasses and stethoscope are tiny, easily lost and quite hard to find as originals now. Replacements are good, though, and that's what you'll find most people have and it isn't easy to tell without a magnifying glass, although the reproduction spectacles rarely stay in place on the lion.

In the back of the Giraffe Transporter you'll find the same mother and baby as were in the Chipperfields box. 

The Kew Fargo truck carries two elephants. The big one is the same as you find in Gift Set 19, the Chipperfields set with a ready-made elephant in a ready-made cage on the back of a trailer towed by a Land Rover. (In the 607 kit both the cage and elephant are in separate parts and, when made, may appear slightly different). The baby elephant is the part you may well find the most difficult to track down. It is noticeably smaller than the other one and has a quite chunky appearance, with trunk hanging down and turning back at the end slightly. It is a dark grey colour. It is often missing and, I suppose, gets mixed up with whatever other animals the owner may have had at the time and, when it comes time to sell his collection the baby elephant will, more often than not, finish up in a bag with several other animals of no Corgi origin. Once the connection is lost it will not be regained and, as a consequence, I spent many months searching for one.

Strangely, both that came to light were found by my German friend and collector, Andi. I have yet to see one for sale in the UK. (Of course, having said that, there may now be a whole herd of them tramping through Great Britain if not the Channel Is!) Many people, unable to find the correct one, have substituted another, and I have even seen imposters in place of the comparatively easy to find mother elephant. The trunk and how it is shaped is the best thing to look out for in both cases.

As they stand, the group is probably worth around £200, which at a mere £60 or so for each of the principal elements + their content, is not very much when one considers just how difficult is is to get everything. Add a box, however, and the price sails up to £600, (a lot more at one of the auctions I've seen!) So I shall not be selling any of these just yet. Indeed, I fear it may be some years before a box comes along but they'll still represent an excellent return on investment, I'm sure.

Corgi Toys @ 60 : Mercedes, Jeep and another Bedford

April 1959 brought a second Mercedes model to the toy shop shelves, #304. It is the 303 chassis with the interior element and screen removed and a hardtop with windows fitted instead. 

Most of these models were a creamy-yellow colour with a bright red hard top. There are all yellow examples out there, however, and these command quite a significantly higher price.

I believe they all have smooth, fixed wheels.

It was a long-lasting model, getting a strange form of suspension a couple of years later in 1961 - but no interior throughout its life. It was never as popular as the open roadster 303 model, always seeming a bit basic but nonetheless, an attractive and well-made casting.

The second release in April 1959 was something quite different; an American Jeep FC-150 Pick-up truck issued as #409. All were in pale blue or a slightly darker shade with a tin hook and these were not supplied with a canopy. The grille is painted red. Still no interior on Corgi models.

It is an odd model. Firstly, I do not know how you are supposed to replace a tyre on the spare wheel if it ever gets worn. Secondly, it appears to have been manufactured quite differently from all the models issued to date. The door outlines are proud of the main surface whereas all other models have them engraved into the body. Underneath, too, the construction looks quite different to other models. Maybe another chap took over that part of the process for a while. 

The Jeep may not have been the most exciting model but it lasted a long time and the casting was to be used in a wide variety of ways right up until the last release in 1968. It certainly seems to cause a great deal of confusion with sellers often advertising one version as another but, as far as I am aware, there was only one colour #409 (allowing for shades). It can be found with shaped wheels and these are not uncommon. I would also imagine that there could be a free spinning wheel version as this remained until the mid-1960s. That would be a pretty nice find, though.

The third item for this month is another use for the Bedford S cab, now pulling a Mobilgas branded tanker unit, Corgi Majors catalogue number 1110. This can be found with either fixed smooth or fixed shaped wheels but that is the only variation I am aware of. It was quite a good seller and the rear section lasts for ages, getting attached to a very odd-looking later Bedford TK cab in 1965!

Corgi Toys @ 60: Bedford Machinery Carrier

From September 1958 we have another use for the 'Big' Bedford cab, now attached to a machinery carrier base and similar in many ways to the Low Loader issued earlier in the year. This has the same winch but in place of a ramp there is a detachable rear axle and two fold-down ramps of wheel width only.

You could have fun with this model, hauling whatever you could find on to the back, or driving other toys up the ramps and off again somewhere else on the carpet. Only certain shapes would work with the winch, though, and that handle was rather unrealistic and tended to spoil things a bit. I am sure that something more to scale would have still functioned as well.

