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.

Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman

So here is the finished product - and black certainly suits this model well. The steering wheel is in place and the wipers still work. I did have doubts about the switch as I could not see how it worked to disable to cogs from meshing. There is a metal cam on the switch spindle but it doesn't appear to do a great deal until the base is re-affixed. Then it works so I shall not bother about that too much!

Rather than attempt to paint the headlamps and small horizontal lines at the front, I simply scraped off the paint but I haven't yet completed that task and need to removed a bit more yet and then polish the mazak to make it brighter. The small horizontal bits of 'chrome' will be fine, however. I am also trying to think of what I might have that could be used as the missing emblem.

All in all I am pleased with this. The original model would probably not have found a buyer in years and even then only at £20 or so if I was lucky. This is definitely worth that to keep.

The Mercedes-Benz might have sat well next to the recently rebuilt Bentley but there is a scale problem. They'll need to stay apart, but maybe not the regulation 2 metres!

Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman in pieces

Missing their radiator emblems, I have had a few 247 models of the Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman lying around and unlikely to be of much interest to any collector. The model is attractive, with clever use of chrome and the deep crimson colour is particularly nice and suits the car. I had always wanted a black one, though, and an opportunity to make one came along. One of the models had almost perfect paintwork and, whilst lacking its emblem, I did have a good original box too which I thought I could sell with it and stand a better chance of receiving something for it.

As I picked up the model I noticed a rattle. Initially I thought that was something to do with the windscreen wiper mechanism. On further examination, however, I saw that the steering wheel was floating merrily around inside, having come out of its hole in the dashboard.

I expected it to be a bit fiddly but I had the idea of refitting it using some thin tweezers an working through one of the rear windows which slide down. Unfortunately the Pullman has a screen that separates the front seas from the main passenger compartment so that idea was not going to work. I had always wondered how the windscreen wipers mechanism operated so I decided that I would open up the model and then could learn about the mechanism and also make a black one.

A genius at Corgi has come up with the idea f that weird-shaped yellow cog which pushes the cream plastic bad left and white as it turns. That in turn moves a small lever left and right and that has two V sections near each end, into which the similarly shaped lower halves of the two wiper pieces fit. The wiper pieces rest on small spindles and thus rotate left and right as the lower haves move. All the wiper section is held together when the window unit is clipped over the cream interior. Quite brilliant and, from my experience, reliable too as I have not had any that jam or cease to function.

The chrome section is an excellent way to produce shiny bumpers, radiator grilles but, mercifully, Corgi did not try and use if to provide suspension too! Instead there is the good old pair of wires fitted into the base which will probably last forever.

Fixed shaped wheels on the rear axle are necessary to make the cog turn but the front wheels are free-spinning.

I don't know what flavour of paint Corgi used for the crimson on this model, though. I left it sitting in a tub of pretty strong acid for most of a day but that had no effect whatsoever. I have used the same mixture for many years and usually paint comes off on its own after an hour or so with little of no encouragement. Indeed, I often have to whip out the model fairly quickly before it eats through the metal! So I decided to leave the paint where is was and just spray on top and hope the new coat would attach itself all right.

So far so good, although the deep lines around the sunroof, boot and bonnet are causing a minor problem I shall have to attend to later.