Things Corgis could tow

 A Rambler Marlin arrived this morning and made me think about this topic. Whilst Gift Set 10 featured the same model in blue and white plus a roof-rack and a kayak, pulling a revised version of the Pennyburn Workmen's Trailer, what is the red and black one designed to pull, I wondered.

Perhaps Corgi thought people might like to swap the two Ramblers - but then I realised that the Rambler appeared in June 1966 and it would be two years before it gets the kayak treatment. Maybe the Rambler could tow the Dolphin boat and give the Buick a rest. 

So just which Corgi cars did get a tow hook and what was available for them to be attached to?

Renault 16TS (202 and 260)

Buick Riviera (245 and in Gift Set 31)

Rambler Marlin (263 and in Gift Set 10)

Oldsmobile Toronado (264 in Gift Set 36 only and 276)

GP Beach Buggy (381 in Gift Set 26 only)

The list is a lot shorter than I had expected. All but the Renault had Gift Sets issued later with something for the models to pull, although the first Oldsmobile Toronado (264) was not issued in the box with a tow hook and the second (276) always did have a tow hook but was not used in the Gift Set. The Renault did appear in Gift Set 13 but without the hook.

In the commercial sector, almost all the Land Rovers had a variety of hooks, as did most of the Jeep F-150 models in various issues, as well as the VW Breakdown Truck and, of course, tractors, many trucks and lorries too. I don't think there were any other cars, though.

For the cars to tow there is little that Corgi had to offer.

Pony trailer (102)
Double horsebox (112)
Dolphin Boat on a trailer (104)
Pennyburn Workmen's Trailer (109)

That's it. I suppose you could add the Glastron Speedboat on a trailer which was included in Gift Set 36 but it was not sold individually. I hardly think Corgi were expecting us to hitch up a plough or farm trailer to any of these cars and the two early trailers - the platform and drop-side trailers 100 and 101 - are not likely partners either.

Late editions of the 102 Pony Trailer and all the Double Horsebox trailers would not have fitted over the button-type hook towing device that they had either. Early Buicks had a clutch type mechanism which may have worked but I doubt it was supposed to. So we're left with precious little left.

I am sure we may one day learn of plans for Caravans or small trailers one day which never got past the planning team meetings.

Maybe someone out there knows. Write to me if you have any information as none of the hooks really make much sense.

An unusual Buick Riviera - with gold grille and bumpers

 

Here is an interesting addition to my collection for 2022. The 245 Buick Riviera in a splendid shade of dark metallic blue with gold 'chrome' at the front and back. 

It appears to be an early edition with the 'grab' type of hook. It arrived with the later type of tyre - the post-1967 type with Corgi branding and in line tread - but they clearly cannot have been right so I replaced them with original 'normal' tyres of the right era.

The paint is quite thin but not greatly different to the metallic blue and gold that were the norm (the pale solid blue shade being rather thicker). It is not a coat that someone has added on top of another colour as the photo below shows, so this is either original or the base has been very cleverly refitted with no sign of damage to the rivets or where they might have been removed. The paint does, however, blur the definition of the Riviera motifs on the wings.

So this is a bit of a mystery and the first  I have ever seen with gold front and back. It is conceivable that someone has gold plated the original chrome pieces - or maybe gold pieces were available to buy as new parts - and somehow taken it all to bits and rebuilt it but this has been played with and people who make such smart rebuilds tend to look after them, as does whoever subsequently buys them. I am more inclined to the view that this is a production sample when colour schemes and, indeed, gold-plating may have been options on the table for the 245. Gold plating was not to be and the paint on this sample not suitable so it gets rejected.

It then gets taken home by someone at some point and a Corgi chap's child gets to play with it, eventually coming up for sale with a bundle of other Corgis. The seller had no knowledge of its past, just a random collection bought. 

I am happy to have this and expect it to stay in my display cabinet for many years before I learn any more about it!

Cast wheels on a pale blue Buick Riviera!

 

So the hook's broken and this Buick Riviera has been well played-with, for sure, but look - it's got cast wheels! These are almost unknown on the pale blue model. Usually it is just the late turquoise blue and some normal metallic blue models that have them. They're not that common on the gold editions but really scarce on the pale blue.

I would not have even known they existed if it had not been several years ago when I saw them on an immaculate edition in an original Riviera Gift Set. I tried very hard to buy the set but someone else clearly had seen what I'd seen and I had to drop out when the bidding went past £500 for the set. Add auction fees and heaven knows how much for postage and something approximating to packing and there'll have been little change out of £650 for a set which would usually peak at around half that, and that would be on a good day for the seller.

