bunglebus

I like the boy racer ones, especially the replica of Steve Green's Cortina
 

The Frontera? They made the 3 door A under one of it's other names, the Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard Amigo
Here's an old custom to represent the one my ex wife had

 

The Frontera? They made the 3 door A under one of it's other names, the Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard Amigo
Here's an old custom to represent the one my ex wife had

 

I like the boy racer ones, especially the replica of Steve Green's Cortina
 

Yes there was a Mk1 Granada, Rover P6, Triumph Stag, Vauxhall F-Type Victor, Triumph Dolomite and an Austin 1800.
Also a boy racer Transit in kind of Pepsi colours

I like the boy racer ones, especially the replica of Steve Green's Cortina
 

Forgot to flag this up when it arrived last week.

The rather delayed March 2024 release from Corgi Model Club - the #236 Austin A60 Cambridge Driving School Car.

I've been looking forward to this one.

A chod-tastic choice of subject matter, and really well executed.
Also a fine reminder of the days when a prospective driver was let loose in one of these vast understeering boats with huge overhangs fore and aft, rather than a nice compact Micra with power steering.

The steerable wheels are, of course, the main feature - but it's also a lovely rendering of some prime BMC grey porridge.
Hard to know whether the design impetus was to model a driving school car, or whether it was to create a miniature Cambridge, but the steering was added at a later stage of design for fear it'd be too dull for kiddy tastes otherwise.

The L plates front and back are highly visible, anyway - and the casting was never modified or used for any other Corgi release. 

The student and instructor figures inside add a further dash of realism.
While, inside the box, are replicas of some educational matter:

There y'go - a highly abridged 'Junior Highway Code', plus some handy European language vocab.

Still, pretty exciting stuff. It's kinda nice that Corgi continued this theme through the '70s with the Corgi Driving School VW Beetle (including cones), and into the 1980s with the 1/36 scale Triumph Acclaim/ Honda Ballade proclaiming the same.

Box looks enticing, too.

And the usual facts and figures info card.

At least these cards are easy enough to store, rather than the floppy A4 sized leaflets masquerading as a magazine which accompanied similar partworks sold through newsagents.
But stay!

I happen to have a moderately knackered original here too.

In terms of colour and detail, it's a good match.

Just the underside colouration is a bit different.

Marvellous. Love it.

1 Citroen van as pictured, the Merc 450 Inourchased and the rest were red Corvettes with tampos and fairly modern Toyota 4x4 again with tampos.

Just how many of those 60th anniversary Majorettes are there?

Being Essex boys, me and my mates have had dozens of these and the other RWD Ford favourites.
At one point three of us were running around in silver 4 door Ghias, two of which were mine at one point. My main one was a 1.6 auto (on the left), the other two were 1300s, one very tidy one that my mate bought back from the guy who bought it from his mum when we were kids, and a shabbier midnight blue one - thanks to a 4th Ghia bought as a donor, all the panels were swapped over and the rest of the car rattle canned to match (the one on the right)

Several times we took all three out for a cruise and a slide around the lanes, the old bill didn't seem as impressed as we were.
All these cars were cheap, my auto was £150, not sure on the midnight blue one but probably similar. Donor Ghia was £50 and didn't deserve to be parted out but I didn't do it.
The then-silver one became mine then got sold on to a knob who didn't have a license and killed it ragging it around in the woods

OK, so been to Cora, and this is what they have:

1/64s:



1/18s:








I was very tempted by both the 635CSi and Aston Martin DB5 but although I can afford them, I've other stuff to pay for so don't want to leave myself without.
Solido also had some 1.43 cars, again, I was tempted by the M3:



Loved these Vespas, cheap too:

Eventually I settled on these 2:

I'd not seen a new release Mercedes 450 SEL by Majorette, I know they did a slightly poor proportioned one in the 80s (as I have one)



I was very tempted by this Porsche too but model buying was getting a tad OTT.

 

Postman brought this. A majorette I have not had before - I was envious of my junior school mates who had this.
I think it's only the second toy saab I have owned - I have a boxed matchbox sonnett but that's it saab wise.

Popped into Bluewater Entertainer, they must have had 15 boxes of Hot Wheels under their display table, all had been rummaged through but that's not to say there was nothing left...

So, now I've got some actual time to myself, I went here:

Pêle-Mêle is a kind of bohemian/hipster second-hand bookstore. They also do other stuff like games consoles, model cars and trains, music etc...



EDL! (No, not those twats 🤣)



It's also a great place to get model cars.




Of course, I had to do a buyage (prices still on the cars/boxes)

Also, bought these the other day:

I've yet to go to the store where there is a load of 1/18s. I doubt I'll be buying anything though (or at least l, I hope not, I've got fuel and food to buy.

Have we had this yet? Coming this year to a Matchbox retailer near you soon.

