Corgi Toys @ 60 : a new tractor, replacement ambulance and a mail-order Transporter Set

 

It's July 1966 and, at last, we get a new Massey Ferguson 165 tractor to replace the 65 that first appeared in 1959. This is a fine-looking model, no. 66, with a device mounted in the front axle housing which creates a noise when pushed along. This does mean that you won't win many races with this model but then, a tractor, I don't suppose you would have tried.

This tractor has a nice solid exhaust pipe, although the thinner top piece is still a bit vulnerable. I am not aware of any variations of this.

Also issued in July 1966 was the revised version of the Superior Ambulance on a Cadillac chassis. As with the Commer Police van, the method of making a light flash was not working well and Corgi made a new insert which carried a bulb that should flash on its own when switched on.

The colour scheme was completely changed but the model number remained the same at 437. The decals and window treatment also get changed.

Whilst there were two main variations in the colour and style of the plastic repeater lights in the first issue, I believe there are just the clear type with angled ends on this model.

Lastly July 1966 saw the introduction of a new Car Transporter with a load of six cars. Initially this was only available as something you could order by mail or abroad as it was the export edition and numbered Gift Set 41.

The contents were almost always as shown below:

There will have been changes, however, over the years although the line-up of three Minis, Ford Cortina, Hillman Imp and Rover 2000 seems consistent for this Gift Set 41.

The cab is the Ford H series and this is very detailed, first seen with the Express Service truck in September. The Transporter on its own was available as 1138 Corgi Major from April 1966.

Unless you have the box and packing for mail order and some other evidence, it is now not possible to tell what was originally issued from what may have been re-made as a set at some later date, with Gift Set 48 being the number allocated to the home release to come at the end of the year.

Unlike the Express Service model, I am not aware of any 1138 Car Transporters getting the large shaped wheels, all that I have seen having the detailed large cast variety. Of course, someone may swap the cab and I have seen some trailers being pulled by a dark metallic blue cab, although that also had detailed cast wheels.

Corgi Toys @ 60: A smart Citroën and a new Transporter

 

April 1966 brought two new models to the shelves of your local toy shop. First, the Citroën DS gets rebuilt as a 'Le Dandy' Coupé. This had nearly all the features that I wanted Corgis to have as a child: wire wheels, opening doors and boot, not just jewelled headlamps but lovely, separate, jewelled fog lamps in chrome and a glorious paint finish in luxurious metallic maroon. It was definitely one of my favourites in 1966. I had no idea then that there was also a rather attractive edition in metallic blue and white, with a quite different interior colour too. I have to admit that even in 1966, that bright yellow that Corgi used on several models was just a bit too much for my taste.

The suspension has failed on many of these models now, being provided by plastic elements that have become brittle and many that you will see sag rather sadly, especially at the back. The individual fog lamps are vulnerable and easily snapped off so nice examples can be expensive now, especially for the blue and white version.

At least Corgi did finally get the rear axle in the right place, compared to the embarrassingly misplaced position on the long-running 210, 210S and 323 models (nor does the 259 have any semblance of a differential at the back!)

The second new arrival is the Ford Carrimore Car Transporter as Corgi Major 1138.

This was a much overdue improvement on the ageing Bedford cab, the Ford cab first being seen on the Express Service truck 1137. With its tilting cab and an engine that even had a rotating fan, this was much more detailed and modern-looking. Frustratingly, the nice little touches like movable mirrors were made of plastic and came adrift too easily, as did the ladder and exhaust at the rear of the cab. Even the twin horns seldom survive the intervening 60 years, often now being bent downwards. Try to straighten them at your peril!

The transporter will take six cars without too much trouble and is a completely fresh design with very 60s style branding. The model also features the new type of wheel used from scratch for the first time. The Express Service model was initially issued with big shaped wheels.

The Ford Carrimore was a popular model, especially when loaded with six models in Gift Sets 41 or 48 and stayed on dealers' order lists through to early 1969 when it gets replaced by the Scammell edition. That, though, was a much cheaper cab to produce with only jewelled lights to give it a little appeal. The Ford remains as an example of Corgi design and engineering close to its peak at this time.

Some interesting little Imps

 Many, many years ago I came across a #251 Hillman Imp in bronze with jewelled fog lights. This week another one arrived and, unlike the first one, this is in pretty reasonable condition.

It is a strange model. It has the same jewelled fog lights as were added to the first Monte Carlo Hillman Imp #328 but the windscreen is the later style with two horizontal lines as was fitted to the second Monte Carlo (Sunbeam) Imp #340.

It is the same bronze colour as was used for the Transporter Gift Set models, which were also available individually in boxes for some lucky buyers at the time. Although this one came with an original #251 box I have no idea whether that was added later and believe this would have been part of a late set and not issued individually. With its normal shaped wheels it is not the last of the #251 production as I also have the delightful and very scarce edition with cast wheels.

The timeline for Imps starts with the blue (and maybe individual bronze) issues in November 1963.

These were withdrawn from dealers' order lists in 1966 and were absent in the 1967 Corgi Catalogue.

The Car Transporter Gift Sets 41/48 were available from December 1966 to 1968 and these contained the bronze edition.

The first rally edition, #328, had a short life from January 1966 to February 1967 with the #340 edition appearing in March 1967 and staying around until quite late in 1969.

All #328 models had shaped wheels and no lines on the windscreen. They can be found with either yellow or white interiors.

