Corgi Model Club: two more Aston Martins, a teal sports car and a nice box.

 

You may have been confused by a recent note from the Corgi Model Club, encouraging us all to buy the #270 James Bond's Aston Martin with silver grille and bumpers, having had one encouraging us to buy the #270 James Bond's Aston Martin with gold grille and bumpers just a short while ago. I had ordered the one with a gold bits in November and, quite frankly, forgotten all about it so I rushed to order the one with silver bits just in case it sold out as these things tend to. Luckily I remembered that I had also had a list of items I should be getting as a member and, indeed, the one with silver bits should be arriving sometime in a few weeks. The one with gold bits is, I assume, on its way too.

I had thought that the masses were going to get the gold edition from the shop, with the silver edition being just for members but I see now this is not the case. There is no asterisk on the list and so lots of people will be getting this before I do as I seem to be a few weeks behind with my Club arrivals, the Ecurie Ecosse Transporter still to reach my village.

So, if you are a member, and only want one silver edition, you don't have to do anything. No need to panic. It will come in its own time when you reach that point on the list. If you want the gold one, though, you need to buy it from the shop and, despite the claim that members get a nice discount, they pay the same price as everyone else for anything other than their single monthly Club items.

Coming up soon you will see two issues that will be for members only and not available in the shop. These are an orange #233 Heinkel Bubble, sorry, Economy Car and a #302 MGA in teal. I expect there will be a red #233 in the shop which we'll need to buy at the normal price but maybe no further MGAs, the red one being available already. Perhaps the Club will hang on to some teal paint and use some for a #300 Austin Healey at some point. That's a model that's very hard to find as an original. I think teal would be about right. I have two originals but both had been frustratingly overpainted with a slightly different shade of blue for reasons I fail to understand.

This one has a new steering wheel and screen too.

This one has a complete covering of the new blue, with silver bits added here and there, as well as a silly screen from Mr Flowers.

Neither base seems to have been removed, though, and there's blue in places a paintbrush wouldn't reach.

I feel confident that both are the scarce blue issue but it is such a pity that they received this later treatment. A lesson for us all, of course, as more and more models are getting 'restored'. Maybe you good restoration artist people could just stick to restoring the common ones and leave something scarce alone. I am amazed at the skills some people do have but I would much prefer a bashed-up old original to a pristine-looking model with shiny rivets (or glue!)

By the same token, however lovely the Corgi Model Club models will be, whether with silver or gold bits, I'll be selling both of them and happier looking to spend the money on a fair to average original. For those who like to display their models, however, there is a lot to be said for the 'bubble-style' boxes that come with the Club models. Good reproductions of these are not cheap.

This one is very good but nearly £50! 

The bubble bit is not easy and all the usual suppliers offer just the later window box types.

So, if you 'don't look back' (or maybe under) the Corgi Model Club editions may be worthwhile after all! Flog the car and keep the box.

Update 22 January:

The Corgi Model Club: MGA re-issue (in a very bright red.)

 

Blue DTC Brands have kept things simple this month with their Corgi Model Club release of the 302 MGA. The first thing that will strike you as you open the box is how red it is! Very red. Quite definitely red. The second thing may be that red again but the second or third will be how nice it is to have good protection for the vulnerable screen in the shape of two now familiar chunks of polystyrene or foamy plastic. You also get a piece of tissue paper this time, not the thin plastic stuff.

It is a lovely-looking model and they've chosen the early edition with shaped wheels, not seen on a Club re-issue since the Land Rover Breakdown Truck. There's not a lot that can go wrong with making this one, although I do wonder about the slope of the radiator grille at the front. It appears rather more upright than my copy shown below.

As usual, the detailing is precise and really just like the original except better determined.

Whilst I am aware that colours can change with age, I do feel that the choice of such a bright red was a mistake.

How many times do we get to see such a pristine and shiny, rust-free tin base? Lovely. If my memory serves me right the only other re-issue of a tin base model has been for the Mercedes-Benz 303S. However, with suspension required, the used a different style for that one.

