Corgi Model Club: The Toronado arrives

 In a busy week for both Corgi and my postman, the Oldsmobile Toronado now arrives in Golden Jacks style as the Model Club's re-issue of #276. They chose the scarcer amber-yellow colour and it looks lovely. The Oldsmobile Toronado first appeared in a delightful shade of metallic blue with the very nice pale cream interior and with normal shaped wheels and without a tow bar. I missed this model when I was collecting Corgis as a child and was most impressed with it when I started to rebuild my collection. That was one of the first 'new' models that I bought.

It gets cast wheels shortly after being released and then a red and this amber-yellow editions come out with the Golden Jacks wheels.

Once again I have to take the Model Club to task on the text they write in the accompanying Certificate of Authenticity!! They say that this model with a tow bar appeared with the Glastron speedboat in Gift Set 36. No, only a version of #264 was issued in Gift Set 36, not the #276. The boxed edition of #264 did not have a towbar. All the Golden Jacks #276 models did have a towbar but they did not pull the trailer with a Glastron speedboat although, I suppose, there was no reason why collectors would swap them over.

Quite what the model was supposed to tow I am not sure and I have written before about Corgis with hooks and towbars and the comparatively limited things Corgi issued which they could attach.

However, that's another story. Maybe this Certificate will get replaced like I have suggested the Batmobile one may too, in which case those getting these early issues may have something a little scarce. We shall see.

So here is the new issue in all its glory:

I don't remember having the header card with any of mine. It isn't as pretty as Corgi's usual header cards but If that's what they did then OK, never mind, and it's nice that the Club decided to include this.

I have to smile at the reverse of the box where the artist must have only had on old #264 with cast wheels available when doing the illustration!

You'll see that the model itself is, as is now customary for the Model Club issues, very accurate. I cannot fault the bodywork, chrome, interior or wheels at all. Really well done.

Even the tow hook is accurate (and usefully a bit stronger too!). But then you turn up the lights . . .

Oh dear. They don't look right. Neat as they may be in comparison to the originals, they're just the same old plastic things which the Club are using whenever jewels were fitted originally. This is simply not good enough. The price of the small jewels can surely not be prohibitive in relation to the overall cost and we know that they're available in bulk from the same places that Model Supplies get all theirs.

I id not choose the best edition of the originals that I have in stock for this photo so the old jewels don't look that great either but, for me, it does have to be the glass, not plastic.

As the photos of the two side by side show, the colour is pretty much spot-on and the whole model is a very accurate reproduction indeed.

Here's the certificate with its error.

This is another model that is worth a little more than the normal re-issues in that the wheels are far better than those available from companies supplying spares. So if you need any, it might well be worth buying this just to get these excellent copies, especially as they come with the right type of tyres too.

Spanish Corgis by Auto-Pilen

I have been looking at some models made by Auto-Pilen, a Spanish company who produced die-cast models from 1969 until the 1990s. My attention was first drawn by a fabulous-looking Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray that looked almost identical to a Corgi 310 model but was finished in metallic green. Then I found this beautiful Oldsmobile Toronado and a Mini-Cooper.

The Oldsmobile is almost identical to the Corgi 264 or 276 model but with opening doors, a detailed interior and slightly improved headlamp operation system. It also has tremendously attractive (and accurate) wheel covers.

I have also acquired a Mini-Cooper and this is to most intents and purposes the Corgi 334 Magnifique model but missing the sliding roof, jewelled headlamps and corner bumper embellishments. This model, like all Auto-Pilens I gather, has super wheels that reflect so accurately a typical real model.

Looking around I have found ten models that appear to have come from Corgi original castings:

Adams Probe 1.6 (384)

BMC Mini-Cooper (334)

Chevrolet Astro 1.6 (347)

Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray (310)

Citroen SM (284)

Ghia 5000 Mangusta de Tomaso (203)

Mercedes-Benz C111 (388)

Oldsmobile Toronado (264 / 276)

Porsche 917 (385)

Porsche Carrera 6 (330 / 371)

I may be wrong about one or two of these as Dinky may have produced similar models and Auto-Pilen used or copied their casts instead. As and when I see the actual models or find out more I will update this list.

Whilst it is another brand and not 'Corgi' as such, I do think collectors will be interested to learn more about these, especially those that appear to be very close indeed to the Corgi originals.

There are several editions of the Oldsmobile and also what appears to be a wide range of colours so the list of 10 may develop into a catalogue of rather more in due course! I have a suspicion that I will not be able to resist the temptation to acquire all of them and prices seem very reasonable too at present. They seem to be very well manufactured and, particularly nice when compared to the Whizzwheel versions!

Several shades of Toronado

The Oldsmobile Toronado is a wonderfully attractive model which was issued in January 1967. It was model number 264. The last model I bought to play with was 263, the Rambler Marlin Fastback. That looked pretty good too but doesn't quite match the Oldsmobile which I didn't see until nearly 50 years later.

As you can see in the photo above, there is a range of quite distinct shades of turquoise - from green through to blue.

From my own collection is this beautiful mid-to-dark blue edition with shaped wheels, a rare item as almost all the others I see have cast wheels.

