A tale of two colours

I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of Land Rover colours and had managed to acquire examples of each so I was delighted but slightly astonished to find another shade of metallic green. There were two items for sale from different vendors - one with Whizzwheels and one with cast wheels. As the Whizzwheels one was only a few pounds and available to buy rather than bid for I paid there and then.

It looked like a distinctly more golden, rich shade of green to the blue-green that I already had. I unwrapped the parcel that came today and it looked a bit worn with some scratches on the roof and had a broken screen that I hadn't noticed but, "Never mind," I told myself, "it was not expensive and it's a nice new shade."

I was about to take some photos of this new addition to the catalogue when I paused and wondered. Was it really different? "Yes, of course it is," I said to myself. To settle the matter and, indeed, to demonstrate the new shade in an article I would be writing soon to tell you all about this, I went and retrieved the other metallic green Whizzwheels Land Rover that I had.

As I took it out of the cabinet and headed back to my desk I remember thinking how much more of a turquoise-blue-green the one I carried was compared to the golden green of the other that was sitting on the desk. I set them down next to each other. Oh. 

They were exactly the same colour!

I mean exactly. Not a shade more blue nor a shade more golden. These were both the familiar blue-green metallic shade. I had bought a second and rather tatty example of something I already had. And it hadn't been until actually placing them side by side that I had realised.

So there's a warning for us all! The photos above are of my stock item and, from Ebay, the 'richer, brighter green' shade I thought I was buying. I guess the cream-yellow paper that the vendor's model was sitting on had affected the image. I can just hit remove colour cast in my software but most people these days just take some snaps and upload them without paying too much attention to what they look like.

The new one does have a black plastic tow-bar as opposed to the grey of my other one so I suppose it'll have to stay but you won't, I am afraid to say, be getting an imminent article of new Land Rover shades after all.

I am still convinced that there is a fairly 'normal' green 438 with normal wheels as well as the dark green shades I have so maybe that will turn out to be real after all and I can write about them instead. I read that a version for the Agricultural Set was what QDT described as a 'correct' lighter shade but it might have merely meant that the set had the green 406 rather than the dark green 438. I have one possible candidate to buy so, as I said, there may be an article after all.

On the subject of colours of Land Rovers, my friend Anders in Germany spotted this a couple of days ago. It looks like a nice 416S in Tours Secours mode, the Belgian equivalent of our RAC. 

This is my old 416 version. You would have expected the revised version to use the same colours now wouldn't you? It did strike me as remarkably like someone had taken a fawn 438 from the later Gift Set 2, detached the pony trailer, added some transfers and an aerial and a grey canopy. In fact, I was so sure that this had been the case that I had a go at making one myself.

I sat back to admire the excellent job I thought I had made and then realised that there, on the bonnet, was a pretty damn obvious difference! So, after all, it would seem that the advertised model is real. Incidentally, it is currently only £82 but by the time you read this it will probably have sold for many times that figure.

Returning to the metallic blue-green colour now, where we started this article, I feel I must share with you my frustration at the prices people ask for the 'LEPRA' version of the Land Rover. Now this is, surely, something I could put together in a matter of minutes? The transfers are easy to find and only need to go on the canopy. Unless I am missing something again, the vehicle is identical in every other respect to the 438 that I now have several of.

This is one currently advertised at several hundred pounds. It may be real but how on Earth will anyone know? I accept that the 'LEPRA' may well be super rare but I would want some definitive proof that it was genuine before buying one. Did it not have a special box?

The Bedford CA Van. More than just split or single screens.

Corgi's Bedford CA Vans were an odd group indeed. The first were released with the very first models in 1956 with more following the next year and an update to single screen versions of some models in 1960 and 1961.

By the time I started my collection only one or two later editions were still around and they never had a great deal of appeal, looking terribly old-fashioned and even on the streets around Hertfordshire they weren't a regular sight any more. It has only been since starting this project that I have come to quite like these old vans and realised that there is a lot more to them than first meets the eye.

Never very great sellers anyway, the variations mean that we are talking of some seriously scarce items in amongst this group and, perhaps, once people start to realise that, prices will increase quite a bit.

