Corgi Model Club: another 300SL and a catalogue of errors

 The Corgi Model Club's second issue of #303S Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster has arrived. My first thought on opening the box was that the Club must have used, as a guide to colour, an old example that had been lying around next to an ashtray or having spent its life in a pub, with a colour that I would describe as pale tobacco stain.

I rushed to dig out my original and put them side by side. Whilst the reissue is a bit creamier or browner, I have to admit that it's not as far out as I initially reckoned. Indeed, looking at my car in my hand it looks quite 'white'. Place it on my desk and it's cream! I tried to take some photos to show the difference but they don't really show much at all!

The Club do make quite a big thig about this 'white livery'. though. Putting aside my feeling that 'livery' isn't really the right word here, they make some mistakes in the Certificate in this respect. First of all they write about this being the 1963 model. No, a driver was added to the model in 1963 but there had been an off-white edition with yellow interior since 1961. Admittedly the free-spinning wheels will have been fitted later but they came before the driver. They write that this 'was only produced in white' but, no, there continued to be the blue model (which the Club themselves have produced, and with a driver!) and there are silver / gold mirror finish models still available much later (as you'll find these with wire or cast wheels from 1965/66). They write about this model being issued in white and off-white as if they were separate issues but there really was just the one 'sort of white' just having the usual spread of shades as with most colours in the old days.

The Certificate also rambles on about the 'S' suffix being dropped between 1964 and 1965. It wasn't. That's a mistake in the little red booklet, supplied with the Great Book of Corgi, from where, I suspect, they copied some of the data without checking.

[Note the 'spoked hubs'! I did eventually find the Mercedes-Benz but have never seen the Aston Martin]

The errors don't stop there this month, I'm afraid, because this model was accompanied by a nice little catalogue, setting out the Club's currently available models with illustrations and descriptions reminiscent in many ways of the original old Corgi Toy catalogues from the mid 1960s. Nice as it looks, it is nonetheless filled with mistakes which I'll detail at the end of this article.

Back to the Mercedes-Benz, here are some photos.

It is a very well-finished model, as, of course was the earlier blue one. I do feel it looks considerably more attractive in this colour. I believe the driver was originally the same chap as drove the #215S Ford Thunderbird, later losing his legs and becoming Roger Moore as 'The Saint' in a Volvo in 1965. 

This is a nice reproduction and perfectly adequate as a space-filler until you find a nice original. White examples are not particularly scarce (unlike the sister #304S in white) but still command quite high prices. Cheaper ones will invariably have a cracked or broken windscreen, a missing driver and/or damaged transfer. The suspension, rock-hard on these as they featured Corgi's first concept, involving a second piece of tin which was pretty much indestructible, is never a problem. Indeed, many sellers do not realise they have a #303S and advertise their model as a 303!

Corgi Toys @ 60 : More S Models and a little Coach

 

303S Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster Open Top

The second edition of the open top car, now with suspension and a driver from March 1961.

This is available in five colour combinations:

• blue with the 303 white interior

• blue with new yellow interior

• white with new yellow or brown interior

• silver-plated with brown interior

• silver-gold finish with brown interior

These had free-spinning smooth or shaped wheels. Later editions had cast wheels. A very scarce edition was produced with wire wheels.

A driver was added but early models did not have one.

Above is a very scarce early edition with free spinning smooth wheels

Then it gets shaped wheels but still no driver with the old 303 interior cars.

Now a driver, yellow interior and a stripe are added to light blue and, white editions.

There is also a silver issue with shaped wheels and a brown interior, not illustrated here. Later cast wheels appear on the silver editions and very rare editions with wire wheels and a golden-silver shade of plating are also issued. More about those in a few years' time!

304S Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster Hard Top

Available in March 1961 with suspension.

This was available with a silver-plated body and red top or a more scarce white body with red top. Each would have stripes added to the bonnet and boot and can be found with free-spinning smooth and shaped or cast wheels. There was also a very scarce edition with wire wheels.