This example is more to the green end of the spectrum.

And this is a very deep shade of blue-turquoise.

Finally, here are two that I have with tow bars - one in a quite bright blue shade and the other a most definite greenish shade!

The Gift Set 36 was issued in December 1967 and is an acknowledgement of the success of the Riviera Gift Set 31 from three years earlier. For a brief period in early 1968 you may have found both in the toy shop. An interesting comparison between the detailed card box and tray and a scene with the girl surfing in one and a rather cheaper-looking window box with models attached to a large chunk of colourless polystyrene by several elastic bands. The later set is a lot easier to display, though, assuming you do have all three of the characters. I could never get the Riviera girl to stay upright and the ropes were a nightmare.

The set and a range of the 264 models are in stock and available at the time of writing. I am looking for a box for the Gift Set - a reproduction will suffice but no-one seems to make one. I have the same problem with the Big Daktari Set 14. I've managed to gather all the parts in each case but they do need boxes.

Apart from the shades of turquoise I don't know of any significant variations of the Oldsmobile. The headlamp covers appear to have two types: a plain silver finish and a bright chromed finish (similar to what you'll find with the later and similarly spectacular Corvette Stingray issues).

I have seen models advertised with tow bars and a normal 264 box. One might think that stocks of the cars with tow-bars may have been left when production of the sets ceased and these were sent off to shops in normal boxes. The problem with this idea is that the Gift Set is said to have remained in production until 1970 whereas the 264 turned into the 276 with Gold Jacks in June 1968! So I reckon these are just cars from sets and the sellers happen to have a box to put them in and don't know any different.

Something I do find strange is how the Gift Set 36 continues to contain the blue 264 model - apparently through to 1970 if the Great Book of Corgi is to be believed - when the Golden Jacks model was available with a tow-bar from June 1968. Perhaps the sets were made up before 1968 and just happened to stay in the lists dealers could buy but weren't actually produced after that. 

The 276 edition has the same body and chromework, with the same near-white interior. A common fault with all models is the little toothed mechanism stops working or breaks and the chrome edges are quite brittle. Remarkably, all the models I've encountered have had good suspension.

Another common problem is how people miss a letter from either the brand name or model type (or both!) For a long time I thought Toronado was a misprint myself!

On the real thing you don't (usually) have to fiddle with a cog wheel under the bumper to raise the lights!

Some Suffolk Surprises

Bury St. Edmunds is a quiet town in Suffolk that saw a little excitement yesterday. You may have seen several really nice, boxed models appearing on my site recently and they came from a customer who also gave a pile to some auction people. Auctions can work very well when there are at least two people desperately wanting to buy a particular item and my colleague did well with a few that I had advised he set a high reserve for. 

The one I had predicted would be a star was, indeed, the top price of the day although, to be fair you did get five cars and an extremely scarce box for the money. This is Gift Set 46, a very strange, even to kids at the time, group of sporty looking models described as 'All Winners'.

I have yet to discover just what it was that they 'all won' and I suspect this was just one of Corgi's marketing chaps coming up with a way to move some models they had had hanging around for a while. At £480, the total cost to its new owner would be about £600, including fees and postage, easily beating my £540 estimate.

Quite a big surprise was the price reached by the 270 James Bond car.

One of the earliest of this type, which appeared in several guises over the years and finishing up with plastic wheels and flared wheel arches. It made £460 and that must be due to the packing being the early bubble type. From the pictures (I never saw the actual model) it would appear that the side flaps are missing. For what will add up finally to nearly £600 I would hope they're just folded back! 

The nicest surprise for me was the remarkable £400 paid for A Gift Set 10. 

This does look lovely but had it come my way I would have been happy to sell it for £330, which was the price I had put on it. As it is, the new owner has actually parted company with over £500 by the time he's paid the £88 buyer's premium and some postage. Although you can buy nice reproduction boxes, this set is very difficult to make up. The blue and white Ramblers are not easy to restore and the trailers, with the same two colour finish aren't easy either. So the only sets are usually featuring a pretty scarred Rambler. For some reason the paint on them just fell off if there was a draft under the door, the doors seldom closed evenly and the door trims got lost. So this, in marvellous condition, is, indeed, pretty scarce and probably worth the money.

My favourite when I first saw a list of what might be offered was the Agricultural Gift Set 5. You see so few of these with bits and pieces included that you really would have difficulty finding anywhere else. Those key items are missing here, though. There should be a driver, a farmhand, a dog, four calves, three pigs and two piglets and some more straw card. So £360 is probably about right for that, again bearing in mind that the buyer would have to part company with about £460 in total.

The last major sale from my colleague's collection is the BMC Mini Cooper 333. Packed in the all-important 225 box with a sticker and all looking immaculate, this was the most expensive item in terms of price per pound! At £340, or about £420 including fees etc., someone must have been very keen to own one. The cars are scarce but didn't sell well, even appearing in Transporter sets as Corgi wondered how to get rid of stock with 1966 on it in later years. I have one for sale at just £60. It is the box that makes all the difference.

