Mini vans and Mini-vans

[Updated 27 January 2023]

A nice Mini van arrived today and I also noticed someone asking questions about this model in a Facebook Group.

You may well think that there really was just one 450 model in (a very accurate) utilitarian green but it turns out that there are quite a few to collect!

First, there are three grille types: plain, in body colour finish, painted silver and an Austin Countryman style as used for the 485 Surfing model.

Although I do like the look of the Countryman grille and you might think that a silver-painted one makes sense, neither are right. The real vans had no decoration at all, just holes in the front bodywork to let the air through!

Next there is that matter of spelling. It seems that Corgi were quite confused and you will find both AUSTIN MINI VAN and AUSTIN MINI-VAN on the base. Both seem pretty easy to find so I can't say which is the less or more common.

A factory error has also produced a 450 Mini van with a 485 Mini Countryman base but I haven't seen one myself yet.

As for the Austin Mini Countryman, Corgi did, at least settle on dropping the hyphen and every one that I have seen has had AUSTIN MINI COUNTRYMAN. Well, apart from one, that is, which has AUSTIN MINI VAN!!

I have to admit that I have only now noticed that one! I need to change the price for that one quickly before I publish this or someone will get a bargain as I imagine this is quite a scarce one!

Elsewhere with the Countryman you'll find most models have shaped wheels but some less common later issues had cast wheels.

Then there is the last oddity - the Countryman without a fuel filler cap! All but one of the 485 models I have heard about have the correct Austin countryman grille which is painted silver. The one oddity, just advised to me today, is one with shaped wheels, no fuel filler cap and a body-coloured grille! Table updated below.

The Police Mini Van, 448, also has both MINI VAN and MINI-VAN bases and, I believe, there are a few factory error MINI COUNTRYMAN bases out there too. However the grilles are all the same, painted variety and not even silver  painted grilles seem to have appeared - in my experience, at any rate.

You'll find shaped wheels and cast wheels, as for the Austin Mini Countryman.

So if you thought your collection was complete, here's what should be out there . . .

450

MINI VAN base normal grille

MINI VAN base silver grille

MINI VAN base Countryman grille

MINI-VAN base normal grille

MINI-VAN base silver grille

MINI-VAN base Countryman grille

COUNTRYMAN base?

448

MINI VAN base shaped wheels

MINI VAN base cast wheels

MINI-VAN base shaped wheels

MINI-VAN base cast wheels

COUNTRYMAN base shaped wheels

COUNTRYMAN base cast wheels

485

COUNTRYMAN base shaped wheels

COUNTRYMAN base shaped wheels no fuel filler

COUNTRYMAN base shaped wheels no fuel filler, unpainted grille

COUNTRYMAN base cast wheels

COUNTRYMAN base cast wheels no fuel filler?

MINI VAN base shaped wheels

MINI VAN base cast wheels?

The ? indicates that I am not aware of these so someone send me some photos if they have one.

I also think that there may well be 450 models with the Police 448 window unit. Plenty to look out for!

Boxes, a roof rack and other things...

Same car, new box

I missed the latest edition of the James Bond Aston Martin in the article I posted earlier this month. Not that anyone would really notice much difference, to be honest. In fact, this looks like Hornby really wringing the dosh out of all their Corgi customers.

The cars are, unless I have missed something, exactly the same as the two issued as 04203 (and again as 04204) over the last year or so. All that has changed is the box, now in blue and grey and with a '50th Anniversary' sticker commemorating Thunderball. Does that mean that this car is going to be reissued every time a Bond film anniversary comes along? Good grief, that will cost collectors who like to be really 'complete' a fortune.

Prices are all over the place at the moment. The crazy thing is that you can still buy the silver one at Corgi for £19.99 (or even less if you are a club member). The gold ones have sold out - it was a limited edition of 5000 - but they were only £19.99 as well. I have a feeling they will soon be appearing on the market for rather less than some of the silly prices we're seeing now. Heavens, it really is only a box that has changed.

Hopefully, the New Year will bring us something different to James Bond cars being recycled.

Roof rack blues

Other things to end the year with would include the story of my Austin Mini Countryman. I bought one without a roof rack that was otherwise in jolly decent condition. My idea was to get a new rack and sell it as the first one I had went very quickly indeed. Surfboards are easy to obtain and reproduction ones look fine. I really wouldn't get the strange-looking guy, though, unless I had the box to hide him in.

Anyway, getting back to the car, I have had excellent bits and pieces from a lady who makes parts out of metal rather than plastic and she had advertised the Countryman roof rack for a modest £3.75. It arrived and I thought it would be a simple case of plugging it in the four holes and maybe adding a little adhesive and away it would go. No luck. The posts on the casting were quite a lot out of line with the holes in the roof. I dropped the lady a line about this and she replied first to say the rack didn't need to fit into any holes but later realised that it did and suggested I filed the posts down! That wasn't quite what I was expecting but I had a go.

