AndyW201

Another arrival. Got this cheap off eBay as the piece that holds it to the plastic plinth is missing and one of the mirrors had been bent and snapped off. One of Vanguards' best castings I think, the MK3, and Aztec gold is a lovely colour. Apart from the vinyl roof, it's a near enough match for Ray Doyle's steed in the later series of The Professionals. I have already got the Vanguards-based Corgi twin pack with VHK 11W and 12W, so this can go on display with the Vanguards Sweeney and Professionals themed cars Ive got and leave the twin pack cars all nice in the box... One big bugbear is that they didn't cast a number plate plinth into the front bumper so the plate is printed straight onto the bumper which doesn't look great... Being a later release, it has the upgraded interior detail, featuring a representation of Carla check fabric on the seats,

Further to this, I started being able to get on the site yesterday but today, it's back to only being able to get on via wi-fi. This is the message I now get, Previously, it was the "took too long to respond" message. Also, after every time I fail to get on using 3, when I go on via wi-fi, I have to sign back in every time. Any ideas please guys, before I have to traipse into town back to the phone shop?

Since Thursday, after around the time the downtime finished, I've not been able to view the site on my mobile internet, I can only view it on wi-fi. I'm with 3, and now with their mobile contracts, safesearch is locked on, which has been the case with this phone. Thinking that the site's name might have suddenly triggered the safesearch filter, I went down the 3 shop, and arranged for safesearch to be turned off. It's off now, but I still can't access the site, only on wi-fi. I'm a complete doofus when it comes to tech, so anyone have any ideas guys? Cheers.

Crikey, I had that Martini liveried Bora too. Never knew who made it as it came in a set of three, all in plain white card boxes with a BMW M1 and a yellow Porsche 928, all with the same wheels, so presumably by the same manufacturer. The M1 had a small lever under the front bumper which raised and lowered the headlights. Had the usual fruitless search for any new Hot Wheels and Matchbox. Morrisons, 2 x B&M, Tesco, Asda - nil. Interesting developments at Asda though. For the first time, we actually have HW Premiums, though not a collection I was hoping for... Someone who works in the toy department must love the Crass & Spurious as they have other cars from the series in different scales, That 1/43 Civic was actually quite nice, as was the blue Porsche behind, but they were twin packs. Well, couldn't leave empty handed, so... TBH I was kind of torn between the blue '69 Camaro and this, but I can't resist a Plymouth GTX, one of my favourite American cars of that era. The Real Rider wheels are nicely done and reasonable copies of Halibrands, Only 5 in this series, but at £9 a throw, I'm not sure if I'll be aiming to complete it. The Camaro and Land Cruiser are nice though. Had a quick look in Smyth's today, but as is typical for the one near us, there were plenty of Premiums, but not the sought after ones. They did though have one solitary F&F Alfa Sprint GTA. I was tempted, heavily, but I was good and walked away. (So I'll probably end up going there during the week...)

@Split_Pin, any good to you? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314782767292?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=e377q3ebsbc&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=73qFTJ91TXm&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Well, I've not been able to get on the site at all, after the downtime finished, until a few minutes ago. So that's pissed on my Tat Friday chips somewhat! Found some M case Hot Wheels in Morrisons yesterday. Filled a few gaps, but still can't get hold of an Alfa or AMG Merc. Suppose I had a result finding this, it still seems to be a sought after one, judging by them selling for about £4 on the Facebook sites... It's a nice thing though.

