Corgi Toys @ 60: Ford's Tractor and Conveyor Set and Cortina alone

 

It's August 1966 and Ford is the brand for both the new arrivals this month 60 years ago. The first is the reappearance of the Ford Consul Cortina Estate. This was first issued in January 1966 with golf trolley, golfer chap and caddy on a nice tray. Now it's  catalogue number #491, just the car, and 2/1d cheaper (that's two shillings and one penny less than the eight shillings for #440).

It's a very pretty model with its clean-looking almost white interior and lovely metallic blue, red or dark grey paintwork and chrome front and back. 

Most issues had small shaped wheels but towards the end of production cast wheels were fitted. These are not particularly rare on the metallic grey models but quite hard to find on red models and vey rare on blue models.

The second Ford was the 5000 Super Major Tractor, now towing a trailer to which the elevator mechanism first seen on #64 Jeep FC-150 in June 1965.

In the attractive box the models sit on a nicely illustrated display with a driver on the tractor and a bag of six plastic sacks. Turning the handle moves the black rubber belts to transfer items from one end to the other. These belts may often have become brittle and broken by now and, whilst replacements are available, they cannot be fitted without cutting and then somehow joining the ends together again.

This stays in the order lists through to 1971 and can be found with both variations of the Tractor's rear equipment design.

Down on the farm with Massey Ferguson

In May 1959 we saw the first farming issues from Corgi. This was the Massey Ferguson 65 tractor in its 'Massey Ferguson' red finish. For the first edition, that included the seat too.

Later the seat gets painted in the cream or pinky-cream of the chassis and eventually they settle for not painting it at all.

The wheels start off as metal but get replaced by plastic at some stage.

The steering wheel also starts as black but is replaced by a silver metal one. I have no idea when all these changes are made. The vast majority of models have silver seat, steering wheel and plastic wheels as well as gold lettering in the transfers. I have seen silver / white lettering and also a brighter gold which looks more like yellow but I am unsure whether these are merely replacements as parts suppliers can provide these now and many are difficult to distinguish from the originals.

Corgi concentrated on just two brands - Massey Ferguson and Fordson. In this article I will show you the Massey Ferguson tractors. There was also a 'Massey Ferguson' trailer issued in May 1959 and in October a marvellous Massey Ferguson Combine Harvester which I will return to another day.

The #50  tractor was also issued in Gift Set 7 (with the #51 Trailer), Gift Set 8 (with the #51 trailer and #1111 Combine Harvester and Gift Set 29 (with the #51 Trailer with a driver added).

The next tractor was in April 1960 when a shovel gets attached to the tractor as #53.

This is a typical example of Corgi's detailed production of operational pieces. With the two levers you could raise and lower the arms and hold or let the bucket swing down to empty it. With a pile of sand or bits and pieces you really could pick stuff up and transport it to be dropped somewhere else - well, as long as you didn't need to turn any sharp corners as all the Massey Ferguson tractors had fixed axles.

The first shovel attachment model #53 has cream arms and the transfers are fitted along them with none on the tractor bonnet. It has metal wheels.

At some point the arms section is revised, with an additional bar between them and now there is no space for the transfer so it returns to the tractor bonnet. I believe this version will always have plastic wheels but there is no definitive evidence that the wheels were changed at exactly the same time as the lift mechanism so there may be a further two variations: arms type 1 with plastic wheels, arms type 2 with metal wheels.

Near the end of production comes a known third variety. This one has bare metal arms but is otherwise in the same style as the previous one, with transfers on the bonnet. I am sure all of these will have plastic wheels.

This also appears in Gift Set 32 with a #62 Trailer with raves and has a driver.

In May 1963 the Massey Ferguson 65 tractor gets a fork attachment (available to buy as #57 in a box). This always seems to be in bare metal, very much along the lines of the final Shovel attachment.

