Rocket Age Models in individual boxes top the 'Likely to be least common' Table

I was lucky to win a couple of items at an auction in a sleepy village a few days ago. No-one seemed very interested in anything being sold and I had no competition for the two Rocket Age Models I liked the look of.

These are very rare models in boxes, close to the top of the table for Corgi's published sales when that is sorted to put the smallest at the top and Batmobile at the bottom. Just 8000 each. To put that in perspective, the purple 281 Rover 2000TC with Whizzwheels sold 48000 and the equally hard to find Fiat Ghia 600 Jolly 49000. So there are not many around in their original boxes. Sure, there are more of the individual Loading Trolley and Launcher that were sold but these were in sets or with the Bloodhound Missile included. There probably wasn't much demand for a spare Launcher or Trolley as these would have been included with whatever Rocket Age set we got for Christmas 1959. I cannot imagine the parent or uncle that would have purchased just the 1115 Bloodhound Missile in a box which, incidentally but quite understandably, also had the same poor level of sales! And it would have been Christmas 1959 as they were withdrawn from production in 1961 and unlikely to have been on the shelves at Christmas 1960.

The boxes arrived this morning and are pleasantly fresh-looking boxes of the early solid type lid that sits on a yellow thick card bottom. The lower packing pieces are present but the top pieces have gone. Each has instructions for operation printed on the side of the box and they seem to work as they should with the delightfully intricate and detailed mechanisms which Corgi did so well in those times.

These will both be available in my store soon but won't be cheap - and I hope the table helps to explain why.

This table shows the complete set of data available from Marcel van Cleemput's Great Book of Corgi and related papers. There are significant omissions, though, most notably many of the short-lived Whizzwheels models from 1972-73, the 349 Mini 'Mostest' and others for which data appears to have been lost. Some, like the 412 Bedford Ambulance in MkII form, don't even get a mention. It still makes interesting reading.

Corgi Toys @ 60: new models, revamped models and a launch ramp.

Here are the new items on the shelves at your local toy shop in October 1960. Quite a selection! I guess this might have been some sort of planning for Christmas too as no further models were apparently released that year.

The first is the launch module for the Corporal missile. It's a highly detailed and wonderfully well-engineered little thing, with stabilisers or feet which screw down individually to ensure correct positioning on uneven surfaces. The wheels can be removed and the support arms fit into grooves on the side of the missile. It has a tow bar and would usually be pulled along behind an International Army Truck with which it appears in Gift Sets. This item would in most instances have been obtained in one of the Gift Sets with the missile and maybe with the Missile Carrier vehicle too so it is unusual to find it in its own box these days. Very few were sold individually, one in a good box now being well worth getting hold of.

Another Corgi Major and the first Chipperfields Circus model arrives in the shape of the International Truck now with a re-worked rear section that carries a jib. Compared to the army models this is rather basic and crude engineering. The jib is bare metal and raised by hand in three steps on a simple ratchet device. There's a large and not very pretty handle to lift or drop the hook.

The six wheels are now painted Circus blue and the old truck gets an extension to its life. Indeed, it will even get suspension later, which the army version never does.

Amongst the commercials Corgi produced another Bedford CA Van with a single screen and revised front end, appropriately bearing Corgi Toys transfers. It gets a new catalogue number, 422, following on from 421 for the Evening Standard version. To the confusion of children then, but much to the delight of collectors now, Corgi seemed to be unable to make their mind up for some time as to where the blue should go and to what extent. So you will find this half-and-half model as well as one that is blue but with a yellow roof and another that is yellow with a blue roof.

The last combination is the one that is by far the most common, the other two being really quite expensive to acquire now. Indeed, I have had to steal a photo of the 50-50 edition from QDT as I have always been beaten in bidding to date and it has not turned up in any collections I've handled.

The wheels are usually smooth on these models and, from my research, exclusively so for the two less common types. The yellow model with a blue roof has shaped wheels on its later issues.