Strangely, I have never had one of these 1104 models and so the illustration is with acknowledgements to QDT. It seems that all the 1104 models had a red cab with a black detachable rear axle. Some may have a matt black finish but the normal ones are gloss black.

This model has a long life and this gets extended yet further in 1963 when it gets the later TK style cab and a capstan affair with a couple of spare tyres replaces the winch.

Bedford Cabs

I couldn't resist buying this old Army Fuel Tanker that was going cheap and which had caught my eye because of the cab. As far as I know all the 1134 models have the old 'Big' Bedford cab.

Then I started to think about it a bit more and remembered that the other two uses of the tanker section were the Mobilgas and Milk editions, each of which gets issued with a new cab and, in those cases, a new number.

The US Army fuel tanker first appears in January 1965. But the Bedford TK style cab had been pulling the 1131 Machinery Carrier and the Low Loader in November 1963, more than a year earlier! Indeed, it is that TK cab that gets to pull the US Army Machinery Carrier issued as 1135 at the very same time as the 1134 Fuel Tanker.

Whilst I appreciate that the Mobilgas and Milk tankers didn't get new cabs until later in 1965, it does strike me as most odd that Corgi should have attached the old S type cab to the Tanker and the new TK one to the Carrier when the TK would have been then then 'current' cab for all these articulated models.

It is, therefore, entirely reasonable to see a 1134 with the TK cab but what I feel is that this is a combination by someone at some point in time and that somewhere in someone's loft lurk a khaki 1135 and an old S type cab in a similar colour. Whilst what I have bought is possible to have existed, I suspect it didn't really.

So now I am searching for old army trailers and khaki S Type cabs! Both 1134 and 1135 were produced in very paltry numbers, though, and had a lifespan of only a year or so at best. They're quite sought after now so my chances are pretty slim.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Bedford Ambulance

This month in 1957 saw the little Bedford CA van in St John's Ambulance guise. A common sight at the Hertfordshire Show that I used to go to with my dad (and, no doubt at all sorts of other public events across the country).

In cream with the St John's Ambulance motif, this stayed around until some time in 1960 when it was updated to the single screen casting but retained the same catalogue number. The single screen versions are hard to find, not least because many seller advertise the model just from one side!

412 has an opaque section for windows at the sides and rear. I believe it can be found with both types of grille - the rounded top shown in the image above, as well as a distinctly straighter top edge (although that edition I have yet to obtain).

I am not sure that there will be twin screen editions with fixed shaped wheels and they are likely to be pretty scarce on the single screen edition too.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Bedford Carrimore Car Transporter

October saw the first of several car transporters, the first of the Corgi 'Majors', and this also was the debut of the Bedford 'S' Type tractor unit. That unit would appear on a wide range of models for many more years.

The twin deck car transporter was a great model for children but expensive at 18/6d. Unless you had a birthday beforehand, this was more likely to be a Christmas present, if anything. The rear ramp would fold down and the precisely engineered 'hydraulic' supports would allow the top deck to be lowered slowly so that cars could be driven on in a very realistic manner.

This would be made available in Corgi's first Gift Set in December with four cars aboard. You'll have to wait until then to discover which were the first cars.

The cab was either red, pulling a blue and grey deck or blue with an all yellow deck. The former is by far the more commonly found now. The 'Majors' were produced in a much more appropriate scale - similar to that used for cars, although the comparatively small commercial lorries would also still continue for some time yet. They would look quite odd parked next to the Transporter.

The cab would be changed in 1962 but the deck section would remain largely unchanged through to 1966, getting suspension and a different base but, I think, the same ramp and transport sections.

The Bedford CA Top 40!

Doing the Timeline for the RAC Land Rover made me think again about the Bedford CA range. I had been looking at which models might be the really scarce ones but I had completely ignored the variations of wheels. Sometime in late 1960 or early 1961 the shaped wheels began to appear. This was around the time that the MkII single screen Bedford CA vans were also produced so it occurred to me that there might well be a significant difference in numbers produced for some of these.

For example, the last Bedford CA was the Military Ambulance 414. This is listed as appearing first in January 1961 and, although over 130,000 were produced, you won't see many with smooth wheels as shortly after it started being made the shaped ones would have taken over.

Now, I don't know any exact dates but I've been able to make some pretty sensible guesses for significant changes. The assumptions I've made are listed below the table. This is still work in progress and this table is a 'live' table which will change if I make amendments so it should stay as current as I can make it by incorporating any readers' corrections or worthy observations.