The double lines on the screen were absent from the #328 model but do appear on all #340 models, even the early ones with normal shaped wheels. Later (and most) #340 models have cast wheels.

All the 506 Police Imps were the Sunbeam version, using the #340 style of base, and all these had the double lines on the screen and cast wheels.The Police models often display marks at the front where the holes for four jewels were filled in.

So it would seem that cast wheels were first fitted to Imps in late 1967 or early 1968 and the one I have in bronze would have come from one of the last Transporter sets in 1968.

The bronze edition with jewelled fog lights is likely to have arisen when the #328 was replaced by the #340 and bodies given a bronze coat of paint instead of the metallic blue and, as this would have been in early 1967, I can only imagine the small batch getting this treatment were sold in a few Transporter Gift sets in early-mid 1967. Although it is possible that they were sent out to dealers as a sort of one-off addition, maybe free to them, I suspect the box with this one has been added at some time between 1967 and 2025.

I shall, therefore, put this one with the cast wheel edition in my own collection cabinet and transfer the box to one or other of my #251 models that I have available for sale. I might sell the other two but they will not be cheap as I do think they're pretty scarce models and, at the moment, I have nothing to compare them with in terms of valuation.

I do seem to be accumulating rather a lot of models like this - genuinely very scarce ones for which I have little guidance as to what they may be worth. It is probably the case that values for items like these will very much depend upon the depth of the pockets of those who would like them. For my own part, my resources are quite limited and, even if something wonderful appeared on the market that I had always wanted but never owned, my limit would have to reside in the three figure numbers. For someone fortunate enough to have a far greater amount of funds available, and with other living expenses taken care of so that whatever he has he may spend freely on a hobby such as Corgi Toys, then should he wish to have a model, and that model is likely to appear just once in a blue moon, then he will pay a vast sum for the satisfaction with just a mere small dent in his bank balance.

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: 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: Impala, Thunderbird, Bloodhound and a set for America

December sees the chance for parents to put missiles in their son's stocking. The Bloodhound missile had been released earlier in a set but now each of the three components, the missile, a trolley to carry it and a launch device can now be bought individually. They're all scarce in boxes. Most people did, it seems purchase one or other of the sets and so the numbers shown for sales of the items like this are very low.

A new item this month is a convertible version of the Ford Thunderbird. Despite what Marcel may have said in The Great Book of Corgi and repeated by several web sites, this only ever appeared in white in the shops, with a blue and silver interior. This was a popular model and look very impressive.

The first issue has 1959 in the casting, appearing as the rear plate. At some point this is changed and editions will be found with no year on the rear. 

The vast majority of editions will have the 1959 plate and smooth fixed wheels. Quite hard to find are two interesting variations: the smooth wheel version without the 1959 plate and the very last release with fixed shaped wheels (and no 1959). I am pretty sure that there is no shaped wheel version with 1959 - but you never know!

December saw the first view of a Chevrolet Impala, only the second model to get Glidematic spring suspension. It is not the saloon, though, but 223, the State Patrol model in black.

It was issued initially with a painted label and then this is replaced by a rather ugly sticker on the side. That's the only variation that I'm aware of and I have not seen a 'painted label' edition so cannot explain how different that actually is. The interior is always lemon but, with a production life spanning 1959 to 1965, you will find all three wheel types. The free-spinning may be marginally the less common.

Most years there will be a set issued for the Christmas market and this year sees an odd (and now pretty hard to find) Car Transporter Gift Set numbered 1A with American cars inside instead of the British ones in the illustration. Basically, the box is merely the Gift set 1 box with an A printed on afterwards and a with American Automobiles sticker.

The contents are the two Thunderbirds now released, a Plymouth Suburban Sports Saloon and, surprisingly, a Chevrolet Impala sedan. The Chevrolet is not shown in the records as being released until January. So anyone getting this set may well have had a model that was briefly only available in the 1A set. How often will it turn out that the only way to get certain variations of model would have been to buy the Transporter Gift Set.

It seems that it would be the blue Impala and every illustration I've seen shows this with a lemon interior. A strange set in another way, one car having suspension and being notably more modern than the other three.

In due course Gift Set 1B appears which seems to have the Plymouth on board but with a Citroen, Mini and Triumph for company and no 'American Cars' reference. But that's for a future post, I guess.

New arrivals in April

In an attempt to raise some money to buy some of the more expensive items on my Wanted List I make only a small apology for using the News blog to display some of the models still available that have arrived on my desk during the month.

466 B £45

205 A £80

238 D £35

9001 + box A / B £60

9002 + box A / B £54

214M B £95

490 C £40

1148 B £100

GS36 A / B+ £220

1161 B £42

900 + box A / B £60

1109 £75

1160 B+ £30

418 B- £20

322 B+ £80

359 B £45

210S B- £160

417S D £30

438Quake-Up! C+ £30

322 (near copy) R £49

318 A £50

383 B+ £25

308 B £50

277 B+£80

241 C+ £50

348  B £75

348  B £80

200 B £55

GS22 (part) B / C+ £110

For full details of any item in stock can be found in my store or just get in touch. The condition estimate letters range from A (near mint) to E (suitable for parts or repair only). R means it is not original.

Prices include UK postage. Items can be posted abroad - just ask for the rates. Payment can be made by PayPal, bank transfer or cash in an envelope. Ask for details. 

Subject to availability as these are also listed at various stores on-line.