Big Daktari (and a small elephant)

 

It has taken a while but I finally have all the components for the second Daktari Gift Set. This is Gift Set 14, issued in May 1969 and including some unique items.

By 1969, the normal Land Rover and Dodge Kew Fargo trucks would have been fitted with cast wheels but it seems that these sets often had both with shaped wheels, as I have here. I don't know the distribution but I would expect these sets to have had predominantly cast wheel editions of these two. You could imagine that Corgi had several boxes full of the Land Rover left over from its outing in Gift Set 7 but that set too was available not only with cast wheels on the Land Rover but with Whizzwheels too! So, if you read the books, you'll be told that Gift Set 7 ceased production in 1969 which was when Gift Set 14 started to be issued. Logically, there really should not be any Daktari Land Rovers with Whizzwheels but, clearly, there are, and many of them too, judging by the low prices most sell at. I think, therefore, we can take it that Gift Set 7 remained in production well into the early 1970s and that, in turn, is much more likely to justify the sales of nearly 1 million, according to the same books.

In this set, however, it appears that Whizzwheels were not fitted to any of the models, despite the books telling us that it ran through to 1973. Sales of a mere 100,000 or so, however, may have been just the first few production runs of the models and there was never a need to replace them. It simply did not sell as well and is now extremely hard to find, especially if you seek a box. I have seen two boxes so far in my several years of looking and there are no reproductions being made either, presumably because they cannot get hold of an original to copy.

The Kew Fargo Truck never got Whizzwheels anyway, this being its final appearance in new colours and the Daktari decals being added as paper stickers. Most models suffer from the usual suspension problem, resulting from a bent prop shaft. If you search this blog for Kew Fargo Truck you will find my instructions on how this can be repaired without taking the base off or spoiling anything.

The Land Rover, as I have said, is identical to that issued with Gift Set 7.

The third model is the Bedford Giraffe Transport vehicle, being the same thing as the June 1964 Chipperfields edition getting a fresh lease of life here. It now has nice pale brown paintwork and the carrier section has a two-tone brown giraffe pattern, bearing the Wameru Sub-District decal in red. As with later editions of the Chipperfields version, this truck has the attractive and quite realistic cast wheels as fitted to some later commercial vehicles.

All the Gift Set 7 characters moved to Gift Set 14 with the Land Rover; that's Paula on the lion and the lion has a pair of spectacles, together with the doctor wearing a stethoscope and with a chimpanzee on his lap. These are all present and original here - the glasses and stethoscope are tiny, easily lost and quite hard to find as originals now. Replacements are good, though, and that's what you'll find most people have and it isn't easy to tell without a magnifying glass, although the reproduction spectacles rarely stay in place on the lion.

In the back of the Giraffe Transporter you'll find the same mother and baby as were in the Chipperfields box. 

The Kew Fargo truck carries two elephants. The big one is the same as you find in Gift Set 19, the Chipperfields set with a ready-made elephant in a ready-made cage on the back of a trailer towed by a Land Rover. (In the 607 kit both the cage and elephant are in separate parts and, when made, may appear slightly different). The baby elephant is the part you may well find the most difficult to track down. It is noticeably smaller than the other one and has a quite chunky appearance, with trunk hanging down and turning back at the end slightly. It is a dark grey colour. It is often missing and, I suppose, gets mixed up with whatever other animals the owner may have had at the time and, when it comes time to sell his collection the baby elephant will, more often than not, finish up in a bag with several other animals of no Corgi origin. Once the connection is lost it will not be regained and, as a consequence, I spent many months searching for one.

Strangely, both that came to light were found by my German friend and collector, Andi. I have yet to see one for sale in the UK. (Of course, having said that, there may now be a whole herd of them tramping through Great Britain if not the Channel Is!) Many people, unable to find the correct one, have substituted another, and I have even seen imposters in place of the comparatively easy to find mother elephant. The trunk and how it is shaped is the best thing to look out for in both cases.

As they stand, the group is probably worth around £200, which at a mere £60 or so for each of the principal elements + their content, is not very much when one considers just how difficult is is to get everything. Add a box, however, and the price sails up to £600, (a lot more at one of the auctions I've seen!) So I shall not be selling any of these just yet. Indeed, I fear it may be some years before a box comes along but they'll still represent an excellent return on investment, I'm sure.

