Characters

 

A collector in France wrote to me today to enquire whether I had considered including better-looking characters with my Avengers Gift Sets!

I had to reply to say that I could not do a great deal about the originals. And the copies are almost always a lot worse. For Steed, of course, I am not aware of any copies at all. As I have written on several occasions, the suppliers seem to use the Jeeves character from the World of Wooster set and paint that grey instead of white. The face and clothes are nothing like Steed's. Some are really quite laughable. There is one seller who uses the most dreadful copies and Mrs Peel looks really quite scary and deformed!

The original above is one of the better ones of Mrs Peel but her face is still quite masculine and rather less than attractive.

Here is a copy, next to an original that I now wish I had made some effort to clean! The blank face and heavy brushwork on the hair don't do her any favours but, as you can see in the image below, she almost looks acceptable when turned to one side. I think this was more by luck than judgement, however, and I struck lucky with the lighting!

Looking at some more Steeds, I have found one that is not too bad at all. However, these are few and far between and you can see that a third example sitting next to hm has some very enthusiastic painting of what are neither sideburns nor hair that I recognise!

The correspondence does tie in with my having spotted some quite interesting characters for sale recently.

These come from Russia and the detailing is considerably better but some are still unattractive and, of course, nothing like Mrs Peel. I wonder, however, whether someone might be able to make a better job?

If anyone knows anyone who might be good at this, get in touch.

The Avengers: Toy Trap

As well as being the title of a 1961 episode of the classic TV series, there are certainly traps that some people may lure you into in connection with these toys. The Gift Set 40 is a wonderful presentation of John Steed in a 3 Litre 1927 Bentley and Mrs Emma Peel standing next to a Lotus Elan S2.

Three black folded brollies complete the scene with which I am sure all collectors are very familiar.

Above are illustrated two sets which I can vouch for as being totally original and unchanged since they were first bought in 1966 when they were first sold. They came out a couple of years after the 9001/2 Bentleys and I have often wondered whether their conception had been at a committee meeting to decide what to do with what might have been a large stock of unsold classic Bentleys.

Having said that, the green Bentley issued was a distinctly different shade to that of the 9001 issue. Both the red and green also had a change of wheel, the red 9002 getting steel or slightly gold-tinted wheels and the green sporting extraordinary red wheels. Now, you might be tempted to assume that Corgi simply put the steel wheels from the 9001 on the red set Bentley and the red ones from the 9002 on the green one. The steel wheels were pretty ubiquitous, accepted, but the red ones are a different, brighter colour and that still doesn't account for the noticeably gold-tinted wheels. Furthermore, the 9002 model invariably seems to have a quite gold-coloured radiator surround and lights which does not seem to have made its way through to sets which I believe are all showing the silver colour, whether red or green Bentley body.

There is a third and very scarce Bentley.

This time it is green but with black mudguards and running board. I have only just acquired this one (and the box illustrated here is a reproduction that I have put the original models in) but I have been aware of its existence for many years.

original rivets intact

Side by side with a 9001 - interior identical

This is not, as many people will think, the 9004 World of Wooster edition. That has a dark grey, not black section that provides the running boards and mudguards. It is also a quite different shade of green and the most obvious difference if those are missed will be the fact that the 9004 has a red interior, not brown as all the Gift Set 40 models do. Amusingly, someone had moaned at the seller of this model and said that it was a 9004 and this had led the seller to include the other person's remarks! This seems to have put off other bidders and I was able to win this at quite a modest price, thanks to the person who likes to criticise listings.

It may have been the same person who wrote to me about a set I had for sale last week. It was clearly described as featuring an adapted green Bentley and not an original component but I guess he had just seen the pictures and fired off the missive telling me that the green Bentley could only have red wheels. I replied to the effect that, whilst the vast majority of Gift Set 40 green Bentleys will have had red wheels, I was selling a set that I knew Avengers fans liked and was not trying to pretend it was original. I also made the point that on a Friday afternoon shift we could never be sure, and Corgi production managers could never be sure, quite what may have been popped into the box! I am sure there will have been occasions when the supply of the 'correct' green / red or red/ gold Bentleys dried up some green/steel or even red/red that happened to be lying around may have been used to make up the numbers. Speaking to a lady who did work there in the 1960s and remembers some of the antics that they got up to and the lack of quality control some evenings, I am surprised these sets and others had such consistent contents as they did!

Incidentally, that set had been sold by the time I replied and the new owner has taken the trouble to say how delighted he is with it.

This latest set, however, will probably not find a buyer just yet as the Bentley has a chunk missing from the end of the offside front mudguard. I have a piece that can be used but need to figure out how to attach it as neatly as possible. I did want to bring this to the attention of collectors, though, so in the meantime, some black tape is holding it together! It will appear in my store but at a pretty silly price as I'd like to hang on to this one until another with an intact mudguard appears.

