Corvette changes

 

In April 1970 the fabulous-looking Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Coupé, model number 300, appeared in the shops. It was the first model to get an expensive liquid metallic finish, in either bright deep red or emerald green. 10/6d bought you this model with Golden Jacks Take-Off wheels. One of Corgi's most attractive models and still much sought-after today as it simply looks so good on display.

According to the Corgi records, however, production was to end later that year. As with all the Golden Jacks models, however lovely the wheels were and inventive the system allowing their removal and replacement, this was not a fast car on the carpet track and just a small flick on the Lamborghini issued just one month earlier would send it far further than the few inches managed by the Corvette. It was a model to hold and cherish but not play with. People weren't ready for the just holding and cherishing stuff then, and Corgi had already tried this market with their Classics range with no great success but we must now thank whoever was in charge for getting this into production, even if itw as for a very short period.

In June 1972 it is re-issued, now as 387, wit Whizzwheels and a new colour scheme.

As far as I can tell the metallic blue edition was the first colour available. It lost the badge of the front but retained one on the rear panel. That, I have found, tends to be put on in several different orientations, probably because there was no clear guidance to the ladies doing the attachments on the production line. The wheels always seem to be the 'four crowns' type, by far the most common across the range at this time. I have not seen any with the earlier 'pepperpot' wheels nor any with what would have been a far better idea, the chromed variety fitted to cars like the Datsun and Citroën SM.

It lost the jewels in the rear lights too, although there are a few transition models in blue with them still in place. The new issue has just rather sad blobs of mazak where the casting has been changed with little great effort to show the iconic rear lights at all. Dabbed with red paint on the blue model but totally lacking anything on the pink one! Money must have been tight then, indeed!

The pink model appears sometime after the June 1972 release and has the same black interior as the blue. I have not seen a pink 387 with any rear light jewels. Initially it has the same headlamp covers as before but late models have a ribbed cover which is quite distinct. I have only seen the ribbed covers on the pink model.

Under the bonnet there is another surprise. The beautifully detailed engine has a different air filter in one of my earlier pink models. The later one with ribbed light covers has a similar design to the blue one illustrated here, which seems to have been the style from the start.

So there is plenty to collect with this range and all we need now is for someone to make some spare roof panels. These are easily lost or broken and surely shouldn't be difficult to make. I have 7 Corvettes at the moment and need 7 roof panels!

Transition and export edition in 1971

 

Two lovely models arrived from Germany today. Each illustrates how the words transition and export edition add massively to the value of a Corgi model. And they each happen to come from the same era around 1971.

I now have two of the 'transition' 387 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray models available. Both are the metallic blue colour. I have still to find one in pink, the one in my collection just having the rather sad 'blobs' in the holes

One is now for sale, therefore. A very scarce item and in superb condition with both plastic roof panels in place.

From my friend in Germany also comes this super VW 1200 ADAC edition, only available as an export edition in some European countries for a short period in 1971. This one is in very nice condition and has all the original stickers, which have usually fallen off or become damaged over the last 50 years! 

Both these models arrived today and, despite having the dreaded Whizzwheels, will find a place in my display cabinet!

Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray

It's not perfect but it is a copper Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray. This has taken some finding, with the few that have appeared being sold for hundreds of pounds. The missing paint will have put off the collectors who only want old shop stock and a poor description made it less obvious too.

It looks like there is a bronze as well as this copper. The bronze is a bit darker but definitely a different shade. I still have to find that one.

This model is a lovely design with a spectacular shape and the real thing is really quite impressive. Corgi's main colour was a metallic pink-cerise but the second most common colour was silver. Now, you might think that this was silver but actually it is the scarce champagne colour, noticeably lighter and with a hint of amber.

Now you'll see the difference. Below is a silver Sting Ray.

So far, you'll have seen that they all had the lovely wire wheels but the very earliest editions came with the normal shaped wheels. In a way, because they're quite unusual on this model, I quite like them and they still don't detract froma  wonderful shape.

One problem was the chrome. You'll find quite a few with yellow bumpers and bonnet inserts where the chrome finish has simply worn away. It can almost fall off some if you blow on it too hard. It does spoil the appearance and there's not a lot you can do about it.

You may also have noticed that there are no photos from the front of this model. there is a reason for that. Corgi had a cool idea of having swivelling double headlamps that could pop up just like the real thing. They look fine closed but quite odd open! Corgi didn't really get the lines right at the front, or maybe it sits too high.

Better to gaze at a real one.

A Stingray on The Devil's Farmhouse Road!

A Whizzwheels Chevrolet Corvette Stingray in metallic blue-green has been acquired by a collector in Castelnau-le-Lez in France. The road is called Devil's Farmhouse Road! It looks a lovely spot but that road name is a bit disconcerting. Maybe there are lots of hot chillies in summer.

Three smart Whizzwheel models down a narrow lane in Kidderminster

Three very good Whizzwheel editions have made their way through a very narrow lane to a new home near Kidderminster in Warwickshire.

The Chevrolet Corvette is in the scarce shade of metallic pink. The Ghia is quite uncommon too, missing an aerial but otherwise in excellent shape. The Barchetta Runabout is a crazy little Italian fun vehicle but which might not be so good in our weather!

Corvette in Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt doesn't seem to have Google StreetView so I can't put this nice Chevrolet Corvette Stingray in its new home but the square looks a pleasant spot to park for the time being.

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray rear lights

At first glance these Chevrolet Corvette Stingrays look the same. This is #387, the Whizzwheels version of the #300 Golden Jacks car and neither edition was around for long. Look closely, though, and you'll see that the top photograph shows four nice jewelled rear lights whereas the lower one just has red blobs.

The badge is also missing on the second car but whether that was even more cost cutting by Corgi in trouble in the 1970s or is just missing I cannot tell.

I had, strangely, spotted a jewelled light version on the Little Wheels site. I use the word light in the singular as I believe there was just the one remaining on the model he had photographed there, the holes in the back being what drew the picture to my attention in the first place. I even wrote to him to say that it looked like he had a special version there, a sort of 'inbetween' model when I guess someone at the factory decided that all future items had to have the Whizzwheels and his model would have been sitting there waiting for a Golden Jacks base and instead got the newer one.

There can't have been many with Whizzwheels and jewelled rear lights so I am delighted to have found this one in a colleague#'s collection in the States last week.

I also wrote to the Little Wheels chap as he hadn't appreciated that there is, indeed, a metallic pink version of this. I would have bought the blue one he had but he says he's now sold everything. Shame. He also had the only Bedford 412 Ambulance with a later single screen that I've would like to have bought but that's another story

Pretty in pink

I meant to add these photos of a couple of Chevrolet Stingrays that I got a while ago. These are the two Whizzwheel colours that were around for a very short period and both are scarce now. The rear lights are just painted on the blue one but it isn't obvious whether they've been painted at all on the pink one.

Having just sold what was possibly the most attractive of all models - the previous #300 model in metallic red - I am looking for another of those but still have three metallic green in the collection. Neither of these #387 latest versions will be going for a bargain price either!

I am still trying to find a bronze #310 as well but they're just as scarce, if not more so. Corgi really did get things right with the Stingrays. We shall ignore the stock car versions, of course.