Eventually I managed to get the posts filed in such a way that they sort of fitted but by then the soft metal had got a bit bent in places. It does bend so easily. I was a bit worried about straightening bits too in case metal fatigue would lead to an arm just flying off. So I wrote again and basically said I'd had to give up. The lady, let's call her Cynthia, was very obliging and said she'd have a look at her casting design and also organise a full refund. I felt a bit of a nuisance over such a small thing but I am pretty sure this roof rack was actually designed for the Mini Cooper. The Countryman should have two gaps at the rear to take the surf board fins whereas this one is fully enclosed. The boards might slide through but I am not sure how far they would go.

The lady's other castings have been fine and I will use her again but now need to source a more accurately produced rack. I expect it'll have to be Mr Flowers but, with his high postage charge, I'll need to wait until I can build up a decent order to make that worthwhile.

The other problem with the metal casting was that it comes in a watery grey colour. If you scrub the metal with a rough brush it does get nice and shiny but I am not sure it looks right.

So the Countryman stays rackless for a while longer. I actually quite like it that way!

Same car, different box 2

A nice chap in Holland has been in touch with a query about a box he has for The Saint's Volvo P1800. Here it is:

He has spotted some green marks, mostly around the side of the Volvo but also near the bonnet and boot. At first I thought they were just smears that someone carelessly added later in the box's life but the chap insists that under magnification and very close inspection the green colour seems to have been printed at the same time as the rest. It also appears in the same places on the other side which rather throws my 'smear' idea into the dustbin.

I have enlarged the image using a good viewer but cannot really determine how 'original' it is but the assertion that it is the same on both sides does make me believe that it must have happened during the production of the box. I suggested a smear on the master for that image or similar accidental addition was more likely than this being some rare version of the box itself. My colleague is of the opinion that it could be a deliberate attempt at something like stripes to indicate speed that were later dropped. All copies of a #258 box I have seen - and #228 boxes too - have a clear yellow background around the car with no green marks to be seen.

So, over to anyone out there who might be able to suggest any better possible answer! If this image is not large enough then I can send you the original.

Where do all the models go?

A recent customer had an interesting address in Italy. I thought I would see where he lived and Google Maps do a marvellous job in this respect. It was nice to see where (in that instance, a good #300 Austin Healey) was going to. Since then I have been creating images of my cars parked outside the addresses they're being sent to and now have half a dozen which I shared on Facebook. People seem to really rather like them so I shall end 2015 by adding them as separate posts to this blog and I'll continue to add them as and when items get sold. Now, I know that not every one will be going to an attractive location but it will be a nice record and, hopefully, an interesting set of pictures will develop which will also see featured many models that might otherwise never have made these columns!

Here's a preview of a #204 Mini in Shropshire, England:

Corgi Toy 1967-68 Catalogue

The word mazak appears in The Corgi Story on the first page. I missed that at the time and I had to look it up when I discovered it on the base on some models a few weeks ago. The main focus now is on some big models - in size as well as fame. The cover has the ridiculously big Lincoln Continental which I never actually wanted at the time and only now keep in stock with some reluctance. It is simply too big and looks crazy with the other models as I illustrated in a previous article.

Joining the TV and Film fame set are a couple of new Bond cars, the silver #270 Aston, now with a slightly reshaped rear end to look a little more like the DB5 it should have been and a Toyota 2000GT. Both these are still 'available later' and it is the gold one that remains on sale when the catalogue is issued. Batman's Batmobile has a boat attachment and then there's some Green Hornet affair. I do not remember either the car or the TV series or film it was associated with and still don't have much of a clue, I'm afraid, nor examples of either in stock. They seem to command extremely high prices for such a common model.

Completing the 'fame' models on the first few pages of this catalogue are The Man From U.N.C.L.E's Thrush Buster, The Avengers Gift Set 40 and, looking quite sad now in comparison, The Saint's Volvo P1800. (The Volvo, though, will continue to be available long after some of the others disappear!)

The new 'normal' model is the Jaguar E Type 2+2, oddly illustrated in dark pink in the catalogue but mercifully released initially in the red as in a drawing or in a very nice metallic blue. This was another 'big' model, though, in comparison to most. Not as bad as the Lincoln but you still had to keep the #307 and #335 E types away from each other.

In the 'Available Later' category in 1967 were the Austin Mini Countryman (interestingly, without surfer or roofrack!), the Lancia Fulvia Zagato (illustrated in gold) and the Citroen Le Dandy Coupé and MGC GT in blue and white. I have never seen the MGC GT in those colours and the Citroen is very rare in two-tone.

The Kits have disappeared but there are several Racing Sets and combinations now. 

The Daktari Land Rover is illustrated in white, not the green it actually appears in - the white being issued later as the Lions of Longleat set.

Whilst #9022 Daimler was 'Available Later' in the 1966 catalogue, #9021 Daimler is now 'Available Later' in this one. Odd.

Cast wheels appear on #339 Mini Cooper and #264 Oldsmobile Toronado. Many of the newer illustrations are now very realistic and I am sure most of photographs with some post-processing effects - like the speed lines on the axles of the competition cars.Some old stagers are still clearly drawn, however, and re-used for yet another year!