Shite in Miniature II

[eddyramrod]

Oh and if anyone comes across one of these for next to nothing...

Dinky Studebaker sedan.  This one is my restoration, but I would like one or maybe two in playworn condition, to paint up as film cars.  Fortunately on these old, basic castings, there isn't much to break, so even what looks like scrap is probably not beyond saving.

[sierraman]

@Datsuncog give us a bit of info about the Renault 11 from the Marcel Van Cleemput book?

[flat4alfa]

On 4/25/2019 at 2:36 PM, Datsuncog said:

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...

^ A previous Renault 11 article by van Cogput

[flat4alfa]

On 3/12/2021 at 11:14 PM, Datsuncog said:

And on that subject, raised earlier...

Another example of early 2000s Corgi make-do-and-mend - a reworking of the short-lived C384 Renault 11 casting from 1983/84, that popped up in their 'Definitive James Bond Collection' from 2001.

I've been after a later version of the 11 for a while, just to see what similarities, if any, the 5dr taxi has with the earlier 3dr.

Mmm, phares jaunes... and quite a bit of commonality in the overall shape.

The very earliest versions of the 11 have the weird grille like mine, with no Renault badge and a strange lick of silver paint. Since Corgi were producing their model to coincide with the launch of the real car, their designers were somewhat hobbled by not having a real version to refer to. Seemingly this was rectified soon after, as I've seen other cream versions with a grille more like the blue car.

Obviously, the newer one is a 5dr with only the rear hatch opening, while the original is a 3dr with opening doors and hatch. It does indeed appear that the Bond version is a reworking of the original casting.

The later version is also much more detailed with its painting around the glazing. The glazing to the hatch looks the same, though has gained a wiper. Bonus.

Oddly, the boot badging has been deleted from the Bond version too.

Same wheel inserts which, like the ones on the Sierra Ghia, I believe were only used on this one model. The metal axle is visible on the early version, but has been covered over on the later one - changing toy safety regs, maybe? 

The base is the clincher - although the 'GTL' nomenclature has been chiselled off, along with 'Made in Gt Britain' and an updated Corgi logo, it's unquestionably the same casting.

So there we have it - some major revision to the body casting and bumper insert, of course, to reflect the number of doors, and every other part has been tweaked to a greater or lesser extent - but I believe this blue car to be a direct descendant of the cream one.

I can rest easy now.

^ Another in-depth  Renault 11 article by Marcel van Cogput

[Datsuncog]

4 hours ago, sierraman said:

@Datsuncog give us a bit of info about the Renault 11 from the Marcel Van Cleemput book?

There's not all that much info in the Big Book on the Renault 11 - at this time, the man himself had stopped working directly for Mettoy after they shut their Nottingham HQ, and instead he was doing design work for them as an independent contractor. But the book has this to say:

I hadn't twigged that because the R11 and MG Maestro were both launched in March 1983, with Renault moving their launch forward by a few weeks so as to pip Austin-Rover on being first to market with a talking dashboard, of course the Corgi models were launched at the same time.

44 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

^ A previous Renault 11 article by van Cogput

Heh, that saves me a fair bit of typing - thanks for finding that!

On re-reading, it seems I was a bit hasty in dismissing the later Bond version as having no link to the original casting - but hey, you live and learn...

Still never seen a factory red one, though.

[bunglebus]

If any Hot Wheels hoarders are in the Basildon area, Entertainer have just restocked and I'm a bit overwhelmed!  Never seen so many new ones in one place, report to follow once I've escaped...

[andrew e]

Had a Sainsbury’s impulse purchase myself….

[flat4alfa]

On 4/25/2019 at 2:36 PM, Datsuncog said:

The 1985 Corgi Toys catalogue marked a fresh start

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

Ballade/Acclaim measures to 1:33 scale

Prelude measures to 1:35 scale

Which is why Prelude looks a bit weedy in this company

Even more so, as in real life the Prelude is based on the larger Accord, not Civic platform

That is all.

 

[sierraman]

The buying frenzy continues, Corgi Matra Rancho purchased for £2.01. Is it me if have 80’s Corgi prices calmed down lately? 

[bunglebus]

Well what a bag full I came home with. I went in Poundland, B&M, Home Bargains, Sainsbury's and Tesco and the only place that had anything new was Entertainer, a table and several racks full of brand new releases. I'm still not sure I grabbed everything I needed wanted...

This being one - phoned a friend and he requested this, I was sure I had it but it's just similar to an old release

Paint is very 80's...

I don't know why I like Head Gasket, but I do

 

Nice to see the RX7 in a simple paint scheme

Audi is class

Mooneyes and Gulf in this case, excellent!

I got two of these so I can put more accurate wheels on one

Another one I bought a spare of, as I want to replicate the Roadkill one

 

[eddyramrod]

I've been to the lockup today, and dug this out.  I knew it was there.  I've had it literally as long as I can remember!  I can't believe it's survived in such good shape, because I wasn't the best at looking after my toys.  It's a big bugger, probably about 1/12 scale.

Looks a bit grubby, right?

Hmm, perhaps filthy is more accurate!

It's cleaned up quite nicely considering I was just using cold water and an old washing-up sponge.  Needs a bit of "detailing" but rather more wholesome than it was, that's for sure.  It's NOT going to be for sale, ever, while I'm alive.

[bunglebus]

What brand is it, can't quite make it out. Nice though

[eddyramrod]

It's an Eldon, made in the USA.  There is more, obviously, but I didn't have my specs with me.  I'll make the effort to note down what it says and release the information, but it won't be tonight.