Yep, that's the same group that I'm on. TBH I usually post my models on there (in a show and tell capacity, not to sell), but I've not bothered of late, as that group is now swamped with for sale posts, so genuine collector posts get lost. I'm not the only one to feel that way either way judging by recent comments. Having sold a few unwanted bits on eBay recently, I think people are shying away from selling on there lately as it's a shitshow on there lately and their fees are a piss-take, which is probably why there are so many for sale posts on that group lately. A few folks have commented on there that the price of that Escort was on the high side, funnily enough the only ones leaping in to defend it were also ones who are known traders... Unfortunately, I've had that car in question in my collection for quite a while. (Mine is the RHD, UK reg version too, not the LHD with German plates one on that's for sale on the group) The difference being, I bought it when it was first released so it cost me about 20 quid. (I'd always wanted a model Mk2 in Signal green, so when it was announced, I was straight on the pre order). The cardboard outer box though, got destroyed by some young sticky fingers (a then two year old 201-jnr), and from new it has been displayed in the cabinet, occasionally coming out for a bit of a fondle. I've lowered the suspension on it, and on a couple of occasions, I've bent the wipers a bit while cleaning it and had to tweak them back. So sadly it won't be making me any fortunes any time soon, but I don't give a shite. Having a cursory glance at what I have in the cabinet, there are a few items in there that have probably increased a fair bit in value compared to what I paid for them, but that would be just a happy accident, that's not what I buy them for. I do like to think that if I chuck in the sponge (not any time soon I hope), at least there'll be something of value left for the wife and bairns. Despite that, I just buy what I like the look of, for the love of the hobby, not for "investment", no way will I pay way over the odds for something. There are some items I'd like, to fill some gaps in the collection, but I'll do without until they come up at what I see as a fair price. I think I've only paid over the original RRP for the Fiesta Supersport I got from @Jon of this parish, and even then not much over. Still way less than what they go for on eBay, for which all credit to Jon, who could have flipped it for a lot more. It was the only way I'd ever get to have one of those. Otherwise it's always below the RRP even for new stuff. You're always going to get folk buying up new releases in bulk then lobbing them on eBay for £40-£45+ but the days of people paying that for new releases are long gone. TL:DR In it for the love of it, not a money grasping twat, honest.

If you're near there @bunglebus, could you grab me an Alfa and a silver Merc if possible please?

Of course, the white 1850, got one up in the loft somewhere. I think it had a small boot badge denoting automatic but I doubt they would bother changing the shifter considering they're happy to knock out facelift MK3 Cortinas with sloping dashboards...

Sorry, not a toy, but the beige Vanguards Cortina 2000E is the only one I've come across with the choice of transmission displayed on it,

Usual traipsing around all the usual haunts lately has turned up nada. Really starting to lose the enthusiasm for Mattel stuff atm. Same old Hot Wheels cases everywhere, and same old Matchbox stuff from the start of the year. All was not.lost today though. Got out of work a little earlier today so headed over to Stockton, to the big B&M and Smyth's. B&M was, as expected, a waste of time, full pegs but the Hot Wheels case with the blue Toyota Space Cruiser, which dates from last year I think. Same old Matchbox selection too. Smyth's did have some M case Hot Wheels though, but it looks like someone had been there before me, so sadly no GTV, Merc SEC or orange Civic. There were still a few there I'd been after though, but to be honest, the Hot Wheels are crammed so tight on the pegs in there, you can't see half of what's on there and the new stuff was mixed in with the old. Was chuffed to find the Shove-it though, the first of this casting I've found in the wild. It's a nice wee thing. Another one I really wanted, I do like the Hot Wheels gassers and the Cyclone isn't a casting we've seen much of. The Nova wagon is one of my favourite castings, they've used the nice slotmag-style wheels on this release, At last, I've found the darker blue DeLorean, that's all the '80s cars got so far. Not that it matters to me though, as I'm not a completist... Another Then & Now release. Yay.... Lovely casting this though, in a great colour scheme I was annoyed when I got to the car as I thought I'd picked up the Volvo XC40 as that was also there. I'm sure I saw the name Time Shifter on the bottom of one of the cards too, it wasn't until I was looking back at the M case stuff @bunglebus posted on here a few pages back that I noticed its the Treasure Hunt for this case. Looks like I'll be heading back there at the weekend. I was sorely tempted by the Boulevard Holden Torana and Merc AMG C Class too. No Volvo 142 unfortunately, as that would have been coming home with me tonight as well....

If you're still over that way Tim, could you grab me the beige Maestro if it's available please?

