So the bonnet is being popped, and they are having a bit of a tinker finally after the head gasket blew ages ago, bringing the EML on in the process, I take it the K seal didn't work. As Jim Bell predicts, the forum will go all Skynet on us, but I feel it would buy up every broken Renner on ebay using Billy Cavcraft and Dollywobbler's ebay accounts, then draw a big cock and balls on every post
So the bonnet is being popped, and they are having a bit of a tinker finally after the head gasket blew ages ago, bringing the EML on in the process, I take it the K seal didn't work. As Jim Bell predicts, the forum will go all Skynet on us, but I feel it would buy up every broken Renner on ebay using Billy Cavcraft and Dollywobbler's ebay accounts, then draw a big cock and balls on every post
FIRE, KILL IT, and the seller can get in the sea! I bet they have a fucking stupid beard, and smoke one of those MAHOOSIVE vape things that produces a bigger FOG than in YE OLDE TIME LONDON
So the bonnet is being popped, and they are having a bit of a tinker finally after the head gasket blew ages ago, bringing the EML on in the process, I take it the K seal didn't work. As Jim Bell predicts, the forum will go all Skynet on us, but I feel it would buy up every broken Renner on ebay using Billy Cavcraft and Dollywobbler's ebay accounts, then draw a big cock and balls on every post
It is indeed the brown Solara, which will of course be rhd swapped, the Horizon Jubilee I have plans to make it the uber rare Silver Fox, almost completed my red Horizon project, I dropped it whilst working on it, but shockingly it landed on its wheels with no damage. These Talbots all have family connections, plus keeps me busy.
Another diecast delivery this morning - and another unusual choice of model from Corgi's early-80s lineup:
Yes, appearing in a rather fetching shade of beige that must have had the kids simply hopping up and down with excitement, it's the Renault 11 GTL.
With opening bits.
As catalogue number C384, this model teasingly appeared as a block silhouette in the 1983 Corgi Catalogue billed only as a 'new saloon car' - since, at the time of going to press in late 1982, the Renault 11 had not been officially launched.
Clearly there's been an error in translation here, with the German text rather misleadingly advising a "new English car". At a guess, this piece of text was intended for the Maestro prototype, depicted with a similarly vague description just a few pages earlier.
Just to digress here for a bit about why the company felt the need for this cloak-and-dagger approach: Corgi had a long history of working closely with full-size car manufacturers throughout the late 1950s and 60s in producing toys to coincide with the launch of a new passenger car. Sometimes these came with specially printed boxes, to be used as showroom promotional items.
This concept dates all the way back to the 1930s when US company Tootsietoy produced a range of promotional diecast cars at the request of the premium carmaker Graham-Paige, to be given away to the sons (always sons!) of potential customers visiting their showrooms. Citroen had already used tinplate promo models, but these were beautiful and fragile models for display, and never intended as playthings.
Tootsietoy's Graham-Paiges were available in a variety of body styles using a novel construction method, which consisted of a sturdy two-piece casting riveted together and employing crimped axles fitted with wheel hubs and tiny rubber tyres. Having been shown them by his US importer, model railway and Meccano magnate Frank Hornby was 'inspired' to launch his own rather similar range of Meccano Modelled Miniatures, soon renamed 'Dinky Toys'. Tootsietoy had patented their construction method, and Hornby was extremely lucky not to have been on the receiving end of an international infringement lawsuit.
Naturally, this kind of promotional arrangement required a great deal of trust between Corgi and car manufacturers, who recognised the promotional value of the toys while remaining acutely aware that secrecy was paramount.
Since the design, tooling-up and manufacturing process for these toys could take anywhere up to a year, Corgi factory staff were sworn to secrecy - and random searches were carried out on assembly line workers coming off-shift, to ensure no embargoed castings were smuggled out.
All these precautions ensured that whenever a manufacturer threw the covers off their brand-new product at a motor show, they could be confident that not only would it still come as a surprise to the press and general public, but also that thousands of miniature versions would be immediately available to further stoke the interest of potential buyers and their kids.
Generally this symbiotic process was very effective, although Corgi did get slightly burned when Rover canned their 1960s luxury Land Rover/proto-Range Rover project, the 'Road Rover', at a late stage - by which time Corgi had already allocated it a catalogue code number (212) and was just starting to tool up for production. A single prototype Road Rover toy and mock-up box, kept from the scrap bin by Corgi's chief designer and unwitting archivist, survives. The full-size prototype lives on at Gaydon, I believe.
