Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

Bought this for 50p at the boot sale a couple of weeks ago, more as a wheel donor than anything else. Then I took pity on it

headlights are dressmaking pins with a flat filed on them and a jewel stuck on. I've had the Hot Wheels co-mold wheels for ages waiting for the right car to put them on

and with an old friend 

[Datsuncog]

9 minutes ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

I got all these for £20. Don't know if that's good or not. 50p per small loose car.

50p a throw sounds a reasonable enough price to me, given they're from a shop with overheads to cover - the big Matchbox Scammell Wrecker, the Maisto/MC Toys Suzuki SJ, big Corgi FX4 Taxi and the Siku Jeeps all look well worth the price charged. Good haul!

[flat4alfa]

Despite my disappointment, did get something yesterday at Big Car Boot

A 50p TATA NANO by Centy Toys.  Centy Toys are an Indian brand, so probably not many of you have one of these....  or maybe you do

All-plastic and measures to 1/24 scale.

ICYDY, the Nano was in production 2008-2018 and the cheapest car ever by breaking the price point of 1 Lakh (£1700).   Trouble was, because of the the increased wealth across India, many didn't want to be associated with 'cheapness' and kept their Tuk-Tuks going instead.

Check out the parcel shelf ICE.  Probably not the bASe level trim this one then.

Either way, Ken likes it because it matches his trousers.

[Datsuncog]

A further recent arrival (and probably the last one for a while) - 1979 issue Corgi Volkswagen Polo, in very of-its-time metallic green.

I formerly had one of these, boxed, and sold it for something stupid like £3 in the mid-90s.

I like the slightly rubbish illustration on the back; strange that sometimes Corgi used press pics of the real car to illustrate their boxes, sometimes photos of the toys, sometimes 'artist impressions' like this one, and sometimes ads for other stuff in the range entirely.

The eBay seller claimed this one had "never been out of the box".

They could be right, as the box end flaps were very crisp and showing no signs of wear, but it's out of the box now.

Clear plastic strip thing keeping the bootlid up could be original, it's true.

Side profile's not bad.

I think these Polos looked better balanced than their Juniors counterpart, which always looked a smidge wide and underwheeled.

Fun fact: diecast toy manufacturers didn't just measure up a real life car and then scale everything down by, say, 1/36. According to the Great Book Of Corgi, this would only ever produce a model that looked far too skinny, because people are used to seeing real cars from eye level, but toys are seen from above. So most toy cars were modelled slightly wider than they were in reality, and how much wider was down to the designer and whatever they thought looked 'right'.

The Corgi Juniors Jag XJS was an example of where maybe they went a bit too far the other way...

But anyway.

The paint masking's been quite well done on this one, too.

It's kind of a pity that Corgi didn't really go in for number plate stickers the way Dinky did; a pair of GB plates on a T-reg would certainly have made this one really pop. Though as a left-hooker, was Corgi chasing export markets?

Base moulding is reasonably well detailed and all.

Corgi produced this one in various imaginary rally liveries too, and later cast in a deeper front air dam, but I'm quite happy with the boring version.

More fun fact: £2.39 in 1979 equates to £12.36 in today's money. Dear enough...

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

I got all these for £20. Don't know if that's good or not. 50p per small loose car.

The short-can Johnson motor in the Scalextric car is worth quite a bit more than 50p if someone is in need of one

[egg]

On 18/07/2021 at 16:09, AndyW201 said:

we have the fantastic* normally aspirated 1.8 Endura-DE diesel

At least it was a better engine than the MK4 1.6D - 50-60 bhp?

[flat4alfa]

23 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

was Corgi chasing export markets?

Probably

[flat4alfa]

53 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Though as a left-hooker, was Corgi chasing export markets?

Definitely

 

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

That is extremely lovely 

[bunglebus]

38 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

All blue Mazda B1600? Another bloody variation to find, thanks I think

[sierraman]

I’ve got the Swiss PTT Vw Polo. No idea how because as far as I know they were export only. That said there’s quite a few new old stock Corgi Juniors in Arabic livery on eBay so I suspect that many didn’t make it to the Middle East, perhaps they got as far as the port and then the order was cancelled and they’ll have been sold off cheap. Completely unrelated but the GWR building in Millbay, Portsmouth ended up with a floor full of Arabic branded Farley’s Rusk tins, again presumably dumped after an order failed to materialise.

[bunglebus]

I went off to eBay to have a look, but instead found this one the spit of @Datsuncog's one - but with a different grille

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Corgi-Toys-289-Volkswagen-Polo-Die-Cast-1-43-Vintage-Mettoy-Playcraft-VW-/334081410549?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

Watchlisted...

[Amishtat]

Fairly sure I have one here if you want one. Clean but not mint. 

[bunglebus]

Mine's been Barried by a previous owner

 

[Datsuncog]

16 hours ago, bunglebus said:

All blue Mazda B1600? Another bloody variation to find, thanks I think

I think the all-blue version was only ever a pre-production sample...