This is also included in Gift Set 22 where, in fact, it first appeared in September 1962. There are some errors in some publications which list Gift Set 22 as having #53 not #57. I had unwittingly taken my data from these supposedly reputable sources too and have only just changed my site in that respect! Because the Shovel version was the one available at the time of the Set's issue it seemed logical to conclude that they set had #53 not #57. Now, of course, we may find that could, indeed be the case but all the new-looking sets I have seen have had the Fork attachment.

In July 1966 there is a new Massey Ferguson - the 165.

This looks similar in its traditional red but now has a grey chassis which makes the white grille surround stand out. There is an exhaust too and a driver from the start.

On the front axle is a device which makes an approximation to a chugging sound - perhaps not one of Corgi's brightest of ideas. Steering would have been a better idea, or some jewels for the headlamps like they gave to the later Ford tractor.

On its own, the Massey Ferguson 165 tractor as #66 doesn't get into any Gift Sets.

In March 1967 the 165 gets a shovel attachment, very similar to the last fork attachment but with red arms and a bare metal, more angular bucket for #69 than was fitted to #53.

This edition does find its way into two Gift Sets: the big Agricultural Gift Set 5 in October 1967 and Gift Set 9 in December 1968 with the #62 trailer.

Then we get a bit of a surprise in March 1970 when a most impressive #73 165 Tractor is issued with a working rotating saw attachment.

This is remarkable bit of engineering that uses a tightly coiled wire (essentially a spring) to translate the rotation of rear wheel teeth to turn the spring and hence the saw at the other end. As well as detailed controls and 'hydraulic' piping the attachment and arm can be positioned in many ways and there is even a safety guard in a heavy metal mesh design too.

This is not quite the end of the Massey Ferguson story as in 1973 there is a new #50 in the shape of a Massey Ferguson MF50B Tractor which gets a shovel in May 1974. These are appalling models, very basic and with such limited detailing that I don't care for them much at all. There are some interesting sets in which they appear, however, so I will write about them on another occasion. Better to end on the high note that was #73.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Jaguar E Type and a strange Tractor

 

March 1962 sees the arrival of a model we all wanted as children - the lovely E Type Jaguar. It was produced as an open top car and came with a detachable hard top. This was only the second model to be issued from the outset with free spinning wheels.

There were two main colours: a plum shade of red and a very dark metallic grey. There is very little variation in the red colour but you'll find some quite intensely dark shades of the grey as well as something resembling gunmetal in shade. In 1962 I seldom saw the dark grey model. All my friends had the red one as I did. More recently, however, I had quite a job finding a nice red one to buy for my own collection whilst there were plenty of the grey ones around.

The model has nice suspension which will have survived to this day and will continue to keep the car looking great for years to come. The plastic hard top, though, is pretty vulnerable to cracks and getting broken. Luckily, or confusingly, depending upon your stance, Model Supplies have excellent copy plastic hard tops and it takes a very well-trained eye to detect any difference in the red type.

The company also produce a black variety. This was not available with the models issued by Corgi but does look really nice and a lot more appropriate when fitted on the grey models.

I am also aware of two varieties of base on the 307 model - one has one rivet and the other has two. From what I can tell, the vast majority of models have two and I haven't, in fact, yet been able to buy any with just one to examine whether the text or anything else changes.

The catalogue number is interesting in that 301-5 were used for the very early 1956 issues and the TR3A replacement of 302 in 1960. 306 was missed for some reason (although used  a decade later for a Morris Marina) and I wonder what might have been. All the 300 numbers were sports cars.

Also on the shelves in March would be the Fordson Power Major Tractor (as model 55 issued in May 1961) with four rear wheels, a track running around one normal size and one slightly smaller wheel behind it. Original tracks were grey rubber but you may find black too as they may have degraded over the years and been replaced.

Black tracks were, however, fitted at the outset to a later edition which was based on the revised Fordson Power Major in 1965. This has a different steering mechanism as well as the headlamps being placed inside the grille. You'll have to wait a while for more about that one.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Fordson Tractor and Plough

 May 1961 saw the arrival of the first Fordson tractor, the Power Major model. This was much more interesting than the Massey Ferguson. You could steer it with the steering wheel - a super feature that added a lot of play value - and a very realistic lift mechanism was included at the back.

