Corgi Toys @ 60: James Bond and an Ice Cream Van

 

Yes, this is the month when, 60 years ago, Corgi's most successful model and probably the one they were to become famous across the world for, was issued. #261 James Bond's Aston Martin. It's gold and not silver and a DB4 not a DB5 but no-one seemed too bothered at the time.

You will. I am sure already be familiar with all the variations for this model and this is neither to time nor the place to repeat them all. Have a look in my catalogue where you'll see as many as I have listed. In its massive production quantities it would be inevitable that castings get worn, adjusted and so on.

The other issue was the second Ford Thames Ice Cream Van. #447 had been issued just 7 months earlier but now someone at Corgi decided that it should play a tune so they stopped producing the first one and adapted the second by inserting a device which played notes when an enormous handle at the back was rotated. 

Gone are the old chap selling the ice cream, the young lad with one and the pretty display plinth that came with the first. The music device comprised fine tines that were 'plinked' as a shaft with cam extensions in different positions rotated and many have since got broken tines so the tune doesn't quite work as it should. 

This was, incidentally, the very first model that the Corgi Model Club people decided to make again from scratch. They made a super job of it, so accurate, in fact that the tines break on that model just as quickly! 

Good working models of both the October issues in original boxes with instructions and packing are both very expensive now. Considering how many of the Bond models were made and how many there must be in good working order still in circulation, I am always amazed at the prices they fetch. High prices for the Ice Cream Van are perfectly understandable. It sold only 146000, not a lot in those days for a Corgi issue and very few will have either a box or a working music device, even fewer with both.

The Aston Martin, however, sold nearly 4 million, nearly 27 times as many and, whilst it was a complicated bit of equipment, the features have been remarkably resilient to young people's play. Whilst there are plenty with seats that don't eject very well or at all, there are also many that do still work well. Suspension fails on these and as they get older the plastic becomes ever more brittle and liable to fail so numbers of top quality models will diminish but I still maintain that it's a lot easier to find than a nice Ice Cream Van with working tunes.

I guess there are simply so many fans of film and TV-related models that there is a far wider and better moneyed market for Bond than Wall's Ice Cream.

More ice cream from the Corgi Model Club

 

Here is the latest issue from the Corgi Model Club, #447 Wall's Ice Cream Van on a Ford Thames. The one without music. The original was released in March 1965 but only stayed in the order lists for a few months, disappearing the following year. The musical version, with a massive handle at the back, seems to have been a rapid rethink of what might sell by Corgi and came out later in 1965 and lasted much longer through to 1968.

The Model Club's very first issue was the musical edition, #477 in January 2020, with a second issue of this in 2021 and I wrote about the two Thames here in 2021. This, then is actually the third ice cream van you will need to have a complete collection.

This is the edition with a small road and pavement display on which we can position the ice cream seller and a small boy. I prefer this one as it looks much more realistic than the #477 with its handle. I didn't want either as a child but now I have to have all three!

The box that this arrives in is not very strong and a sort of cube shape instead of the familiar flat pack. Mine had been crushed in transit and this packing did not protect the box very well but it is still intact and I was able to straighten things out fairly well. The model itself is wrapped in paper with two lumps of white foam to prevent it moving around in the box too much. The characters arrive in a plastic bag. You may miss the stickers which are packed in the base of the plinth!

It is a very smart and accurate reproduction of the original. 

As is now usual, the typeface for the smaller text on the box is not right. Computer-generated fonts just don't match the original as they come but it should not be that difficult to adjust them to do so. I could produce the artwork for them if they ask me. The digits in the red ovals do appear better, though.

The Corgi Model Club get airborne and a little bronzed in the sun.

 

Here is the latest issue from The Corgi Model Club. It's the Ford Thames Airborne Caravan, originally #420 in the catalogue, issued in February 1962 and costing 6/6d. 

I think you will agree that there is one very obvious problem with this one and that's the colour. It was issued in shades of olive green, much like the Bentley Continental and had the production people just used some of the Bentley paint I think all would have been well. Instead something odd has happened and we have this weird gold colour for the bottom half. Now this may be just a batch that has been affected and others are looking as they should but this is slightly disappointing.

The top half, though, is spot-on. There were many shades during the four years that this model was available from the shops but none were like this.

Otherwise, this is an excellent model and very well replicates all the small details of the 1962 issue, including all the little features inside. The doors are actually very well engineered and a great improvement on many originals, opening and closing very smoothly and staying shut too.

