Shite in Miniature II

[eddyramrod]

We were talking the other day about under-used castings, particularly by Corgi, and we mentioned the Hunter as a glaring example.

So, the blue one represents the Eddie Shoestring car that I mentioned by name; the bronze one represents a car I've only ever heard tales of, and seen in one black and white picture.  My friends in Cyprus bought it new in 1970 when they left uni, and drove it all the way to his first graduate job in Zambia.

You'll notice the bumpers are different.  The original Corgi doesn't have any, being a rally car, so I've had to improvise.  I did the bronze car first, using a chrome-plated pair of plastic tweezers; one arm at each end.  Not entirely satisfactory because there's no wraparound to them.  On the blue one I used a large paper clip; again, less than ideal because although I was able to get the wraparound, the profile is wrong.  Not that the tweezer profile is any better really!

I've also completed this today:

The Dinky Plymouth Gran Fury copcar.  This at least did come in Taxi and NASCAR versions, so well done Dinky.  I've accumulated three over time, all in the sole police livery they offered.  One is MIB and will stay that way.  One is rough and in fact is getting stripped as we speak.  The one you see here is the middle one, which had lost its roof lights, but otherwise only really needed a little touching-up.  So I found a stray spotlamp and mounted it at the base of the driver's pillar, to make a Highway Patrol "slicktop" unit.

I've also finished the Studebaker...

...oh.  Er, which one?

Ah ok, this one.  Showing with one I did a while ago.

 

[danthecapriman]

6 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

We were talking the other day about under-used castings, particularly by Corgi, and we mentioned the Hunter as a glaring example.

So, the blue one represents the Eddie Shoestring car that I mentioned by name; the bronze one represents a car I've only ever heard tales of, and seen in one black and white picture.  My friends in Cyprus bought it new in 1970 when they left uni, and drove it all the way to his first graduate job in Zambia.

You'll notice the bumpers are different.  The original Corgi doesn't have any, being a rally car, so I've had to improvise.  I did the bronze car first, using a chrome-plated pair of plastic tweezers; one arm at each end.  Not entirely satisfactory because there's no wraparound to them.  On the blue one I used a large paper clip; again, less than ideal because although I was able to get the wraparound, the profile is wrong.  Not that the tweezer profile is any better really!

I've also completed this today:

The Dinky Plymouth Gran Fury copcar.  This at least did come in Taxi and NASCAR versions, so well done Dinky.  I've accumulated three over time, all in the sole police livery they offered.  One is MIB and will stay that way.  One is rough and in fact is getting stripped as we speak.  The one you see here is the middle one, which had lost its roof lights, but otherwise only really needed a little touching-up.  So I found a stray spotlamp and mounted it at the base of the driver's pillar, to make a Highway Patrol "slicktop" unit.

I've also finished the Studebaker...

...oh.  Er, which one?

Ah ok, this one.  Showing with one I did a while ago.

 

Nice job on those @eddyramrod 👍

[Datsuncog]

On 26/03/2025 at 15:48, eddyramrod said:

We were talking the other day about under-used castings, particularly by Corgi, and we mentioned the Hunter as a glaring example.

I've been thinking about that one - and a quick check through the catalogues indicates that the Golden Jacks Hillman Hunter in London-Sydney Rally livery was in fact the very last new casting of a 4-door saloon car produced by Corgi in their original 1/43-ish scale.

The Hunter was launched in July 1969, dropped in 1972, and no further new castings of a three-box saloon car were produced until the Mercedes 240D appeared in 1975 - which was, of course, in the new larger 1/36 scale. It came in a number of finishes, including police, taxi and civilian versions.

Following that, there was the Buick Century Regal wiith Kojak branding in July 1976, which was later released in various police versions (and in the uber-rare Fire Chief colour scheme, unique to Marks & Spencer stores).

1980 brought a number of new castings of family saloons and hatches, including the Opel Senator, Chevrolet Caprice and Rover SD1, with the Peugeot 505 and Triumph Acclaim weighing in for 1981 - but the Merc and the Buick were the only two brand-new Corgi castings of saloon cars to emerge during the entirety of the 1970s.

Why, I hear you cry?

It seems that in 1970 Corgi became preoccupied with releasing Whizzwheels versions of their coupes and sports cars, possibly in response to the perceived threat from Mattel's Hot Wheels creating a shift in tastes towards speed and racing, rather than detail and accuracy.

Newly released castings focused on this area, with the Porsche 911 and Iso Grifo appearing in the first half of 1970, with later celebrity endorsement in the form of Graham Hill for the Cortina Mk3 Coupe, as well as the Roger Clarke Capri. Corgi countered Mattel's 'fantasy cars' with models of prototypes such as the Mercedes C111 and the Bertone Runabout, and oddities like the Adams Probe and Marcos Mantis. 

It has to be said that the catastrophic fire at the Fforestfach plant in March 1969, wiping out a year's worth of warehouse stock, also put the company's focus into survival mode. A number of models were retooled to make them simpler, and hence cheaper and quicker to make, such as the De Tomaso Mangusta, which lost its beautifully made separate chassis.