This mechanism was quite complicated and attaching the other issue in this month, a plough, was not that simple. Once you had figured out how to do it, though, it worked a treat.

This first Fordson Tractor had headlamps mounted on the outside of the radiator grille and the steering was not particularly realistic, being a simple axle that rotated around a central point. Three years later the model would get much better parallel steering on a model with the headlamps mounted inside the grille and a slightly revised rear mechanism.

Early issues had red metal wheels but these were quite quickly replaced by an orange plastic wheel.

The plough was finished in red, more suitable to a Massey Ferguson brand, but the attachment would not work on the earlier tractor so it had to be used with the Fordson. It had four yellow plastic shears. Like the tractor, this would be replaced too, in this case by a blue, much simpler type, with silver shears in 1964.

No Farmer George was included with this edition.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Massey Ferguson with Shovel

April 1960 saw the arrival of the Massey Ferguson 65 tractor with a shovel attachment. Two levers could be used to operate this quite effectively. One lifted it and another released the bucket - all credit to whoever invented such a simple system which made this a most popular model, selling, apparently well over a million.

There was a lot of play value here as you could take it outside, push it into a pile of dirt in the garden, lift up a load and the drive it around and drop it into a trailer or the back of a lorry. The mechanism is not that sturdy, though, and many models now have quite loose attachments but they probably still function after a fashion.

The attachments were cream with the inside of the bucket painted silver. I have seen variations with an all silver attachment and another with just a silver bucket as well as others which have silver, unpainted, control levers instead of black. Lastly, some editions have transfers on the arms and the illustrated example appears markedly more white than cream too both on the attachment as well as the tractor itself. the arms are a different casting too and I think that this is a later edition.

Corgi Toys @ 60: On the farm and the big International Truck

May 1959 brought a farm tractor and trailer to the toy shop shelves. The Tractor was a Massey Ferguson 65 model and first issues had metal wheels. You'll find the model with silver, cream or a scarcer red seat but all the examples I've encountered have had the same Massey Ferguson red bonnet and a slightly pinkish cream chassis. A driver was not included at this point. He comes later in gift sets or other versions.

The trailer has no manufacturer's brand but has the same Massey Ferguson red chassis and a bright yellow load section which lifts on a 'hydraulic' arm and has a hinged rear panel. Early editions had metal wheels. The trailer was around for a very many years and remained unchanged throughout that time apart from plastic wheels being fitted at some point.

These were the first of a good few models of agricultural implements which would be added to the range.

The military range was still being developed and May saw the introduction of the big International 6 wheeled truck, initially launched as an International 6 x 6 Army Truck.

A search of this blog will show you more detailed articles about this truck which still causes confusion with the different versions that exist in its chassis style, British and Dutch insignia, a US Army version and variations in where silver paint may or may not have been applied! As if that were not enough, 1133 is issued some time later as a US Army Troop Transporter!

The British and Dutch versions had the appropriate insignia on the front and rear and no stars. The US version of 1118 had a star on the bonnet and also on the flat roof of the metal canopy. (If the canopy has an indent for the star it is from a later 1133, which also had text along the bonnet and on the tailgate).

The difference in the two types of chassis can be seen when viewed from the side, one showing clear daylight above the chassis in places.

I don't know which came first or whether the US or Dutch versions were available this early and I think it is likely that the first editions would have been solely the British one.

None of these trucks had suspension - even later in life (although the Circus version with a crane did get suspension later). You could make an interesting collection just on the varieties of these trucks which confused me a great deal at the start - and even now I struggle for remember which US version is which sometimes, especially as many may have had canopies replaced or swapped over the years!

This International truck is a very heavy, solid model with massive wheels (and a loose spare behind the cabin which often goes missing). Look out for the tin hook at the back too which should be present. These didn't sell in vast numbers but many have survived as they could withstand being sat or trodden on pretty well!

Down on the farm.