The rest of the car is excellent and unmarked. The rivet has not been tampered with and the rest is entirely as it should be. The Lotus is very good but has a few chips at one corner. I added HNK 999C registration plates to it. Steed and Mrs Peel are, of course, both original as I felt they should be to accompany such an unusual set.

As I write this it occurs to me that I mentioned an episode title from 1961. But a C registration Elan would have been from 1965. Mrs Peel did not appear until late 1965, when Diana Rigg entered our screens. That explains that. I have no idea what her predecessors drove. That's something else I shall research one day - and whether there are relevant Corgi models.

More stock for The Avengers

That's ridiculous, Steed.

I saw this Avengers Set advertised recently and, coupled with a conversation with a correspondent who is far more expert than I am in matters of the TV series, decided that I needed to write something on the subject of reproduction models of John Steed and Mrs Emma Peel.

Just look at the stupid expression on Mrs Peel's face and there is something decidedly strange about Steed which could even get him a part in a Dr Who episode requiring Cybermen. These are dreadful, really quite bad and we need to stop buying them. Now, let's take a closer look at Steed.

In the image above the same reproduction character is in the driving seat of Bertie Wooster's Bentley, sitting next to Jeeves. Look carefully and you'll see that these are both from the same cast. Jeeves is an original, by the way, so looks better anyway but the jacket style, bowler inclination and arm positions are the same. It seems that these idiot suppliers of spare parts couldn't be bothered to find a real Steed to copy and just reckoned we would all be happy with Jeeves in a brown suit. Well, we shouldn't be.

Here is Steed as he should be, albeit in need of a wash and brush-up perhaps. This and the one below are originals and you'll see the distinctly different clothes - there's a waistcoat, no flower in the lapel, an angled bowler and a quite different expression on his face. Not visible here are his hands which are closed and not well detailed, whereas Jeeves' are more slender.

Steed can be found in both the sage-brown and grey shades. I suspect that the sage-brown is the older of the two but I have no evidence for this. Below are some more pictures that emphasis the differences and which may help you to avoid the reproductions for years to come. They also show something else that I am not sure about - the screens on Bentleys have pips at each top corner, presumably to help keep the hood in position on the 9001 and 9002 models. On the Gift Set 40 Bentleys and the 9004 Jeeves & Wooster Bentley they seem to be missing in many cases - but not all. The reproduction screens are quite easy to spot. They're not bad but are less well-finished and have more rounded corners and no pips. An example can be seen on the red Bentley below.

And here is Steed in a 9001 Bentley that didn't have racing numbers or a flag on the passenger door. This made it a good candidate for a set but the tell-tale pip remains on one corner! Of course, the sets would only have had a green Bentley with red wheels but I do feel the green one with normal steel wheels is an acceptable alternative for display.

Generally, reproductions of Mrs Peel that I have had myself have been pretty good. In fact, I am not sure I can tell which of these three is a reproduction. I used to think that it was only those with the triple line on the flared trousers that were original but now I am pretty sure that those with a single line could also be original. Sometimes she can seem to be just a little too white and that makes me suspicious but most are not at all obvious.

However, the dreadful attempt at painting illustrated at the beginning of this piece is, indeed, obvious and we need to avoid those like the plague. Another problem is that of size. Below you'll see a range of five Emmas: the two at each end being reproductions made the incorrect size. At least they were reasonably well-painted, though.

Whilst on the topic of characters, my correspondent also told  me that several characters were, indeed, recycled by Corgi and that was something I had not realised before. He tells me that the 215S Ford Thunderbird convertible driver was later chopped and fitted without legs in The Saint's Volvo P1800. I doubt that Sir Roger Moore would have been happy with that.

I also looked the 303S Mercedes-Benz300 Open Tourer and reckon that has the same chap driving too. There may well be several others where Corgi have used the same mould for more than one character. One thing is certain, however, and I hope suppliers will now take note - Steed and Jeeves are most definitely not the same character!

"Mrs Peel, We're Needed!" (The Avengers Cars Too.)

There was a mad rush on items for The Avengers this week. I had a pile of odd bits and pieces and decided to see what I could do with them. I had a not particularly brilliant reproduction box so offered a pair in that at a modest price. Then someone went and bought the original Elan so I had to change the offer to include a restored item. Someone nearby came and collected that and was as pleased as punch. The whole thing did look nice on display but I would have liked to have given him one of the better boxes that I usually use.

Without any silver-blue Elans, I was unable to offer my alternative set so I made up some cards instead, featuring the Bentley on one side, the Elan on the other side and a nice selection of photos on another card. They had all the details I could find about the cars used in the TV series and printed nicely. I think I'll I'll use them for future individual item sales as they are easy to make and, importantly, easy to pack!

