Datsuncog

Sounds like you've just found a new best friend...

I had a 1985 Toyota Corona on which suddenly all the lights stopped working. Brake lights and all. Fuses fine, switches fine, bulbs all tested fine... After a week of pissing about and mounting rage at being unable to use it, I dropped it off at a garage. Turned out that the module which informed the car that a bulb had failed had gone screwy, and knocked all the lights out. The garage simply chopped the module out and it was fine ever after.

All the Matchbox in the Newtownabbey branch were just hanging from clip-strips along the length of the toy aisle - not on pegs as such. They were also stuck onto the strip with clear tape, presumably by exasperated staff fed up with picking them up off the floor every ten minutes. No prices, either - so it was mildly discomfiting to rock up at the till with an armful, unsure whether or not I was going to be fleeced... But they were £1.79, so cheaper than Tesco but 10p dearer than the Hot Wheels. A few of the mud-racer type premiums at £3.49, but otherwise not much. Five-packs at £8 were the same series as Lidl had late last year. I also picked up an AMC Eagle... And a Ford C-series, which I'd clocked last year in Tesco but I was in emergency clearance mode and couldn't even think of buying one. I might hook it up to an old Convoys trailer later - it seems to have a functional fifth wheel... And also, because my willpower is apparently zero right now... I went back to Poundstretcher.

Un Ranchero, un El Camino, para el Señor - muchos gracias.

Also... are there any takers for a pink El Camino or two? **EDIT - ONE BOTH TAKEN!!** Not much of interest on the Hot Wheels pegs, and no Flying Colors just yet...

Now that's interesting... as all the Rancheros in the Newtownabbey branch of B&M are fitted with those hubcap-type wheels you mention. Are we gonna be seeing wheel variations as well as lhd/rhd and lights up/lights down variants in this year's releases, I wonder? I'll be keeping one of these - but the other's available at cost price of £1.79 if anyone's keen? **EDIT - TAKEN!!**

Matchbox in Poundstretcher?! Well, up to a point. I have to say, the Working Rigs range is actually quite appealing - despite them involving a lot of plastic in their construction. Seemingly procured as surplus Chinese domestic market stock. They're kinda tempting me...

That's cool - I honestly didn't see very much to get excited about, which is why I wasn't in much of a big ol' hurry to post the pics up straight away. If the Studebaker's still there by next week, would you be interested in it for £2?

The shop where I worked was an Authorised Corgi Stockist (and had a little sticker in the window to that effect) and I think we got in a case containing six of each of the Motoring Memories pale blue Mk1 Escort saloon, the blue Escort van, the yellow Mk3 Cortina and the red Capri. It must have been around late 1996 - so not long after Corgi bought themselves out from Mattel ownership, and were likely casting around the darkest recesses of the storerooms to see what they could make and sell. I bought one of each using my staff discount - I think they retailed at a fiver each so it probably worked out at nearly a day's wages. The Escorts were pretty good - though nowhere near the detail of my Trofeu Mk1 - but the Capri and Cortina were a bit... weird somehow. I was pleased to have a model of a Mk3 Cortina, finally, but also a little dissatisfied. It was only when I found an original Whizzwheels Cortina at a car boot sale that I realised the MM version was reworked from the original 1970 casting, with the opening doors and jewelled lights smoothed over - and that the Capri must have been the same. I don't remember a Land Rover or a Minor van in that range, but then I don't think we ever ordered another case - so they can't have sold all that well. My take on it was that Corgi were trying a lower-cost line to compete with the original Lledo Vanguards - not the 1/43 range with the Herald and Rover P4, but the more basic ones in Days Gone sized packaging that were around 1/50 scale - Minor Traveller, Morris Z van, Mini, VW Beetle. Like DGs, quite a few of these lacked glazing and were still fairly crude. Ultimately however, Lledo went the opposite way and figured that instead of cheap, basic models the future lay in more expensive, more detailed models for collectors - and so developed the revamped 1/43 Vanguards range. I'd see the Motoring Memories range as a cheap and not especially cheerful cul-de-sac for Corgi, and it's possible they intended to use the Escort van in particular more for promotional models - like the Cadbury's Flake van upthread - but in the end decided to backtrack and go the opposite way, improving the Corgi Classics range and ultimately taking over Lledo and the Vanguards range. I sold all four of my Motoring Memories models around 2010 - I don't know if I even got my money back on them. But I've heard that the Escort van can still command something of a premium, as it's the only readily available model of this popular commercial vehicle. They're a nice curio to have, but I wouldn't be falling over myself to buy them back...