Nipped into Morrisons before work to get supplies for today's trip. Oddly, all those Matchbox singles that appeared a few weeks ago have disappeared from the shelf. They surely can't have sold out. The local B&Ms have had the same mix in since the beginning of the year and looks like they are going to have them forever. Not many of the 5 packs in either so it looks like the marriage between the local Morrisons and Matchbox may be over already. Piss-poor show on the Hot Wheels too, only the fantasy shite from the last lot of H case in now, can't be long till they have a restock. Of more G and H case probably... There were a few new 5 packs in though, normally I dont bother as I only end up liking 1 or 2 cars in them. But towards the back, I saw one on its own, with Nissan written on it, and it turned out that for once, I liked every car in it! So, seeing as I havent got many single releases lately (chance would be a fine thing), I got it. So it's another edition of Thursday's Thunderously Tedious Tacho-break Tat, coming to you from an ominously cloudy layby on the A9 near Aviemore... TBH I probably would have got this pack just for the purple 2000GT X. What a belter, it's one of my favourite castings, and looks lovely in this colour.

I had another delivery. Another big tick off the want list, I've already got the MK3 Cav in GSi and Turbo form, but it's the early SRi I've been really after. This is another one I've had to get unboxed as they're still a bit pricy in mint & boxed condition. I just love the fact that Corgi at the time were brave enough to model subjects like this, at the time, '90s Vauxhalls didn't have as much of a following as they do now. The detailing on this is just lovely, I notice that they fitted actual seperate glazed front driving lights on this version, but sadly went for painted on ones on the GSi and Turbo, which looked a bit cheap. Obviously, being an early one, it's a different rear end to the other versions, with their bodykits. Like on the GSi/Turbo, the rear bumper seems a tad on the large side but not as bad, the grey lower trim shrinks it a bit. Three pretty different rear end treatments, standard pre facelift, bodykitted pre facelift, bodykitted facelift, Love the badging decals on the boot, And the doors, Great job on the turbine wheel trims too Interior is a bit of a well known weak spot on these but it does look less half arsed and cheap in the light grey. The dash is well recognisable to anyone who's driven a MK3 (I've done a fair bit over the years...). I reckon that out of the three road going civilian Vanguards MK3s, this might be my favourite version, by a close margin. Only problem now is that I've now got almost everything on the 1/43 Holy Grail list now, which is a little sad. I suppose it's losing the thrill of the chase and all that. Recent Vanguards releases have been a bit, er, uninspiring. I like an old Ford as much as anyone but there are only so many Mk3 Cortina and Mk1 & 2 Escorts a collector can stand! I fancy the Mercury Grey RS Turbo but that's about it. However Ixo, Solido and Norev have been right on it lately with a load of performance cars and hot hatches form the '80s and '90s so might have to go down those routes. Might be more opportunity to nab more 1/36 Corgi and MB Superkings too...

Next was a, erm, tube of cars from @vulgalour, Another chance for me to get some more older Matchbox castings in the collection for a very reasonable price. These have also been beautifully restored and detailed with far more skills than I could hope to have! First off, this MB Cortina. The metallic red one I had as a kid was always one of my favourites. I've been meaning to get a half decent replacement over the years, but the prices you see on eBay for sub-50p tat box examples is a piss take. This one has had a touch of the Crayfords due to a squished roof, and has been done very nicely in a shade not dissimilar to Signal yellow. This may become a 2.0S convertible at a later date... I had to have a Mercedes, so nabbed this SL in a nice grey, again with some extra detailing, Funny that I got the Corgi Whizzwheels Lotus Europa the other week, I now have the Matchbox version to keep it company, Looking great in the Gold Leaf style colour scheme, I've always liked the VW fastback too. I had a shoddy narrow wheel example back in the 80s but it had hardly any of its purple paint left and none of its A pillars! This one looks more period in AS beige, And this autobahn-stormer to finish, The CSL looks tough in gunmetal grey, great detailing too on this one,