More fun* facts: by 1975, with Corgi's sales on the slide, Mettoy top brass gave their marketing team much more influence on the product design and engineering side. Formerly, this had been the preserve of senior management and the design team, with marketing simply there to devise strategies to sell whatever came out of the Swansea factory.

But suddenly consultants and focus groups became more of a thing, and there was a steep rise in demand for prototypes (I think I waffled on about this a few months back) and colour tests, so that marketing could conduct analysis on what appealed to the brand's core demographics - ever younger kids, as it turned out.

Van Cleemput is pretty sniffy about all this, and no doubt he'd much rather have been designing beautifully engineered miniature models with innovative working parts . But it was a harsh reality that while early Corgi toys had been designed to appeal to kids in their early teens, by the 1970s the average age of their end-user customers had fallen to 8-year-olds.

So in a shrinking market, and with their younger customers wielding less purchasing power, less discernment, and the risk of being tempted by fancy custom stuff like Hot Wheels instead, Mettoy put their faith in the hands of the marketers to select sure-fire winners and guide the Corgi brand back to sales success.

While it didn't quite work out like that - some might argue that the development of simpler, cheaper models diluted the brand's values and drove customers away - it did mean that tooling costs decreased, while the shift to 1/36 scale "added value" without increasing unit costs very much, allowing a modest rise in RRP which mostly translated into better profit margins.

The result of some of this (very costly) consumer analysis revealed that kids were most drawn to toys finished in red, yellow, and blue, with lesser appeal from green and brown.

Hold the phone: kids like primary colours best. Money well spent.

So, going back to the #493 Mazda B1600 pickup, apparently some late focus group input indicated it looked a bit too utilitarian and unappealing in the proposed plain blue, especially as its sole working feature was only the dropping tailgate. So a quick 'n' dirty late change was made to add  some additional shelf appeal, in the form of an eye-catching spray-masked silver insert along both sides.

The basic blue and silver Mazda was only on sale for a year before it was joined by a more exciting motorway maintenance version with a cherry picker to the rear, and a yellow gift set version with stickers and pulling a boat.

Still, it sold a respectable 290,000 examples between its launch in February 1975 and its deletion in 1978.

The same casting eventually also gained a detachable camper body, and a hoicked-up 4x4 version appeared  too - but that's another tale best told by someone else...

[bunglebus]

I must have had a dozen K50-53s over the years, and finally found a good one with the ladder intact

Of course it's not staying there, it's gone on my immaculate (if slightly dusty) example

[Amishtat]

A closer look at the contents of Saturday's hotly anticipated and much appreciated Cogbox. I knew there were four cars in there but could only remember what three of them were, the surprise being a Corgi Jaguar which is another for the needs paint line up. Will try to salvage the rear numberplate if possible, it looks like it'll come off with some care. Making up a Corgi trio was the Mini and Mercedes 220, both in better nick than I'd expected. Headlight and a polish and the Mini will be good enough. The roof on the Merc is very slightly flattened with concomitant bowing out at the top of each screen pillar. This also explains the cracked glazing and it transpired that the spare tyres I had were oversized. Still, if Cold War Motors has taught me anything it's that the wrong parts are better than no parts, so that'll do for now. I'd had it in mind to paint it but now it's here I really like it as is. 

The lone Dinky (car, at least) in the box was the Rambler which I didn't realise was needed for the sake of completeness until Eddy more or less accidentally brought it to my attention in a chat about something else entirely. Again, perfectly happy with it as is, it'll get a light polish to see whether the yellow will come off the bonnet and the red daubing from the roof pillar. 

But none of that was responsible for the weight of the box.. 

[Amishtat]

This was 50% of the heavy metal. With the numberplate, speed limit sticker plus the loading ramp, it's slightly nicer than the one I had already but will complement it nicely. Those rear tyres though, the poor driver's going to need a BMX inner tube to sit on once VOSA have finished with him. 

[AndyW201]

23 hours ago, egg said:

At least it was a better engine than the MK4 1.6D - 50-60 bhp?

You do make a good point there! The first car I drove as a taxi was an Orion 1.6D. Hopeless. The fact it was comprehensively rogered didn't do it any favours either...

I cut my (professional) motoring teeth on low powered diesels and still have a soft spot for them, GM 1.7Ds, Ford 1.8 n/a Enduras and XUDs. Though the Peugeot 405 1.9 TD is still the best car I ever taxied in.

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 19/07/2021 at 16:50, Datsuncog said:

A further recent arrival (and probably the last one for a while) - 1979 issue Corgi Volkswagen Polo, in very of-its-time metallic green.

I formerly had one of these, boxed, and sold it for something stupid like £3 in the mid-90s.