Okay, so Hundred Hot Wheels Harry's collection, in full... (There are duplicates) (Apologies for the chaotic nature of the layout here, and the dreadful pics with light reflecting off the packaging - it was all a bit sub-optimal...)

I did get some pics! I'll post 'em up later, or maybe tomorrow - there was a lot of fantasy stuff in there, but also some VWs and things of that nature... Long card stuff and what-have-you... stay tuned! EDIT: Nope, only its 'now' twin from 'then & now' - sorry! Got all excited too...

It's come to a pretty bad pass when you can't be sure that your secondhand diecast are HPI cleared... Imagine getting pursued by a bunch of bailiffs following a heavy Tat Friday. Best not fill in your address on the back of those Kenner boxes...

There was some sort of meat-jerky which rehydrated itself while floating around in the hot water, so I'm going to say... yes? Unless you mean: In which case, probably not.

Crumbs! I wonder if that means the Skoda Beach Buggy's not far behind... Sure can - the fact that I did have one and then let it go kinda removes the grabby-hands element for me - also makes me wonder whether or not I really need to be hoarding so much... I didn't take it, sadly, as I was completely out of cash by that point - but I'll keep an eye out next week... No bother! Yeah, the Hot Wheels thing is annoying - other than the Treasure Hunts, I guess few are actually rare enough to justify posting parcels. I saw a black Art Van and thought of you, but when I looked closer I couldn't quite work out if it was actually black or just very very very very dark blue...

Plainly, I don't know what I'm at. This came from @sierraman in November 2020. The Beetle came from @jon.k in February 2021. What am I like? In my defence... I suppose there was so much tat-mongering going on at the time that these ended up in a box amidst many, many others. Which is kinda telling. Hmmm.