Finally got round to opening the couple of parcels I've had recently from fellow miniature-shiters. First from @Tenmil Socket Hmm, seems we share the same tastes in breakfast-time fare. Aldi FTW! Inside was something equally tasty... Only taken me approximately 40 years, but I finally have an original blue Acclaim. I did have the later red driving school version, but it was this one I always wanted. Obvious party trick with this one was the steering front wheels via the mirrors (which are slightly clunky looking but they need to be like that really,) but things like the wheels which kind of looked like the real ones, cast in badging and a well rendered shape were things that really appealed with this to me, as a kid. This one's in not bad nick, with very minimal paint loss, but as can be seen, under previous ownership, someone's gone a bit mad with the red. Don't know if it's been an attempt at detailing, or a full re-colour, but luckily most of it has been removed. I had a rub over it with some household wipes, and managed to get some more red out of the crevices, Some of the red on the rear bumper and drivers mirror was a bit stubborn, so the bumpers, along with the mirrors and side rubbing strips and rear grilles were touched in in black, and the wheels, grille and headlights got a dab of silver, The effects were, well yeah, bloody non-existent in these pics... There were also a few smol Ford Focii to fill the box up I got the white ST ages ago, I think it's in 201 jnr's stash of cars now. I've never seen the orange one before though, so it's nice to have. It's not really far off the Tangerine Scream colour available on the real ST. I do like Realtoy cars, they had a decent level of detail for the price that Tesco was knocking them out at and I liked most of the subjects that they modelled. I got the blue MK1 RS in a recent DanBox, so I fancied this white version. I do like the seperately moulded race seats in these. Shame about the wheels on this version though...

Bloody lovely thing that. For some unexplainable reason, I've ended up having two Astra G SXis in the past. They're really not a bad steer though, the 1.6 is quite punchy and good on juice, and the SXi spec suspension means it handles pretty well. If this comes up for sale (hah!) I might be interested...

I had a delivery too, I was away to Scotland in the truck today, so took it out with me for the grand opening. So another edition of the (thankfully occasional) series; Thursday's Thunderously Tedious Tacho-break Tat. (Coming from the cab of a Mercedes Atego, rather than my front room sofa, for a change.) Eh, what's this? iPhone, don't think so M8... Ah, good packaging idea that, actually. What's inside then, squire? Yeeeeeesssss!! This is a big holy grail find for me. This time I've had to buy unboxed as it was the only way I could get a cheap (ish) one. So, what we have here is the Vanguards Allegro in 1500 Special Limited Edition flavour, in lovely Tara Green. What makes this so special (pun unintentional, honest) is that it's the last Vanguards Allegro I needed to have the full set. Not that I'm a completist in any way, as I've proved on here. No way. It all started in 2004 when I bought this bad boy, (I have to admit the giffer/boy racer mods were added by me. Apologies to the rivet counters....😆) I already had a few Vanguards at that time, and got their Harvest Gold Allegro to kind-of go with the car. (Even though mine was Antique gold... and a two-door... and a series 2...). And I thought I'd see how many I could get hold of. Which turned into a bit of an obsession. So I now have the Harvest Gold, Damask Red, and Blaze Orange 1300 DLs, White weathered 'Hidden Treasures" 1300 DL, Brazil Brown metallic 1300 DL, Metropolitan Police 1300, (what a bastard that was to find at one point, now you can't move for them), Cosmic Blue metallic 1500 SDL, Patrick Motors and Leyland ST works rally versions, Reynard Bronze 1500 Special, Lagoon Blue 1750 Sport Special, and now the Tara Green Special LE. Oh, and the only one modelled that I've seen in the flesh, JBY 794N, the Citron yellow 1500 SDL parked next to mine in these pics was modelled by Vanguards in the Austin Centenary twin pack with an Austin 1800. I was lucky to get the Allegro model individually, loose, for a few quid off ebay. Lucky (for you lot) I'm almost 400 miles from home, as I'd be getting them all out of the loft and the display cabinet and photographing them all... For one of the earlier castings from the early 2000s, the Allegro doesn't stand up too bad, only things like the painted on sidelight/indicator units date it a little. The later releases of the higher spec models titivated the casting a little. The front driving lights in their pods look great, (I fitted a pair later on to my own car, which set off the équipe front air dam better.) Grille looks great too, only a slightly squiffy headlight spoils the picture here. Again, painted tail lights, but at least they're in a seperate moulding. But the boot trims and badges look nice although the tampo printer seems to have slipped a little when the badges were applied... The Special badge is tiny but still readable. The side stripes and the LE logos are really nicely done. The wheels still date from a time when Vanguards would use generic steel wheels and chrome hubcaps for almost any '60s/'70s car. The only time Vanguards ever really bothered with wheels for the Allegro was on the 1750 SS, where they did actually tool up the unique SS wheel covers, which they did a pretty good job of. (They are one of my favourite wheel trim designs of all time, which is why my real Allegro got a set.) But the hubcaps on this LE do at least have the ring in the centre, like the Allegro ones and the black stripe is there going around the outside of the cap like on the Special-spec trim rings on the real car (which BL borrowed from the Maxi HL). As Vanguards started out modelling the series 1 DL and SDL spec cars, there are a few inaccuracies in the interior, like the 2 dial dash, Quartic wheel and lack of head restraints, (Yes, my real Allegro was a series 2 but gained a Quartic wheel...) But it's still recognisable as an Allegro dash and at least with this one, Corgi took the time to model the interior in beige but the dash in black, like on the real car. A lot of the other releases had it all moulded in one colour. I've always liked how Vanguards captured "those" door handles too, with seperate mouldings, looking just like the real things And they took the time to paint the sills Matt black to simulate the series 2 sill covers. Correct Matt black window trims, mirrors and wipers too, as on the real LE. But it's the colour that makes this model, possibly the reason why this is the version that comes up for sale the least, and fetches the highest prices. Tara Green has to be one the best BL colours. The model is in lovely condition too, for an unboxed job. Apparently it's been on the seller's model railway layout from new. Shame he never kept the box, but I suppose if it was boxed, I wouldn't have it here now...