Things that tip and could go dump in the night

My first Unimog arrived this week and what an impressive model it turns out to be. It may look like a plastic toy in these colours but it is solid die-cast metal, weighty and very well constructed.

The suspension comprises four coil springs, pretty much like the real thing and it can be quite good fun driving it up and over assorted objects on the desk to see it in action. I have been fortunate to find a model in extremely good condition (it came in a near unmarked window box) for just a few pounds, probably because the seller thought it was the later, not so nice, model. Having said that, this one was around for a good while whereas the replacement lasted only a year or two and so that might actually be quite scarce now. 

The spring-loaded dumper flies up when the handle is turned - probably not very realistic but it does the job! I am now chasing down the other few Unimogs. There are plenty of snow ploughs around by the seems of things but I really cannot build up much enthusiasm. I'll probably get the trucks next or the later version of this.

Next in was the other Massey Ferguson 50B tractor, this time wearing a shovel attachment. Just as bland as the tractor really. The attachment doesn't stay up for wheeling around the room. I don't think t has been made to - there is a silver grab handle thing that operates the lift quite effectively and my guess is that we're expected, or should I say, we were expected, to hold that while pushing it about. Farmer George, with scarf, is still stuck in the cab there for life and not doing a great deal.

This gets the number 54 which was previously assigned to the twin track affair that I still haven't managed to acquire.

Lastly for now, here is a smart Dodge Kew Fargo truck, the second in this group that I needed. It is very similar to the #483 that came in recently. The only difference is really the tipping device instead of the beast carrier unit. I have a suspicion that the tipping part is the same part from #62, the Farm Trailer in red which came with extra depth inserts.

I have yet to examine these side by side but the photos look interestingly similar. There are, however two hydraulic pistons operating the trailer on the Dodge truck and just one of the trailer.

My Dodge truck is, like the Beast Carrier, an early version with the normal wheels. Later editions had cast, spoke effect wheels.

Like #483, #484 also suffered from poor suspension (despite the seller's assurance that it was good in the advertisement!) but I used the simple technique of straightening the transmission shaft to sort that out and it is now nice and solid. These trucks do, however, have a massive wheelbase! I can imagine that a truck left lying around could easily succumb to a parent's foot and that wouldn't help the suspension either.

Kew Fargo Repairs

There are three Dodge Kew Fargo trucks to find: the beige and green beast carrier like this one, a blue and beige version that has Wameru stickers and zebras on the doors from the big Daktari Gift Set 14 and the tipper truck, always in white and dark blue.

The only variations seem to be the introduction of cast wheels later in their lives. I was going to remark that this is an odd addition to the range as we would never have seen one on our farms here in Britain or, for that matter, on the roads but then I remembered that we wouldn't have seen all those lovely American sports cars either! So, although this a bit of a lumbering beast, I have to welcome it.

This and the Unimogs escaped my attention earlier but now I am trying to track some decent examples down at modest prices. These Dodge trucks seem very cheap.They were not great sellers. The tipping version was more popular and yet, strangely, now is the more expensive although that might just be drawing inaccurate conclusions from the few currently available.

This one only cost a couple of pounds. It is in very good condition with just some marks on the green section and tiny paint loss on the raised bonnet edges. Its main problem seemed to be very loose axles that wobbled around and suspension that simply didn't exist! In fact, I had to look up a picture of the box to reassure myself that it should have suspension!

On examination I could see that the transmission shaft was quite bowed and that seems to have quite a lot to do with the way the axles get retained. I couldn't actually see what happened at the front but took a guess that a straighter shaft would help a lot. Now, could I remove part of it sufficiently to straighten it?

Yes! The rear axle can be released quite easily by opening slightly the two clip parts. Then it can be lifted and the shaft, with a little turning, comes out of the front section. That was nice. I had thought it might be connected under there but it isn't. Once straight it can be slotted back into place, making sure that it is positioned over, not under the front axle. Tighten the clips and all's well. The suspension now works perfectly. Another clever bit of engineering by Corgi. (OK so it went wrong but at least this was easier to fix than their later experiments with plastic!)

So if you find a cheap one and it is priced low just because the axles are rattling around and the suspension is no good then you might just get yourself a bargain!