The description card or certificate tells us that there were three colour schemes for the MGA. We all know about the red and the metallic green but I feat they have simply copied data from The Great Book for that cream one. As is the case with many of dear old Marcel's memories of colours used for models, he is confusing colour trials with what actually made it into a box you could buy. You would not have found then, and certainly will not find now, a cream MGA with red seats other than a factory sample.

Trophy Models

I have a second BRM available. For a change, the wheels are not as blackened as many of these become (and I haven't yet found a good way to revive them as they were a fairly miserable grey in the first place) but you'll see that one has been fitted the wrong way round!

On a model like this I don't think the error adds to its value (as it would for a normal Corgi edition). The gold plating is pretty good, some flakes on the rear and side only and it doesn't suffer from the rough corrosion I have seen on some.

These models are not easy to find these days and I have yet to find one on its plinth, never mind with a box! From what I can gather, these didn't sell particularly well at Marks & Spencer and not a great many were produced anyway. Here are all five, although I do need a better Austin Healey or, at the very least a less ridiculous-looking screen!

Update 17 September: I have re-loaded the images on this page as I am aware of some issues with those published previously. If you do experience any problems with any images in my articles on this blog please let me know.

MGA colours, wheel and wings

The lovely old MGA is a very attractive model and, until now I had not thought that it had much by way of variety. There were green and red colours and wheels that could be either smooth or shaped but seem always to be fixed. Although I wouldn't catalogue it, there seem to be two types of screen too - early models having a smoky grey perspex and later ones a clear screen.

Recently I came across a paler metallic green variety. the colour is more noticeable from some angles than others but the seat colour is definitely different, being quite yellow on the pale coloured model and cream on the normal shade.

Now another difference has come to light. Later models have a ridge running along the top of the front wings, most noticeable on the off-side wing.

It is quite a clear difference and resembles what might have been intended to be a chrome strip except for the fact that the MGAs didn't have such a strip!

It appears to feature on all the models I have encountered with shaped wheels but I expect we will find, à la Thunderbird's 1959 plate, that there will be examples of either models with smooth wheels with the ridge or shaped wheels without it. Whichever occurs, and I doubt there'll be both, will be quite rare and worth looking out for.

Corgi Toys @ 60: MGA

May 1957 saw the addition of a third sports car to the range. Another British classic too, and something that you would see on Hertfordshire roads if you were lucky; the lovely MGA.

Just two colours: red and a metallic green, each suiting the car very well. 

Both colours seem to be equally available amongst models for sale now. It was a popular model and lots were produced and sold so it need not be too expensive. Versions with shaped wheels are quite scarce and worth finding.

The screens seldom survive but replacements are easy to obtain and fit simply into a slot in front of the dashboard. I must make a version with spoked wire wheels one day. That would look nice.

The difference between models I really really want and those I guess I ought to have

And so the 'Wanted List' gets smaller each week. Several recent additions have brought it down to just four, in terms of base model types.

202 Morris Cowley
242 Ghia Fiat 600 Jolly
349 Morris Mini Minor 'Pop Art'
430 Bermuda Taxi

I know I can get a Morris easily - I just don't want to pay a silly price for a reasonably decent one. I do have the M version but keep missing out on the normal ones.

I'm really not bothered about the little yellow Fiat Jolly, which nearly always seems to go for heavy prices as well. I will get one eventually, hopefully as a lucky find. The other car I'm not terribly fond of is the Ford Thunderbird Bermuda Taxi with its silly plastic roof affair and driver. I've just realised that both cars I have left till nearly last have roofs with tassles that wouldn't last five minutes with my driving in this country! Oh well. I am slightly more inclined towards the Bermuda Taxi as it is, after all a nice Ford Thunderbird and, in non-taxi form it is one of my favourites. They're not uncommon and not even expensive. I just want one with the roof and without damage. Many have broken screens and scratches which look bad on the white paint.

Then there's the (slightly annoying) Mini. I say 'slightly annoying' because it seems to have become the one model everyone identifies as 'rare' and whilst yes, it is, I just feel the prices people ask are crazy. There's been one from the States for sale at about £200 for ages, but it has scratches and a badly broken rear window. There are quite a few restorations around as well, as lots of individuals realise that they can paint an old mini, put cast wheels on it, add jewels and some stickers and get more than they'll get for most other restorations other than a Batmobile or Green Hornet with a very modest outlay. I have accepted the likelihood that it will be the last I do tick off the list so there we go. Hmph.

