Bags of Karriers

A collector recently alerted me to something I had not noticed before and this led to a surprise discovery for me. This is the 413 Karrier Butchers Shop with suspension. I had no idea this existed. This and the 407 Mobile Shop look so ancient that I had assumed they both preceded suspension but, no, it seems that the very late editions of the Butchers Shop did get suspension and this example has just arrived to prove it. It did not, though, get a 413S catalogue number, just stayed at 413, rather like the Chipperfields Crane Truck which just gets suspension somewhere along the line without any special announcement or change of number. 

I did find this standard box with 413 printed and an S label affixed on one end amongst items sold by QDT but it is the only reference to 413S that I have seen, the blue and yellow boxes being unillustrated and just having 413 printed at the end. The blue boxes are illustrated but would, I believe, have ceased production some time prior to the suspension models being available. My guess is that teh S label was added by a shop (or even a collector) rather than the factory. If more turn up with the same S label then I might be persuaded to change my mind.

The 407 and 413 models have an array of base types.

The first was the black base with one river and the text had the word SHOP.

Next, I think, comes the same type of base but in grey. This switch from black to grey happened with quite a few models - the 208M Jaguar, 207 Standard Vanguard (and its RAF version) come to mind and maybe there are others.

Then there is a grey base without a rivet but with twisted metal fasters and the text now has an overlay of VAN.

The 426 Chipperfields Booking Office has the same type of base as the 413 with suspension - very similar to the previous type but without any holes at the axles.

471 Joe's Diner has the same base again as the 413 with suspension and the 426 but with a rivet at the front and the two metal fasteners are not twisted to secure the base. It also has free-spinning wheels which teh others didn't get.

As far as I can see so far, all the 413 with suspension, 426 and 471 models have the same type of base. I think we will also find that all the 413 models with fixed shaped wheels will have suspension but I have yet to confirm that and may still come across a model with shaped wheels and an earlier base style which will not have suspension.

The 407 Mobile Shop appears not to have had the last type of base but I would not rule it out completely as it would seem that the suspension base was brought in at the beginning of 1962 when the 407 was still available. The question is whether is was still in production then. It might also have had shaped wheels fitted although that seems unlikely as the first Chipperfields Booking Offices still was being fitted with smooth wheels when first produced in January 1962.

If we take it that the suspension bases were all fitted at about the same time then that would be midway through the 413 period of availability. However as records show that a quite low number, around 100,000, were sold, it is unlikely that there was a demand for any more to be produced after the initial stock runs for quite some time and that could explain the scarcity of the suspension model.

Here are the dates when these models were available to be ordered:

• 407  9/1957 - 1962
• 413 10/1960 - 1964
• 426  1/1962 - 1964
• 471  3/1965 - 1966

Mini Mistakes

Here is something a little different! It's a 227 Morris Mini-Cooper body on a 226 Morris Mini-Minor base. I bought it for my friend and Corgi collector, Andi, who lives abroad, where the seller wasn't keen to post stuff to. Having it delivered to me here in the UK also gave me the chance to take a closer look at it. It could, of course, have simply been something someone had made from almost any old 226 using a drill and just a Code 3 of not really of great interest. However the paint on the inside of the holes and around the edges is untouched and so this is most likely to have been mistake at the Corgi factory.

I can imagine how a rack of 227 bodies could have been sent to the painting area and a dose of 226 lilac-blue was applied instead of the darker shade of 227 blue or even primrose. At a pinch, I can just about imagine how these blue 227 bodies found themselves further down the production line and being attached to 226 bases. More difficult might be understanding how these got past Quality Control unless you remember that there wasn't a great deal of either consistent quality or control going on! Or maybe they didn't get any further, this one and a few others finding their way into workers' pockets and back home for the kids to play with.

Clearly, how this one reached freedom outside the factory walls in or around 1966 we shall never know but it certainly didn't get played with and is as unmarked as if it had remained in the pocket of a pair of overalls ever after. The rivets are particularly clean and very new-looking. I did have my suspicions that these may have been replacements but the design and imprint is identical to others I have seen and they really do look like Corgi factory rivets.

One odd thing about this model is the fact that the body is a Type 1, the first casting, whereas the cast wheel base is the latest casting used and one might have expected anything with cast wheels to have had the Type II body. I have seen, however, this combination before so it's probably better to say that it's not so much odd but a little less common.

My friend is quite keen to have this and put some jewels in the holes so that it looks like a 227 in the 226 blue. I've cautioned him, though, that to do the job properly would require bezels or metal holder for the jewels and inserting those would inevitably damage the paint and destroy the model's provenance. He might as well buy any old 226 and drill a couple of holes and achieve the same end result. OK, finding a Type 1 body with cast wheels as clean as these isn't that easy but it would be preferable to spoiling something which someone might like to have as it stands for their collection of Corgi Mini mistakes.