418 is the Austin Taxi. It appears here for the first time in an extremely long run as it will stay in the catalogue right through to the 1970s when a 1:36 scale version eventually replaces it. I think that makes it the longest-running model without a change to the body. Land Rovers and Minis have a good life too but they get quite a few adjustments made along the line. The Austin Taxi stays just as it was in October 1960, getting only different wheels, interior colour, screen tint and a couple of drivers at various points.

Another commercial and another outing for the Karrier Bantam, now as 413, a Mobile Butcher's Shop. It's very similar to the 407 Mobile Shop, little changing over three years and this has the same style of metal with illustrations visible at the rear and paper stickers at the side and front. Early editions have smooth wheels, later ones have shaped wheels, all fixed.

Two cars are issued too this month - the TR2 gets a re-worked front end and becomes a TR3. It is always in a pale metallic olive-green with red seats. Early editions have smooth wheels and later ones shaped wheels but always fixed. Although production continued for some years I don't believe any got free spinning wheels.

The final items on the October agenda is the revised Jaguar 2.4 Litre, now as 208S and with an interior, suspension and a coat of pale yellow paint. Again, early editions have fixed smooth wheels and later ones fixed shaped wheels. This doesn't get free spinning wheels.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Impala, Thunderbird, Bloodhound and a set for America

December sees the chance for parents to put missiles in their son's stocking. The Bloodhound missile had been released earlier in a set but now each of the three components, the missile, a trolley to carry it and a launch device can now be bought individually. They're all scarce in boxes. Most people did, it seems purchase one or other of the sets and so the numbers shown for sales of the items like this are very low.

A new item this month is a convertible version of the Ford Thunderbird. Despite what Marcel may have said in The Great Book of Corgi and repeated by several web sites, this only ever appeared in white in the shops, with a blue and silver interior. This was a popular model and look very impressive.

The first issue has 1959 in the casting, appearing as the rear plate. At some point this is changed and editions will be found with no year on the rear. 

The vast majority of editions will have the 1959 plate and smooth fixed wheels. Quite hard to find are two interesting variations: the smooth wheel version without the 1959 plate and the very last release with fixed shaped wheels (and no 1959). I am pretty sure that there is no shaped wheel version with 1959 - but you never know!

December saw the first view of a Chevrolet Impala, only the second model to get Glidematic spring suspension. It is not the saloon, though, but 223, the State Patrol model in black.

It was issued initially with a painted label and then this is replaced by a rather ugly sticker on the side. That's the only variation that I'm aware of and I have not seen a 'painted label' edition so cannot explain how different that actually is. The interior is always lemon but, with a production life spanning 1959 to 1965, you will find all three wheel types. The free-spinning may be marginally the less common.

Most years there will be a set issued for the Christmas market and this year sees an odd (and now pretty hard to find) Car Transporter Gift Set numbered 1A with American cars inside instead of the British ones in the illustration. Basically, the box is merely the Gift set 1 box with an A printed on afterwards and a with American Automobiles sticker.

The contents are the two Thunderbirds now released, a Plymouth Suburban Sports Saloon and, surprisingly, a Chevrolet Impala sedan. The Chevrolet is not shown in the records as being released until January. So anyone getting this set may well have had a model that was briefly only available in the 1A set. How often will it turn out that the only way to get certain variations of model would have been to buy the Transporter Gift Set.

It seems that it would be the blue Impala and every illustration I've seen shows this with a lemon interior. A strange set in another way, one car having suspension and being notably more modern than the other three.

In due course Gift Set 1B appears which seems to have the Plymouth on board but with a Citroen, Mini and Triumph for company and no 'American Cars' reference. But that's for a future post, I guess.

Corgi Toys @ 60: The Corporal Missile Set

Just one release in November 1959; the Corporal Missile, Launching Ramp, Erector Vehicle with an International Troop Carrier Truck packed together in Gift Set 9.