Perhaps in an effort to find a new niche, Corgi shifted their range focus first to toy versions of rail dragsters and funny cars for 1971, then pivoted to Formula 1 in 1972, expanding the range further for 1973 and 1974. This seemed to pay dividends, and naturally the company leaned into this, also developing a new range of film and TV tie-ins alongside.

I'd hazard a guess that the bean-counters simply saw no market to modify the Hunter casting - it simply didn't fit with the 'aspirational' sporty range Corgi appear to have been trying to build. While a number of kids (and hey, adults too) might have been pleased with one, sadly it very likely would have flopped. 

Corgi did re-release the Rover P6 with Whizzwheels for the 1971 catalogue year, however - minus its Golden Jacks and also the boot-mounted spare wheel cover - although it only survived in the range for another season, clocking up 48,000 unit sales in that time. To put that into perspective, that's only a third of the units shifted of the more expensive Mercedes Unimog, which also ran alongside the Rover in the range for the same two years. 

In a way I'm not surprised the Rover was selected as the sole three-box, four door saloon to be re-tooled as a Whizzwheels for the 1970s - as it needed fewer modifications than the Hunter casting would have done.

TL;DR - no-one much seemed to want to buy a model of 'grey porridge' saloon cars in the 1970s.

I'm as saddened as you are!

[FakeConcern]

Last Thursday Mrs Concern bought two Britains cyclists in Lewis 

https://autoshite.com/topic/10758-shite-in-miniature-ii/page/1922/

Today she went back to buy the one she missed

While chatting to the shop owner he mentioned that the seller who's stall in the shop they were on had another different cyclist, there were four in the set and offered to ask him if he'd sell it. We should be picking that up next week.

Last week I also posted the French Dinky Chrysler Saratoga I saw for £12 with the wrong label on it

So decided to buy that and got it for £10 which was ok.

Nothing like mint, but very nice original condition

Another shop had these for £2 each

The Solido X1/9 is a pretty, dainty little thing

I still have my childhood Corgi Cortina GXL so I had to compare

Graham doesn't look too impressed

I wants to stick with twin headlights

I'm sure someone will tell us for sure, but the GXL shold have twin rather than rectangular lights shouldn't it? Also the new one has wheels that look to be from a base model whereas the Whizzwheels look more like the correct RoStyles, at least to me.

In case you wondered it does still have GXL on the base

[danthecapriman]

13 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

Last Thursday Mrs Concern bought two Britains cyclists in Lewis 

https://autoshite.com/topic/10758-shite-in-miniature-ii/page/1922/

Today she went back to buy the one she missed

While chatting to the shop owner he mentioned that the seller who's stall in the shop they were on had another different cyclist, there were four in the set and offered to ask him if he'd sell it. We should be picking that up next week.

Last week I also posted the French Dinky Chrysler Saratoga I saw for £12 with the wrong label on it

So decided to buy that and got it for £10 which was ok.

Nothing like mint, but very nice original condition

Another shop had these for £2 each

The Solido X1/9 is a pretty, dainty little thing

I still have my childhood Corgi Cortina GXL so I had to compare

Graham doesn't look too impressed

I wants to stick with twin headlights

I'm sure someone will tell us for sure, but the GXL shold have twin rather than rectangular lights shouldn't it? Also the new one has wheels that look to be from a base model whereas the Whizzwheels look more like the correct RoStyles, at least to me.

In case you wondered it does still have GXL on the base

Nice buys there.

You got a bargain on that Saratoga for a tenner. I’m confident you’ll make a decent profit on that if you put it on eBay.

[FakeConcern]

27 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Nice buys there.

You got a bargain on that Saratoga for a tenner. I’m confident you’ll make a decent profit on that if you put it on eBay.

Yes, even though the Fiat is a Century of Cars or something like, I still really like it!

I think you're right, but if I decide not to keep the Saratoga, I'll probably offer it on here. I thought of getting the Dinky New Yorker as well, but for £20 I didn't want it enough.

[Split_Pin]

Both the Fiat and the Cortina are Century of cars releases. Although released in 2003, the Fiat, plus a fair number of other Solido castings such  were from the 1970 and 1980s and jolly fine they were too. The Renault Alpine, if you ever stumble upon one, is fantastic as is the Porsche 928 and BMW 2002.

If you decide to move the French Dinky Saratoga on, I'd happily give it a home next to my Citroen Ami!

[eddyramrod]

@FakeConcern: firstly, congratulations, some top-of-the-table buying there.

Secondly: I agree about the Cortinas.  Yes the GXL should have the four little round headlights; only the GXL and GT had those.  And the Whizzwheels did have a strong RoStyle look to them, indeed.  I always had a bit of an issue with Corgi making the Cortina as a two-door, as they were very thin on the ground in real life.  Especially, I don't think I ever saw one with two doors and four headlights in period, at all!  The rectangular headlights appeared on the mid-life facelift and signified the more upmarket models, certainly; but the GXL and GT designations were dropped.  And the two-door became even more scarce.  We didn't get a four door saloon until the Matchbox mk4, and in 1/43 we had to wait for the Vanguards mk3!  Ahem...

