Lincoln for Llwyngrll

I do hope the collector who now owns this splendid Lincoln Continental does actually have room for it!

Brooklyn, Ciney and Cornwall. I get around.

Brooklyn, New York, is definitely where this car could belong, although the neighbourhood looks a bit too smart for this somewhat run-down version of the car.

Ciney in belgium is where this Citroen DS19 had to go. It sort of looks content there.

A late edition Rolls Royce makes it through the very narrow Cornish lanes to Luxulyan where the car seems bigger than this chap's house!

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!

Not something to meet along Bedmond Lane

One of my least favourite models is #262, the Lincoln Continental. I felt obliged to have one in stock and it does actually grace the cover of the 1967-8 Corgi Toy catalogue. In fact it stretches from front to back cover. Yes, this is a big car.

The thing is: it is ridiculously BIG. To anyone driving from St Albans to Kings Langley in 1968, meeting a Buick would have been ruddy inconvenient and required reversing back round the lane by one or other party to find somewhere to pass. This thing appears so huge that it wouldn't even squeeze into the lane in the first place.

Surely, Corgi really did get the proportions wrong on this one. Well, maybe the proportions are right but the scale can't be. Look at how it compares to our own home-grown beast of a Jaguar X Type. Even if we accept it was a bit stretched and longer than other cars, the width and height can't be right. Just the doors look massive.

I have not read that a different scale was used but it has to be larger. Maybe someone knows. If it had been produced nearer the end of the era then I might have understood but this is still at a time when great models were being made that did look OK. I never had one at the time. This has a battery compartment in the base that powers a light to display a TV screen on which different slides can be shown. The boot and interior have a sort of flock paper fancy blue carpet. Plenty of doors open but there's no rear window. I thought mine was missing but it seems this is normal. It's well made, very solid and generally looks good from all angles.

I just think it's wrong. Way too big. Someone buy it. I shall probably not replace it or even bother about looking for the less common blue one. That's one variation I can live without. And have more room without too.