Sales were low, only 14,000. With so many complex mechanical components to go wrong, finding one that has these both in top condition and also working as they should is not easy at all.

The poor sales led to the missile, ramp and vehicle being withdrawn in 1962. The Launching Ramp was sold on its own in a box a year later as catalogue number 1124 and is possibly the item with the lowest sales of all at just 4000. 

Corgi Toys @ 60 : Missiles, Harvesters and Suspension

It's October 1959 and the shops get what I think is Corgi's biggest single item, a specially constructed vehicle to carry the massive Corporal missile issued in the summer. This vehicle doesn't just carry the thing, though, it also has nicely manufactured mechanisms by which you could transfer the missile to the launching ramp (if you had one handy) in a vertical position.

The photograph below, featured in The Great Book of Corgi, shows a number of Corgi personnel, including Marcel Van Cleemput (writing, with glasses,) and Percy Wilford (in a white coat to the right) the senior design and production engineers, making rapid sketches and notes when, we are told, the driver of an erector vehicle stopped near the factory in Northampton.

The result was an impressive  model, catalogued as a Corgi Major 1113 and sold with a missile.

The weight of the section carrying the missile produced some heavy forces acting on the gearing as it was manoeuvred into a vertical position - and probably often less than steadily so when in play - led to some of the cogs slipping over time and many examples have worn or broken teeth now.

The front wheels steered on the chassis and did so in a realistic way, although, without suspension one did have to encourage them to move one way or another. Nevertheless, here was the first Corgi model with steering!

It was expensive, though, and sales were not high of any of the military equipment. Good examples now, in the thick card boxes with packing pieces and instruction leaflets are now much sought-after by collectors, not just of Corgis but of military models generally, this being regarded as quite a 'classic' now.

The month also saw the previously issued Massey Ferguson tractor, trailer and Combine Harvester put together in Gift Set 8.

The third release in October 1959 is a notable event; the first Corgi with suspension. Termed Glidamatic and with 'Spring Suspension' on the box this made a big difference to your enjoyment when playing with the cars. The first was number 222, a Renault Floride. You could press down on the front to pretend you were braking hard, on the sides to whizz around corners (although the fixed wheels in the first models still made cornering tricky) and, of course, you could imitate zooming off with the rear being depressed as in the real thing.

Bumps on your layout could be driven over and the simple device of two pieces of wire providing resistance to the movement of the axles near the wheels was a great success. Even now, 60 years later, you'll find the Renault Floride suspension still sound and solid. 

The model itself was also a very attractive one, the real car being very pretty. First issues were in an olive green colour and would have had fixed smooth wheels and a red interior. Later models were produced in dark red and metallic blue. Bright yellow and cream interiors are found in the dark red models and the blue ones had either red or yellow.

As well as a few colour and interior variations to collect, early models had open vents in the rear wings, with the casting being punched through. Later models had the fin shapes still but no holes visible. This type seems to be quite hard to find and is not always very easy to spot in small illustrations unless the photograph has been taken at just the right angle. So far, I have bought three models which appeared to have 'closed' vents but which turned out to be 'open' on arrival!

Corgi Toys @ 60: A ruddy great missile and the little Austin A40

In June 1959 the last of the Mechanical models was issued. It's the delightful little Farina designed Austin A40. The 216M models had a very short production life as it was later this year that the decision to drop the M models from the range would have been made. So there are not many of these red and black 216M models around and they fetch high prices whenever good examples do appear.

The 216 non-mechanical edition was usually blue and dark blue but a few escaped from the factory in red and black. they're definitely not easy to find these days!

You should also look out for the 216 with shaped wheels. These would have been fitted later in the model's production and are somewhat less common.

You need either to peer in through the window or look at the base to distinguish the 216 from the 216M in red and black!

The other new arrival on the shelves of your local toy shop would be the remarkable Corporal Missile on a launch platform as catalogue no. 1112.

