US Military models

 

Here is a complete set of the US Army models from  1960, 1963 and 1965 that I now have available. All but the Tanker and one of the #357 Land Rovers have been carefully handled and show no marks or darkening of the vulnerable matt finish. Most also all have original boxes in good or excellent condition.

355 Commer Military Police Vehicle

356 VW Personnel Van

357 Land Rover Weapons Carrier

357 Land Rover Weapons Carrier

358 Oldsmobile HQ Staff Car

359 Army Field Kitchen

414 Bedford CA Military Ambulance

500 US Army Land Rover

1133 Troop Transporter

1134 Fuel Tanker

1135 Heavy Equipment Transporter

The #1135 Heavy Equipment Transporter is particularly rare with only around 28,000 produced, of which most will have been exported to America. It appears that roughly one-third of the production had a red interior fitted so there may only have been less than 10,000 of these, a number which puts the model, already in the same league as the 351S RAF Land Rover in total numbers, on a similar scale of scarcity to the Rocket Age, Garage and Silverstone Gift Sets.

It is currently missing the tray insert which has been lost. I am going to sell this with a tray that has the 'Carrimore Detachable Axle Machinery Carrier' text on the side, taken from an earlier #1131 model. Although most #1135s I have seen have had 'Heavy Machinery Carrier', there have been a few with the earlier text. Whether they are as issued or have been changed at some point I cannot tell. When the #1135 was being prepared for issue there would certainly have been the #1131 trays around as that was also in production. With a 'Heavy Equipment' tray I would expect this model to sell for around £500 but I shall adjust the price to £400 and agree to swap the tray should another come to light. There is, as I write, another model someone has advertised at £450 with the 'Carrimore with detachable axle' text. Whether that is original or a later replacement, I don't know. 

Corgi Toys @ 60: A VW Pick-up truck and a new tractor and plough

 It's February 1964 and we're down on the farm with a new Fordson Power Major tractor and a new plough but only if you buy Gift Set 13 at 8/6d (which would have been about a month's pocket money for me at the time!)

The tractor may look identical to the #55 model from 1961 but there are many differences. Firstly, the steering is now more realistic, although it is sad to say that a later revision with the Ford 5000 Super Major reverts to the ugly swivelling axle. Next there are now headlamps inset in the radiator grille - much simpler for casting I imagine and one has to wonder how many of the 55 models never made the box with their little headlamps protruding on either side very vulnerably. In the seat is a driver now too, the light-haired Farmer George.

At the back is a far simpler device for attaching implements, including the now very basic plough. Looking more realistic with its shiny shears replacing the yellow plastic this just slots over the attachment at the rear and there is now no need to fiddle around with several linkages. The previous tractor and plough were delightfully well-engineered and very much like how the real devices would have been put together but really hard work for us to play with. Having said that, there was nothing else for us to attach the plough too and not a great deal else for the tractor to pull along either but never mind.

Most models of the new Fordson have orange plastic wheels but you may find a few with the red plastic wheels which were intended to be fitted to the Massey-Ferguson tractors but easily mixed up in the factory. I think the orange metal wheels will have only been fitted to the earlier #55 model so should not appear on the #60 models.

You need to wait a few months until later in 1964 when the tractor and plough would be available individually.

The other addition to the local shop stock would be the Volkswagen Pick-up truck #431.

This was always a bright yellow but could have either a red or dark green canopy. The canopy was made of thick plastic and most seem to have disappeared now, with few models being available to buy with one. It is interesting to note that Model Supplies only offer a tin replacement and I am not aware of anyone who does make what ought to be a relatively easy part. There are many very good copies for the Land Rover but it seems no-one is too concerned with the lowly old VW. So if you have a canopy, take good care of it!

There are two interiors - lemon and red - and both are right-hand drive. The lemon flavour seems to be the more common of the two and most trucks that I have encountered have had the red canopy.

The wheels are always the normal shaped a and free-spinning variety on this edition. In years to come this will be revised with a tool box in the back, a winch added and issued as a Breakdown Truck in olive or white and in a number of Gift Sets. This will continue in that form until well into the 1970s but, sadly, the Pick-up had a short life, disappearing from order lists a little more than a year later.

A gold edition is known but is almost certainly a colour trial rather than an issued variation.

Corgi Toys @ 60: More Volkswagens

 

The new arrivals in February 1963 were both from Volkswagen. First the 433 Delivery Van gets 'Trans-o-lite' headlamps, a coat of light blue paint and a big advert for Toblerone chocolate on the side. One has to assume that the chocolate company will have contributed generously to the Corgi coffers for this bit of advertising! A popular model with collectors, there are no known variations of the 441 model. It has free-spinning wheels and a lemon interior, left-hand drive.

The other model was the Volkswagen 1500 Karman Ghia, a stylish two-door car which in real life is highly sought-after now. The 239 model had an opening bonnet where a small plastic briefcase was stored and there was a spare wheel slotted in vertically at the front. At the back, the engine compartment had not only the outer lid that could be opened but also a clear plastic cover which could be lifted up too.

It always has free-spinning wheels and can be found in cream with a red interior and red with a lemon interior as well as two scarcer gold issues, one with yellow interior and one with red.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Lots of upgrades and two VWs

There was an absolutely huge number of new issues from Corgi this month 60 years ago.

The Racing Car Gift Set 5 gets updated to Gift Set 5S (identified by a small sticker added to one end of the box) with the revised models 150S, 151A and 152S. This is a particularly scarce item. The cars are common enough but in this box very hard to find and good examples sell for a fortune. However, great care needs to be taken as the only difference in the box is that little sticker which is quite simple to reproduce. There may also be an alternative rectangular black print on white sticker applied which is also simple to replicate. The earlier issue from March 1959 is, itself, uncommon with only 64000 said to have been sold. Numbers for 5S are not available.