Once more, the Model Club have opted to produce a particularly scarce version of a model, although I suspect they didn't realise that this time. This has free-spinning wheels whereas you'll have quite a hard job find one of the originals like that. Of the 40 or 50 I spotted for sale just before writing this, just two had the later style of wheel. All the others had fixed wheels.

The rear doors on my old example go right back to form a 180° angle, rather more (and a lot looser) than the re-issue.

No doubt we shall see in the Hornby Hobbies catalogue the same model in blue and cream and plum and pale pink, the other two colours that this was issued in and which, incidentally, are more numerous in having free-spinning wheels, being mostly a later issue to the green one.

The box is a faithful copy of all that can be copied from the original and it has a fine weight and texture. It is a little shiny, as they all are and the font used for the numerals is still wrong. These are minor niggles, that's all. It was never a model I rushed out to buy at the time so not one of my favourites that I was looking forward to seeing refreshed. For those who do like it, however, it's a nice copy. Just that colour in some lights . . . maybe keep it in the shade!

Corgi Toys @ 60 : Mercedes-Benz with steering and the Thames 'Airborne' Camper Van

One of my all-time favourites hit the toy shop shelves in February 1962. The Mercedes-Benz 220SE was available in three colours, all solid. Black and red with yellow interiors, cream with a red interior. It had the wonderful steering that we had first seen on the Bentley Continental. Small-size wheels diminished the model's appearance slightly and it was a bit too close to the ground for really effective control on a carpet but worked fine on a harder surface.

The boot also opened and contained a spare wheel housed in a dip on the right hand side. There wasn't a great deal one could do with the spare wheel but I always liked opening boots where odd bits and pieces could be placed and driven around the room.

There are two types of window unit, one with an indication of a pillar and quarterlight and one without. Many models have since lost the emblem on the bonnet now. This is a typical example of where the Great Book of Corgi gets things wrong, as it states that this model was available in metallic red and dark blue as well as cream and black. I spent ages looking for those two editions before realising that the metallic red and dark blue were the colours for the later 253 edition! 

The later edition loses the steering and gets a reshaped boot panel. To make up for the loss of steering, Corgi will add a suitcase but, contrary to may dealers' listings, the 230 model did not have a case when sold. More about that in September 2024!

The other new arrival at the shop would be the Thames 'Airborne' Camper Van.

This was a fun model with opening rear doors and a very detailed interior. It came in three exterior finishes, all two-tone: creamy-white over a rich blue, pale olive over olive-green and pale lilac over lilac. Whilst colours for the olive green version were fairly stable, you'll find quite a few shades for the blues and lilacs. Furthermore, whilst the olive green had only a brown interior, off-white, yellow and red interiors can be also found in the other two with a red table in the off-white or yellow interior and a white table in the red. 

The Thames Camper Van would be the last model issued with fixed shaped wheels. Fixed wheels seem scarcer, particularly on the olive-green issue.

Models have blinds in three of the four side windows but this doesn't appear to be consistent as to which window is left open, with both smaller panes on each side with or without a blind.

So just two models but a remarkable number of editions if you are trying to collect each one!

 

A chance for someone to catch up with the Corgi Model Club 2021 Reissues!

 

A colleague has decided to sell his complete collection of the 2021 Corgi Model Club issues. The four models are:

474 Thames Wall's Ice Cream Van with Musical Chimes

339 BMC Mini-Cooper S 1967 Monte Carlo rally

258 The Saint's Volvo P1800

330 Porsche Carrera 6

Each has a reproduction box and original packing and ancillary items where applicable.

The following reproduction items are also available:

1505 Garage Attendants

Corgi badge

1966 Corgi catalogue

Certificates of Authenticity

Collector's Tin for the Certificates

All the models are mint. Some boxes have very minor marks where the awkward flap has been opened.

The Ice Cream Van is the 2nd issue from earlier this year, not the January 2020 issue (although it does appear to be identical). Only the certificate and box differ.

Although the more recent items may still be available to order from the Club, restrictions mean that only one of each model per address will be supplied and the Club do not accept orders from outside the UK. The Ice Cream Van has now been discontinued and the Mini-Cooper may not now be available either so this may be an opportunity for someone who is either a little late to the party or who is based abroad to catch up with these lovely new 'old' Corgis.

Contact me for more information. Ideally we would like the set to be sold in its entirety but the individual items are also being advertised so don't delay.

A Tale of Two Thames

 

I have recently acquired the second issue of the 474 Ice Cream Van. I was lucky to get the first issue in January 2020. There are some differences.