I like the slightly rubbish illustration on the back; strange that sometimes Corgi used press pics of the real car to illustrate their boxes, sometimes photos of the toys, sometimes 'artist impressions' like this one, and sometimes ads for other stuff in the range entirely.

The eBay seller claimed this one had "never been out of the box".

They could be right, as the box end flaps were very crisp and showing no signs of wear, but it's out of the box now.

Clear plastic strip thing keeping the bootlid up could be original, it's true.

Side profile's not bad.

I think these Polos looked better balanced than their Juniors counterpart, which always looked a smidge wide and underwheeled.

Fun fact: diecast toy manufacturers didn't just measure up a real life car and then scale everything down by, say, 1/36. According to the Great Book Of Corgi, this would only ever produce a model that looked far too skinny, because people are used to seeing real cars from eye level, but toys are seen from above. So most toy cars were modelled slightly wider than they were in reality, and how much wider was down to the designer and whatever they thought looked 'right'.

The Corgi Juniors Jag XJS was an example of where maybe they went a bit too far the other way...

But anyway.

The paint masking's been quite well done on this one, too.

It's kind of a pity that Corgi didn't really go in for number plate stickers the way Dinky did; a pair of GB plates on a T-reg would certainly have made this one really pop. Though as a left-hooker, was Corgi chasing export markets?

Base moulding is reasonably well detailed and all.

Corgi produced this one in various imaginary rally liveries too, and later cast in a deeper front air dam, but I'm quite happy with the boring version.

More fun fact: £2.39 in 1979 equates to £12.36 in today's money. Dear enough...

not a really early one then- mine had the sticker for grill/lights

[bunglebus]

Today's episode of The Shiny Show is brought to you by this Dinky Gran Fury

And supported by the Tonka Fairlady 

Going to need a few coats of primer on that one 

[andrew e]

31 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

You do make a good point there! The first car I drove as a taxi was an Orion 1.6D. Hopeless. The fact it was comprehensively rogered didn't do it any favours either...

I cut my (professional) motoring teeth on low powered diesels and still have a soft spot for them, GM 1.7Ds, Ford 1.8 n/a Enduras and XUDs. Though the Peugeot 405 1.9 TD is still the best car I ever taxied in.

I don’t want to derail the thread, but try the above engine in a loaded N/A Escort 55 van version - I used to go 5th to 4th to sometimes 3rd going up hills - it wasn’t even knackered it was new 😂

[Amishtat]

Last by but no means least.. Every Tat Friday box I've received has been a pleasure to receive and savour the opening thereof, but this is what made this one  the best yet. It's huge, heavy and I will probably bore you more with pictures of it loaded at some stage before it hits the cabinet. I'd been regretting not buying a Corgi Bedford TK transporter that I saw in a junk shop in Cullen last October (incidentally, anybody going/living near there?) and was keeping a beady eye open for something similar with no success. The Dinky Bedford is nice and easy to find, but I'd wanted something slightly newer for the mid to late sixties cars to go on. 

Thanks Tim! 

[andrew e]

Hey @Amishtat you don’t fancy an equally battered ramp, but olive green version of the transporter do you?

What colour on the Tonka? Gunmetal or metallic brown with a flake laquer would look ace 👍

[Amishtat]

16 minutes ago, andrew e said:

Hey @Amishtat you don’t fancy an equally battered ramp, but olive green version of the transporter do you?

What colour on the Tonka? Gunmetal or metallic brown with a flake laquer would look ace 👍

Might well do, got any pics? 

[bunglebus]

25 minutes ago, andrew e said:

What colour on the Tonka? Gunmetal or metallic brown with a flake laquer would look ace 👍

Haven't decided yet. I might attempt to make a front bumper of sorts out of plastic card, I'll have a look through my colours once I've sorted that out. Think the slot mags demand a 70s custom colour

[andrew e]

40 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

Might well do, got any pics? 

Sure do 👍 £5 each if your so inclined (plus the Royal Mails cut!)  One careless owner since new 😁 the AEC missing ramps and a slammed front axle…

[andrew e]

Had an eBay delivery recently for a long lost love and thought whilst on a Corgi tangent I’d dig my polo out too, bought for me as a kid probably 40 years ago 👍

The incoming eBay Corgi was a much cherished (but no clue where it went!) Mercedes 307D , I need the BF Goodrich one to compliment it too now (speak up if your trading one!).
My dad had a red company one that oddly had a hand throttle on the dash, ideal for creeping along in traffic along the north circular.

The Corgi one featured 3 opening doors and the 240 rally’s roof rack and sand mats. It’s still a lovely model today.

 

[RoadworkUK]

That's beautiful.

[eddyramrod]

This arrived in the CogBox the other day...

I've drilled it out this morning so it can be stripped; it's going to be blue.

Meanwhile, remember this?

Well now...

I had to buy a gold marker pen, fine point, to signwrite it.  I haven't quite got it right but considering I'm only guessing at the livery anyway, it'll be good enough.