As it happens, I have the reverse 'factory mistake' in the form of a 226 Morris Mini-Minor body on a 227 Morris Mini-Minor base. I have suggested that, instead of sending them to him for jewel insertion, I put the pair up for sale and see if anyone's interested. I would value each of them at around £250 so I'll be asking £350 for the two. I guess that will bring howls of protest from some quarters but a single decent and unmarked, somewhat scarce normal Mini in exceptional condition would sell for £60 and something like this factory error must be worth at least three or four times as much.

The 226 body / 227 base model is in the earlier pale blue rather than the lilac-blue of my friend's 227/226 model so the colours don't match and the base styles are some years apart but they still make an interesting pair.

While I'm at it, here's another nice pair that I have available at a similar price, this time Austin Seven bodies on Morris Mini-Minor and Morris Mini-Cooper bases! Oh, what fun you can have with Corgi Minis!

Corgi Model Club: Land Rover Public Address Vehicle

 

December's issue from the Corgi Model Club (for those of us who started at the beginning) is the Land Rover Public Address Vehicle, catalogued as 472 when the original was issued back in September 1964.

Sales were not that great at around 147000 which may sound plenty but is comparable to the Chevrolet Taxi and Citroen DS Monte Carlo Edition, both of which are sought after now and, coincidentally, were the two previous Corgi Club releases.

It looks very accurate on first inspection. I only have a worn and partly broken example to compare it with but I have been hard-pressed to find anything worth mentioning with this one. 

There is, of course, what I have always called a 'researcher' for some reason which escapes me now. The box describes her as a 'supporter' which is far more appropriate. She will be one of the reasons this copy will sell well as in most of the original 472s you see now for sale she is missing. People will pay an extra £30 to have what to all intents and purposes looks like an original researcher, I mean, supporter with their nice original Public Address Vehicle and I'm sure dealers will then simply flog off the Land Rover they're left with for whatever they can get and the certificates are worth a bit as people lose those or dealers forget to include them.

At first glance I thought the shade of green was a little too yellow but now I look at it side by side with my old original it seems fine. They have even got the right ventilation lever design on this one. The microphone cable is far too thick on the copy and it reminds me of the ridiculous chunky rope that often is found with the 448 Police Minivan and the Riviera Gift Set if you have Mr Flowers' thick black rope substitutes.

I have to admit that I had always wondered why the researcher, I mean supporter, never appeared to stand up properly in the back of the truck in my own 1964 model. I could understand why so many got lost as she was invariably left to stand somewhere else on the layout or, worse, on some thick carpet, probably never to be seen again after a pet or vacuum cleaner had passed by. Now, only now, a mere, 58 years later, have I noticed the slot in the side where the base of the girl can be fitted to secure her and in such a way that she appears to be leaning out to distribute the gems of wisdom from her local political party.

It was noted at the time that Corgi wisely stayed out of politics and both Labour's red and Conservative's blue were as equally featured as they could manage. The actual General Election, which took place in the month following the original's release was also equally balanced, Labour finishing up with a single seat majority.

In the box you will have a couple of blocks of the familiar white foam stuff stuck in an L shape. This needs to be inserted to protect the loudspeakers on the roof and prevent the model moving in the box. There is also a thin square piece with a hole in the middle. (Only just discovered this!) This last piece may or may not protect the top of the politician. I do think that more attention needs to be paid to the packing pieces. The original had far more effective pieces of folded cardboard. I strongly suggest the Model Club people get the Chinese Re-education Camp Managers who currently put these things together to source some card instead of the foam.

The fonts look a lot better on this issue than most of those that have gone before.

Once again, congratulations to the Corgi Model Club people. Not one of my favourite models in either original or copy form but I do recognise that it is a good one and we Corgi collectors are a hard bunch to please! 

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!

Corgi Model Club: The Etrönic DS19 Monte Carlo

 

The latest issue from the Corgi Model Club is another Monte Carlo Rally model, this time the 323 Citröen DS19, except that for some quite unfathomable reason, it has to be called a DS19, not a Citröen DS19. Just what does this weird French company, or, rather, the weird French directors of this weird French company, think they're going to achieve by this nonsense? It's a model of a Citröen, for Heaven's sake. It was when it was issued by Corgi in 1965 and this is a model of that model so it can hardly be anything else. You would have thought that the company would have been proud to be associated with one of the most iconic designs in all motoring history. Oh well, never mind. Let's move on and look at the model.

As we now expect, this is a superb copy of the original casting, absolutely right in all dimensions and as near an exact colour match as anyone could ask for.