With the 154 Ferrari model coming next month, these cars will have begun to look very dated and the set had a very short production period, withdrawn sometime in the next year; hence the very high prices demanded now.

Another 'new' model wasn't really new - the Oldsmobile had appeared as the Police Sherriff's car six months earlier. This is a lovely looking saloon, however, and was issued in two colour schemes, a solid pale sky blue and a metallic silver-blue, both with cream-white side stripes.

Another model that wasn't completely new was the Land Rover Breakdown Truck which now gets suspension and an interior - the now familiar 'S' upgrade.

Interestingly, the first 417S models retained the twin-bar jib device. These are quire hard to find and and scarce but not always expensive as sellers often don't appreciate the difference. By far the majority of these models will have the later solid jib device which continued with the next change to a plastic canopy and was renumbered 477.

Next come three more Land Rover revisions, the S versions of the RAC Radio Rescue Land Rover, the S version of the RAF Land Rover and the 406S now designated as 438 for the standard Land Rover.

The 416S RAC Radio Rescue model gets suspension and a yellow interior but also has a change of decals, now featuring the logo on the doors and RADIO RESCUE across the bonnet. The canopy is in matching blue and has no transfers or stickers.

The 351S RAF Land Rover gets suspension and a yellow interior too. This is an extremely rare item with very few produced and they command very high prices as and when they appear. As I have mentioned in a previous article, they are actually quite difficult to spot too as many photos show a colour that is hardly distinguishable from the 438 deep blue-green. I have seen maybe just four of these in the many years I have been involved with Corgis. None were at all obvious and I do have to wonder whether there are more out there but I simply haven't noticed them.

They should have an RAF blue plastic canopy but that is even scarcer and I have yet to obtain even one of those!

The new standard Land Rover that was available in a box was numbered 438. In all respects it is the 406S in a classy dark green or deep green finish, with cream plastic canopy. There are two quite distinct shades but I have yet to determine which came first. The 438 models will usually have a yellow interior but a red interior is also to be found.

This will be an extremely long-running model for Corgi and will undergo several small changes in casting as well as different finishes for the standard box issue - although always a green of some sort.

More revisions now for the two trailers, the 100 Dropside Trailer and 101 Platform Trailer now getting the fixed cast type of drawbar in place of the piece of bent wire.

Both trailers remained in the same colour schemes as before and similar changes will be introduced for the other colours featuring in Gift Sets.

The last of the Land Rover revisions for December 1962 sees the Gift Set 2 updated to include a Land Rover with suspension and an interior. The set retained its Gift Set 2 number and had the new deep or dark green model pulling the 112 red and black horsebox which, at around this time, also gets the fixed drawbar like the trailers above. Another colour scheme was also introduced in December for the whole set and the Land Rover and Pony Trailer had a fawn and cream finish.

All the fawn pony trailers had the new cast type of drawbar. The first trailers had fixed shaped wheels which are not easy to find as the majority were fitted with free spinning wheels. Whilst the red and black trailers did get the fixed drawbar and fixed shaped wheels, they don't appear to have been in production long enough to get the free spinning wheels. Similarly, you won't find the fawn editions with a wire drawbar.

Sets did not mix colours - they were either deep/dark green and red or all fawn. The ponies were the same as in the earlier sets, most seeming to have the blue coat but, as they can simply be switched around it is not easy to be sure whether there were red or brown coats as well in the new editions.

The fawn Land Rover is known with a yellow interior but this seems to be significantly scarcer than the deep/dark green one with a red interior.

The only really 'new' issues in December were the Volkswagen Van and Camper Van, 433 and 434 respectively.

The van is the first commercial model with suspension (other than one or two Major model revisions) and, indeed, is a welcome addition to replace the very ancient-looking Bedford CA Vans and Karriers. The van is always white over red but is known with both a red and a yellow interior. Some small numbers were produced in special finishes and with decals designed for some firms but none of these would have been available at this time.

The 434 Camper Van is also only issued in the one colour scheme of olive-green and a very pale green and it always has a red interior.

This is a great little model which still looks good today!

International Love & Peace

 With news of British troops being sent to the Polish border with Belarus today, the completion of the models shown here seems appropriate - especially as the artist comes from Ukraine, where Russia finds it necessary to insist that the accumulation of 45000 extra troops on that border does not mean it intends to invade.

This is a 434 Camper Van that had seen better days and now suits those of us who remember the 60s. (The red plastic interior has been misbehaving so some further work is necessary I now see!)

One of two similar models - and I need to make it quite clear that Corgi (as in Hornby) copied me, not the other way round! Their recent issues which look very similar are, however, much too 'precise' and 'well-painted' for the skills that even the most artistic girls and boys I knew could have managed with paint brushes and spray cans at the time!

Now here is the truck which is on its way to Eilum, near Kneitlingen in Germany where Herr Richter  may decide to send it further East and a little North where there is clearly an urgent need for both some love and peace. Or maybe Trump could make himself useful and knock up one of the walls there for Poland that he had planned for Mexico.

This is also one of two International Trucks of the 6x6 variety that are now in similar livery.

This earlier edition has a decorated canopy too and no sign of khaki on the wheels.

If anyone is interested in supporting a good cause (my rent, food, drink and funds to buy more old Corgis) then one of the Trucks (to be decided) and the two Camper vans will be available to buy shortly. Contact me to reserve one.

A Corgi 'Peace & Love' VW Camper Van. I did it first!

Just for fun and to try and save some damaged models, I made this Peace & Love edition of a VW Camper last year using my own recollections of 1967 or thereabouts. Now I see that Corgi have copied my idea :)

I actually think my versions are more accurate. No-one had such precise artwork in those days!