A couple of eBay arrivals, A familiar one, this. My original Vanguards Graphite Granada had a bit of a fall recently when I was giving the display cabinet a spring clean, smashing off the mirrors and rear spoiler. I managed to get the mirrors back on (badly) but the spoiler went AWOL, never to be found again. I put it back in the cabinet, but the missing spoiler was nagging away at me. Enquiries to Corgi's so-called spares department drew a blank also. The Graphite series 2 2.8i is one of my top Vanguards of all time, and it sadly happens to be one of the priciest, so I abandoned all hope of getting a replacement when all the ones on eBay are around the £60-£70 mark. Then last week, this one appeared, which got watchlisted, then straight away came a seller's offer at a price I actually could stomach. It's pretty much mint, and of course the important bits are all intact, including that spoiler, So the damaged original went straight back on the 'bay, hopefully I'll claw some of my money back. I've already had one bid with 6 days to go, so fingers crossed... The seller also had a few unboxed models on sale, I also got a seller's offer on this, so I thought I may as well take advantage, it wasn't going to cost me in postage... An Ixo Manta GT/E, part of the Opel Collection partwork series, and like hen's teeth to get hold of in this country. It's a nice looking thing, Ixo have done a pretty good job of capturing the shape. It does show it's cheap partwork origins a bit with the cast in bumpers, rather than separate items, but with the Manta's bumpers, it doesn't look bad at all. The heated rear screen elements are a nice touch. The spoiler is cast in as well, but it's neatly masked and painted so again, it doesn't really show. The wheels are particularly pleasing... ...As is the interior detailing, particularly the dash, especially for a cheap partwork. A nice addition to the Vauxhall/Opel branch of the collection, a nice companion to my yellow 1/18 Revell Manta too!