Three other lots were of particular interest. The iconic gold 261 James Bond Aston Martin made £290, which wasn't as much as I would have thought. There are plenty of these around but they do seem to make good prices and even the £360 total seems a touch low. Maybe the box was not perfect or the instruction sheet and lapel badge were missing. They're pretty important.

Also costing someone about £360 was this 303S Mercedes 300SL. That seemed a huge price and I can only assume it is the cast wheels that have made the difference. They only were fitted quite late in this model's life and the model was withdrawn shortly afterwards. At first glance, I thought they were actually spoked wheels - the see through wire type as on the Buick, James Bond Aston etc. The Corgi Catalogue shows this model with such wire spoked wheels as 'Available Later' (and also on the Competition Aston Martin) and for a long time I searched for these models or even pictures of them. Eventually I gave up on the Aston Martin and reckoned that the cast spoke effect wheels were what were actually issued for the Mercedes. I still look at the front wheel in this picture and my heart skips a beat but I reckon it is just a very clean cast variety.

That is definitely one to look out for, though. The Mercedes is not uncommon and you may well find an example with the scarce wheels at a modest price.

Lastly, I had placed a bid on these two myself as I have been trying to get a bronze Sting Ray for ages. But my maximum was very quickly passed as the bids sailed up to £290, meaning another £360 sale for the pair. The Oldsmobile looks lovely but they are really quite common and there are plenty still in great condition and with nice boxes for around £100. I have several varieties for sale at the moment. This, with cast wheels and no tow bar would seem to be the most common too so the big money, probably getting on for £300 is for the Sting Ray. Again, boxes are not expensive as there are loads with crimson Sting Rays in which can be used. So this bronze model on its own is costing about £250. 

That probably screws my chances of getting one anytime soon!

I understand that there are a few items that my colleague didn't sell at the auction and he has said that I may get these in a while. I am not yet sure what they'll be but I am fairly confident that a Riviera Gift Set 31 will be amongst them - a lovely original set with the earlier, light blue Buick.

I have also decided to make a couple of sets using good reproduction boxes and some replacement characters (but original cars, boats and trailers) so, as winter draws on, we can gaze on some girl surfing on a cardboard sea in December or January.

Oldsmobile Toronado variations

A car you probably wouldn't see on British streets at the time was the Oldsmobile Toronado. Corgi had this in two versions, Both looked fabulous and worked well as a model, being essentially exactly the same apart from a switch to Golden Jacks on the second.

All the other introductions of Golden Jacks would be on new models. Even the Rover 2000 was quite different to its predecessor. The colours used were really attractive. All the #264s were metallic blue, with quite a few variations within shades, from something approaching turquoise to quite a dark colour. The 276s, however, came in metallic red or bronze. By far the majority were in red; bronze models are sought after and quite expensive.

second version in the scarce bronze

second version in red

As far as I can tell, all the #276s should have a tow bar. If yours hasn't got one then it has broken off. It was a just a grey plastic thing and not very well fixed and could be removed without leaving any trace of having been there. It is a different story, though, for #264 which was produced with and without a towbar. Those with a towbar would have been produced for the Glastron speedboat Gift Set.

with or without towbar

The wheels would nearly always be spoke effect cast hubs on #264s but there are a few early models around with the normal wheels. You'll find Mustangs and Sting Rays with normal wheels on early versions too and these are generally quite a lot scarcer. Of course, there are also many models where normal wheels are the most common with only later versions having the cast wheels. That's a topic for another post one day.

the most common cast spoke hubs

rare normal wheels on a dark blue model

noticeably different shades

Take a look at the real thing. It is quite remarkable how accurate Corgi's casting and design was in those days.

acknowledgements to http://en.autowp.ru/picture/rb4oxa for the real thing

A bronze Oldsmobile Toronado

This is something I haven't seen anywhere else; a bronze Oldsmobile Toronado. It is the #276 model with Golden Jacks and arrived in pretty poor condition, missing all four wheels. Whilst the front bumper has some damage the paintwork is pretty good and, apart from a small crack in the rear window the interior is excellent and the suspension perfectly sound.

I have no idea what price to put on this as I can't find another for sale anywhere. I have two immaculate red versions in original and unmarked boxes in stock and they're £240 each so that's what I shall set as the price for this until I can find some more for sale somewhere.

This was very cheap to buy and I am sure the seller had no idea that he had the only one in this colour of all the 100 or so Toronados for sale at the time. Obviously the condition dragged its price down too, especially without wheels! Observers who didn't appreciate that it was a #276 and not a #264 would also have thought that replacing wheels would be a difficult task requiring baseplate removal! Luckily I found some original wheels going at a modest price too.

Oldsmobile Toronado shades and towbars

Just in today is an Oldsmobile Toronado, unusual in two respects. First it has a tow bar. The normal #264 did not have a tow bar and so this must have been from a very early Gift Set with a speedboat. All the sets I have encountered had #276 in red with Golden Jacks so this is quite rare. Secondly, this model has a very distinct shade of paintwork. It isn't as clear in the photos as it is in certain natural light but this model is much greener, a paler shade of turquoise. I have included photos of it next to a traditional shade model.

I am also very lucky to find this in such unmarked condition so I am afraid that it won't be a cheap buy.