May have been some sort of pesky licencing issue workaround - if the licenceholders of The Saint name and imagery wanted royalties off Mattel to reproduce the exact wording and logo on the  gasser, then I can imagine the toy designers deciding to change it to look similar but generic.
Intellectual Property law is frustrating - there's nothing stopping me from painting ELVIS in big red letters on the bonnet of the Corolla and driving around town, but if Mattel then decided to make a model of it to sell, then the Estate Of Elvis Aron Presley would likely become very interested very quickly...

Popped into Bluewater Entertainer, they must have had 15 boxes of Hot Wheels under their display table, all had been rummaged through but that's not to say there was nothing left...

I also found these in a leather suitcase that’s been locked as long as I remember. Dad must have cut the locks off recently because they could never find the keys. These were just a small portion of what’s in there. 
 
 

Being Essex boys, me and my mates have had dozens of these and the other RWD Ford favourites.
At one point three of us were running around in silver 4 door Ghias, two of which were mine at one point. My main one was a 1.6 auto (on the left), the other two were 1300s, one very tidy one that my mate bought back from the guy who bought it from his mum when we were kids, and a shabbier midnight blue one - thanks to a 4th Ghia bought as a donor, all the panels were swapped over and the rest of the car rattle canned to match (the one on the right)

Several times we took all three out for a cruise and a slide around the lanes, the old bill didn't seem as impressed as we were.
All these cars were cheap, my auto was £150, not sure on the midnight blue one but probably similar. Donor Ghia was £50 and didn't deserve to be parted out but I didn't do it.
The then-silver one became mine then got sold on to a knob who didn't have a license and killed it ragging it around in the woods

Being Essex boys, me and my mates have had dozens of these and the other RWD Ford favourites.
At one point three of us were running around in silver 4 door Ghias, two of which were mine at one point. My main one was a 1.6 auto (on the left), the other two were 1300s, one very tidy one that my mate bought back from the guy who bought it from his mum when we were kids, and a shabbier midnight blue one - thanks to a 4th Ghia bought as a donor, all the panels were swapped over and the rest of the car rattle canned to match (the one on the right)

Several times we took all three out for a cruise and a slide around the lanes, the old bill didn't seem as impressed as we were.
All these cars were cheap, my auto was £150, not sure on the midnight blue one but probably similar. Donor Ghia was £50 and didn't deserve to be parted out but I didn't do it.
The then-silver one became mine then got sold on to a knob who didn't have a license and killed it ragging it around in the woods

Being Essex boys, me and my mates have had dozens of these and the other RWD Ford favourites.
At one point three of us were running around in silver 4 door Ghias, two of which were mine at one point. My main one was a 1.6 auto (on the left), the other two were 1300s, one very tidy one that my mate bought back from the guy who bought it from his mum when we were kids, and a shabbier midnight blue one - thanks to a 4th Ghia bought as a donor, all the panels were swapped over and the rest of the car rattle canned to match (the one on the right)

Several times we took all three out for a cruise and a slide around the lanes, the old bill didn't seem as impressed as we were.
All these cars were cheap, my auto was £150, not sure on the midnight blue one but probably similar. Donor Ghia was £50 and didn't deserve to be parted out but I didn't do it.
The then-silver one became mine then got sold on to a knob who didn't have a license and killed it ragging it around in the woods

I've found a diecast in Spain too. Just wandering along the beach and spot this among the seashells 

Being Essex boys, me and my mates have had dozens of these and the other RWD Ford favourites.
At one point three of us were running around in silver 4 door Ghias, two of which were mine at one point. My main one was a 1.6 auto (on the left), the other two were 1300s, one very tidy one that my mate bought back from the guy who bought it from his mum when we were kids, and a shabbier midnight blue one - thanks to a 4th Ghia bought as a donor, all the panels were swapped over and the rest of the car rattle canned to match (the one on the right)

Several times we took all three out for a cruise and a slide around the lanes, the old bill didn't seem as impressed as we were.
All these cars were cheap, my auto was £150, not sure on the midnight blue one but probably similar. Donor Ghia was £50 and didn't deserve to be parted out but I didn't do it.
The then-silver one became mine then got sold on to a knob who didn't have a license and killed it ragging it around in the woods

Being Essex boys, me and my mates have had dozens of these and the other RWD Ford favourites.
At one point three of us were running around in silver 4 door Ghias, two of which were mine at one point. My main one was a 1.6 auto (on the left), the other two were 1300s, one very tidy one that my mate bought back from the guy who bought it from his mum when we were kids, and a shabbier midnight blue one - thanks to a 4th Ghia bought as a donor, all the panels were swapped over and the rest of the car rattle canned to match (the one on the right)

Several times we took all three out for a cruise and a slide around the lanes, the old bill didn't seem as impressed as we were.
All these cars were cheap, my auto was £150, not sure on the midnight blue one but probably similar. Donor Ghia was £50 and didn't deserve to be parted out but I didn't do it.
The then-silver one became mine then got sold on to a knob who didn't have a license and killed it ragging it around in the woods

Not 100% but parts of it looks like this one by Blue-Box