Bigger stuff next, Something a bit different, a big Majorette Renault Master recovery truck, In lovely condition overall, unlike a lot of the real life recovery vehicles I see around the North East... However, it's a weird scale,1/45 which makes it a bit hard to find a load for it., 1/43 is obviously the nearest. Nothing in the cabinet seemed suitable, with this being an '80s toy, so I dug out the slightly naff Solido Yesterday Pug 205 GTi and it doesn't look too bad on there. The bed has a nice sprung action for tilting and the built in chocks at the front work well at holding the car on, as can be seen. The Corgi 1/36 Porsche 924 is one I missed out on as a kid. This one's not in bad condition really, with just a few bits of paint loss. Sadly it's lost the outer spotlamps, but doesn't look too bad with the remaining ones. The things I liked about this example are, the decals are more or less still there (apart from the rear lights, as expected really, they always come off), and intact, and the notoriously fragile glass hatch is still intact too. It's now had a quick Sharpie touch up job, which has at least filled in the bad bits. Some Blue Peter style pissing about with coloured pens and self adhesive labels has re-instated the tail lights. I remember getting a Corgi Escort exactly the same as this one for my birthday, just after the real thing came out. I remember being slightly disappointed that the box showed an XR3 on the back, but the model inside was a 1.3 GL... But I still loved the model, the boot badges were very well cast, the tail lights were just like on the real thing, along with the seats with the GL specific seat pattern and see-through head restraints. As can be seen, it's a nice, clean, tidy example, it's just a real shame the headlights are missing, hopefully I can fashion something to replace them. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks again to @danthecaprimanfor another great sale and helping to fill my collection with more 'older' items.

Finally got round to looking through the contents of my recent DanBox (TM), and giving them a quick pre pic valet. Small stuff first, First off, one I never even knew existed, the Corgi Juniors Lotus Europa. In nice, slightly patinated condition. Just how I like 'em. Nicely preserved, the Union Jack (only added on one side as I found out, I did think one was missing at first) is still there, as is the very fragile looking engine cover, With engine detail beneath (as much as can be shown on a mid engine car) The Matchbox Ford Probe. Not Matchbox's golden era IMO but it's not too bad a rendering of a car that hasn't exactly been modelled a lot. The tampo graphics are erm, of their time. But the rear detail, or lack of it is one of the best examples of cant-be-arsed I've ever seen, I filled in a bit of tail light detail with some red and black markers, then had a go at removing the tampos but it wasn't massively successful. They were the most resilient ones I've ever tried to remove, so I gave up when it started to remove the red paint. Still think it looks better without. Thought I'd join the Volvo estate fan club. Need to fashion some bumper corners, and some touch ins from the Corsa's touch up brush should do for this. Matchbox racing Mini is one I remember from childhood. This bronze colour seems to be rarer than the plain red/orange. This one's in pretty clean condition so I might even treat it to some reproduction stickers as it still has an outline on the sides. As a kid I loved the look of this Mini, with it's de-bumpered and de-seamed look, it's big centre exit exhaust and authentic looking reg number. You wait ages for a Matchbox Cavalier then you end up with two! This will no doubt get a repaint, when I get time... I fancy a white super-touring inspired scheme. Couldn't let this Siku Mercedes minibus get away. It brings back memories of a seriously shonky 307D minibus I drove occasionally back in the '90s when I started on the taxis. That old thing had been welded, filled and blown in so many times but it notched up about 14 (long, slow) years in service, so it did pretty well. It's a nicely rendered old bus, capturing the lines of the real thing very well. Pleasingly, the easily-lost rear doors are still present. I love the colour and the period Tourist Bus graphics, but it looks a little bit playworn. I need to stop thinking about repainting as half of me wants to give it a shonky white/black tidemark paint job to replicate WDC 375Y from all those years ago!

Yup, that Kadett is going to be the next "must find" on my list. Although with the hundreds of previous case Matchbox clogging up all the local B&Ms, I'm not expecting to see that mix any time soon...