Since that disappointing experience I have looked high and low for another and finally I am the proud owner of a pale blue Riviera with cast wheels. And a broken hook and grotty paintwork, but I don't care.

The screens are clear and undamaged and the suspension is sound. The Trans-o-lite tubes are all OK and there's even quite a bit of chrome left on the bumpers. That'll do for me.

 

Interesting New Arrivals

Here are some of the recent arrivals. An interesting bunch of models, starting with this nice old RAC Radio Rescue Land Rover. Those who have been reading these articles for a few years may well remember the trouble I had in trying to decide the order in which the variations on this theme arrived and how I attempted to get some clue as to the relative scarcity of each. 

This is the first type with a headboard but, with shaped wheels, it will have been produced in late 1960. The weird thing is that you'll find the second type, without a headboard, with smooth wheels too! I had to give up putting dates on these and concluded that the period covering the switch from headboard to no headboard coincided with the switch from smooth to shaped fixed wheels and that there will have been days when the ladies on the production line were getting old models with new wheel supplies or new models with old wheel supplies.

I can even imagine a production line where there were several ladies working and they may have had boxes of various bits and pieces to fit. In those days there wouldn't have been many choices; window units, drivers maybe, wheels, tyres, aerials. Maybe one lady had been away for a while and her boxes remained untouched so that when she returned to work she had some old wheels to use up whereas everyone else had moved on to the new type.

Whatever the case, this model is not at all common, with production I estimate to be in thousands not tens of thousands.

Two very nice Buick Rivieras arrived last week. One is missing a tow bar but that actually improves this car in my view! However, as I tend to use these for the Riviera Gift Sets, I shall have to fit a replacement some time. In the meantime, though, I wanted to share the different colours of the two models.

Now, you might wish to put this down to smoking and the fact that kids grew up in rooms that you could barely see from one end to the other when father was home and, even if you could, at one end would be a fire belching out smoke when it started or some damp fuel was added and not all the smoke went up the chimney either. There is, I agree, a tobacco hue to the blue but my bet is that there are two different shades of blue and the brighter, lighter shade is the earlier of the two. My logic for this is that the hook type on the Buick is the weird grab type which I am pretty sure was the earlier variety.

A model I was particular relieved to see arrive undamaged after a trip from Spain is this Fiat 600 Ghia 'Jolly'. This is the 242 model, issued in 1965 but only for a very short period. It had superseded 240, a similar model that came in shades of blue and had the silly plastic roof which I can only assume Corgi had too many of, still lying around after not selling with the Bermuda Taxi, which itself had been a desperate attempt to get more mileage out of the old Ford Thunderbird.

It was a fussy and easily damaged model, with its vulnerable screen, people who fell out on every turn and delicate chrome detailing. Not one for the boys, really. Now really sought-after and this one will make over £200.

An earlier project had been to build that mysterious Aston Martin Competition model with wire wheels, supposedly issued in late 1964. I had completed one a while ago for my own display cabinet but a nice American chap, with a massive house in Maine, bought that one. Unfortunately, it was damaged in the post but, whilst that might have been easily repaired, the chap tried to do it himself and caused more damage. Distraught, as he'd really been pleased with it, he ordered and paid handsomely for another.

I duly obliged, having a nice 309 late model in stock. It needed to be the one with the closed bonnet vent. Illustrated here is the finished job with original Corgi wheels too, not replacements, acquired from someone who happened to find a few in his pocket in the 1960s when he retired from the factory.

After all my efforts, though, the original buyer decided to keep the first one as he had decided, as he said, that 'the damage wasn't too bad after all'. So I have this one available if anyone is interested. In the meantime it will be in my cabinet.

Aston Martins are almost permanently on my desk these days. A recent post talked about how difficult to find are the 218 models with fixed shaped wheels. Here is another Aston Martin that is easier to find but not if you want it complete and fully functional! It is the first edition of 270, the second 'James Bond' Aston Martin, replacing the gold one that I think just about every boy of Corgi collecting age had. The bits work on this one but it was missing the front bumper. Many are missing this piece and look pretty dreadful with the gaping space between base and body. It was far too nice to take to pieces, though, and I have fitted new sections left and right and it looks pretty reasonable now.

[I have no idea what the red is that I now notice on the front tyre!]

