Corgi Toys @ 60: Two Old Renaults and a Mustang

 I know what I preferred when I saw the new arrivals in April 1965 at the local toy shop. Like many other children at the time, I didn't give the Corgi Classic Renaults a second glance. They may have been well-made but they had no play value and parts which could easily fall off and screens which would not survive mothers dropping the model into wooden toy boxes every evening.

This came in a sturdy box and illustrated lid, with the model protected by a piece of foam rubber which no-one now is quite sure how it should be placed. I think it goes on top of the model but then the box lid doesn't fit as well as it does when the wheels are pressing down into the foam when it's placed underneath.

There were two colours issued at the same time: a pale primrose and something approaching lavender, each with matching wheels. I have seen some variations in the colour of the primrose one and there are different finishes to the lamps but you can still pick up near-perfect models in boxes for just a few pounds, 60 years later.

This will be the penultimate Classics issue in this era, with the final one coming next year in the ghastly shape of the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. (I am not counting the Basil Brush or Hardy Boys editions!)

Now, moving on to what is one of my favourites and a 'proper Corgi' from this era, the Ford Mustang Fastback 2+2.

This delightful model comes in four colours and three wheel types. There is pea green, metallic blue, metallic silver and metallic lilac. The early issues will have plain shaped wheels. Most of the production has wire wheels with some later editions getting the cast 'louvre/spoke effect' wheels.

In my experience the most common wheel types are the wire wheels, with shaped wheels being quite scarce on the pea green and lilac models in particular and I haven't seen many in these colours with cast wheels either, now I think about it.

This is only the second issue by Corgi to have opening doors, the first being the Ghia L6.4 some 18 months earlier. They're quite chunky doors and many would not close nicely in line. They did have a half-open widow attached to the door, however, which was a new feature. With chrome-plated bumpers and jewels for headlamps this was just what we wanted at the time. The seats folded down inside too, although the pale cream interior would soon get discoloured. Interestingly, the silver edition had a deep red interior. All the models had a Corgi dog on the rear shelf. In the Ghias, the dog would come in two sizes and I have yet to research whether the small dog came first or the other way around. I am also not sure whether there are different sizes of dogs in this model but my guess is that they're all the same.

The suspension on these models is vulnerable and you'll now find many that have collapsed. It is provided by plastic elements in the chassis which have become brittle and crack very easily now. Do be careful with any models that you have where the suspension has survived.

This model will be around for a long time in one form or another, as you'll discover, although you'll need to wait until 2031 for the final one!

Corgi Toys @ 60: By Repeated Requests . . , really?

 

It's November 1964 and, yes, it's probably raining in England and almost certainly raining at the Corgi factory in Wales. But is that enough reason to add By Repeated Requests beneath 'Operating Windscreen Wipers' on this month's new issue 60 years ago? No, I don't believe a word of it! Not once amongst my pals did I hear anyone think out loud that it would be really cool to have windscreen wipers on their Corgi Toys.

We liked things that opened, especially doors and boots where we could put things. Working windscreen wipers, however, were what we got. Well, an approximation to working windscreen wipers, in the form of two hemispheres of clear plastic with a black line representing the blade on each, which rotated back and forth inside the from screen. Great for clearing the condensation and I could do with something like that on a cold morning on my car now!

Joking aside, the mechanism was a typical piece of super Corgi engineering, with a nice cog on the rear axle turning a shaft that ran the length of the model to produce a 'to and fro' movement for the 'wipers'. It could be switched off on the base so it was not necessary to have them working all the time and very fast driving with them on did have the potential to jam the mechanism. Having said that, I don't recall ever encountering a model where they didn't work. Not bad after all this time.

The Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman was a pretty impressive model on its own. Corgi really could have sold it well without the wipers. The car was big, for a start and had the most gorgeous deep maroon finish (when first issued) and chrome galore. Really nice shiny chrome which not only provided shiny grille and bumpers but also went the length of the sills and wheel arches too.

It also had nice opening windows at the back - they slid up and down. I think this was the first time I had seen this type.

As you can see from the illustrations here, there were two very distinct shades to this model #247. The dark maroon was, I believe, the earliest and this gave way to more of a metallic crimson later in production.