There is a fifth, I should add:

412 Bedford Utilecon ambulance Type II

Strictly speaking it's a variation and I have a 412 but that single window really does make it a different model for me, despite the number not changing. Yes, I have got that restored version but I can't really count that! In many ways this old Bedford is the one I am really trying to find as opposed to just casually hoping to find. Every day I search new listings for one. There is an old, very crappy example for sale but it comes with a pile of ancient and reasonable-looking Dinky Toys and there's a high reserve on the lot too from what I can tell. So unless that changes I won't be getting that one but it was satisfying, in a way, to see there really is one.

The other items that I am also genuinely making an effort to track down almost every day include:

210 Citroen DS19 in green and black
217 Fiat 1800 in blue and dark blue
241 Ghia L6.4 in silver-blue
246 Chrysler Imperial in Kingfisher blue
253 Mercedes-Benz 220SE Coupe in metallic cerise
300 Austin Healey in blue
300 Austin Healey in red
301 Triumph TR2 in cream
302 MGA in red
303 Mercedes-Benz 300SL open in blue with white interior
303S Mercedes-Benz 300SL open white with blue or brown interior
303S Mercedes-Benz 300SL open blue with yellow interior
304S Mercedes-Benz 300SL hard top white with red roof
310 Chevrolet Sting Ray in bronze
332 Lancia Flavia Zagato in metallic green
497 The Man From UNCLE Oldsmobile in white

Those in italics are particularly difficult to find and I just hope I have some spare funds when I do encounter any as, unlike the others, they may only appear very occasionally. (There is a 246 in blue at the time of writing but it's £600! There are limits to what I can manage!) The others, like the Citroen and Fiat, for instance, are quite common but I am just holding out for a nice example at the right price.

There are a few others as well, including things like Mustangs with normal wheels, Land Rovers with cast wheels and some Whizzwheel variations, the only three I really look for being the Jaguar E Type 4.2 in red (most are yellow), a metallic purple Toyota 2000GT and the Mini Marcos in blue. There are other shades and models with cast wheels but they're the ones I don't mind paying for!

If anyone happens across any of these on their travels, do let me know. If you would like a number, send me an email and I'll reply with a mobile you can text and I might get you to buy something for me.

Jolly Good Show, Chaps.

These took a while to find but, at last, I can put a line through #300, #301, #302 and #305 in the list. The four good, old fashioned sports cars which Corgi included in the early years. The Austin Healey was the 100/4 model and, with the Triumph TR2, appeared in July 1956 at the very start.

In the following year the delightful MGA was released and then in 1960 someone must have realised that the Triumph TR2 had long since finished production and a new model, more or less a TR3 was issued, getting a new number too.

These were simple models but much more attractive at the time than anything Dinky was doing and they sold really well. Amazingly, you can still find the MGA in the 1965 catalogue, with the Ghia L6.4, Chevrolet Sting Ray and Jaguar E-types to compete with. There were cars with steering, suspension, trans-o-lite headlamps and all sorts of bits that might open. And even in 1964 the Austin Healey, TR3 and MGA were all there to buy still. They definitely have a certain charm about them and the MGA and Austin Healey are attractive models. I have never been fond of the TR2 and I'm not too sure about the TR3 they produced either.

Many of these cars would have been children's favourites and used far more than the others, getting raced around the 'road' at the edge of a carpet and more often that we would have liked slamming into the skirting board where both the board and the cars would suffer paint loss. The windscreens would, inevitably get broken too. These open cars would have had to have been put away very carefully indeed if those screens were not to suffer and I think that one of the reasons that you don't see many of these now is because so many screen s did suffer and, coupled with scuffs and marks, made the cars look a bit sad and they weren't the ones kept long term and even now could get chucked out or ignored by anyone who isn't familiar with them.

I think the MGA has an original screen but the other three needed replacements. They're easy enough to get hold of and, unlike too many later models, are simple to fix. It really does 'restore' the model, even if the screens aren't brilliant.

You can see more photos of these four new additions on my site under British Cars.