The first, split screen models had two distinct radiator grill styles: one with a curved edge at the top and the other being quite straight. My guess is that the curved one was their first issue, later corrected to the more accurate straight edge. 

Both types can be found on the same model for some issues. Whether that applies to all the first types I don't know. That is something I am currently researching and, fortunately, don't need to buy models to see. So far it has been on the 404M Dormobile and 405 Fire Tender that I have seen both types. 403M I have only seen with the straight edge and all the others are curved. However, it is early days and I am sure there will be more to report on that aspect.

At the rear of these models you will also find some differences. Those with the earlier curved grill have lights below what looks like a bumper on each side. This area is smooth on the straight edge types.

Here is another variation. The left had model is a straight edge grill but it has a semblance of lights at the rear rather than a completely smooth finish and this has a sort of step in the casting. It looks like someone has twisted the edge but, no, it is an intentional bit of casting. This is the only example I've seen so far with the step.

Underneath you will find differences too. The non-mechanical models have the familiar tin base with the text embossed in it. As the illustration shows, late editions have a much crisper, sharper type of embossing, presumably achieved with some new equipment. The font is also quite different. This example is from a 423, probably near the end of its production life in 1962.

Still underneath, there were just three mechanical models with friction motors: 403M, 404M and 405M. These were very poor sellers, the 405M Fire Tender apparently being the best but that only sold 116000. This is not much more than half of the Mobilgas Tanker's sales at the time - a much more expensive item too - just to put it in perspective. 

Amongst these you will also see variations. The two on the left have 'British Made' on the base and the other two 'Patent Pending'. The way that the front axle is retained is different too with either open or closed 'leaf springs'.

As you may have noticed, these variations can be found within a model range, with both 404M models showing different bases here.

All in all, these variations mean that already small production figures become really significantly low in some instances. I have done my best to estimate the likely production numbers of each type based on the totals that are available and the length of time each type was likely to have been around. They are not definitive but should be a good indication of how many might have been produced.

No.	Model	Colour	Grill or model type	Estimated prodn
405	Bedford Utilecon AFS Tender	red	curved	17000
412	Bedford Utilecon Ambulance Mk2	off-white	II	24400
404M	Bedford Personnel Carrier	pale blue	curved	33000
404M	Bedford Personnel Carrier	pale blue	straight	66000
422	Bedford Van "Corgi Toys"	yellow / blue	II	67000
404	Bedford Personnel Carrier Mk2	blue / yellow	II	67375
421	Bedford 'Evening Standard' Van	black / silver	II	74000
405	Bedford Utilecon AFS Tender	green	straight	76500
405	Bedford Utilecon AFS Tender	green	curved	76500
423	Bedford Fire Tender Mk 2	red	II	84200
412	Bedford Utilecon Ambulance	off-white	curved	97600
403M	Bedford "KLG Plugs" Van	red	straight	99000
408	Bedford "AA Road Service" Van Mk2	yellow and black	II	100000
405M	Bedford "Fire Dept"	red	curved	116000
414	Bedford "Military Ambulance"	khaki	II	132000
408	Bedford "AA Road Service" Van	yellow and black	curved	156000
404	Bedford Personnel Carrier	dark metallic cerise	curved	165625
403	Bedford Daily Express Van	dk blue	curved	167000

For comparison purposes, the much sought after 500 Land Rover is stated as having sold 17000 and a 242 yellow Fiat Ghia 600 Jolly 49000.

I haven't even mentioned the different colour schemes used for the two-colour models like the (already quite scarce) 422 'Corgi Toys' Van. Some of these are now fetching vast sums. There are also examples of many models with shaped wheels, all later editions, and these are beginning to get recognised as worth looking out for. If you were to break down the numbers above even further for the different types of wheels then you can see how comparatively scarce some really are. 

Generally, though, these unattractive little lumps are not making much money unless they are perfect in boxes so it is a good time to catch a few while you can. There really are not many around, you know.

'Det er lidt dyrt' as they would say in Denmark.

You could have bought the Jaguar 2.4 Litre shown above today on Ebay at £1450. Or you could buy mine, below, for £60.