[155V6]

One to look out for 😎

[sheffcortinacentre]

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

@FakeConcern: firstly, congratulations, some top-of-the-table buying there.

Secondly: I agree about the Cortinas.  Yes the GXL should have the four little round headlights; only the GXL and GT had those.  And the Whizzwheels did have a strong RoStyle look to them, indeed.  I always had a bit of an issue with Corgi making the Cortina as a two-door, as they were very thin on the ground in real life.  Especially, I don't think I ever saw one with two doors and four headlights in period, at all!  The rectangular headlights appeared on the mid-life facelift and signified the more upmarket models, certainly; but the GXL and GT designations were dropped.  And the two-door became even more scarce.  We didn't get a four door saloon until the Matchbox mk4, and in 1/43 we had to wait for the Vanguards mk3!  Ahem...

2 Dr GXL S weren't very common GT more so. The century of cars version is the same front withe the aperture filled in.

[bunglebus]

55 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

One to look out for 😎

But will there be a super Super?

[sierraman]

Purchased the Moving Parts Chevy 1500 the other day, I’d go as far as to say it’s one of best castings they’ve done. And it was only £4 to boot! 

[sierraman]

Of all the things I expected to find at a car boot on the Costa Del Sol, a tidy Corgi Land Rover Wrecker wasn’t one of them. 

[FakeConcern]

14 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Both the Fiat and the Cortina are Century of cars releases. Although released in 2003, the Fiat, plus a fair number of other Solido castings such  were from the 1970 and 1980s and jolly fine they were too. The Renault Alpine, if you ever stumble upon one, is fantastic as is the Porsche 928 and BMW 2002.

If you decide to move the French Dinky Saratoga on, I'd happily give it a home next to my Citroen Ami!

That's interesting, thanks and having read your comment I found this

https://chezbois.com/non_corgi/CenturyOfCars.htm

And also shows the solido Alpine A310 you mention. Now I think of it I don't remember seeing any contemporary models of an A110.

I have an Alpine, but it may be an older one

It has rear window, plus lifting engine cover, very nicely done

 

As regards the Saratoga, I'm not sure about that at the moment as I don't have any French Dinkys on display and not even sure which I have. Anyway I'll put you down as having first refusal.

[barrett]

15 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

 Now I think of it I don't remember seeing any contemporary models of an A110.

There's a nice plastic Norev of a very early car without the extra lamps

There are Guisval and Playart 1:64s and Polistil 1:24, and there was a 1:43 Solido rally car version

[sierraman]

Bburago did an excellent Alpine. 

[Split_Pin]

I have the Polistil Alpine, nice model but feels a bit less than 1/25 scale.

[Split_Pin]

I have just bought..... a Tamiya Monster Beetle. I have wanted one for a while but couldn't do anything until I got a new job.

Can't wait till it comes!

[MiniMinorMk3]

The Solido Alpine was also issued in white

It carried on through the later plastic box years.

 

Minichamps did a Gendarmerie version. I think they also did a civilian red model.

Trofeu have done numerous rally versions but they have done road versions in blue and in white.

 

[bunglebus]

A few new releases found in Smyths this morning. Silverado has a lovely sheen to it

Are the lightning strikes on the Delorean a nod to the BTTF films?

[Hertz]

Picked these up on Market Place this week for a reasonable price. I'm starting to run out of display room though! Some of them are re paints (I prefer the play worn look), my favourite is the Mercedes 240d rally car. 

[Datsuncog]

Blimey, a box-fresh Tagora! Now that's a winner right there.

The rally Mercedes is wonderful, it's one of my favourites of the era.

[sierraman]

What’s the outlines in the XJS? Never seen that before? 

[eddyramrod]

That's a batch I would have jumped at!  Top buying there.

[155V6]

20 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

2 Dr GXL S weren't very common GT more so. The century of cars version is the same front withe the aperture filled in.

Maybe the century of cars version was a model of this one 😄

[FakeConcern]

9 hours ago, barrett said:

There's a nice plastic Norev of a very early car without the extra lamps

There are Guisval and Playart 1:64s and Polistil 1:24, and there was a 1:43 Solido rally car version

I love the Norev one, I'll have to look out for one of them!

 

I totally forgot about 1/24 and I even have this one I got from Dan!

[ambassador84]

7 hours ago, bunglebus said:

A few new releases found in Smyths this morning. Silverado has a lovely sheen to it

Are the lightning strikes on the Delorean a nod to the BTTF films?

Great find. I've not seen anything newer than Case E in many weeks.

[155V6]

I've got this Chinese pullback Alpine A110,which I think came from @danthecapriman

Shown here with a Norev A310 to give an idea of size

[Hertz]

5 hours ago, sierraman said:

What’s the outlines in the XJS? Never seen that before? 

Yeah I was going to ask about that, looks like a home made mod rather than factory?

[sheffcortinacentre]

3 hours ago, 155V6 said:

Maybe the century of cars version was a model of this one 😄

Think that's the Korean ( Hyundai) version ,the estate is weirder a saloon with EST rear grafted on ( 4 inches shorter).