Red Land Rovers

"Are the Chipperfields Land Rovers a different colour to the Ferrari Set ones?"

My good friend and collector in Germany asked me the question. I knew that I had seen two distinct shades but whether they could be specifically allocated to one or other I couldn't say. So I've been thinking about it and would welcome any actual knowledge about this either to support or counter my conclusions.

He sent me the photos above which do show quite clear differences. Whilst there are shades in between, there remain two that stand out for us - the dark shade and the brighter red shade. My inclination was first to see the the darker shade as Chipperfields and the brighter one as Ferrari. I am not entirely sure why, especially as I am not a big fan of the Circus models and tend to have avoided them over the last few years, but some impressions of colour seem to have remained in such brain as I have left and the darker one really did say 'Chipperfields'.

Then I looked at a pile of other models, mostly pretty new and in boxes for GS19 or GS17. Now I know that just because a model is in a box now does not mean that it was in the same box at the start of its life at the factory but bear with me on this for now.

These are two 'Chipperfields' models. 

Here are two Ferrari Gift set models.

Another two Chipperfields models.

Two unallocated models I had lying around.

Yes, there were both bright and dark in each case! So that didn't help at all.

Thinking about it some more it occurred to me that it is unlikely that Corgi would have been spraying the same Land Rover casts in slightly different shades at the same time for the various Gift Sets. While they were packing both the Chipperfields and Ferrari Gift set boxes I would have expected the production people to be providing just the one batch of painted Land Rovers.

The first appearance of a red Land Rover was in April 1962 for the Gift Set 19 with a trailer and Elephant Cage. So I can imagine that a colour was decided and all Land Rovers for this set and the following Gift Set 23 in September 1962 would have been in that colour. Generally, Corgi were good at being consistent with colours over a short period and let's say that the dark shade was thus utilised for all the Chipperfields items through to early 1963.

Then the Ferrari Gift Set is devised and, again, the same darker shade is included in this Gift Set 17 too for a while. Then, some time later, and I have no idea when, there is a change of supplier of paint or even a deliberate decision to have something brighter and along come batches of new, brighter red Land Rovers and these are available for use in whichever Gift Set, Chipperfields or Ferrari, as the ladies in the factory need them for.

That then is how, in my view, the different colours have been distributed at the start. Early Chipperfields models have the first shade (to which I have allocated the darker one) and all later models are brighter red, whether Ferrari or not.

We did, of course, wonder whether Ferrari had had a hand in determining the shade but decided this was unlikely or, even if they had, it was not exactly followed!

It would be a fair criticism of this brief research to say that the images provided here could all be of the same red shade but varying light and processing have resulted in their now appearing quite different. I don't think that will be the case but I'm happy to read any alternative suggestions, or knowledge even, that someone may be able to contribute.

Red seats in the Corgi Pony Club Land Rover

Somewhere in the States a colleague found this Gift Set 15. A seemingly ordinary but nice and clean Whizzwheels Land Rover towing the usual Rice Beaufort Horse-Box with cast wheels containing two original issue ponies too.

Red seats? he rightly queried. Red seats!? I exclaimed and immediately placed a ridiculously high bid to make sure I bought it. These days I do tend to avoid buying from across The Pond if at all possible as many sellers demand the most extraordinary postal charges. (Pitney Bowes has a lot to answer for in that respect but I'll leave that for another day). This was actually advertised with a couple of Corgi Classics: a 9041 Rolls and a 9012 Model T Ford with a broken screen. I really did not want either of those and hoped the seller could just send me the Land Rover but it didn't seem to make any difference to a postal charge of about £25 so I swallowed hard and tried not to worry about it too much.

I did win at a modest price, but more than I had expected it to go for and then only with the last second assistance of some software, which made me think that someone else had noticed the unusual interior. It took an age for the expensive postal service actually to deliver the damn thing but it has been well worth the wait. At one point I did wonder whether the 'red' was merely the result of a poorly-lit photograph! Quite a relief when it did, finally, arrive. It was red.

It looks very much like the old interior put in the fawn coloured edition but with a black steering wheel. The Longleat Land Rover has a red interior and black steering wheel but the interior is quite different, needing a hole for the hunter. Someone would have had to select the red interior, add a black steering wheel and then insert it during the manufacturing process when you would have expected the box to be full of lemon ones with grey steering wheels. So it is a curious development and my guess is that this dates from a period when the change from the flimsy lemon plastic to new yellow interior was taking place. If some models came trundling down the production line and the lemon flavour had run out but no yellow solid affairs were available then the factory staff may well have made up some temporary alternatives. 

Despite looking quite carefully at hundreds of these Land Rovers over the years, and discovering all sorts of varieties in the Gift Set 15 components, this has to be the one with the biggest 'Wow!' factor. I have not seen a single other one anywhere. The dark green 438 with a red interior is known to be scarce and I was delighted to find one of those a while ago that I shall not part with cheaply. Unless I discover that there are more of these around which I simply have just not noticed. which I doubt will be the case, then this will take its place as one of the really quite special models in my collection.

I really do like models that look a bit normal and may be initially uninteresting but which are, in fact, wonderfully scarce and potentially valuable. Finding these small but fascinating differences does help the days go by!

As you will see in the previous article today, the Horse-Box was also a surprise, having a different type of wheel. So I'm glad that I didn't press to have just the Land Rover after all. The two Classics, though, will be effectively free to a good home.

Shades Of Red Austin Seven

Another Mini arrived this morning - an Austin Seven with flat hubs and in really nice, clean condition. What immediately struck me, though, was its colour. It has a distinctively tomato flavoured shade compared to the one I have had since my childhood.

It is also made from a different casting, being similar to the yellow Mini that came a little while ago, having rectangular holes in the base showing the axles.

I dug out the other two red Austins that I have and, remarkably, they all have different castings! There is the tomato one with the holes, my original collection item with no holes but two rectangular flat areas near the front and another deeper red type with free spinning wheels, no holes or rectangular areas but which has a small circular extrusion midway between the front wheels. That one also has a different shape cut out for the four wheels and the text, set out differently reads Patent No. as opposed to Patent Application.

My guess is that the tatty old one with the Patent No. text is the later of the three, especially with the free spinning wheels that it has. (That one also has two steering wheels - one floating around inside! I have no idea how that could have got in other than at the factory as the base has not been removed and the plastic interior looks intact. The rear window is a bit odd but I don't think it could have been opened in any way. Bit of a mystery, that one! In more ways than one.

Another yellow Austin is on its way from France where no-one seems to realise they're particularly scarce. It looks in fine condition and a lot better than the one I got a few weeks ago. I have also acquired a very pretty little Morris Minor in pale blue with a yellow interior. I had to look at the pictures for several minutes before realising that there was something different about this one!

I shall write separately about the yellow one when it arrives. I am assuming it will be the same casting as the one I have.