A distinctly gold-coloured plating is also known.

Jaguar 2.4 Fire Chief's car

This is the previous model with suspension and an interior added. No variations known other than that this can have smooth or shaped wheels, but always fixed. The last outing for this Jaguar, and the last survivor of the 1956 issue castings.

1120 Midlands Express Motorway Coach

A lovely looking model and quite different to anything else Corgi had issued or, indeed, would issue for many years to come. In an unspecified scale, it seems a little too small when parked next to the saloon cars but a most impressive model on its own.

You'll find this with fixed smooth or shaped wheels.

Corgi Toys @ 60 : Mercedes, Jeep and another Bedford

April 1959 brought a second Mercedes model to the toy shop shelves, #304. It is the 303 chassis with the interior element and screen removed and a hardtop with windows fitted instead. 

Most of these models were a creamy-yellow colour with a bright red hard top. There are all yellow examples out there, however, and these command quite a significantly higher price.

I believe they all have smooth, fixed wheels.

It was a long-lasting model, getting a strange form of suspension a couple of years later in 1961 - but no interior throughout its life. It was never as popular as the open roadster 303 model, always seeming a bit basic but nonetheless, an attractive and well-made casting.

The second release in April 1959 was something quite different; an American Jeep FC-150 Pick-up truck issued as #409. All were in pale blue or a slightly darker shade with a tin hook and these were not supplied with a canopy. The grille is painted red. Still no interior on Corgi models.

It is an odd model. Firstly, I do not know how you are supposed to replace a tyre on the spare wheel if it ever gets worn. Secondly, it appears to have been manufactured quite differently from all the models issued to date. The door outlines are proud of the main surface whereas all other models have them engraved into the body. Underneath, too, the construction looks quite different to other models. Maybe another chap took over that part of the process for a while. 

The Jeep may not have been the most exciting model but it lasted a long time and the casting was to be used in a wide variety of ways right up until the last release in 1968. It certainly seems to cause a great deal of confusion with sellers often advertising one version as another but, as far as I am aware, there was only one colour #409 (allowing for shades). It can be found with shaped wheels and these are not uncommon. I would also imagine that there could be a free spinning wheel version as this remained until the mid-1960s. That would be a pretty nice find, though.

The third item for this month is another use for the Bedford S cab, now pulling a Mobilgas branded tanker unit, Corgi Majors catalogue number 1110. This can be found with either fixed smooth or fixed shaped wheels but that is the only variation I am aware of. It was quite a good seller and the rear section lasts for ages, getting attached to a very odd-looking later Bedford TK cab in 1965!

Mercedes-Benz 300SL in gold with wire wheels

In a photo of big, blue plastic container full of old toys at an auction house somewhere in Brighton I spotted a Mercedes 300SL. On its side. It was the only one on its side and had it not been there and in that position I would not have realised that here was an example of the very rare 303S with wire wheels. The next problem was bidding enough to win it. There were ten or so decent-looking Corgis in the box and maybe twenty other models that I didn't recognise and a bag of catalogues or leaflets.

I was lucky. No-one else seems to have noticed it or considered it of much value. It was, fortunately too, one of those quite general auctions and these were the only vintage model cars appearing so it doesn't appear to have attracted the interest of dealers or wealthy Corgi collectors.

This is, indeed, quite a find. You may remember that some years ago I had wondered aloud whether these actually existed. The entry in the Corgi Catalogue of 1965 I had thought, at one point, referred to the model they brought out with cast spoke-effect wheels. Then I spotted a 304S at a dealer and began to search in earnest. I failed to find anything and finished up making my own!

