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!

Blue Beauties

 

I had this selection of recent additions to my collection on the shelf next to where I write and it just occurred to me how lovely they are and, in particular, how I have liked blue editions of many in the range. I was going to write about some annoying careless packaging but instead decided to be more cheerful this morning and leave that until later.

The Oldsmobile Super 88 is a very plain Corgi. Nothing opens, no suitcases or jewelled lights and the huge white stripe always strikes me as odd but there is something about this model in this colour that makes it one of my favourites and I was so pleased to find this lovely example recently. The shade is typical mid 1960s and you can almost hear the Beach Boys record playing in the background.  The more common metallic shade seems quite boring in comparison.

Now you don't need me to remind you that the Jaguar Mk X can be found in a really large range of colours, including several variations of blue, from solid sky blue to what is often called 'kingfisher blue'. This deep metallic blue is one of the best I have had and even the paint around the headlamps has survived the last 60 years (and a trip from Germany where my friend Andi found it). 

As a child I had the rather unpleasant pale green version. All the first issues were either solid sky blue or that green but I can only imagine I didn't have any choice when I bought mine. I remember returning to the toy shop a couple of years later when working for a local farmer meant that I had some money to spend each week on Corgis. There on his counter was a metallic cerise Jaguar Mk X that he had been showing to someone else and it was such an improvement that it was the first 'duplicate' I acquired. It is only over the last ten years or so that I have realised just how many colours that were issued. If I had known I would have asked the shop owner to look out for this one, for sure.

Another model with a fair range of colours is the Ghia L6.4. My first one was a strange, darkish turquoise-blue shade with a red interior but the duplicate I acquired in sage green was my favourite at the time. I was particularly fond of the cream interior and delighted to find a more normal metallic blue version with that cream interior some 50 years later! Of course, I now appreciate that there are many shades of the metallic blue and the model I should have illustrated here is the one with matching door panels as opposed to the odd red ones in this example. They are original, though, but I have never seen red door panels in the sage green car. They do appear in some gold cars with cream interior. The few bronze editions that I have had have only had all cream interiors too.

This was the first Corgi to have opening everything and it was a delight to own and play with. I shall probably always have one of these to look at somewhere around me. People do buy them every time I advertise them and then I have to start looking for another but, luckily, they are a bit easier to find than the Jaguar!

The Oldsmobile Toronado was after my time, to coin a phrase, in that by 1967 I was listening to Radio London, collecting 7" singles and albums by the Byrds and The Mamas and The Papas, singing Monkees songs and writing poems to possible girlfriends. It was one of the first 'new' Corgis that I found when I started all this Corgi stuff in 2012 or thereabouts. Again, that lovely metallic blue finish and very bright and clean-looking, almost white, interior appealed to me. The opening twin headlights were nice, especially with the chromed finish and operated so much better than those on the Chevrolet Sting Ray of earlier times.

It didn't do much else than flash its headlamps and shine with all that glorious chrome (the chrome sills were great) but the design just works for me. 

For a long time I was confused by what appeared to be variations but eventually I realised that the #264 model in a box did not have a tow bar and those that did were from Gift Set 36 with a Glastron Speedboat. I did, however, much prefer the look of the early and quite scarce editions with normal wheels as opposed to the more common cast variety.

Whilst on the topic of attractive 'blue' Corgis, I have written before about how I searched for a metallic blue #230 for  while before appreciating that Corgi had revised the Mercedes 220SE as #253 without steering and modifications to the boot and pillars. I did love the steering on the #230 model and the black model is likely to rank in my all-time Top 20 but I do like the blue #253. It must be that cream interior again!

I cannot allow any text on this topic to be published without reference to what could be my favourite Corgi - the metallic blue Ford Mustang.

Here it has wire wheels as that was the first photo I found. I think the one with plain wheels may be the one that actually tops my own poll. I will have to write a note to myself not sell the next one I find in good condition! Maybe this article will do.

For now, though, I hope you will excuse my rambling about some not particularly different or hard to find models but, instead, remembering just how nice ordinary Corgis can be.

I am aware that I have not mentioned a whole host of other models in blue that may or may not deserve mention. These few just happened to be next to me.

Corgi Toys @ 60 Many upgrades and a Lotus-Climax Racing Car

 With Christmas fast approaching, your local Corgi dealer had a huge number of new models available to order. I say 'new' but actually only one was a really new issue. So let's see what's in the December 1964 list.

Nearly new issues #60 and #61 are reworking of the Fordson 'Power Major' Tractor and Plough. The Fordson is very similar to the #55 issue but with headlamps now incorporated within the radiator grille. It also gets better steering and a driver. The plough looks very different from #56, now in blue with chrome-plated shares and it has lost the attachment pieces which were very fiddly to work with before. Now it simply rests on the rear element of the tractor.

Another model that is not really new is the Mercedes-Benz 300SL, issued in both roadster mode as 303S and with a  hard top as 304S. The difference here is the type of wheel. The details published by Corgi talk about the model getting 'spoked' wheels. My experience has been that these models with spoked wheels are extremely scarce. Models with cast spoke effect wheels are not common but definitely much easier to find and it may be that these are what the Corgi information was meant to refer to.