In the late 1970s Corgi revived this practice, working with Austin-Rover's confidential blueprints (not entirely successfully) to have a model of the Metro ready for the real car's launch in 1980, complete with a patriotic Union Jack box and featuring the same slogans and photography developed for the new baby Austin's print and billboard advertising campaign.
Rather more success was had with their Ford Escort Mk3 the same year, and the gorgeously detailed Sierra 2.3 Ghia in 1982, while the slightly blocky Corgitronics MG Maestro in yellow was depicted in the same 1983 catalogue as the R11 - listed tantalisingly only as a 'new saloon car', to avoid spiking the Maestro's forthcoming launch.
But anyway. Back to this model.
Corgi's 1/36 R11 was initially shipped in a non-standard box which carefully echoed Renault's own corporate palette - but, somewhat misleadingly, the 'Electronic' name on the front referenced the fancy-pants electronically voiced trip computer fitted to the real-life Renault 11 TSE Electronic model. The toy inside the box contained nothing in the way of battery-operated jiggery-pokery whatsoever.
With Corgi expanding their actual Corgitronic range of electronic feature vehicles, it's quite likely this caused a degree of confusion amongst young customers who were at a loss to understand where the advertised 'electronic' element was hidden. Just to confuse matters further, the toy was clearly badged as a GTL both on the base and on the bootlid - whose full-size counterpart boasted no such 'Electronic' functionality. This was only an option on the top-spec TSE model.
However, I wonder whether this was done at Renault's insistence - they were, after all, so busting with pride at their top of the line R11's voice synthesized dashboard that they actually moved the real car's launch forward by a few weeks just so they could pip Austin-Rover's Maestro VDP and be the first to market with this reliable* and much-loved* feature/gimmick.
Looking at the actual model - well, it's perhaps not the very best of renderings, portraying the three-door French hatch as a little more dumpy than it appears on the road. But the proportions aren't awful, and it's certainly a nice solid model with a chunky feel to it.
The front end is also curious, with no Renault 'diamond of doom' badge, and a strange lick of silver paint used to define the grille. It looks to my eye rather more like a reworking of the Fiat 128 3P than an R11. But again, it's possible that Corgi's designers were working from some early or unclear blueprints from Renault, and simply did the best they could to model a car that didn't yet exist.
The plastic mouldings on the lower flanks have been neatly done too - as with the Matra Rancho, Corgi opted to use an all-in-one moulding for the bumpers and lower plastic panels, with rivets holding the same features onto the opening doors. It certainly gives a much neater and crisper finish than simply spray-masking a section of the body in black - although attaching these additional mouldings undoubtedly added to the cost of the model.
As well as the beige version with a very red interior, it seems that a metallic blue version with a dark grey interior was also produced in 1983:
The R11 finally appeared with its own name and a proper picture in the 1984 Corgi Catalogue, wearing a somewhat more appealing bright red finish and with a brown interior.
But even as these catalogues were being printed, Mettoy was on the verge of bankruptcy - partly due to its heavy investment in the doomed Dragon Personal Computer project - and in October 1983, the official receivers were called in. The Swansea factory stood idle until March 1984 while rescue packages were concocted.
By the time a rescue deal was finalised and the doors reopened following the protracted management buyout process, the re-formed company's primary focus was on converting the warehouses of dead stock into hard cash. Hence Corgi's mid-to-late 1984 output tended to be somewhat chaotic, with mix-and-match boxes and inserts and all manner of haphazard colour and decal combinations produced simply to use up whatever they could find in the stores. I haven't yet seen any red examples of the R11, and since most books on Corgi's history fixate rather on the 'Golden Years' of the 1960s, with the early 1980s output warranting barely a mention, I've yet to uncover an analysis of what appeared (or disappeared) during this turbulent time.
I believe these lucky-dip assortments were sold on via wholesalers at rock-bottom prices, with the model shop I used to work in still carrying NOS from 1984 well into the late 1990s - often with stickers obscuring the 'wrong' code or model name on a box. With that in mind, the R11s which appeared on retailer shelves in generic black and yellow outer boxes, in either the beige or the blue colourway, probably date from this era.
The 1985 Corgi Toys catalogue marked a fresh start, with all-new packaging and a new 'dynamic' corporate logo which was to last well into the 1990s - even if many of the models themselves were becoming somewhat long in the tooth.