So, last installment for today - finish strong, yeah? Argh. Was someone looking for one of these Civics? If so - available. I had a sealed first release DMC-12 in silver, with opening engine hatch, which went out the door last year. It's a regret. So I put this one back, then took it out, then put it back again... No wonder B&M's security lads were watching me. I dunno if I really like the wheels here, though. Also available! The Escort is, I think, one I'll hang onto... Likewise the other li'l Honda - for now. So, market tat. Enquiries were made by @flat4alfaand @bunglebus about the no-name Piaggio Ape: It's in not bad shape, overall. Though is lacking a front wheel. Still, screws should make it an easy fix/ custom job, right? Available to whoever wants it, at 50p! Some haggling was done, and - thanks to it being a slow day, maybe - this pair were secured for @flat4alfa's target price of a fiver all-in Not in stellar condition, but certainly the basis of something else for not too much moolah. DeSoto Fireflite and Dodge Royal, as it turns out. Also for the @flat4alfa box, the Frankly Skint Stingray. Which was reduced to 50p - but also now reduced to one wheel on this particular wagon. Annoyingly, I did absently clock one of the wheels lying loose in the bottom of the box this morning, but when I went back this afternoon I couldn't find it again. Maddening. Then there's the Glo Racer Flash Fire, which looks a bit like it's come under small-arms fire... Yeah, all is not good in the roof department - though it's otherwise not in bad shape. Any takers? Then, further @bunglebusspecials: A Grifo door donor, and a no-name Carabo (which, I note, does have the code 'TF 305' moulded into the base. The Grifo's actually quite good, with only the missing tyres and scratched-up paintwork to let it down. Even the glazing's good. Now, here's where I started freestylin' it a little. I agree that the Daf was too nice to leave. But I've little use of it. (I also checked my oracular spreadsheet, which tells me that in fact this originally came to me from @andrew e in September 2020) So - any takers? [**EDIT - TAKEN!!**] In my tat-induced delirium I also fundamentally misunderstood @Jon's post, and ended up buying this Hendrickson tractor unit by mistake... Daah. There were no corresponding trailers in the box, for definite (though there was one a fortnight ago!) and I don't think there were any bogies - though if, as I strongly suspect, this is the same unit I originally bought in May 2019, then there should be a bogey in there, somewhere... [EDIT - actually, on looking at the pics again side-by-side I don't think it's the same tractor unit - the one I picked up today is less scratched] Available (though I also might keep it myself and try to build a full set as the other bits crop up). Getting to the end now, I grabbed these from the smol Corgi stable: The grotty Rockets Aston in overpaint green looked a bit steep for £3 the other week, but strangely appealing at 50p this week. The Mercedes taxi is one I was kicking myself for getting rid of when doing the toybox review last month. It's really nice - dunno what I was thinking. Aston is available - Merc is not. [**EDIT - Aston TAKEN!!**] And lastly... Lone Star Impy 'Gran Turismo' (Chevrolet Corvette Stingray) Oh, this is familiar. This is one of mine. Originally scooped on 9 July 2021, and for which I rather injudiciously paid £3. Eeep. Quite good, though missing a front wheel, annoyingly. The axle kept sliding off, so I'm amazed it's stayed with it. And then I looked... Ah yes. Like a worried mother at the start of WW2, packing their child off to be evacuated, amid the chaos of the impending house move it seems I made one last frantic effort to try to ensure the safety and survival of this one by pressing a bit of White-Tac onto the end of the axle. In the hope that someone would see it, rescue it, keep it. And it's still there. Covered in dirt, fluff and tiny bits of paint-chip - but still there. Well. My grandmother used to say, what's meant for you won't go past you - and it's been an odd day, to put it mildly. I can't pretend I've got a lot done, work-wise. In fact, you could probably say that this is what fuck-all in a hat squared looks like: And I really need to give my cap a clean, before MrsDC starts asking awkward questions about my sudden attack of strangely multicoloured dandruff... Ah well. Happy Friday, kids.

Poundland didn't have much, to be honest. It's a big store, but Hot Wheels stock was both 2022 case stuff, and quite thinly spread. Corvette gasser was about the only thing that raised my interest, though not enough to create a hand/ wallet interface. I was primarily there to see about Matchbox items, but... Yeah. That's your lot. No thanks. So, over to the World's Most Cramped B&M branch... Oh, well that's more like it. And pretty recent stuff, too! Finally, an RS2000 - cheers for the offer @Split_Pin, I'm now sorted! I couldn't get all of these, but I picked up a couple. They'd some big stuff as well. I did feel a bit sorry for the girl working the floor, who rounded the corner with a surprised "Oh!" as she nearly walked into me, kneeling there on the very limited floor space and photographing a load of kids' toys... So there we go... and I'd just time to grab something for lunch, before heading back to the office with my Friday Bachelor's Selection... wondering, as I tried not to make eye contact with the same girl on the till, whether I'm turning into one of those funny old men...

