Evening all

Thought that i might provide a little mild diversion by taking the more mature of us on a little trip down memory lane..............

About three years ago I posted a thread about a selection of mainly modern die cast models I had picked up here and there over the years. When I moved a few years ago I gave all of these to my grandsons and its great to see them being played with.

More recently my mind has turned to the Corgi cars of my childhood and I have started to pick up vintage versions of ones that I recall being particularly fond of.

As a child, die cast cars seemed to be far better than real ones. Much more durable, usually the most damage they would sustain by colliding with each other or being dropped from a height was a little paint loss. Try doing either of these things with a load of real cars or letting them all rattle around together in a giant box and see how they get on. Not that mine suffered any paint loss or damage anyway as they were neatly stacked in their boxes in numerical order. So what if they weren't big enough to function like real cars? These thought processes and curating behaviour were and still are the result if how my brain is wired

So far I have a small grouping of three:



I was a big fan of "The Saint", initially in black and white and then colour. I thought then (and still do) that the Volvo P1800 was the most beautiful car in the world. This example has been restored and its in a reproduction box. Picked it up for under £30. Its a lovely thing.








The famous Batmobile needs little introduction of course. To say that I was obsessed with all things Batman in the 60's would be an understatement. This is another renovated example completed to a very high standard. It was expensive but I don't care. The only thing I can fault on it are the front wheels which are a little stiff to turn - due to the front suspension repair. It has the rarer larger figures and its in a reproduction box. "Holy vintage die cast Batman!"










Last but by no means least is the might Colin Campbell Proteus or "Bluebird". I was absolutely besotted with this as a boy and had at least half a dozen of the things in either plastic form or larger scale die cast or tin plate. My favourite was always the little Corgi version and I was delighted to pick up this one quite cheaply from someone selling all of their boyhood toys. Its hasnt been renovated and is in great shape - just some minor paint loss here and there which is far more noticeable in my photos than real life. Its anoher reproduction box though.








So where's James Bond's gold DB5? I hear you ask. Well, immaculate versions of this are very pricey so I am waiting for the Corgi reissue later this year. It looks like a very near copy down to the box which seems virtually identical to the original to me. £25 seems like a good price and I have one on pre-order.