New arrivals this month, including Noddy's Car

 Some very nice models have arrived recently, some for my own collection and others that I hope a collector will consider purchasing.

I'll start with the Corgi Major 1133 Troop Carrier. I have tried many times to figure out not only the differences between 1118 US Export edition and 1133 but also which 1118s and 1133s had the solid or 'see through' chassis. I have sort of given up and this one disproves another idea I had - that 1133s had a canopy with an indent where the star was placed. This example I am satisfied is an original, bought by its last owner new in America. It has a canopy with no indent and a star but comes in a 1133 box and, hopefully consistent with all 1133s, has the text along the side of the bonnet.

So I shall have to update my Catalogue entries - again! I think it is correct that the 1133 has no insignia on the front or rear and the star is applied to the two doors as well, rather than the bonnet. This has a nice, complete original box - the 1133 issue being the thin card type with flaps as opposed to the thick type with a lid.

Next is this lovely old Bedford CA van, here in Fire Department guise as #405. Note this is not #405M, having no friction motor and a tin base. This is quite rare as the #405 models were usually green with AFT transfers (as the box text declares). 

It has an original metal ladder in black and the later, slightly updated grill casting. The box is not something that is easy to find these days and has survived nearly 70 years pretty well!

At the opposite end of the Corgi spectrum we have the penultimate use of the Citroen casting, now quite disfigured with Whizzwheels and some chap with a megaphone standing in the back together with a row of spare bicycle wheels.

This one did have an aerial that was intact but movement in the box due to the missing inner tray led to it breaking on the way to me. I still have the broken part and it could be reattached by someone with a steady hand and strong glue. I did manage to get the thin pole for the parasol on the Corgi Kit Motel Chalet repaired so will have a go at this and report at some point in the future should no-one buy it in the meantime. I don't think there is anything special about the inner tray by way of design or printing so I may reproduce something as the outer box is perfectly sound.

In its glorious liquid metallic blue finish, the Toyota 2000GT is a lovely looking model, although the Whizzwheels do let it down. I fitted some wire wheels to one a while ago and that made a huge difference. However, I shall try and leave this all original as it has a nice, complete, original box.

The aerial is also in place, as are the jewels front and back. The white ones at the front can often go missing. The box is lovely and has the correct inner section with a cut-out for the screen.

In a less impressive and solid blue comes the very scarce Whizzwheels edition of the Chevrolet Camaro, issued as #304 for a very short period on dealers' order lists in 1972.

This also has a nice original box.

Lastly, and now for something completely different - Noddy's car! I remember buying one of these when I was at St. Andrews University in 1970. Not because I was still collecting Corgis then but Noddy was very cool at that time in that environment, in similar way to the Magic Roundabout, for which Corgi also produced lots of models and characters a little later. These, incidentally, included the final throes of the Citroen casting as Dougal's Car in November 1971.

Whereas mine had a nice original Golly in the back, this one has the politically correct Mr Tubby Bear. Of course, now even the suggestion that Mr Bear might be a little larger than his BMI figure would be regarded as 'inappropriate' or some similar word by the woke community. As for Noddy's friend, Golly, he has now been virtually 'disappeared' like some resistance campaigner in some countries run by the Communist Party. I was ordered by Ebay officials to remove photos of a model, with an original friend, from listings and I am not too sure they were happy with the name Golly either. 

This was, as I recall, the very first signs of wokeness or political correctness, not that either expression was used in conversation or articles at the time. I remember having this feeling that something wasn't quite right about effectively 'banning' a Noddy Car with the first Golly in the back. He had a jet black face, just like Noddy's friend in the stories had. Corgi changed that by painting it grey, which struck me at the time as an even more insulting way to deal with the character! The grey-faced Golly did last a few years, though, for some strange reason being more 'acceptable' to whoever decided these things. Finally, however, he gets dismissed entirely and the fat bear takes his place.

An original with the black-faced Golly is now one of the more valuable Corgis from this era and very hard to find. Amusingly, Steve Flowers at Model Supplies does a reproduction Golly for £6 and I am not sure it is easy to distinguish from an original lump of plastic or rubber. He used to advertise both the black and grey-face options but now I don't know which is supplied. I may enquire. it is easy to remove Mr Tubby and this might make the item more interesting.

As it stands, it is still a nice addition to the Comics collection, for those who like that sort of thing. The box has a tear at the top and bottom on the right but is otherwise remarkably complete and clean. The cellophane invariably gets torn as one or other of the hats scrape by on their way in or out.

It's nice to see both chrome lamps in place. I recall that my own Noddy's Car lost one lamp in a matter of weeks.

So there are some new items in my cabinet here, For prices or any more information click on an image or drop me a line.