Well then - back once more at about 12.30. The market was pretty quiet, and a number of the traders were grumbling that they'd hardly shifted anything all morning. Not great for them, admittedly, but that suited me... Not very much had gone from the stall. Except for the Corgi Aston, which someone had also decided was good value for a five-spot and promptly snaffled it. The tidy Corgi Chevrolet Impala police cruiser, which was an early one-piece casting and also seemed quite a good prospect, had also gone - as had the rather less pristine but eminently restorable Dinky Cadillac Criterion ambulance. Ah well. The 50p Tat Box was well-rummaged through, but it seemed that not much had been taken. The Lesney and Husky dregs from the collection first encountered a fortnight ago had been slung in unceremoniously to take their chances. Public Safety Film Cambridge special was now knocking around in there, graphically warning kids to drink no more than half a bottle of scotch before getting behind the wheel - or else! Unusual low-budget Timpo casting of a post-war racer was also seeking a new home. The name's dimly familiar, but the model isn't. Only three wheels, though. I can't even begin to imagine the horrors this regular wheels Ford F100 has been subject to. Looks like Junior's been playing with Daddy's side-cutting pliers. Ouch. Likewise, this Corgi Rockets Porsche is in a bad, bad way. In better condition, though still a bit odd, was this strong contender in the 'something shaped a bit like a Volvo 740' competition, which seemingly every diecast manufacturer going participated in during the mid/late '80s. Radical. But! I did not buy any of these. And these were left too. I even left the Swedish Jet Car by Corgi, which designer Marcel Van Cleemput complained had been criticized for being 'overly phallic' on its early-'70s release. I did manage to get pretty much everything on the list, though... I also dived over to the Irish Tat Stall, where it seemed that 'Hundred Hot Wheels Harry' had finally shown up and done a deal. They were, however, mostly late 2010s/2020s releases, so no redlines or blackwalls to be seen. Boooo. I did take some pics, but there were A LOT of them, and it all became very confusing as I was trying to photograph them on some greetings cards, and then someone wanted to look at the cards, and then some fell on the ground, and... it was a whole thing. So I haven't edited them yet. A quick turn past Alan's Emporium - home of the five-pound Days Gone - showed a belated 50p tray, with not a lot to enthrall thereupon. Though this Jaguar XJ6 was quite in quite good shape - surprisingly lustrous paintwork. No maker, but I think these have cropped up before. So then I headed on over towards the city centre...

Not yet, annoyingly... or at least, not in this very very small branch.

Not guilty! Honest!!

Heh, not quite that far - but had time for a quick squizz in the Ann St branch of Poundland, plus the exceeding tight branch of B&M in Rosemary St... Worth it.

Heading back now - some decent finds, both at the market and further afield!

You're correct! It's the one at the bottom of the pic here: Not in great nick, it has to be said. Very likely is - one I think I got off @Tenmil Socket a few years ago. Cab is excellent, glazing too - just no trailer. Was tempted to buy back... will see if it's still there... Didn't look that closely, but will see if it still remains in the 50p box! Unsure - will go and have a look now!

