It's October 1959 and the shops get what I think is Corgi's biggest single item, a specially constructed vehicle to carry the massive Corporal missile issued in the summer. This vehicle doesn't just carry the thing, though, it also has nicely manufactured mechanisms by which you could transfer the missile to the launching ramp (if you had one handy) in a vertical position.
The photograph below, featured in The Great Book of Corgi, shows a number of Corgi personnel, including Marcel Van Cleemput (writing, with glasses,) and Percy Wilford (in a white coat to the right) the senior design and production engineers, making rapid sketches and notes when, we are told, the driver of an erector vehicle stopped near the factory in Northampton.
The result was an impressive model, catalogued as a Corgi Major 1113 and sold with a missile.
The weight of the section carrying the missile produced some heavy forces acting on the gearing as it was manoeuvred into a vertical position - and probably often less than steadily so when in play - led to some of the cogs slipping over time and many examples have worn or broken teeth now.
The front wheels steered on the chassis and did so in a realistic way, although, without suspension one did have to encourage them to move one way or another. Nevertheless, here was the first Corgi model with steering!
It was expensive, though, and sales were not high of any of the military equipment. Good examples now, in the thick card boxes with packing pieces and instruction leaflets are now much sought-after by collectors, not just of Corgis but of military models generally, this being regarded as quite a 'classic' now.
The month also saw the previously issued Massey Ferguson tractor, trailer and Combine Harvester put together in Gift Set 8.
The third release in October 1959 is a notable event; the first Corgi with suspension. Termed Glidamatic and with 'Spring Suspension' on the box this made a big difference to your enjoyment when playing with the cars. The first was number 222, a Renault Floride. You could press down on the front to pretend you were braking hard, on the sides to whizz around corners (although the fixed wheels in the first models still made cornering tricky) and, of course, you could imitate zooming off with the rear being depressed as in the real thing.
Bumps on your layout could be driven over and the simple device of two pieces of wire providing resistance to the movement of the axles near the wheels was a great success. Even now, 60 years later, you'll find the Renault Floride suspension still sound and solid.
The model itself was also a very attractive one, the real car being very pretty. First issues were in an olive green colour and would have had fixed smooth wheels and a red interior. Later models were produced in dark red and metallic blue. Bright yellow and cream interiors are found in the dark red models and the blue ones had either red or yellow.
As well as a few colour and interior variations to collect, early models had open vents in the rear wings, with the casting being punched through. Later models had the fin shapes still but no holes visible. This type seems to be quite hard to find and is not always very easy to spot in small illustrations unless the photograph has been taken at just the right angle. So far, I have bought three models which appeared to have 'closed' vents but which turned out to be 'open' on arrival!