[bunglebus]

Never heard of them - a few for sale on line for £not a bargain. Reminds of my Topper tow truck, similarly large

 

[andrew e]

Quite a splurge on HW! My daughter bought me the El Camino for Father’s Day - it’s  pleasantly odd and surprisingly HUGE. 

[Datsuncog]

My replacement set of triangular bits arrived earlier on, marginally faster than I'd expected.

Hopefully I'll be able to free some recent arrivals from their plastic bases tomorrow and have a proper look at them without hideously chewing the screw head to the point of inoperability.

I'll just have to put these somewhere safe this time, and not get them lost/ thrown out/ whatever it was happened to the previous ones.

Oh, and the set requested by @bunglebus has been safely put to one side!

[sierraman]

Whilst down my recent Corgi 1/36 rabbit hole I ended up looking for a HCB Angus Firestreak, though a lot seem to fall into the catagory of broken and expensive or working and very expensive. What I did notice was that they looked to be made out of tin plate which would have been an exception for a Corgi at the time? 

[flat4alfa]

Tinplate?

I have one here.  It has only ever been die-cast AFAIK

[flat4alfa]

Is it

[bunglebus]

Could be.. 

Guiloy Cornus. I have a better one so might get a nice paint and detail

 

[eddyramrod]

On 6/29/2021 at 11:42 PM, eddyramrod said:

It's an Eldon, made in the USA.  There is more, obviously, but I didn't have my specs with me.  I'll make the effort to note down what it says and release the information, but it won't be tonight.

OK, so the information reads as follows:

ELDON

HAWTHORNE

MADE IN USA

(C) 1963 ELDON INDUSTRIES INC

and elsewhere on the chassis:

1009-11

And that's all there is.  The copyright date means I would be at least 4 when I got it, so maybe I haven't had it quite "as long as I can remember" but it's certainly been with me 55 years or more.  MrsR saw it this morning and her first thought was "sell."  Not going to happen!  Sometimes your childhood memories are worth more than just money, although that doesn't explain why I've been selling off my toys for two and a half years here!

[flat4alfa]

6 hours ago, sierraman said:

Whilst down my recent Corgi 1/36 rabbit hole I ended up looking for a HCB Angus Firestreak, though a lot seem to fall into the catagory of broken and expensive or working and very expensive. What I did notice was that they looked to be made out of tin plate which would have been an exception for a Corgi at the time? 

This is the one here

Can confirm its die-cast credentials.  It weighs almost 400g !

So much so, the rear wheels have a negative camber, probably due to the weight...

It's in pretty good condition, though the search light has escaped

I was going to sell this one...

..it's working, but the siren pitch is too high and too fast, so something is dicky in the electronics.  I haven't taken it to bits to check each component.  Might do a video of its hilarity though.

[Datsuncog]

I picked up a pretty good Corgi HCB Angus Firestreak at a Scout jumble sale c.1989. It cost me £2 - pretty much all the money I had on me at the time - and it was missing the rear battery cover, but otherwise in reasonable nick. The lights and siren worked well too, with a 9V battery clipped in place. And it was massively heavy.

I made the mistake of bringing it in to school as part of a show-and-tell about electricity. One of the other kids later crawled under the desk and nicked it out of my schoolbag, before activating the siren 'for a laugh', and getting it confiscated by the teacher.

It then managed to roll off the teacher's desk onto the floor, and something broke inside. The switch went from being very positive to loose and sloppy; the lights didn't flash, and the siren sounded high-pitched and 'slurred' somehow.

Raging.

I think the weird thing is that it felt like a properly old toy when I got it, and I really liked it for that reason - but it could only have been ten years old, and likely less.

I'd genuinely have bother distinguishing a toy made in 2011 with a toy made today, for sure.

[Heidel_Kakao]

I haz a Salamander, if only it was full size......

[bunglebus]

Wot no freebies? 

As ever, a lovely thing though

Wotcher

 

[flat4alfa]

Yes I was expecting the figures 

But I've since learned they come with the Porsche...

 

[Datsuncog]

I was a bit confused about that one too - the bumf said that the garage figures would come with 'the third model', but apparently the Walls Anglia doesn't count cos it was an introductory offer.

So Mini = #1; Saint Volvo = #2; Porsche Carrera 6 = #3, according to their logic.

I believe #4 is going to be the Lotus Climax racer, then #5 the Land Rover breakdown truck.

The Land Rover's the one I really want; normally they seem to either be mint and £££, or cheap cos they're broken (like my childhood example, unfortunately lost on a beach c.1991).

After that one, I may reassess my commitment to the range...

[bunglebus]

I grabbed a couple of bargain job lots off an ebay seller, they turned up today along with a couple of bits from the never ending sale thread. These are probably the more interesting ones

I've not seen this Mercedes before, bit of an ugly one

I assumed everyone just referred to this as a Vectra/Cavalier, but that's what the base says

this was one of my main targets

grey Quattro joins my red one

very nice Toyman Challenger 

Rancho and 205 from @C1am

[bunglebus]

Then there was another box - main target being this presumably quite late Whizzwheels Beetle

along with it was this K-111, I collected the whole set of the adventure 2000 vehicles a while back then got bored and sold them. Shame, it's a good one with no broken bits. Think this was a Battle King anyway

[sierraman]

Battle kings were a funny one, I’ve got most of them with the exception of the DAF Ambulance, despite war and battle being a popular subject for kids in the seventies, they don’t have much following at all now. But they’re still more popular than Seakings which with the exception of the miniature port set you could get, have absolutely no following whatsoever apart from followers of oddball Seventies tat like a myself.