So yes. Some purchases. A tenner's worth of bitter regret with a dash of complex feelings please, barman. Some of these are for keeping, I think - but others are for passing on to pastures new. This little oddity has kept everyone guessing... Any further thoughts? A Guisval Datsun - Patrol, does that say? Well well well. One for @bunglebus? **TAKEN!!** Oxford Transit MK3 LWB was formerly mine; too good to see knackered about in the tat box. Available. Ditto the Chevy Laguna stocker (now sadly estranged from the original Kenworth transporter I sold it to Blokey with). The red Saab's one I've never owned before - so I might hold onto it for a while. **DIBSED!!** The white Corgi Aston was one I got with a Yorkie set one Christmas, as I recall - unusually, it has a metal base. Indicator detailing front and rear identifies it as one of my old toys - and it's for keeping, now. Also the Carabo - which I'm happy to send on to @bunglebus with promises of no squashing! **TAKEN!!** Hot Wheels VW SP2 was one of many modern diecasts I dispatched in January past - again, a regret to have let it go. It now has acquired some scratches, annoyingly. Dunno whether to flip or stick... anyone fancy it? Lesney Super Kings Ford tractor unit and Corgi Juniors Mack L-series with the Gloster Saro tanker were also formerly of the Cog Collection; I was a bit annoyed with myself for disposing of them whenever I was auditing my box of old commercials the other week. So here we are. Dodge Cattle Truck has epic axle wobble, but is otherwise not in bad condition. Not one of my old flames; it just looked ok for 50p. Door/ ramp is slightly bent, but still intact. Bit of warm water should see it right. Base is very shiny. Available, at 50p. Majorette Magirus-Deutz mixer is one I've had since forever. Felt a twinge the other week when reviewing pics of the 2020 lockdown garden fun involving this one, and realising it was now gone - I don't love it, but it's somehow intrinsically mine. It's a weird scale, and even weirder colours, but... once I saw it, I kinda couldn't leave it. What can I say? I'm a sucker. The CX ambulance I've never owned, so that's why it appealed; the blue CX estate was, as detailed, a playground swap. Both are available at 50p a pop - I feel like I've rescued the estate twice now! I have a near-mint version now, so don't need it - but again, couldn't leave it. Though promises of non-squashage will be extracted. Restoration is totally fine, though. The Thunderbird was definitely mine - I can clearly see where I tried to fill in the side trim with chrome paint, then tried to take it off again cos it looked wank. I'd still like a minty example of this, but this one's kinda inextricably linked to me, I feel. Keeper. Blue MC Toys Beetle has no particular relationship to me - but the bumpers are usually bust on them, so I thought I'd nab it in case anyone could use it. Available. These three may or may not have any link to me - I dunno. Keep, pending further enquiries. The Blazer may have been my brother's - efforts to touch up paint damage with what looks suspiciously like Tipp-Ex would be pretty on-brand for me. I'd thought the Aspen Ski Mini 4x4 was the one I picked up in September 2019, but apparently not - unless it's had rather a bad time of it since I last clapped eyes on it, as it's quite a bit more scratched up. I also swiped this Lesney Speed Kings Miura, as it actually looks ok under the custom paint job: I might try to clean this up myself, as I've been after one of these for a while. The aftermarket paint's already coming away, and it looks quite decent underneath... So - with a short list here, back for Round 2?

So anyway. At this point, even The Nemesis was asking if I was alright. But yeah. I went through the box. There were quite a lot of memories - and there were some I ultimately couldn't leave. So, that being as it was, I paid up and sloped off. I did take another look at that Corgi Rambler Marlin, just to see how bad it was for a fiver, but - no. Broken and bent shell, missing door and tyres, and fairly mauled plastic that had been thickly painted over didn't tempt me. Alan's Eternally Optimistic Emporium was looking a fiver for some 80s Days Gone and Matchbox items. Yeah, no. Onwards to Mulligan's Irish Gifts, and some nice Vanguards and all - but at £36, they're becoming increasingly hard to justify. Talked with Colin on the stall (I always thought he was Colin, until I heard one of the other stallholders call him Davey a few years back and that really threw me) - apparently the fella with '100 Hot Wheels to trade' is meant to be arriving this morning. So that could justify a return visit... He's also a load more Matchbox Moving Parts and Convoys on the way, so - watch this space. Charity Stall had not a lot to tempt in the 50p section this week - no more Super Chargers anyway. Though the 'collectables' section contained this quite tidy Triang Hi-Way Trencher. Quite decent for a sandpit toy. Less decent was this Corgi M60 tank... Missing cannon, tracks and much of the wheels not a good sign. Another blast from the past was this Starcom vehicle. And some familiar items, which have seemingly migrated down from the Tat Stall: Yup, MoYs and that uniquely vile Solido Packard. I've seen Charity Blokey (Lawrence) having a quick rummage through the Tat Boxes a few times, so presumably he pulls out a few things he reckons he might make a pound or two on, for his own stall. Well, y'gotta speculate to accumulate, as they say... though speculating in busted Models of Yesteryear is what could politely be called a bullish move. Even Creepy Jesus doesn't look impressed, though Korky The Cat seems to have a yearning for a diecast that could apparently double as a nicotine patch. This no-name oddity also showed up, under some of the dreck: No idea what this might be (crudely) modelled on. FINEST QUALITY YO And so, that was pretty much that... with very mixed feelings about life, the universe and everything, I got myself a scone and a coffee to calm my frayed nerves, and slipped out into the morning - now alive with soft rain. I wasn't able to wear my hat, because you see it was full of tat...