I made something of an icon out of the Copper Ghia L6.4 by featuring it at the top of this site and also in many other places where I needed a particularly fine illustration. The Ghia was a superb model in any colour with so many features and a gorgeous stance, even with broken suspension. In this, the rarest of the many colours used in its production time it is a truly lovely-looking model and an expensive one to boot.

So whenever I see one I want to buy it but can seldom afford it. This one I could afford as it is a bit tatty with many chips to the paintwork and, of course, absent suspension. I might be able to do something about the suspension and the paintwork I can live with but the real problem was the missing rear tyres. Take this as a warning now - do not buy a Ghia L6.4 with missing or broken rear tyres! You simply cannot replace them unless you wish to remove axles or get involved with some other drastic action.

I tried very hard but there simply is not enough of a gap between the rim and the body, made worse by the inward facing lower edges of the body panels. I resorted to cutting the tyre and wrapping it around the rim. I had thought that I might be able to glue the tyre ends together but the old original Corgi manufactured tyres that I am using are too tough and even holding them closed is too much of an effort, never mind maintaining them that way while glue sets.

So this one is not likely to be going anywhere any time soon! Another one for the cabinet maybe.

Here is another salutary tale for you. This is a pleasant enough 470 Jeep FC-150. Nice condition with only very small chips on raised edges mostly. It's missing its canopy so it isn't going to sell for very much which is disappointing as I thought I would be getting something quite different. Below is what I thought I was buying from a lady in Spain. A bright yellow edition which she had assured me had not been repainted with original rivets in place and all the warranty I wanted that it was real. Now I look again, in a different light, I can see how my error arose. The green-grey background and white surround make it appear yellow. But it's just beige like the others.

On a happier note, here's a very well looked-after NSU Sport Prinz. You don't see many of this model which didn't sell in massive numbers at the time. It was one of those few models which did nothing. Nothing opened. Not even an aerial or transfer.

The interesting thing about this 316 NSU Sport Prinz is its colour; a sort of deep metallic red, distinctly different and a lot scarcer than the very pink cerise that you will usually find this appears in.

That got me thinking. Not many Corgis with suspension and interiors had nothing else by way of features. See if you can think of any others that weren't merely S versions of the earlier no suspension models or the A edition of the Lotus XI. I'll publish the answers in my next article.

And what was the last car issued without suspension (other than the Bluebird).

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.

The Cast of Riviera Blues

It seems that it was not just the Toronado that came in several distinct shades of blue but the good old Buick Riviera too.  So far, all those I have encountered have been the same sort of of 'normal' blue metallic. Simply blue, I don't know how else to describe it. Now, though, along comes this quite clearly green-blue. It is much more noticeable in reality - the photos, despite my best efforts - don't show the difference as clearly. (I had the same problem trying to capture the difference in two Toronados, strangely enough.)

This one has come all the way from America. I was looking for a model with cast wheels which I'd spotted on one for sale. Unfortunately, all that I could find here were a very expensive blue one at around £200 and a tatty one with broken bits in gold. That was cheap enough but was beyond simple repair and I reckoned that it would be fairly easy just to change the wheels if I took it apart and then I couldn't prove that it was the rarer, late version.

So there are a few with cast wheels around and I guess they're not that difficult to find but they are worth looking out for. I'll buy a decent gold one when I find it. Finding the new shade was a bonus. The picture in the advert did look as if it was greenish but I'd put that down to light or just rubbish image processing.

The Riviera Set

An immaculate #245 Buick Riviera in gold arrived this morning. This has to be one of the best I have seen and it even had an original box. That had a bite out of it where I suspect a mouse had been munching but nothing major! However, I suppose that might have put off the purists and enabled me to pick this up for a very reasonable price.

Although it does have a towbar I'd rather use the light blue version for the Riviera Gift Set 31s that I am planning to put together. That colour just looks right in that set. I guess there must have been gold ones but all the sets I have seen had the light blue. Even the darker metallic blue was seldom used. I was wondering why they bothered putting a towbar on all models but, of course, the Dolphin boat was available separately as #104 and that would have been quite popular as a cheaper alternative to the quite expensive Gift Set and there wasn't a great deal you could do with the girl on a surf board, the only addition for your money, either.

So I now have gold and metallic blue versions with boxes to add to the site. My original gold Buick has excellent paintwork but the chrome has disappeared leaving just toffee coloured plastic. If I can find some replacement chrome this could be a candidate for the 'black list' (models I have taken apart and put back together again so can't sell as originals). This car could look brilliant in black.