This was one of the last uses of the Citröen casting which they'd first used  way back in 1957 for the 210 model. In 1960 it gets an interior and suspension as 210S and then this version in 1965. Castings with holes for the jewels remained after 1965 and were painted red and the holes filled with mazak to resemble fog-lamps for the final appearance sometime in 1965 or 1966. I suppose it did re-appear, heavily modified, as the Race Manager's car in the Tour de France 510 issue and, even further modified, as Dougal and Magic Roundabout friends' car. Not a happy end, really, and this Monte Carlo edition is the one we love to remember.

Once again, I have to criticise the choice of 'jewels' by the Club, this time for the fog lamps. They are not good enough and look more like plastic than glass. I regularly buy replacement jewels for models and they're really inexpensive. I am sure that a bulk purchase of 30 or 40 thousand would not cost more than a few hundred pounds, a drop in the ocean of the budget, surely? This has let down a number of models so far and I do hope they do something about this in future.

That is, though, all that I can find fault with. The model is a super-looking car and will no doubt be welcomed by many collectors who don't have this - or who need one with an aerial! I can see this being included in Monte Carlo Gift Sets too in due course as no-one will see the base when it's on display and the box will be a reproduction of the Gift Set 38 box and tray so no reference to being made in China there.

Indeed, one does have to wonder how long it will be before we see the Rover and Mini-Cooper appear and a reproduction of the whole set, box, tray and all? With original sets selling for £1500 or more (that's about £1200 for the box and tray, by the way!) then there is a certain market for a good number of sales which I am sure would be profitable.

The model comes with two pieces of white foam and some thin foam cloth in the box, with the familiar certificate (which does, interestingly, refer to Citröen!) The box itself is the usual close match and the font styles appear better than in earlier models.

Things Corgis could tow

 A Rambler Marlin arrived this morning and made me think about this topic. Whilst Gift Set 10 featured the same model in blue and white plus a roof-rack and a kayak, pulling a revised version of the Pennyburn Workmen's Trailer, what is the red and black one designed to pull, I wondered.

Perhaps Corgi thought people might like to swap the two Ramblers - but then I realised that the Rambler appeared in June 1966 and it would be two years before it gets the kayak treatment. Maybe the Rambler could tow the Dolphin boat and give the Buick a rest. 

So just which Corgi cars did get a tow hook and what was available for them to be attached to?

Renault 16TS (202 and 260)

Buick Riviera (245 and in Gift Set 31)

Rambler Marlin (263 and in Gift Set 10)

Oldsmobile Toronado (264 in Gift Set 36 only and 276)

GP Beach Buggy (381 in Gift Set 26 only)

The list is a lot shorter than I had expected. All but the Renault had Gift Sets issued later with something for the models to pull, although the first Oldsmobile Toronado (264) was not issued in the box with a tow hook and the second (276) always did have a tow hook but was not used in the Gift Set. The Renault did appear in Gift Set 13 but without the hook.

In the commercial sector, almost all the Land Rovers had a variety of hooks, as did most of the Jeep F-150 models in various issues, as well as the VW Breakdown Truck and, of course, tractors, many trucks and lorries too. I don't think there were any other cars, though.

For the cars to tow there is little that Corgi had to offer.

Pony trailer (102)
Double horsebox (112)
Dolphin Boat on a trailer (104)
Pennyburn Workmen's Trailer (109)

That's it. I suppose you could add the Glastron Speedboat on a trailer which was included in Gift Set 36 but it was not sold individually. I hardly think Corgi were expecting us to hitch up a plough or farm trailer to any of these cars and the two early trailers - the platform and drop-side trailers 100 and 101 - are not likely partners either.

Late editions of the 102 Pony Trailer and all the Double Horsebox trailers would not have fitted over the button-type hook towing device that they had either. Early Buicks had a clutch type mechanism which may have worked but I doubt it was supposed to. So we're left with precious little left.

I am sure we may one day learn of plans for Caravans or small trailers one day which never got past the planning team meetings.

Maybe someone out there knows. Write to me if you have any information as none of the hooks really make much sense.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Car Transporter gets suspension

 

Just one new addition at the shops in November 1962, the revised Car Transporter. A Bedford TK cab now pulls the transporter section which gets suspension too.

I only know this issue with a red cab pulling the blue and very pale bluish-white trailer.

The cab is the same as that issued in the previous month and which will be added to several different trailers in years to come. The wing mirrors should have small reflective pieces attached to the vertical faces at each end. With this issue the interior should always be lemon.

The wheels are the normal shaped type but in the larger size for the Major model and fitted with a fat round profile tyre. Very late cabs might have been fitted with the cast type of wheel which have been seen on the Machinery Carrier and so it is feasible that someone might swap a cab from another issue to this 1105 model. As far as I can tell, however, only shaped wheels were fitted with production ending in 1966 and a totally different Ford Cab and Trailer were introduced.