1985 also marked a noticeable change in Corgi's business priorities, with the company focusing heavily on promotional tie-ins with the likes of BP, Mobil and Fina, rather than relying solely on a dwindling toy shop network to shift their stock. The popularity of Lledo's 'Days Gone' promotional range had not gone unnoticed, with the (wretched) Corgi Cameo Collection soon introduced to paste any old livery onto loose approximations of 1920s commercial vehicles. Despite the questionable authenticity and poor detailing of these self-described 'collectables', they proved roaringly successful as on-pack giveaways and certainly made excellent business sense.
As well as the expanding Corgi Juniors line, the 'Turbos' range of smaller 1/43 rally and racing cars was also introduced, their pocket-money prices possible through using plastic bases and simple castings with no opening features. Featuring some quite unusual models (including that well-regarded* rally car, the Saab 9000, plus quite a pretty BMW 635i), unfortunately the Toyota Corolla TE71 Liftback never saw production, eventually appearing on shelves in the later Corolla AE86 'Twincam' form instead.
Alongside old favourites like the James Bond Aston Martin and Rolls Royce Corniche, other new castings appeared with a sporting international flavour - such as the Toyota Supra (fortunately a much better casting than the catalogue prototype suggests) although the 'Magic Top' Mercedes 500SEC appears to have been stillborn, as I can find no reference to it anywhere.
However, there were casualties as part of this restructuring - more niche, less sporty 1/35 scale models like the Peugeot 505, Triumph Acclaim and Honda Prelude, plus the Renault 11, found themselves deleted from the range. The R11 had barely a year of full production. The Corgitronics range was also sacrificed in its entirety, presumably as a cost-cutting measure, killing off the relatively complex MG Maestro with working lights.
While not quite a common model due to its limited production life and a somewhat 'grey porridge' subject matter, perhaps the lack of kiddy-appeal is what kept so many R11s safely in their original packaging by adult collectors. As a result they're not hard to find for sale online, should you desire one, although the blue variants do seem to command a premium. MIB examples appear more common than played-with ones, interestingly; the opposite of models such as the long-running Fiat X/19, which are quite easy to find in a state of total dereliction but seem much harder to pin down in a factory-fresh state.
Incidentally, this model appears to share no components with the blue James Bond 'A View To A Kill' Renault 11 in Parisian Taxi livery, which Corgi produced in the early 2000s in the same approximate scale. I think we had a discussion upthread about toymakers producing totally different castings of the same basic model?
I had hoped to have another unusual Corgi of the same era to share as well today, but the eBay vendor has since cancelled the sale and refunded me as, apparently, it turned out to not be as mint as he'd described it. So the search for that one continues...
It is indeed the brown Solara, which will of course be rhd swapped, the Horizon Jubilee I have plans to make it the uber rare Silver Fox, almost completed my red Horizon project, I dropped it whilst working on it, but shockingly it landed on its wheels with no damage. These Talbots all have family connections, plus keeps me busy.
It is indeed the brown Solara, which will of course be rhd swapped, the Horizon Jubilee I have plans to make it the uber rare Silver Fox, almost completed my red Horizon project, I dropped it whilst working on it, but shockingly it landed on its wheels with no damage. These Talbots all have family connections, plus keeps me busy.
Hi peeps, I am having a charity auction in aid of St Elizabeth Hospice in Ipswichm who cared for OldFord, John Macgregor as cancer took hold. John was one of those shiters who would help anyone, he had a very dry sense of humour, but a heart of gold. I have his sister's blessing, and she has his old Cortina Crusader now.
The model is an Ixo Ford TC3 Taunus with a cast resin right hand drive dashboard, it is 1/43 scale, which is about 4 inches or so long, and comes complete with acreylic display box.
The auction is a live event on FB, and all monies raised will go direct to the hospice. I have put in the costs, and my mate Tony Cooper did a brillant job respraying and detailing the interior, anyhow, less natter, and here is a link, he auction starts at 6pm on the 6th May. Wish me luck, as it is a worthy cause
I will have MOAR shite incoming, Altaya Talbot Solara and Talbot Horizon Jubilee, part way through converting an Odeon branded Ixo Horizon to rhd, surprisingly the wipers are photo etched metal!
I will have MOAR shite incoming, Altaya Talbot Solara and Talbot Horizon Jubilee, part way through converting an Odeon branded Ixo Horizon to rhd, surprisingly the wipers are photo etched metal!
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