Despite its lovely appearance, though, this was not a model that we played with a great deal. Once we'd finished showing mum and dad the working windscreen wipers, this was not a car to drive around our layouts. It was pretty good in a straight line but almost impossible to turn round corners with its fixed rear wheels.

The suspension was always lovely and it did look wonderful parked outside a Bayko house or in the Service Station.

The other November 1964 issue was the third Model T Ford to be issued in the Corgi Classics series. This time the model gets a hood as well as a coat of bright blue paint and it comes with an old chap to start the car, bent in a position to turn the starting handle.

I have always felt slightly sorry for the old chap who looks pretty tired and, unlike so many other Corgi characters, never gets a chance to sit in the drivers seat or do anything else.

The model itself appears identical to the yellow and black models from earlier in the year, other than the hood and not having any driver or passenger.

These Classics were very well-made and detailed but not that popular in comparison to the more familiar range of Corgis. These were models to put on a shelf, not play with, and would have had appealed to a very different market which didn't really exist in great numbers at that time. The whole range can be purchased now, in boxes and as new, for a few pounds apiece. Nevertheless, there are some varieties to look out for. Different wheel colours and a different finish to the side lights.

Corgi Toys @ 60 : Gift set 35 and an old Daimler

 It's July 1964 and our local toy shop gets a Daimler to add to the shelves. I had hoped at the time that it might be a Daimler Dart or something I could play with but, no, it was the third 'Classic' old timer model in the shape of a 1910 Daimler 38HP, no 9021.

With a chauffeur at the wheel and three passengers it is a busy model. There are three horns along the bottom of the windscreen and two gigantic headlamps either side of the radiator with a nice emblem on top. I had always thought that colours in the early 20th Century were drab but here we have a bright red car with bright yellow wheels!

It is well-made and very detailed and a credit to Corgi's production at the time but not for their marketing sense as, like the other 'Classics', sales were not great. You just couldn't play with these models. Without suspension, they were awkward to steer round corners and lots of bits were vulnerable to breaking. As a consequence, many seldom left their boxes and can now be found easily - with excellent examples for very small prices.

Something that can't now be found so easily is the Gift Set 35 - the 'London Passenger Set' which was also issued at this time.

This featured the 418 Austin Taxi but with two differences - it now had a driver and it now had free-spinning wheels. Although one has recently come to light*, every other example of the 418 prior to Whizzwheels had fixed wheels, smooth or shaped but always fixed.

The driver would be the old chap in a uniform at first, actually the Cato character re-employed from the 269 Green Hornet. Later he will be replaced by a Fred Housego character looking much more relaxed and very much like the Thunderbird driver of old.

The bus was the usual 469 model with a Corgi Toys banner in early editions, later changing to Outspan Oranges.

There is also a policeman on point duty, rotating on a white plastic podium. This part is very difficult to find now so making up a set is not an easy task, even if you do manage to find a good reproduction box.

With the rather different scales of the bus and taxi, this set does look a bit strange on display. Not very many were sold and now complete sets in original boxes are valuable items.

*Discovered by my collector friend, Andi, in France. We think that it may have been a model intended for a Gift Set but the driver was accidentally missed at the factory. It is feasible that free-spinning wheels could have been fitted to the normal 418 but one would have expected many to be available if that were the case.

Farewell to the Classics

The word Classics has been used on several occasions in Corgi history but the 'Classics' I refer to here is the series of early 20th Century jalopies which started with the Model T Ford in January 1964. There were only nine models:

January 1964 9011 Model T Ford in black open with two figures

January 1964 9012 Model T Ford in yellow open with two figures

February 1964 900/9001 Bentley 3 litre 1927 Le mans in green with RN3 decals, hood and driver

February 1964  900/9002 Bentley 3 litre 1927 Le Mans in red with hood and driver

July 1964 9021 1910 Daimler 38HP in red open with four figures

November 1964 9013 Model T Ford in blue with hood and figure

April 1965 9032 1910 Renault 12/16 in primrose

April 1965 9031 1910 Renault 12/16 in lavender

May 1966 9041 1912 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost

A Daimler with a hood was featured as 9022 'Available later' in the 1966 and 1967 Corgi catalogues as well as 9014, a Model T Ford Lyons Tea van but neither reached the store shelves. I had a factory sample of the Daimler and you'll find articles about that in the archives.

