The Land Rovers and Rice Pony Trailers in Gift Set 2

I was asked this week to list the various changes in content for Gift Set 2, the long-running Land Rover and Pony Trailer combination that was first issued in February 1958 and continued until December 1968 when Gift set 15 replaced it with the blue and white 'Pony Club' combination.

As this may be of interest to a wider audience I thought it would be a good idea to set out the variations here (where experts can also correct me if necessary!)

Date	Land Rover		Pony Trailer
	colour	wheels	colour	drawbar	handle	wheels
Feb 1958	406 type green with tan cover	smooth fixed	cream with red	wire	no	smooth fixed
1958		smooth fixed	red with black	wire	no	smooth fixed
1959		smooth fixed	cream with red	wire	yes	smooth fixed
1959		smooth fixed	red with black	wire	yes	smooth fixed
1960		smooth fixed	red with black	wire	yes	shaped fixed
1961		shaped fixed	red with black	wire	yes	smooth fixed
1961		shaped fixed	red with black	wire	yes	shaped fixed
1962	438 type deep green with cream plastic cover	shaped free	red with black	wire	yes	smooth fixed
1962		shaped free	red with black	wire	yes	shaped fixed
1962		shaped free	red with black	solid	yes	shaped fixed
Dec 62	438 type fawn with cream plastic cover	shaped free	fawn and cream roof, silver mudguards	solid	yes	shaped fixed
1963		shaped free	fawn and cream roof, silver mudguards	solid	yes	shaped free

I am not sure about the intermediate dates. Whilst the fixed shaped wheels only started to appear in 1960-61 it seems that Land Rovers with smooth were in the box with Pony Trailers with fixed and vice versa! I have seen genuine example of both, in Gift sets I know were not changed after purchase. There is a lack of logic there but that's 'Corgi life', I guess!

The fixed drawbar is quite unusual to find on the red Trailer and, as I have only ever found this on a model with shaped wheels, I have to assume that it would have been introduced in 1962 shortly before the fawn model came to the shops at the end of that year.

Just to confuse us, however, there are examples of the red Trailer with fixed shaped wheels and a wire drawbar!

The red Trailers appear to have stopped being produced pretty much when the fawn colour came in and I have never seen one with free wheels which I am assuming came in 1963 or maybe the following year.

The very first ponies appear to have had a brown blanket but blue must have been available pretty soon after launch if not, indeed, from the outset so I would be inclined to regard either as acceptable content throughout. Any other colour, though, will be found to be one of the very good replacements readily available.

The Land Rovers with seat variations are particularly scarce and, whilst they may have turned up in a Gift Set, it is difficult to be sure as the items can so easily be swapped around now. I am inclined, therefore, to exclude them from the list of GS2 variations.

Much of this article has had to be inspired guesswork in the absence of much by way of documentation! So I welcome corrections from anyone with a better background knowledge but hope that, in the meantime, it is of some assistance to collectors.

Corgi Toys @ 60: The Americans Arrive!

February 1958 saw the arrival of the magnificently named Studebaker Golden Hawk on the Corgi shelves at our local toy shop. Compared to Morris Cowley or Hillman Husky that we may have been pushing around the layout, to be able to announce the name Studebaker Golden Hawk to your friends was a little special.

The chances of seeing one of these cars in the Hertfordshire lanes where I lived were next to zero. Even in the fairly wealthy city of St Albans where I went to school a Vauxhall Cresta was about as long a motor car as we might see.

This was Corgi's first American model. The 211 was available in a solid mid-blue shade with gold-painted fins and the 211M version was white, also with gold-painted fins. All the 211M models will have fixed smooth wheels and I think almost all the 211 models will have these too. In May 1960 the 211S was issued, with suspension, an interior and gold paintwork or silver plating and so it is very unlikely that any 211 models will have been around when the switch to shaped wheels was made.

I would imagine that, if any exist, they'll be expensive.

The 211M model only lasted until the following year as these 'mechanical' models were not selling well and were all withdrawn during 1959. Examples in good condition with nice running motors are now not at all easy to find, nor are they likely to be cheap.