Now, I will admit that my old box isn't up to much but the car is original and looks pretty good. The advertiser claims that his one comes from Marcel Van Cleemput's collection, which is entirely possible but I don't see how that makes it worth one thousand three hundred and ninety pounds more than mine.

An immaculate model in a nice crisp box might be worth £150. Toymart only quote £101 for A+/A+ although that seems rather low. I would happily buy several at that price! But not £1450. Even if Mr Van Cleemput did have it on his shelf once.

You wait ages for a bus, then two come along together!

I really have no idea why Corgi felt it necessary to put Whizzwheels on a double decker London bus! Of the the vehicles in the range, apart possibly from tractors and some farm equipment, at the time a London bus is the least likely that any child would have chosen to zoom down the track.

Cost was probably the reason and sometime in 1971 the sturdy old 468 loses its jewelled lights and plastic stairway and gets chrome lights, a perspex stairway and Whizzwheels. The conductor also gets moved slightly but that's about all the changes.

With this one a slightly earlier 468 arrived with cast wheels but otherwise very similar indeed.

I already have one of these with cast wheels but bought it for a friend in Germany.

I am still looking for a nice example of the first 468 issued - the one with normal wheels and the Corgi Naturally / Corgi Classics banners.They seem to hold their prices and few have survived without chips or lost stickers.

In April 1975 468 gets replaced by 469 which is actually slightly smaller (when by rights it ought to have been bigger) and loses the driver, conductor and the louvre windows. It is altogether a far cheaper, more plastic model by then but sells in hundreds of thousands, probably millions as it is used as an effective marketing product for a whole host of brands. My guess is that they funded best part of Corgi's production costs and, for all I know, the same cast is still being used today!

I haven't yet got a 469 but will look for the first type that had Welcome to Britain or maybe Evening Standard banners.They really shouldn't be expensive.

On The Border. Chevrolet to Roetgen.

On its way to Roetgen is the only recently acquired Chevrolet Impala with red interior. Cruising around the roads there can be confusing as one minute you're in Germany and the next it could be Belgium. As far as I can tell there are almost no indications of any border. Maybe a small EU sign or the road narrows slightly but not much else.

You can understand why some people resident in Europe's mainland seem less bothered about their national identity and may be content with some grand federal state one day. Here in Britain you get some massive display signs just for leaving a county, never mind entering Scotland, Wales or even Cornwall! Roetgen does, though, look like a nice place to live. I might have to drive the Impala after all.

The blob on the side of a Chevrolet Impala

That took longer than I had expected. Finally, decent examples of the blue Chevrolet Impala #220 with lemon and red interiors. I thought they would be quite common. Whilst there were several around they were either immaculate in boxes and cost a fortune or rather tatty.

The roof can often either get bent or twist on the thin pillars and many had that problem. The perspex seems strong for the windows but is very vulnerable at the front to getting scratched or cracked with so much exposed. Then you have to look out for those amazing fins!

These two have survived extremely well with the smallest of chips in a bumper here and there but that seems to be all. The one with red interior also has lovely shiny shaped hubs. I wish I could find a compound that would clean up old hubs like that. Maybe someone has some suggestions?

One thing you shouldn't have to worry about is the suspension which is nice and strong on just about every Impala I have encountered (except the dog grooming / poodle one which has very lively suspension for some reason I have yet to investigate).

I am still looking for a blue model with free spinning wheels. I have one in pink so they do exist but are definitely much scarcer than either of these variations.

I had often wondered what the blob was and why the side stripe seemed to change and now I can see just how well Corgi's casting people did in replicating the details.

The cast got plenty of use in Police, Taxi and Fire vehicles and the saloon gets one more release in 1965, by which time the real thing had been somewhat revised. Corgi slice it in half and insert a chrome section to provide the front grill and bumper and the whole rear section. This is only available in the toffee and cream colours and is not that common. Some sites say there was a blue one but I really don't think that exists. It may have been a trial but as far as I can tell, only this one gets to the shops.

St. Vincents gets a Thunderbird

If you live near a church called St. Vincents in St. Leonards on Sea then what else would you drive but a Ford Thunderbird. Naturally. This is one of my rescued models, looking very smart in silver-blue with a black interior.