It's taken a while and there are still some items missing but it seems a good time to share something about the Corgi Farming tractors and equipment produced in the 1:43 era. It all started in May 1959 with a Massey Ferguson 65 tractor and a Massey Ferguson 30cwt tipping trailer. 

My example has the attached skip with a milk churn and good ol' Farmer George at the wheel. These are much later additions, the first releases just being the basic tractor and trailer. Both started with metal wheels, replaced later with plastic ones and you'll find a range of seats from red and silver painted to bare metal. the steering wheel also varies from grey and black plastic to a grey metal one.

I lived on a farm in Hertfordshire which was also an agricultural machinery depot where my dad worked. So I got to see and occasionally play with the real things. I learned to drive on a 'Fergie' 20 and so it was pretty natural that the first Gift Set I had was Gift Set 7 with the original tractor and trailer. That came out in July 1959 with a lovely Combine Harvester joining the pair in Gift Set 8 in October that year. The Combine Harvester was an amazing pice of engineering with all sorts of working parts but it cost way too much for my family at the time and I still haven't got one all these years later!

In 1960 a shovel was added to the Massey Ferguson 65 and you could also now buy the skip and milk churns Most will have a cream painted lift device, black metal controls and a bucket that is silver inside. The mechanism tends to get a bit loose over the years but it is a super bit of design and really did pick dirt up and dump it in the trailer if you wanted it too.

Negotiating corners was not easy, though, with the fixed front axle and it was rather nice to use the Fordson Power Major tractor instead if you had one. It came out in May 1961 But at 7/6d, a mere tuppence cheaper than the 7/8d charged for the Massey Ferguson and the trailer in Gift Set 7, it was expensive! The steering was from the front axle rotating around a central point. Not at all realistic but it worked and made it much more fun to play with. People do get confused about these Fordsons because several models look similar at first glance. This first one #55 has lights placed on the sides of the front radiator section.

A plough was issued at the same time in May 1961. This first one had yellow plastic shares and a quite tricky to use attachment device. You could also buy both as Gift Set 18 that Summer. There are references to the shares being replaced by silver plated ones but with the same attachment later that year but I have not seen anything like this anywhere. If anyone has any information about what would be quite a scarce item, do let me know. (There is a replacement - #61 but that doesn't appear for another three years and will have a different attachment).

March 1962 sees an odd version of the Fordson Power Major - one with half tracks on a double rear wheel affair. These are very expensive now and I haven't managed to get one yet so have had to use a stock image. In many ways this would have better suited the Massey Ferguson because the tracks were very difficult to steer. No matter what you did with the front wheels it tended to prefer carrying on forwards! This still uses the first Fordson, the one with the side headlamps.

A big Farming Models Gift Set 22 is said to have been released in September 1962.

It has some interesting contents. There is the Fordson Power Major #55 and the #56 plough, together with the #1111 Combine Harvester. The #51 trailer, however, is drawn by #57 Massey Ferguson with a fork lift. That would be a more appropriate piece of equipment to have in the scene shown on the box too but it would not be until May the following year that the tractor with a fork lift would be available individually. Some reference works on Corgis say the set had #53 which would have been available but they also go on to describe it as with a fork lift so I am pretty sure the set did have the first editions of #57 and not #53.

There is another fascinating item in this box. That is the Land Rover. An actual example of a genuine original set I have seen has a mid green Land Rover that appears to be a #406 but has what looks like a lemon interior! I can't tell whether it has suspension but it looks like it might have. Anyway, it is either a very early #438 in mid green or a #406 with an interior! I think I'll go for it being a #438 or, possibly, another colour #406S. I have an all yellow one so maybe they did have a mid green one too.

This set would also be where you'd get three figures doing various farm tasks and the skip and milk churns.

The Land Rover towed a #101 Flatbed Trailer in all yellow which, I think, is unique to this set too. There was a moulded pack of milk churns (oddly in a different scale to those supplied individually!) that sits on the trailer.