My restored Elan was actually much nicer to display than the only original I had left. It didn't need much work. I remembered just as I was photographing it that it had a slightly loose steering wheel but that seems to be staying in place so I left it alone.

The last original did, at least, have some suspension. It had some chips here and there and they always show up on the white paintwork but there's not a great deal you can do. I cleaned the interior and that came up very nicely. The outside still looks like it's been in a smoking room for all its life but that really is as clean as I can get it!

This Bentley was pretty nice but had some chips on the black rails which a marker pen quickly covered. Otherwise it was very good but, being a 9002 originally, need a replacement hood. The problem with the Flowers replacements is that they don't sit nicely over the studs so I drilled some tiny holes which solved the problem. Why his don't have that done already I do not know.

This Bentley was also a 9002 but needed a new windscreen, horn and handbrake. Luckily the base was a bit loose so I was able to squeeze a new handbrake into place without any rivet removal. I tightened the base so it didn't move around and it looked as good as the other one. Those replacement windows aren't as nice and clean as the originals, though.

Both pretty good red Bentleys went within 24 hours of being put up for sale.

This one went as soon as it was advertised. It was a nice 9001 and so the replacement hood needed the drilling treatment and I think the windscreen was replaced.

This is the only 9000 series Bentley I have left! It is a 9001 with the Racing numbers removed and a replacement hood. I tried to remove the Union Flag on the passenger door but damaged the paint when doing so. Otherwise it is lovely.

I have had to offer this C361 model from 1985 as an alternative until some more come in. I hadn't appreciated before that these were limited editions. The box says this number 19. It doesn't say how many were issued. Actually, this is a lovely model and virtually identical to its predecessor, uses the same cast and just has deeper red and a lighter interior with quite a lot more detailing.

Apart from some chassis pieces and odd bits and pieces that is it, though, now until I get some more stock items.

I cannot see any decent Elans for sale at the moment so I am hoping to get hold of a few wrecks that I can restore and offer them either individually with the cards or in some nice reproduction GS40 boxes with a Bentley. I also need to find some more Bentleys, especially some that did actually originate from a GS40. They are different and it would be nice to be able to offer them. In the meantime the alternatives look smart and are rather more affordable than the crazy prices being asked for the original boxed sets!

Here is a complete episode from an early series of The Avengers if you would like to restore a few memories!

The.Avengers.1965.S04E09.The.Hour.That.Never.Was. by superannuatedlps

The Avengers Gift Set 40

I need to move some Avengers stock fairly soon as it has been around for a while. Sets have been selling well but I do have far too many parts! Here's what I have at the moment for GS40 sets. The boxes, brollies and most characters are reproductions but the cars are untouched except for a possible replacement screen on one or two Bentleys and what looks like a replacement wheel on another.

I sell the sets at £50 plus the cost of the two cars. That includes the figures and brollies and box as well as UK postage and packing. 

With original boxed sets going for over £350 this is a pretty reasonable alternative and few other than us specialists will notice the difference anyway! What I would like to do is sell off or re-use all my 'average condition' stock and concentrate on really good condition items for these sets. Items can be hard to find at reasonable prices but I'll try. 

You can see more details about condition on my site. They are numbered B1,3-7 for the red Bentleys, G1-7 for the green bentleys and L2-5 for the Lotus Elans, the last being in normal stock as 318 with cast wheels.

It is difficult making a suitable GS40 with a green Bentley as ideally you need a 9004 from the Jeeves & Wooster set which doesn't have any racing numbers. The front one comes off easily but not the rear one. I have placed a small rectangle of plastic tape over that on a couple of models and that actually works really well! There is still the Union Flag on the left door, though. The 9004 has black running boards / mudguards like the red one but a much redder shade of seats and interior.

So many that I see advertised as 'genuine, original' sets are simply made up with a 9001, some still with the racing numbers on! The red is simpler as it can be a 9002 with a hood change and that is virtually undetectable. The red wheels will invariably have originated as 9002.

The one with green wheels above is actually a C361 later edition 'special Edition' from 1985 where the original mould was used to excellent effect. These will also have silver metal exhausts and not the brass colour of the 1960s models.

The Lotuses are, apart from a couple, not in the best of condition. The suspension is very poor, relying on a plastic X piece that has in many cases become permanently bowed now. I actually prefer my restored Lotus Elans which I use for the 'alternative' Avengers sets. In either white or silver-blue and with the correct registration plates added they look good.

I supply these with a green Bentley in a box that I designed and print myself. I've run out of silver-blue so may well consider breaking some of the poorer Lotus cars for the alternative set if no-one buys them at the modest prices I'm seeking.

The Bentleys are from £25 to £60 and Lotus Elans from £20 to £40 except for the cast wheel version which is quite rare and worth a lot more.