The next 'nearly new' release this month 60 years ago is #309, the Aston Martin Competition Model. It's the 218 model with a fresh turquoise-green and cream paint finish, jewelled headlamps and flags on the bonnet.

The first editions had an open vent on the bonnet. Racing number decals were put on the doors and could be 1,3 or 7. Later editions had a closed vent.

Another existing model revised is the Minivan, #450. This is the Police Minivan from a few months earlier now as just the van. Always in an accurate for the time but rather dull shade of green this can be found with three variations of the treatment of the grille. The 'correct' and normal edition has the simple van style of grille in the same colour as the rest of the van. Variations are models with silver paint on the grille and those where the Austin Countryman grille has been inserted. This has a different window unit which does not have the rear cross-hatched section of the Police version. It also does not stay in production for long enough to get cast wheels.

There may be variations in the text on the base MINI VAN and MINI-VAN.

Two gift sets were issued in December 1964.

Gift Set16 now has three racing cars with suspension, 150S, 152S and 154 replacing the previous content. The box and packing remains the same and I think the Ecurie Ecosse transporter itself is the same. It does get a lighter blue finish and different colour interior but I doubt that coincides with the upgrade of the set.

The Riviera Gift Set 31 does introduce a new model and that's the Dolphin Boat on its Wincheon Trailer. The boat doesn't appear on its own until 1965. The set features a Buick Riviera towing the Boat on a red trailer with a Captain at the wheel of the boat and a girl on a surfboard being pulled along behind the boat.

The Boat and trailer seems never the change but you'll find different Buicks in the set. Most of the original 1964 sets had a solid pale blue Buick with spoked wheels and this would have had a 'clutch' type of hook which grabs the tow ring of the trailer. Later editions have a different 'button' style of hook and there metallic blue or, much later metallic turquoise-blue models were used with cast wheels. A solid pale blue Buick with cast wheels would be a very scarce variety to find.

The girl is always wearing a red swimsuit in the original sets but replacements with a blue swimsuit are available. The 'rope' is a thin black plastic, similar to that sued for the Police Minivan a few months earlier and just as difficult to affix.

Finally a really new issue! This is the Lotus-Climax Formula 1 Racing Car. Whilst I have seen one of these with RN2 decals it is my view that this would be a factory sample or something someone has changed. The normal model has RN1 decals and will always be in British Racing Green with a driver with blue helmet. The tyres at the front are normal car size but those at the rear are bigger 'Land Rover' type.

Corgi Toys @ 60: By Repeated Requests . . , really?

 

It's November 1964 and, yes, it's probably raining in England and almost certainly raining at the Corgi factory in Wales. But is that enough reason to add By Repeated Requests beneath 'Operating Windscreen Wipers' on this month's new issue 60 years ago? No, I don't believe a word of it! Not once amongst my pals did I hear anyone think out loud that it would be really cool to have windscreen wipers on their Corgi Toys.

We liked things that opened, especially doors and boots where we could put things. Working windscreen wipers, however, were what we got. Well, an approximation to working windscreen wipers, in the form of two hemispheres of clear plastic with a black line representing the blade on each, which rotated back and forth inside the from screen. Great for clearing the condensation and I could do with something like that on a cold morning on my car now!

Joking aside, the mechanism was a typical piece of super Corgi engineering, with a nice cog on the rear axle turning a shaft that ran the length of the model to produce a 'to and fro' movement for the 'wipers'. It could be switched off on the base so it was not necessary to have them working all the time and very fast driving with them on did have the potential to jam the mechanism. Having said that, I don't recall ever encountering a model where they didn't work. Not bad after all this time.

The Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman was a pretty impressive model on its own. Corgi really could have sold it well without the wipers. The car was big, for a start and had the most gorgeous deep maroon finish (when first issued) and chrome galore. Really nice shiny chrome which not only provided shiny grille and bumpers but also went the length of the sills and wheel arches too.

It also had nice opening windows at the back - they slid up and down. I think this was the first time I had seen this type.

As you can see from the illustrations here, there were two very distinct shades to this model #247. The dark maroon was, I believe, the earliest and this gave way to more of a metallic crimson later in production.

Despite its lovely appearance, though, this was not a model that we played with a great deal. Once we'd finished showing mum and dad the working windscreen wipers, this was not a car to drive around our layouts. It was pretty good in a straight line but almost impossible to turn round corners with its fixed rear wheels.

The suspension was always lovely and it did look wonderful parked outside a Bayko house or in the Service Station.

The other November 1964 issue was the third Model T Ford to be issued in the Corgi Classics series. This time the model gets a hood as well as a coat of bright blue paint and it comes with an old chap to start the car, bent in a position to turn the starting handle.

I have always felt slightly sorry for the old chap who looks pretty tired and, unlike so many other Corgi characters, never gets a chance to sit in the drivers seat or do anything else.

The model itself appears identical to the yellow and black models from earlier in the year, other than the hood and not having any driver or passenger.

These Classics were very well-made and detailed but not that popular in comparison to the more familiar range of Corgis. These were models to put on a shelf, not play with, and would have had appealed to a very different market which didn't really exist in great numbers at that time. The whole range can be purchased now, in boxes and as new, for a few pounds apiece. Nevertheless, there are some varieties to look out for. Different wheel colours and a different finish to the side lights.