An attractive Toyota 2000GT

 

This Toyota 2000GT is the Whizzwheels edition of the model that had previously appeared as the 338 James Bond model (with missiles that fired from the boot). Corgi used some gorgeous paint on this one and you'll find it in a liquid metallic finish of either blue or purple. Apart from the wheels, this is a very attractive model. So when one arrived with some faults which I couldn't repair without removing the base, I decided to do something about those wheels!

The result is lovely as wire wheels really do suit the car.

And here's my purple original Toyota, missing an aerial, with Whizzwheels.

Be a little careful with these as the Whizzwheels are very easy to remove, so dealers can replace them with red spot wheels and claim that they're very scarce or something like that. They were not fitted with red spot wheels at the factory. You may also find some with a much later style of wheel which was not actually available until some time after production of this model ceased.

The blue model will invariably have the first type of Whizzwheels - the pepperpot style. There may be a few blue models with the later four crowns style, which also seems to be the normal wheel for the later purple issue as in my example above.

The Toyota 2000GT and how it might have been

 

This is not a model issued by Corgi but I wish it had been. It's a 375 Toyota 2000GT which was issued with annoying 'pepper-pot' Whizzwheels in May 1970. The earlier 336 Bond-related issue had wire wheels and looked great so I thought I would see what this edition would look like with the same wire wheels.

This really is gorgeous. That paint finish is also quite exceptional. You can find it in a shiny purple too but that's scarcer and a lot more expensive.

It is not necessary to ruin the car either. Whizzwheels are easy to remove - just pull them off - and fit the wire wheels, although you will need to insert a sort of wheel bearing device to reduce the diameter of the hole to match the thinner axle. 

Changing wheels - a few projects to make some models a little better

 

The Ford Cortina MkIII GXL was issued in 1971 with a Graham Hill character holding a football. It came in metallic blue, metallic bronze and a solid mustard colour, the latter being available, remarkably, with both right and left hand drive interiors. The mustard ones are really quite rare and seem to have been exported and not sold in the local toy shop.

One of the blue ones came effectively free with some other models a while ago and was in a very sorry state so I decided to see what it would look like with normal wheels. For me, this is a great improvement!

I need to redo this one day as it needs another coat of paint and even the original didn't have door inserts so they look a bit bare. It did have twin jewelled headlamps and opening doors with tilting seats and is an accurate model of a popular car in those times. The released issue had a black 'vinyl' roof which I may need to add too. More in a while on this project.

Another Whizzwheels model - one that did not need much outward attention - was this lovely Toyota 2000GT, a car that, strangely was not something you could buy from the Toyota store. This was Corgi making good use of the casting for the 336 James Bond model with Aki at the wheel. This car is crying out for the wire wheels to be refitted! So I'll see what I can do as this is a spare with virtually non-existent suspension.

Also available in bright metallic purple!

And, on the subject of making Whizzwheel models look better, here's another look at the much-improved Bentley I created last year.

Deep Purple In Stock

After a long time searching, I've finally found a purple Toyota 2000GT #375 at a reasonable price. These are quite scarce and even the more easily found blue version isn't that common. Apart from the annoying wheels, these are very good-looking models and the paintwork glorious in these totally unrealistic but still delightful bright, mirror finishes.

This was only produced for a couple of years, the cast being initially made for the James Bond #336 model. In fact, it carried on being used for this for many years afterwards with lots of re-issues during the China days.

The purple and blue editions, though, are worth getting - nice, simple models with the pretty jewelled lights, unusually retained at the back too! Normally the addition of Whizzwheels meant that things like jewels were replaced with paint or blobs of plastic or just ignored completely.

Even something similar to the James Bond flag is retained, albeit now as a bizarre red aerial! They made a nice cream interior for the #375 model and, of course, you don't need to worry about the boot not closing.

When putting my catalogue together, I hadn't needed a 'Japanese' section because there was only the one model issued during the pre-Whizzwheels era and that was the James Bond version so I could list that under the Film & TV heading. There simply were not many Japanese cars on the road in the 1960s.

You might have seen an early Corolla in the later part of the decade but it was really the 1970s before you'd see more than one or two, when the Datsuns started to sell here. So for the Whizzwheels part I did need a Japanese section, not just for the Toyota but also for the lovely Datsun 240Z models.

As far as I can tell, there was never a Toyota 2000GT produced in convertible mode. They were manufactured as a sloping back model, similar in side view to the later Jaguar E Types. This one was produced for the film, though, and I expect one or two others were created by specialist collectors too.

There were no rhinos in Australia

Mrs Peel is delivering this Lotus Elan S2 to the white cottage you can just about see in the distance. However, Google StreetView stops here so maybe she's waiting for Steed to help her find her way across this huge and lovely looking estate near Alloway in Ayrshire.