The set did not last long and underwent several changes with the mid green Land Rover disappearing almost as soon as it arrived (so good luck trying to find one!!) and featuring not only the next Fordson #60, its revised plough #61 and a different tipping trailer #62.

I would get one of these in order to see just what the Land Rover was but they change hands at several thousand pounds now! One of the very valuable Corgi items.

May 1963 sees the individual release of the Massey Ferguson 65 with Fork Lift #57 and later that year there is another Gift Set. This has the same Massey Ferguson tractor and trailer as before but now the tractor gets old Farmer George and the set has a new number, Gift Set 29. Just to confuse us all!

Not to be outdone, the Ferguson also gets Farmer George on #55 Fordson Power Major in Gift Set 13 with the original type of plough. This set is very short-lived, though, as later that year there is a new Fordson Power Major tractor #60 which has a very nice and more accurate type of steering. The lights are moved inside the radiator grill and Farmer George gets in the box for this one too!

With the new tractor comes the new plough - a much simpler affair and with silver shares as #61.

February 1965 brings the new tipping trailer. This is a much squarer model and probably a bit more useful, especially with the smart raves which come in the box and slide nicely into position and yet do not obstruct the tilt or opening rear flap. See how researching farming models can bring a whole new vocabulary to your life! I bet many readers will have thought a 'rave' was something their children did in the 1990s!

The next month you could buy the new Fordson #60 tractor towing a Beast Carrier as Gift Set 33. The Beast Carrier itself comes out as #58 in its own box in November 1965. In both the Gift Set 33 and #58 box there would also be four different calves.

A slightly strange addition to the farming stock appears in June 1965 in the shape of a Jeep F-150 now remodelled as #64 and given a conveyor belt, chute as well as a happy workman and five little sacks in the box. The device itself works amazingly well, although you will be lucky to find one with a complete belt now, and I am not sure it is a simple job to replace a broken one. The odd thing about this is that it really would have been quite unusual on a British farm, especially with Left Hand Drive! The Jeep F-150 models have always been a bit intriguing for me as they seem to have a quite different approach to casting, with door outlines proud of the surface not engraved in it and the base is quite unlike any other Corgi models that I am familiar with. It may be that there are some other commercials that were made in a similar fashion that I haven't had a chance to examine yet but, again, it is a topic I could do with some advice on one day.

1965 ends with another Gift Set for the Christmas market. Gift Set 32 has the almost forgotten #53 Massey Ferguson with Bucket towing the new #62 trailer. I expect Farmer George gets in this box too.

July 1966 sees a new Massey Ferguson tractor. #66 is the Massey Ferguson 165 and this is often confused with #50 as they look similar at first glance. Corgi used a distinct grey colour for the engine and base, though, and the front is somewhat fatter.

There is also a new version of the Fordson, now a Ford Super Major 5000 and numbered #67. It is not individually available until early 1967 but appears as Gift Set 47 with a Conveyor Belt device which has been removed from the Jeep and now placed on a trailer similar to that used for a Bloodhound missile but without the four wheel steering.

With #58 Beast Carrier and calves, the new Ford Tractor #67 also makes Gift Set 1, replacing Gift Set 33. I do hope you are paying attention. No I have no idea why Corgi did such strange things with their Gift set numbering. This was The Sixties remember. The staff in the Gift Set Numbering department were probably on drugs.

March 1969 sees the new Massey Ferguson 165 get the bucket device attached and in a different colour scheme now too. This is now #59.

April 1967 has brings us the huge Dodge Kew Fargo Livestock Transporter #484. I haven't got one of these yet but it uses the same livestock box and mesh cover as was on the Beast Carrier. You get a card of 'straw' and five little piglets in the box with this one.