The Rolls Royce was adapted in a pretty terrible way for The Hardy Boys, an American band I'd never heard of, and that did make the stores as #805. The Bentley also had a revival in January 1966 in The Avengers Gift Set 40 with a folded hood and Steed at the wheel in red with gold or steel wheels or another shade of green with red wheels and then a further extension with Jeeves at the wheel of another shade of green Bentley with folded roof, reddish interior and Bertie Wooster standing beside it in #9004. There was a dreadful version of the Renault for Basil Brush too as #808 which I have just been reminded about although I would have preferred to forget that one!

I have never been a fan of these models. I do respect the excellent production quality and detail but they didn't interest me at the time and still don't move me. I have to see quite a few Bentleys as I am a big fan of The Avengers TV series and deal with many Gift Sets but that's it. The others I purchased when I started the catalogue so that I could document them and look for variations and I have acquired several since when they have arrived with something else. I seem to have acquired half a dozen Rolls Royces but don't recall paying for any!

I have spotted a few variations, like the radiator and lights on the Model T Ford appear in bright shiny chrome, a dullish brass colour and a very bland grey metal finish. The Daimler appears occasionally with bare metal side lights and horn which should be chromed. There are gold or silver or both colour wheels on the Rolls Royce, and one model I have has a black exhaust whereas the others are grey. There is a primrose, rather than bright yellow, edition of the Model T Ford that I have but I have a feeling that was a factory sample and not an issued model. A Daimler, which I think is a factory sample has rubber tyres, much more pliable than all the others which appear to be plastic (and not just hardened rubber).

That's all I've noticed, though, and now I've decided that they simply have to go. Prices are really quite low so to get rid of them I am going to have to quote very small prices. Those that are in nice condition with the correct figures (but no boxes) will be just £12.50 and the others where the figures are missing just £9 or less for any not in close to mint condition. There are a couple of factory samples - the primrose Ford I mentioned and a Daimler with soft rubber (not hard plastic) tyres, both missing windscreens - which will be a bit more.

Before I put them on sale elsewhere I thought I'd give anyone reading this a chance to have some as they're nearly all in excellent condition and the prices are definitely reasonable. These prices are in my own web store rather than Ebay where they'll be a bit more to cover the fees.

Corgi Toys @ 60: More Classics, a Commer and the first Monte Carlo Mini

 

It's February 1964 and two more models in the Classics series are added. Two Bentley 3 litres, one red with red wheels, the other in green with steel wheels.

Both have a full length hood which can be detached with a rather strange-looking driver, seemingly covered in white bandages from head to toe. It is the same chap in both the racing edition - the green one with RN3 decals on the front radiator and rear box - and the more sedate-looking red one. The green edition has the Union flag on the passenger door.

These were both initially catalogued as #900 and packed in a flimsy card box, mounted on a card base with a plastic mechanism securing the model to the base. Later, but I do not know when, they were numbered #9001 and #9002 and supplied in much more practical stiff card boxes with separate lids and foam protection.

We shall meet the Bentley again in a few years' time!

Next we have the delightful Mini-Cooper, now in Monte Carlo mode as Corgi celebrates the Mini's success at the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally. It gets a search light on the roof and is the Morris-badged casting as for the 227 model, with two headlamp jewels and a RN37 decal on each door.

There are no variations of this model that I am aware of but I guess there could be some different base types, just as there were with the #227 models.

The final addition to the shelves at your local shop would have been the Commer Ambulance as a complete model #463 and distinguished from that which could have been made with the earlier Gift Set 24 by the base, lacking the device to remove the rear section.

In due course the Milk Float will be issued but the plain Van never gets an issue on its own outside the Gift Set other than as a branded model, 'Hammonds' being the #462 catalogue issue. 

Corgi Toys @ 60: The Classics and Another Citroën

 

It's January 2024 and your local toy shop has something completely different, the first of a short series of Corgi Classics, vintage cars from the early 20th Century. The first two released this month were the Ford Model T in black as #9011 and in yellow as #9012. Each had a couple in the front and I believe it is the same couple each time.

The detailing is excellent and the intricate models, with many vulnerable features, were packed in a sturdy, thick card box with a separate lid, protected by a piece of foam rubber and an information leaflet.

