Here's the latest issue from the Corgi Model Club, the #419 Ford Zephyr Motorway Patrol car.
It is a nice model to hold and sits quite purposefully on the table, although the suspension wires holding the axles seemed to allow more movement than usual on my model before any resistance was felt. Apart from the size of the text on the front POLICE transfer, however, this model is really hard to fault.
It really is one of the best 'copies' so far in terms of accuracy. The wheels on all the free-spinning shaped wheel models produced still don't look quite the right design and this is accentuated by the very new-looking bright axle ends which are unfamiliar to collectors like me who seldom see perfect shop-fresh stock. That is a minor matter, however.
The font for CORGI TOYS on the base is a bit large this time. I don't remember it standing out as so obviously different with previous issues but I may just have missed that. However, as the base gives the whole game away anyway, I'm not too bothered about what's there.
In the package is the usual Certificate of Authenticity and a shiny but otherwise very good box with a single piece of foam to protect the blue lamp on the roof.
The original was issued in August 1960 but the original version of this example with shaped, free-spinning wheels would be more likely to have been produced at the factory a couple of years later. This was also the first Zephyr Estate to be issued. The saloon would not appear until February 1961. I expect that will also be on the list for future Club issues, requiring only a little adjustments to the casting. Having said that it may well be the case that the Chinese teams are so efficient that they can knock out a completely new cast faster than it would take to adjust an old one.