Really enjoyed reading over the last few pages, it seems theres a lot linking us guys on this here thread, makes me think that I'm not such a sad case after all! It all goes back to the Jack & Jill toy shop (later Romer-Parrish, finally swallowed up by Toymaster), in Middlesbrough for me. Three glorious floors of heaven for any kid. My childhood Corgi, Matchbox and Burago mainly came from here. Quite a rarity at the time, they were also a big Siku dealer throughout the 1980s. Bigger stuff like the Corgi 1/36 stuff and 1/24 Buragos were for birthdays and Christmas, but after being dragged around the town centre all day every Saturday, a Matchbox Superfast/1-75 or Corgi Junior would be my reward for being a good lad on most weeks... The big Corgis were my favourites, the subjects were realistic and relatable. Even then I loved the details like realistic seats, head rest shapes and steering wheels on the likes of the Merc 240D and Jaguar XJ12, along with realistically proportioned wheels, compared to the slightly oversized wheels and arches of the Matchbox Superkings. I think, even back then, that was probably steering me towards collecting the more realistic, detailed collector's models that I go for now! I remember the delight of going in there and discovering newly released Corgis like the 1/36 MK3 Escort, Metro, Sierra, Renault 11 and MG Maestro, all normal, everyday type cars. The top mezzanine level of the shop was for plastic model kits, they always had a massive selection, and stuff like table tennis tables and snooker/pool tables. When I got to about 15-16, there was an absolutely stunning teen girl working Saturdays in that department. Hence a sudden rise in built plastic kits in my room around about that time... As late teens kicked in, like quite a few of us, real 1:1 scale cars and pursuing more 'adult' activities took over. But I never lost the love of small stuff. In many ways, small cars were more rewarding to own than the money-gulping ungrateful bastards that the real things were! Fortunately, personally I've never really found collecting toys/models to be a cause of embarrassment. Although I am often that guy referred to previously on here who can be seen dressed in work clothes in Morrisons or Asda rifling enthusiastically through Hot Wheels bins, which does get me some strange looks from people but I've stopped giving a shit. It's the hobby I've chosen, these people probably piss away hundreds at the weekend at the matches, or at the shithole which is our town centre of a Saturday night and have sod all to show for it on Sunday morning. I'm well out of that sort of thing now. Mrs 201 has always been 100% sound about my diecast obsession. She always knew I was a car enthusiast from the start, even when we knew each other before we got together, so I don't think the fact I was into toy and model cars was that much of a shock. I had them on display in my old room at Mum & Dad's, but it was always 'older' stuff like collector's 1/43 stuff and built plastic kits rather than 'toys'. She's even indulged me in the hobby a fair bit, I used to drop hints at what I'd like, she'd go online shopping and get me models for birthdays and Christmas. Now it's just "Get whatever you want and I'll wrap them up. You know which ones you're after". I'm even allowed the display cabinet in the front room that I can comfortably get 72 (currently) 1/43 models in. (I could probably cram more in but I do like to display them on an angle with a bit of space between the models to actually see them, rather than just jammed in side by side like I've seen some displays). But then at the other end of the front room, she has an identical cabinet with her collection of Lenox lead crystal Winnie the Pooh figurines, so it's just give and take. I have my interests, she has hers. As long as the mortgage and bills get paid, the house gets titivated every now and then with new carpets, paint etc, us and the kids are fed and clothed, the cars are kept running, and we have a modicum of savings built up, we don't give each other grief really about spending on ourselves, we both work bloody hard for it. The mortgage is paid off next month too. Due to the current mortgage shitshow, our planned move to a better house has had to be put on ice, but right now, we're just counting our blessings that we're in a far better situation than a lot of people currently are. As long as I don't have TOO many of those small boxes coming through the door in a month. (You lot don't bloody help in that respect!!!) Both the wife and kids know that there is probably a few quids worth up there in the loft and in the display cabinet. As much as I get pleasure out of the hobby, as I stare into the abyss of the big 5-0 approaching and my health not being as good as it was (my Dad died suddenly on holiday in Spain at the age of 64 and he was in pretty good shape for his age), I do sometimes worry about what is going to happen to it all when I'm not here. The wife knows all about the diecast thread on here, the diecast sites I go on on Facebook and that there are people on there who buy joblots and collections, but that way you get a fraction of what they're worth. Or do I get to a certain age, pack them all up and lob them all on eBay, or just leave everything to them and have the kids keep them for longer? But a look on my eBay watchlist suggests I'm not about to stop any time soon. There's always something on there winking at me...