The first issued had a Certificate of Provenance.

For the second this has become a Certificate of Authenticity. Frustratingly, the old one will not fit in the tin supplied with the Mini Cooper designed for their storage! That's odd as I would have thought that the tins might have been already in production or, certainly, well past design stage. As those of us who had received the first issue were not permitted to get the second issue direct it is all the more strange that we would not be able to store all our cards together. This is a minor thing, of course. More significant is the different 'China side' of the box.

The packing is slightly different, with a black piece of protective polystyrene replacing a white chunk for mine.

As for the models themselves, I cannot detect any difference.

The new old Corgi Collection

I don't know how many times I have said to fellow collectors how much I wished someone would try making the original Corgi Toys again. Not with Vanguards style wipers, realistic wheels and troublesome mirrors but plain perspex windows, shaped wheels like they used to be and suspension. And rubber tyres. Models that really do look and feel right and which may even need a second look to check that they are not actually originals from the 1960s.

At last, it seems, someone has taken a chance and is making a start. Hornby Hobbies plc have licensed the oddly-named Blue 14 DTC Brands trading as Corgi Toy Collection to sell and distribute reproduced models in the UK. Interestingly, text in one of their leaflets states that Blue 14 DTC Brands have an exclusive license to sell and distribute Corgi Toys in the UK. That would imply that they're handling the new stuff too as well as these reproductions - indeed it makes me wonder whether I'm going to be in trouble for selling a few of the old ones! I suspect that statement may be a mistake but never mind that now; back to the models.

This does look like great news. The first model has arrived and it's the 474 Thames Ice Cream Van with music chimes. Although I never wanted one of these as a child or even now as I found the hugely out-of-proportion handle affair at the back ugly - and it never seems to work for long either, the delicate tines on the element producing the notes breaking easily - I do respect the fact that lots of people do like it and originals sell for a fortune.

The van is an excellent and very faithful re-make of the 1965 edition. I am particularly pleased with the shaped wheels and windows. The colours are exact and texture of the plastic and weighting of suspension seems right too. Even the chrome, whilst maybe a little too bright, is OK. I suppose, if anything, the whole thing is a little too 'perfect', with precise silver and red painting whereas the originals would have missed bits!

It has all the right original stuff in the box (except, of course, a membership form). There is a sheet of stickers, instruction sheet, plain reinforcement card and a further packing card featuring the 60s kids in full colour. A small chunk of polystyrene replaces the cardboard to prevent the rear handle piercing the box.

The box itself is pretty good in terms of design and colours. A good effort but marks lost for someone using the wrong font for the list of features and product name. It is also just too shiny, as if printed on photographic paper where a dull surface would have been preferable in my view. The designers have cleverly retained almost all the original text and illustrations, changing 'Made In Great Britain' to 'Designed in Great Britain' on one panel and putting all the necessary 'new' stuff on a bottom panel where it will be least obvious if on display.

With this first issue I received a really good reproduction of the original Corgi badge (without the hole element and with a tie-pin and clip fastening rather than safety-pin type of operation). Additionally there is a pile of leaflets promoting the Collection and a certificate of provenance for this model.

This is simply great value at £1.99 which is the most you would pay for this at this time. Indeed, as I have signed up for the next release I actually get the van free of charge! You might bear this in mind if you were thinking of bidding for one on Ebay where, of course, annoying people are trying to make a quick few quid, some not even declaring this as a replica. It is good enough to fool a good few, especially if they ditch the box and most accompaniments.

The next issue planned is the 339 BMC Mini Cooper. A leaflet also displays a 155 Lotus F1 Racing Car, 258 'Saint's" Volvo P1800, 267 Batmobile, 325 Ford Mustang Competition Edition, 330 Porsche Carrera 6 and 417 Land Rover Breakdown Truck.

With the Mini there will be a 1505 Garage Attendant Figures Set, 1966 Corgi Catalogue and a tin to hold our certificates. The tin looks deep enough for more than eight sheets so I'm hopeful this will develop . . .

Oh, I can now add too that the reproduction of the Ice Cream Van is so good that the chimes are already beginning to miss a note from time to time!

The illustrations show some remarkably nice models, the only downside being the text on the base which tells us that these are made by 9 year old re-educated children working 18 hours a day in a 5 acre factory on the outskirts of Tianjin. I shall have to subscribe, though, and will report on all these as and when they arrive.

I am struggling with an image of an Ice Cream Van on the streets of Tianjin.