A couple of months later #71 is this lovely Tandem Disc Harrow implement. Then in October 1967 there is a new version of the Farming Models Gift Set. Now called Agricultural Gift Set 5 it has the Dodge Kew Fargo lorry mentioned above, the new #69 Massey 165 with Bucket, a #71 Disc Harrow, #62 Trailer with raves and a #438 Land Rover with no canopy. The Land Rover can be either the dark green one or the later metallic green shade. As well as the models there are lots of animals, five piglets, four calves and several hay bales as well as the piece of card that is supposed to be straw. There is also a farmer and his dog which I think can only be found in this set and, as if you hadn't guessed, yes, good ol' Farmer George is driving the tractor! He doesn't look a day older than when he first appeared.

In 1968, October saw some revisions to the #1111 Combine Harvester and in November two more Gift Sets. Gift Set 15 was the Land Rover and new Horse Box replacement for the Gift Set 2. This had a blue Land Rover with a white canopy bearing the label Corgi Pony Club. It towed a #112 Rice Beaufort Horse Box which contained a black horse and white foal or pony. The first editions had normal wheels on the Land Rover but I believe #112 started life with the cast spoke effect wheels.

Later the Land Rover gets the matching type and then, even later, the Land Rover gets Whizzwheels with the Horse Box getting an interesting cast eight-spoke racing car wheel for a short period before it too submits to Whizzwheels. I have written about all these variations in a previous article.

I think this is the only place that you could have got the blue Land Rover, though, the issued one being the dark green one.

The other was Gift Set 9 with the new #69 Massey 165 tractor with shovel and the #62 Trailer with raves. Farmer George gets in the box too.

The Rice Beaufort Horse Box comes out on its own in early 1969. Then, later that year we get the Ford 5000 Super Major with a hydraulic scoop at the side.

This #74 is a most impressive bit of engineering again with plenty of details and flexible hydraulic hoses in correct locations. I am pretty sure that had the economy given Corgi's engineers a few more years of free planning rather than panic reaction we might have even seen some working hydraulics!

Spring 1970 and the Massey 165 gets an interesting attachment to prolong its sales life. This is a scary looking saw attachment. I haven't yet found one at a reasonable price so have not been able to take a close look but I believe the saw spins round via an interesting flexible linkage. This is #73

I think most of us kids at the time would have preferred versions of these tractors that either actually could be steered or did so reasonably realistically. The Ford still had the dreadful fixed axle rotating around the centre and the lovely #60 Fordson with its great parallel style steering is now just a fond memory of days gone by. The Massey Ferguson just went forwards. Period.

Yet another attachment - a rear mounted trenching bucket - is added to the Ford 5000 at the beginning of 1971 as model #72, the numbers now going backwards for some reason I have never understood.

Sometime in 1967 the metallic green version of the Land Rover takes over as #438 from the dark green. Almost as soon as it appears it gets the cast, spoke effect wheels added and now in 1969 the dreaded Whizzwheels arrive too.

The blue Land Rover gets all three too as previously mentioned in its life as a Corgi Pony Club vehicle. At some point, I am not sure when, this apple green metallic shade comes out with Whizzwheels. I have only seen this in a black, blue and yellow rainbow style box which would indicate that it is a late edition from about 1973. It certainly seems scarce.

Corgi's farming story ends there as far as I am concerned. There was a last gasp effort in June 1973 with this awful 'Massey Ferguson 50B', cheekily numbered #50. 

This ugly model is approximately the right scale still but is just so poorly produced you simply do not want to place it on a table next to any of your other models. There is almost no detailing and it looks like a lump of cheap plastic, like a small version of the big plastic tractors that you could buy for little children to sit in. There was also a version with a shovel attachment and even Gift Sets 4 and 5.

Gift Set 4 gave you the tractor, #62 Trailer with some fences, a pile of hay, a sheepdog, two sheep and a girl and boy looking very strange. Surprisingly, there are really not many of these to be found and those that are demand high prices. I am not sure of its release date but would guess it was in late 1973.

Gift Set 5 appears to have been issued in April 1976  It is a cut-down version of Gift set 4, now missing the hay, girl and boy. This is possibly even scarcer now, being replaced by a 1:36 scale David Brown and Trailer set a few months later in 1976.

I hope this helps collectors understand what came out when, the small differences between some models and what now they need to look for or, possibly, avoid!