A glance at the numbers will show us that 422s with a yellow roof and smooth wheels could be the star of the show, along with its sister with shaped wheels. The difference between the two variations of 414 are also remarkable; one being 5th scarcest and the other the most common by a long way!

I hope this is getting closer to a definitive listing of these charming little vans. We are at 40 now in the list. I know there are some others, like the half yellow, half blue 422 and possible different shades of light blue and turquoise for the 404M which I might have to include one day. The former, though, is seriously valuable and may be in the hundreds only. As for the shades, including these may have the effect of making each appear quite rare by further dividing the numbers. I can only divide them evenly without any evidence to the contrary and so may be making one appear more or less scarce than it really deserves to be! So, for now, I have resisted listing shades.

Assumptions:

• Shaped wheels were fitted from December 1960
• Smooth wheels ceased being fitted after December 1961
• Between December 1960 and December 1961 either type might have been available in equal numbers
• Production ceased in June of the year specified in publications or, for a Mk I model that continued with the same number as a Mk II, in the month preceding the MkII version first appearance
• The numbers produced each month remained constant through a period of production (see below)
• Where several variations of a model exist with a similar period of production, these were distributed evenly except in the case of variations known to be very scarce.
• Model 405 in red and 422 with a yellow roof are assumed each to represent 10% of the total production of 405 or 422 models respectively.

Update 12 April 2017:

It was clear that some initial research was producing rather different degrees of scarcity with, for instance, a lot more smooth wheels being apparent in comparison to shaped on the same edition. So I took a long, hard look at the production run possibilities again and made some changes. The main change has been to say that production started at a high level and decreased thereafter. In other words, most models of each type or variation would have been made at the start of the production period. 

I have taken what I think has to be a much more accurate guess now as to the numbers made in each of three stages: before shaped wheels, during the period when both were being fitted and the period when only shaped wheels were fitted. For some models there might just be two stages as some either ceased before shaped wheels came along or started when both might have been available.

The effect of the revised calculations can be seen in the 'live' table above and I have added a column to indicate probable scarcity. You'll see that now the stars of the show are mostly the shaped wheel types.

I still feel there is a bit of an anomaly as we see rather more smooth wheels on 414s than shaped in initial searches as to what's available at present. I would expect it to be the other way round. The latest ratio is not as extreme as my previous estimate, though, so perhaps a larger sample size will support my assumptions better.

I do believe that this is about as close as I shall ever get, in the absence of more accurate actual figures from somewhere. So I shall leave this with you and hope it inspires thought and helps those with the genuinely scarce little vans appreciate them even more.

An old yellow 1101 Bedford Car Transporter in Pretoria

The sharp-eyed out there will have spotted that the cab is from an 1100 Low Loader but this still makes a nice pairing. Perhaps its new owner in Faerie Glen, Gauteng, may have some other cabs and trailers to make correct models with. Whatever the case it looks a nice place to go and someone should mention to the driver that the drive on the left over there.

The trouble with yellow

I shall have to start a tin canopy business. I now have two 416 models that require covers but I have little hope of finding the right one for either.

This is the Belgian equivalent to our RAC service Land Rover. I don't think there were many of these produced so it's a nice rare find, for which I have to thank my friend Andreas in Germany who seems to be able to spot an interesting Land Rover from several hundred miles away with distinct ease. I didn't expect to be able to afford it but, fortunately, it was not very prominently advertised and I expect most people in Belgium didn't really see what was particularly special about it.

Even if I can find the right colour cover, or get one made, the chances of finding the TS transfers are next to zero. Maybe someone over there in Belgium can have a look round for me? There'll be a toybox somewhere in a loft in Antwerp, Bruges or Châtelet with just what I need.

With it came, as part of the deal, this odd-looking car transporter.

On arrival I could see that the cab was actually a different shade of yellow to the rear car section but I wasn't too bothered as it was essentially a free addition with the TS Land Rover. The rear section in yellow was part of 1101, the first type of transporter, and would have had a light blue cab which is what I now have to find somewhere. Then I need to find the right thing for the yellow cab to be attached to. That could only be a 1100, the very first Low Loader. The chances of my finding one of those with a blue cab, however are slim as most, if not all had red. So that means I shall have to find something that has a blue cab that could also have had a red cab!

I am not at all sure I can solve this conundrum without acquiring a string of trucks and lorries and trailers! 

Another yellow item arriving this week was this delightful VW1200 in German ADAC colours. The stickers are pretty worn but the paintwork is excellent. another unusual item that I thought would be hard to find and just popped up unexpectedly.