This must have been a dramatic new toy to see and even now it stands out in any collection, simply by being so big - nearly a foot long - and just plain impressive. It first appears here with another clever piece of Corgi engineering. I can only imagine that there was this one chap working there who was brilliant at this sort of thing and was responsible for the whole range of military equipment loading and transport gear.

The two wheels can be detached so that the unit can be placed on the ground to receive the missile standing vertically. Four adjustment devices can be set to make it level on almost any surface and four shaped pins hold the bottom part of the missile in place whilst the base itself fits on the shaped platform centre.

Later in the year, an erector vehicle will come along which, with a few knobs being turned, moves the missile from horizontal into a vertical position to fit on the platform. However marvellous all this stuff was, though, sales were modest - the high price and, perhaps, a shrinking interest in all things military, meant that only 26,000 are recorded as sold, the lowest figure so far at that time.

There are no variations at the outset for this item but a replacement nose cone does come along later. That includes a metal section into which caps could be places so that we could make exploding bangs if the missile were thrown so that it landed on its top end. As a consequence, you may not find too many in great condition!

Corgi Toys @ 60: Euclid Tractor and Gift Set 4

November 1958 brought the big and very heavy 1102 model Euclid Tractor / Bulldozer to the Corgi Toy shop shelves. At 17/6d (£0.87½) this would have been an expensive item for someone to buy and a heavy one to carry home too. It stayed in production until 1963 when it gets revised slightly with a lever to raise the shovel part and a driver and that model, catalogued as 1107, lasts until 1966.

If you carefully remove the shovel section you have the 1103 model which doesn't actually get issued until 1960 and that only lasts until 1965. All the Euclids had modest sales and are now quite difficult to find.

The 1102 can be found in two quite distinct colours - lime green and a greenish yellow. The black rubber tracks seem to last well but you would need to remove the shovel unit to fit replacements. The most common fault with models available is broken or damaged exhaust pipes. These are plastic and in a very vulnerable position, sticking up near the front of the bonnet. I haven't seen any replacements available so check these before buying.

The other November issue was also an expensive item, the fourth Gift Set. This puts all the Bloodhound Missile bits together. You get a missile, launcher and trolley together with an RAF Land Rover to pull the trolley along. The Missile was available with the launch ramp last month but this is the first appearance of the trolley. Later is is available with just the missile and, in December of the following year it is also available individually. Those individually boxed items had one of the lowest production figures of the Corgi range and so boxes are well worth seeking out.

The Land Rover does look a bit strange pulling the large trolley affair and one colleague prefers to display the Trolley being pulled by the Army International Truck! That would, of course, have to be a slightly later issue of the Trolley as the International Truck doesn't appear until 1959! At this time, therefore, the Land Rover must have seemed the best, if not only option.

Corgi Toys @ 60: The RAF fly in.

It is May 1958 and CND are demonstrating in London but at your local toy shop you could buy a Thunderbird Missile on a trolley. I cannot imagine many children walking out clutching only the 350 model; no doubt they persuaded their parent or older brother to buy the 351 RAF Land Rover too.

In a few months they'd be able to buy them both as Gift Set 3 but they wouldn't know that then.

The 351 Land Rover is a 406 model in RAF blue with a matching tin canopy. It also has an RAF roundel on the front wing.

The 350 Thunderbird missile is Corgi's first military model, produced in silver-painted metal with a rubber nose cone. It is held on the trolley by a couple of clips. the trolley itself has a very long tow bar, necessary to reach the hook on the Land Rover.

It looks pretty much as it should do, other than the colour. I rather doubt that these would actually have been drawn by a Land Rover but I'm no expert. The Corgi 350 I have seen in a pale duck egg blue and also a creamy white colour, as well as silver.

This would be the first of a series of increasingly big missiles Corgi would release in what is now a much sought after group of military vehicles and equipment.