These models were not cars to be played with, though. They were for display only and it was a quite different market that they would have been intended. They had no suspension and, whilst one or two might have been added to our layouts in the 1960s they were not really 'Corgis' as we had come to love.

Sales were modest but nothing like as successful as the normal range and at 8/11d they were expensive. You could have bought the Routemaster bus for 2d less or a Tractor and Plough set for 8/6d. Most model cars were four or five shillings, half the price of the Ford Model T. They are now very easy to find for just a few pounds and you should have no trouble finding models with intact windscreen and in original boxes with figures should you wish to build this collection. Maybe now that all Corgis from this era are just for display, these Classics will not appear so out of place and become more desirable after all!

Also arriving this month is the second appearance of the Citroën ID19, now in white with a ski rack, skis and skier character, a Winter Olympics transfer on the bonnet.

This is the April 1963 model but with a new fitting to the roof. This is usually red with yellow skis and poles but it also seems to have been issued with a yellow ski rack and there are red skis and red ski pole too. Perhaps every conceivable variation was available at the time or have items since been swapped around? The rack is not easy to replace, however, and both colours do exist. (There will be another, also numbered #475 but with a Corgi Ski Club motif on the bonnet issued in 1965, just to confuse us all!)

This model and the extras all came in a fairly normal-looking box. It is only the second to feature a separate character other than a driver or animal inside. (The first was the Jeep F150 with Tower Platform which had an electrician chap - but even was in the basket and not a standalone display like this one).

The Avengers: Toy Trap

As well as being the title of a 1961 episode of the classic TV series, there are certainly traps that some people may lure you into in connection with these toys. The Gift Set 40 is a wonderful presentation of John Steed in a 3 Litre 1927 Bentley and Mrs Emma Peel standing next to a Lotus Elan S2.

Three black folded brollies complete the scene with which I am sure all collectors are very familiar.

Above are illustrated two sets which I can vouch for as being totally original and unchanged since they were first bought in 1966 when they were first sold. They came out a couple of years after the 9001/2 Bentleys and I have often wondered whether their conception had been at a committee meeting to decide what to do with what might have been a large stock of unsold classic Bentleys.

Having said that, the green Bentley issued was a distinctly different shade to that of the 9001 issue. Both the red and green also had a change of wheel, the red 9002 getting steel or slightly gold-tinted wheels and the green sporting extraordinary red wheels. Now, you might be tempted to assume that Corgi simply put the steel wheels from the 9001 on the red set Bentley and the red ones from the 9002 on the green one. The steel wheels were pretty ubiquitous, accepted, but the red ones are a different, brighter colour and that still doesn't account for the noticeably gold-tinted wheels. Furthermore, the 9002 model invariably seems to have a quite gold-coloured radiator surround and lights which does not seem to have made its way through to sets which I believe are all showing the silver colour, whether red or green Bentley body.

There is a third and very scarce Bentley.

This time it is green but with black mudguards and running board. I have only just acquired this one (and the box illustrated here is a reproduction that I have put the original models in) but I have been aware of its existence for many years.

original rivets intact

Side by side with a 9001 - interior identical

This is not, as many people will think, the 9004 World of Wooster edition. That has a dark grey, not black section that provides the running boards and mudguards. It is also a quite different shade of green and the most obvious difference if those are missed will be the fact that the 9004 has a red interior, not brown as all the Gift Set 40 models do. Amusingly, someone had moaned at the seller of this model and said that it was a 9004 and this had led the seller to include the other person's remarks! This seems to have put off other bidders and I was able to win this at quite a modest price, thanks to the person who likes to criticise listings.

It may have been the same person who wrote to me about a set I had for sale last week. It was clearly described as featuring an adapted green Bentley and not an original component but I guess he had just seen the pictures and fired off the missive telling me that the green Bentley could only have red wheels. I replied to the effect that, whilst the vast majority of Gift Set 40 green Bentleys will have had red wheels, I was selling a set that I knew Avengers fans liked and was not trying to pretend it was original. I also made the point that on a Friday afternoon shift we could never be sure, and Corgi production managers could never be sure, quite what may have been popped into the box! I am sure there will have been occasions when the supply of the 'correct' green / red or red/ gold Bentleys dried up some green/steel or even red/red that happened to be lying around may have been used to make up the numbers. Speaking to a lady who did work there in the 1960s and remembers some of the antics that they got up to and the lack of quality control some evenings, I am surprised these sets and others had such consistent contents as they did!