The other issue this month was Corgi's second Gift Set. Appropriately named Gift Set 2, it contained a green version of the 406 Land Rover, now, for the first time, with a tan canopy made of tin. The Land Rover pulled a 102 Pony Trailer that had been issued the preceding month. This may have been red on a black chassis or cream on a red chassis. A pony with a blanket would be in the trailer. Although shown here with a brown blanket, I am fairly sure that the first ones had blue blankets, red and brown appearing somewhat later.

All the first editions would have had fixed smooth wheels and the trailers would have had the wire drawbar.

The illustration above shows a dark pony that is quite incorrect for the set!

Notice how this tray has holes for the pony's feet between the Land Rover and trailer. These are genuinely original but it seems that the tray was later revised without provision for the pony outside the trailer. Unfortunately this old box has seen better days but it is an intriguing item that I had not encountered before.

As readers may well have gathered, the topic of Corgi Pony (or Horse) Trailers is one which I have been surprised to find remarkably fascinating! And here is another chapter.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Two Trailers

January 1958 brought two things you could tow behind your Land Rover or Commer lorry; 101, the Platform Trailer and 102, the Pony Trailer. The Platform Trailer can be found in many combinations of chassis and load section colours but I think there would only have been these three available initially.

These would have had the simple wire drawbar. It would not be until 1962 that that got replaced in a boxed edition, although in March 1960 the records show that a set comprising an ERF lorry with cement and plank loads had a cast drawbar. I am not so sure that is correct, though. You will also see a blue and red trailer carrying a Chipperfields Circus elephant cage and a blue and cream trailer carrying milk churns but both these will have cast drawbars. There is, of course, also the yellow trailer from the Farming Set but that also only appeared later and had a fixed cast drawbar.

The Pony Trailer I have written about on several occasions. What seemed a very straightforward issue - just the choice of three colours, I had thought, turned out to be a lot more complicated! However, here in January 1958 you would have opened the box to find just one of two possible editions: a cream horsebox on a red chassis or a red horsebox on a black chassis. Either would have a wire drawbar, exactly the same as was fitted to the trailers.

In the box would be a brown pony with a blanket on. The blanket would usually be blue. I have seen other colours but believe that the early ones were always blue. If you had one of the very early editions then you would have struggled a bit to get the pony out because there was no 'handle' or protrusion at the top of the ramp to help you in lifting it to unlatch and then drop it down. Pretty soon after the first issue, however, the casting of the ramp was changed and a 'handle' added.

Both the cream and red and red and black editions can be found with and without handles. The red and black one carried on rather longer than the cream and red and even got a fixed drawbar at some late stage. There is no documentation on this but my guess is that it would have appeared a little before the time when the brown and cream Pony Trailer appeared for the revised Gift Set 2. That would correspond with the 1962 debut of the same thing on the Platform Trailers.

The Pony Trailer you probably don't have

The old Corgi Pony trailers never cease to surprise me. This is a very nice example of the scarcer cream and red edition of 102 that arrived today. It's nice but didn't strike me as anything exceptional. Then I tried to open and drop down the ramp. It seemed a lot more difficult than the others I have had.

It was like there was a sort of handle missing. That, indeed, is what it was. All the other 102s that I have ever encountered have had a lump of metal at the top of the ramp that acts as a sort of handle.

This one also came with most of its box. If you look at the image carefully you'll see that the artist has drawn a ramp without a handle. So that makes me think that perhaps this is the very earliest edition which was later amended. Having said that, on the other side he has drawn a cream trailer with a black chassis so you can never really come to much of a conclusion from these.

This is another cream and red one that I have at the moment and you can see the difference. Because the one that has just arrived is in good condition it is clear that there never has been a 'handle' and it is not a simple case of something having been chipped off at some point.

So there's another 102 that you may need to add to your collection! Indeed, as the red and black one was, I think, also issued at the outset, perhaps there will be some of those without the 'handle' too.