This orange VW 1200 certainly brightens up the neighbourhood in this street in Dublin where it landed this week.

A collector in the totally unpronounceable Llwyngwril in Wales tells me he is really pleased with the International Rally edition of the Rover 2000 I made, seen here with the correct red interior. Looks like some colourful birds have come out to check it over too. 

James Bond appears to firing at some poor kid in Sun Street, Stoke where Akiko Wakabayashi has parked his old Toyota 2000GT, which they sold to someone there. That'll annoy the neighbours and let's hope no-one steals the gold bumper.

Meanwhile, Cityview, Victoria may now have the only rhino in Australia as the Chipperfields Circus Crane and Rhino Cage set complete their journey across the planet, protected en route by a nice, almost as new, box too.

Bond passes by unnoticed in Cannock

Somewhat less romantic a destination for James Bond and his associate in their Toyota 2000GT. Cannock in Staffordshire where, clearly, some chap in a suit firing in the street does not disturb one of the locals! That may have been because this is a late edition from China and not the original #336.

Made in Japan

394 Datsun 240Z

375 Toyota 2000GT

336 James Bond's Toyota 2000GT

I had to split up my web site pages into smaller sections and decided to follow the Corgi catalogue practice of British, American and European models. It was only when the Whizzwheels ones were running off the page that I realised I had to put a Datsun 240Z somewhere and a Toyota 2000GT would be joining soon too.

As I had a TV / Film type category for the normal ones the one and only Japanese car was taken care of there.

Corgi made a brand new cast for the 240Z and this survived well. As well as the 'East African Safari' red version from 1972 to 1977 there is a nice white Rally model that saw three years on sale in the middle of that period.

The Toyota first appeared in the 1960s as the James Bond car with rockets firing from the boot. This cast gets quite a surprise return in 1970, sprayed in a delighful mirror-effect blue. The boot stays firmly shut but the jewels are still there and it is an attractive model. It is only around for a brief year and a bit from 1970 to 1972, though, and I have seen very few for sale. 

What does reappear, though, are two further uses of the cast for the Bond car in the 1980s, possibly the longest gap other than the DB5 #270 re-use in gold-plated 30th and 35th anniversary models.

Corgi Toy 1967-68 Catalogue

The word mazak appears in The Corgi Story on the first page. I missed that at the time and I had to look it up when I discovered it on the base on some models a few weeks ago. The main focus now is on some big models - in size as well as fame. The cover has the ridiculously big Lincoln Continental which I never actually wanted at the time and only now keep in stock with some reluctance. It is simply too big and looks crazy with the other models as I illustrated in a previous article.

Joining the TV and Film fame set are a couple of new Bond cars, the silver #270 Aston, now with a slightly reshaped rear end to look a little more like the DB5 it should have been and a Toyota 2000GT. Both these are still 'available later' and it is the gold one that remains on sale when the catalogue is issued. Batman's Batmobile has a boat attachment and then there's some Green Hornet affair. I do not remember either the car or the TV series or film it was associated with and still don't have much of a clue, I'm afraid, nor examples of either in stock. They seem to command extremely high prices for such a common model.

Completing the 'fame' models on the first few pages of this catalogue are The Man From U.N.C.L.E's Thrush Buster, The Avengers Gift Set 40 and, looking quite sad now in comparison, The Saint's Volvo P1800. (The Volvo, though, will continue to be available long after some of the others disappear!)

The new 'normal' model is the Jaguar E Type 2+2, oddly illustrated in dark pink in the catalogue but mercifully released initially in the red as in a drawing or in a very nice metallic blue. This was another 'big' model, though, in comparison to most. Not as bad as the Lincoln but you still had to keep the #307 and #335 E types away from each other.

In the 'Available Later' category in 1967 were the Austin Mini Countryman (interestingly, without surfer or roofrack!), the Lancia Fulvia Zagato (illustrated in gold) and the Citroen Le Dandy Coupé and MGC GT in blue and white. I have never seen the MGC GT in those colours and the Citroen is very rare in two-tone.

The Kits have disappeared but there are several Racing Sets and combinations now. 

The Daktari Land Rover is illustrated in white, not the green it actually appears in - the white being issued later as the Lions of Longleat set.

Whilst #9022 Daimler was 'Available Later' in the 1966 catalogue, #9021 Daimler is now 'Available Later' in this one. Odd.

Cast wheels appear on #339 Mini Cooper and #264 Oldsmobile Toronado. Many of the newer illustrations are now very realistic and I am sure most of photographs with some post-processing effects - like the speed lines on the axles of the competition cars.Some old stagers are still clearly drawn, however, and re-used for yet another year!