Incidentally, that set had been sold by the time I replied and the new owner has taken the trouble to say how delighted he is with it.

This latest set, however, will probably not find a buyer just yet as the Bentley has a chunk missing from the end of the offside front mudguard. I have a piece that can be used but need to figure out how to attach it as neatly as possible. I did want to bring this to the attention of collectors, though, so in the meantime, some black tape is holding it together! It will appear in my store but at a pretty silly price as I'd like to hang on to this one until another with an intact mudguard appears.

The rest of the car is excellent and unmarked. The rivet has not been tampered with and the rest is entirely as it should be. The Lotus is very good but has a few chips at one corner. I added HNK 999C registration plates to it. Steed and Mrs Peel are, of course, both original as I felt they should be to accompany such an unusual set.

As I write this it occurs to me that I mentioned an episode title from 1961. But a C registration Elan would have been from 1965. Mrs Peel did not appear until late 1965, when Diana Rigg entered our screens. That explains that. I have no idea what her predecessors drove. That's something else I shall research one day - and whether there are relevant Corgi models.

The Wilford Collection Pt 5: The Daimler that was not 'Available Later' and odd Bentleys

The 1966 and 1967 Corgi catalogues included illustrations of 9022, a 1910 Daimler 38 with a hood, marked as AVAILABLE LATER. To all intents and purposes this looked like 9021, a red Daimler 38 with folded back hood and driver plus a full load of passengers, but painted blue with a red-brown closed hood.

Corgi were good at making one casting do several things. This one, however, never got into production. What I have here is a sample, looking almost complete but lacking a steering wheel.

A full selection of images of this unique item can be seen here.

It is in excellent condition with no chips or scratches, the screen has survived and so too has the vulnerable radiator emblem.

I also have the 9021 Daimler which may also have been a sample but it appears indistinguishable from examples of issued models that I have. I would, nevertheless, prefer to see these kept together in case, at some point, someone does spot some differences. Shown above is a production model and, below, the model in the Wilford Collection.

What is quite different, however, is one of the 1927 Bentley 3 Litres in the collection. This clearly was intended to be an example of a model with the hood down by the look of the windscreen(s) which would not have supported the full length hood. The horn on the side is painted bright silver, as opposed to the black on issued models, and there is a very detailed dashboard with a tremendously realistic-looking (albeit rather small) steering wheel. This needs a rear folded hood, in my view, but they are simple enough to obtain and I may well supply one with this when sold.

You can see where the idea for this style of screen came from.

Whether this was an early sample for what would become 9001 I do not know. It may also have been the older Mr Wilford's team working with an existing 9001/2 body to create a different edition, perhaps even an idea for Steed's Bentley in the Avengers Gift Set. It would have been in keeping with the Bentley they might have seen in the instalment this screenshot came from:

However, here's John Steed again in a Bentley with the same registration - but it's  on a 3 litre car now not the 4½ litre! 

I have visions of some confusion in the office as the series progressed! Do they re-brand the model 4½ litre? Do they move the spare wheel, not just from left to right but maybe to the rear? That might explain the odd editions that they did include, none of which bear more than passing resemblance to any of the Steed vehicles. 

Another Bentley was in the Wilford office drawer. It looks like a standard 9001 at first glance.

The wheels, radiator and headlamp unit and handbrake are all in a gold-coloured metal rather than the usual grey or silver colour. We know that this gold colour appears on the 9004 Jeeves & Wooster Bentley and, reportedly, in some Avengers Sets but this one has a RN3 on the back and the Union flag on the passenger door à la 9001.

The screen has a chunk missing and this also needs a hood of some type but is otherwise complete and in very good condition. It is certainly another unusual edition and will be made available soon, possibly paired with the small twin screen edition and a complete 9002 from the same source that does seem totally standard.

More images of the small screen Bentley, the gold wheel 9001 and this red 9002 are available.

From The Great Book of Corgi. "Some very near Misses".

From the 1966 Catalogue

Still shown in the 1967 Catalogue

I do believe that the 9022 Daimler is unique in being the only proposed model that remained AVAILABLE LATER across two catalogue printings.

These items are available to purchase. Contact me if you would like more information.