This particular model is not just a rare one with those wheels, though, but also produced in the gold mirror finish which is quite different to the silver edition. This makes it even scarcer and I really do not expect to see another any time soon. The silver 304S sold for around £400. This one, I feel, should be worth a lot more. It is not in perfect condition but the windscreen is sound and there are only tiny marks to the bodywork. The slightly messy stripe tends to spoil its appearance but I am not going to attempt to clean that. Reflections and shadows really do not do justice to the appearance of this model. The driver is original and the old suspension system works.

I still have my doubts about the 309 Aston Martin Competition ever being issued with wire wheels. There was a nice normal edition in the box and I am tempted to change its wheels but, as an early type with an open vent on the bonnet, it wouldn't be right. I'll just have to keep looking.

I shall also get a box for the Mercedes if I can find one at a modest price. 

Corgi Toys @ 60: Mercedes 300SL and Lucozade

Corgi's second European model appears this month in 1958 in the very attractive and accurate shape of the Mercedes 300SL.

You will find this mostly in white with a blue interior. The other colour scheme is blue with a cream interior. Neither are particularly scarce as this was a popular model and sold very well. The ones to look out for are those with shaped fixed wheels. In production until 1960, or possibly early 1961 when it was replaced by a version with suspension, it can only have been those produced late in the day that will have shaped wheels.

There are a few examples around which appear to be 'crossover' models where the white or blue body has a 303S chassis with suspension. So you cannot assume that if the model is white or pale blue it will be 303! The suspension is not always obvious on the later models, getting quite stiff in some cases, so sellers often make mistakes with listings. One thing seems certain: if it is shiny silver and/or has a strip then it is the later 303S.

Something else that people get wrong is the driver. The 303 models did not have one.

Corgi fitted quite a solid screen to these models, the front windscreen being supported by the fixed side windows and the perspex is rather thicker than was used for the earlier open top cars. This has helped a good number survive but if it does get damaged then, unlike the others, you cannot just slot of replacement screen in the hole. Perhaps with some care a replacement screen could be glued in place without being too obvious but it is otherwise a task that requires the base to be removed.

The other model fresh to the shelves in your local toy shop in august was another use of the Karrier bantam casting, now to produce this attractive Lucozade van. It has a nice vertical opening door at the side, a plastic element going up and across the inside of the roof most realistically.

This model can be found with fixed smooth or shaped wheels, the latter being less common but not hard to find as this stays in production through to 1962, a year or so longer than the Mercedes.

I often wonder whether Corgi received some payment for promoting the drink. This was only the second occasion in which a commercial product had been advertised on their models, the first being Moorhouses a few months earlier.

A 304S Mercdes-Benz Roadster with spoked wheels

Earlier this year I wrote about The Mystery of the Wheels, having just discovered that there really could be a version of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster with wire ('spoked') wheels. I couldn't see me ever finding one or, if I did, at a price I could afford and so I made one.

I had a very nice base model that happened to come along and that gave me the initial idea. In theory it seems pretty simple: swap the wheels and it's done. In practice, it wasn't that simple at all. Firstly, to remove the wheels you have to file down one end of each axle. I have done something similar with the Rover 2000 re-builds but, in those cases, the axles and wheels have been taken off whatever they came on and it's easy to get a clean run with the file with nothing nearby to get damaged. In this case, I wanted to keep the car as original as possible and certainly didn't want to remove the base so it was much, much harder. The axles are quite narrow so there is neither much sticking out to get the file onto nor is there much space to move the file because the bodywork is so close. Initially I tried to avoid damaging the very nice clean smooth wheels that the model came with but I did have to give up on preserving a couple of them and, as it was, it took several hours of gently filing away to get the wheels free.

Secondly, try as hard as I might, I could not see how the suspension worked and my first attempts at pushing an axle back through so that the car still had suspension on that axle were hopeless. Maybe - sometimes - one wheel seemed firm but the other side was very weak and so it went on for ages. Eventually, purely by luck, I got the rear axle in place and both sides were nice and firm like they should be on this model. It was another hour before I could get the front axle in a similar position! When it did, finally, seem to be in the right place I have no idea what I did to achieve that. I am guessing that there is some thin metal that the axles needs to go beneath but it is my no means obvious or simple to do!