Second arrival, I'm a sucker for dealer packaged models, and PeterC's earlier post made me realise that, although I'm currently on my 9th 1:1 scale Mercedes, I don't really have much of a collection of Mercedes models. I tried to put this right last year with a selection of Minichamps 124 and W202 models, all reasonably cheap, and a few various toy Mercs from some of our resident Tatbox vendors have helped to fill the void, but I have been searching for a nice W203 C Class, which is what my current real car is. Ive already got the Cararama version, Which isn't bad, but a bit toy-like. There was a dealer packaged saloon, made by Schuco rather than Minichamps unusually, but they are quite hard to find, (and sellers take the piss with prices) as are the Minichamps estates. A lot more common is the CL203 "sport coupé" again by Minichamps. This was for sale by the same guy who had the Pug 309, so a deal was done. It's kind-of related to my car... The CL203 was an obvious answer to the BMW Compact /Audi A3 small premium* hatch market. As a biased Merc owner, I think the shape of the Merc was a bit more successful than the Beemer in looking less like a saloon with the back end chopped off, using the raked back CLK type front end probably helped there. Although it did end up looking a bit like a Citroën Xsara VTS with a CLK front end grafted on... This one is the "Evolution" version, a special edition of the sport coupé which meant a fancy paint job (Adventurino orange on this one), panoramic roof, some AMG body bits and special 17" alloys. Being a Minichamps (therefore fairly expensive when new), it's all done very nicely. The paint is stunning and the shape is spot on. Load of tiny details like the led brake light and the sports tailpipe trim with the original twin tailpipes visible inside it. Nice wheels and good brake detail with gold calipers front and rear. The panoramic roof gives a nice view of the interior. The interior detail, as usual, is fab. The weird half moon speedo is there, with the sports three-spoke wheel. Console detail looks good with the optional Comand radio/CD/phone/nav fitted. I have always loved Minichamps models for their interiors, this one doesn't disappoint. A very nice model overall.

A couple of recent arrivals, a rare good deal from Facebook marketplace, This is another one I've been waiting to get for years, but can rarely be found at a non piss-take price. Getting this one cheap was probably helped by the fact that the packaging is a little shelf worn (as can be seen) and that its one of the LHD French registered versions. A while ago Corgi took a bit of a gamble with introducing more modern and more European subjects into the Vanguards range. (This had the effect that you'd expect and many collectors in their matching owners club fleece and bobble hat combos were spluttering scotch egg into their beards in disgust...) Time has been kinder over the years however and with real '80s and '90s cars, particularly hot hatches becoming the big thing on the classic car scene, so the models have become a lot more sought after. The Vanguards MK3 Cavalier, Astra Mk2 SR and GTE, Peugeot 205 & 309 GTis, Nova SR and Fiesta MK1 XR2 and Supersport are always sought after and go for good money. Other makers like Norev and Solido have also been knocking out shedloads of '80s and '90s hot hatches and performance saloons too, lately. This one is from when Corgi were doing both UK and European versions of the same casting, out of a run of, say 1000, 500 would be RHD with UK number plates and the other 500 would be LHD with French, German or Dutch plates. This means that whichever version you have is technically even more limited than a regular Vanguards, this one being one of 750 left hookers. Slightly wonky front bumper aside, it's a very good rendering of the 309. At that time, not many makers had bothered with the 309, especially the GTi. Lovely front end detail, including those distinctive quad driving lights. And at the rear, the tail lights and spoiler marking this out as a phase 2. Nice job on the Speedline wheels. Another nice touch on this casting is the up & over glass sunroof with the rails. Not many Vanguards of the time got separately moulded aerials either. Interior is okay for a casting from quite a few years ago, the bolstered sports seats are the right shape, and the GTi type wheel and phase 2 dash look recognisable, However, I had one issue with this model. With this and the Vanguards Mk2 Astra, they made cooking versions as well as the hot versions and as a result, the sporty cars always sit way too high, particularly at the rear. (Their Mk1 & 2 Escorts also suffer the same). Unusually for Vanguards, the Astra didn't get sprung suspension, but this Peugeot casting did. So I though I'd whip the base off and see if I could do some 'adjustment', Some nice baseplate detail on here too, I particularly like the slung-under steel spare wheel. A bit of fiddling later, Yep, that's better, I think! (Just needs the Peugeot Dealer Sport sunstrip and grille sticker combo now...)