I have read on one site that there are editions of the red and black model with a fixed drawbar instead of the wire affair. I am not at all sure that is the case and believe that there were several changes made at that time and they only applied to the brown and cream version. However, maybe you can look out in case there really is a third red and black type! 

We need to go back to the Pony Club again.

Just as you might have thought it safe to get out of the farmyard, there's something else you'll need to look out for with the Pony Club Gift Set 15. 

As I have previously mentioned, the interior of the 438 Land Rover changed at some time in the early 1970s, after Whizzwheels (I believe), and so there are the baby blue editions with both types as well as the darker blue Flying Club Gift Set 19 and metallic green issue.

The missing one arrived today and I am hoping that completes the range. One thing that did strike me, though, was the distinct difference in shade between my Type I which is the normal baby blue (grey tow bar and steering wheel) and the Type II which is definitely darker. That's the one with the black hook and all yellow interior.

This came as a set but the horsebox / pony trailer was the normal baby blue colour. They may have come from different sources, though, so we need to look out for the darker horsebox now.

That is not where the story ends, though, dear collector. I looked again at the ridiculous number of these 112 Horseboxes that I now have around the house. I was looking at any colour differences but did find something else which is actually more interesting. I have one with an open vent on the top. All the others are closed!

So there is something you need to take a look at. If your model is closed you'll need an open one, or the other way round, of course. And while you're at it, you may want to get a darker blue one too (I am assuming they exist, being the later shade adopted). Surely there can be no more variations on these things? I had always considered these trailers and horseboxes to be pretty plain affairs but they've become quite entertaining.

Below are the two types of interior for the Land Rover in baby blue. I am really hoping that the normal wheels and cast wheels versions only have the Type I interior with the grey steering wheel. I am pretty sure that has to be the case but - who knows what you'll find! I should imagine that a cast wheel version (in either baby blue or metallic green) of the 438 with a Type II interior does not exist or would be very scarce indeed.

Type I lemon with grey plastic steering wheel

Type II all yellow plastic

Pony trailers over the years

If you wanted a green Land Rover with a tin cover in the early days you would have to get Gift Set No.2. The normal boxed ones were either yellow with a black roof or blue with a white roof. For 7/9d you got the 4/- Pony Trailer and pony, the 3/6d Land Rover and I guess the extra 3d was for the cover!

Now, most Pony Trailers you'll come across will be bright red with a black chassis but some very early ones were a pale shade of pink-cream with a red chassis so the set about is actually quite difficult to find for several reasons.

The later type of Land Rover appears in 1961 and sets get the green one with its cream plastic cover, pulling a red horsebox. The horsebox is unchanged for a while, other than the pale cream version not being around.

Change does come quite soon, though, and a new fawn colour Pony Trailer is issued. This has the same box affair but sits on a different chassis, incorporating a solid tow bar. It matches perfectly the new colour of Land Rover too, which also gets red seats now in place of the yellow ones in the green Land Rover.

A few examples do exist of the green Land Rover with red seats. I have one with an original box but it is one of my most expensive models. they are extremely difficult to find but you may strike lucky as not every seller realises the difference.

The fawn colour looks good in the set but individual Land Rovers in that colour always seem to look a bit tired. Maybe it is just those that I have acquired! They just don't look as smart as the green ones on their own. These did stay around for many years, though, before Gift Set No.2 becomes Gift Set No.15 and everything turns blue.

The Pony Trailer is now a much bigger thing with room for two ponies - supplied with a big one and a little one. There are two ramps, with nice cork covering and a divider inside. The Land Rover turns a matching shade of blue and has a white cover now, with Corgi Pony Club decals (missing here).

This is also the time of changes to the wheels and this set can be found with cast wheels, as illustrated here, plain wheels on some of the early editions of the set and, on late editions, Whizzwheels.

Whilst the Land Rover continued to have all sorts of different shades of paint thrown at it over the years (about which I have written separately) the Pony Trailer only had the three variations for #102 and just the blue and white for #112.