Anyway, it's nearly complete now. I just need to add a small blob to end of the axles that were filed down to prevent the wheel coming off. It looks pretty good, though, and, with the real thing being either almost impossible to find or way too expensive if you do find one, here is a quite smart alternative that does not involve ruining any other model. The wire wheels came off a truly wrecked Ferrari Berlinetta so no loss there.

Now, I should try doing this with a soft top version - but I may be more careful about how I remove the axle next time!

The Mystery of The Wheels

The 1961 Corgi Toys Catalogue was the first to illustrate the Bentley Continental. This year was the start of all the exciting 'features' that were being incorporated in many new models. Corgi threw everything at the Bentley - as the catalogue text says: steering, jewelled head lights, ruby rear lights, opening boot, spare wheel, chrome plated radiator and bumpers, special hubs...

Special hubs? The illustration doesn't show anything different - they look like the flat wheels common at the time.

As we know the car appeared with all those lovely features except for the special hubs. It was the star of the show anyway so I, for one, didn't pay any more attention to the difference at the time. It had the shaped hubs but then so too did plenty of other models so I don't think this was the first time they'd been seen, nor would it have been the first with free spinning wheels. Or was it? Could it be that the first occasion when free spinning wheels were made available was, indeed, on the Bentley in April 1961?

We know that examples of most other models released before that could be found with shaped hubs but most were still fixed. Only a few, like the Aston Martin, Morris Mini Minor and Austin Seven would get free spinning wheels but they might well have been rather later than April 1961. We know that Corgi were playing with the idea of making the wheels spin independently at about this time as some 303S and 304S Mercedes re-issues with suspension had the old style flat wheels spinning freely so it is possible that this may have been what they meant when the catalogue was drafted.

Alternatively, there may have been a plan to create a wheel that more closely resembled the classy hubs of the real thing, perhaps with bright chrome. I have no idea. All we know for sure is that the Bentley was the only model ever produced with pale grey tyres!

There was another mystery in the 1963 catalogue, also repeated in The Great Book of Corgi: spoked wheels for the Mercedes 303s, 304S and Aston Martin 309.

The catalogue has quite clear pictures of what look like the spoked wheels used for the Buick Riviera, Chevrolet Sting Ray and others fitted to these models.

It would have been a popular move and one that made a great deal of sense as the spoked wheels were really nicely made and suited models so well. Existing wheels could have been used so there need have been no special new tooling or change in the production process other than adding a box of the spoked wheels to the selections for these lines.

What seems to have happened is that a cast wheel, with a spoke effect design (to be used across the range in years to come), was fitted to later editions of the two Mercedes models. These were discontinued soon afterwards so they're not at all common. The 218 yellow or red Aston Martins had had a crude spoke effect cast wheel only ever found on that model and it was also fixed the the axle and not at all attractive. That was discontinued in 1962, though, and mercifully we never saw those wheels again.

I have never seen any 309 Aston Martin, however, with anything other than free spinning, shaped wheels. I am surprised that they didn't fit the same cast, spoke effect wheels as they used for the Mercedes, especially as they presumably were planning these at the same time. If there ever were any Aston Martins with those cast wheels or spoked wheels then they must be seriously rare. It is not particularly difficult for someone with the right tools to switch the wheels so I am inclined to be a bit suspicious of any I did encounter anyway. But if someone would like to have a go I would love to see one!

Update 9/3/17:

I have just seen this on Ebay.

Interestingly, the seller has not shown the base which always makes me wonder, especially as this is a dealer who should know to include that. He's asking £250 which, if it's genuine, seems very reasonable. Unfortunately, I can't afford that. He has another in better condition but with the cast, spoke effect wheels, at £350. Something wrong there. It ought to be the other way round. Anyway, it looks like the Mercedes may exist.