Corgi July-December 2015 new Vanguards model announcements

VA04116
Ford Cortina Mk2 1300 De Luxe, Manchester & Salford Police, Ford Demonstration Car
1/43
£24.99
Due September 2015
As police forces modernised in the early 1960s the UBP (Urban Beat Policing) cars required by the Home Office's plan for future policing became known as Panda's because they were often in a black (or blue) and white livery. Manufacturers soon realised the sales potential this policy promised and prepared police specification 1300cc saloons as 'Panda demonstration cars' which were then loaned to regional forces for evaluation. The car modelled was one such vehicle and was loaned by Ford to various forces in the months after the Mk2 Cortina was launched in October 1966. It is modelled in the livery it wore when being evaluated by Manchester & Salford Police. Panda cars were usually in near base model trim (De Luxe on a Mk2 Cortina) and used smaller engines as the majority of police drivers using cars in this role were only qualified to standard level and not allowed to drive more powerful cars. Despite Ford's attempt to gain Panda car sales with the 1.3-litre pre-crossflow engined demonstrator modelled they were not successful as forces ordered smaller cars for this role: Ford Anglias, Morris Minors or 1100s, and from 1968, Ford Escorts. The Mk2 Cortina was, however, very widely used by the Police in a variety of other roles including traffic patrol and C.I.D. investigation, who used discreet unmarked examples. Many police forces also used the Lotus-engined Mk2 as high-speed pursuit cars.



VA08620
Jaguar XJ6 Series 1, 4.2 (SWB), Black Tulip
1/43
£19.99
Due September 2015
Jaguar XJ6 KYP 1K is the only example produced in one of British Leyland's most unusual and attractive 1970s colours, Black Tulip. It was ordered in this fetching shade by Mr H.R. Sharland whose wife, it is believed, had an identically coloured MGB. However Jaguar, which had by this time been part of the conglomerate for four years, was famously independent and listed the car's colour in their company records as a 'special order in Roman Purple', although it is, and has always been, BL Black Tulip! Michael Maurice Gilbert from Epsom purchased it in 1977 and his family retained it until 1995 when Mr van Doorn from Aalsmeer in Holland acquired it and embarked upon a restoration which included conversion to left-hand-drive, a Daimler Vanden Plas interior, air-conditioning and rebuilding both the engine and automatic gearbox. He kept the car until 2000 at which point it was purchased by Mr Van der Tak who had Jaguar specialists Noble House store and maintain the car in Holland so he could use it when visiting from his home in South Africa. Now owned by CS Jaguar Klub member Petr Kokes from Praha in the Czech Republic, this special car is one of the stars of his collection of ten Jaguars.



VA09518
Ford Escort Mk1 1300E, Amber Gold
1/43
£19.99
Due September 2015
The E for Executive badge, so successful on the Mk2 Cortina 1600E, was revived to create a luxury Escort aimed at buyers downsizing in the fuel conscious early seventies. Officially launched on 1st March 1973, the 1300E was based on the 1300GT and used the GT's mildly tuned engine, close-ratio gearbox, six-dial dash, disc brakes and rectangular headlamps. The interior featured American cherry veneer cappings on the doors, dashboard and glovebox while externally a black vinyl roof, chrome driving lights, side repeaters and an AVO Custom Pack coach-line were standard. A total of 10,856 1300Es were manufactured in two years with Amber Gold examples only being produced between February and October 1973. The 1300E modelled was originally purchased by Mr George W. Barlow of Lymm, Cheshire, on October 16th 1973 from Ford dealers Knutsford Motors, Chester Way, Northwich. On his passing in 2004 it was bequeathed to the Daventry Motor Museum which, unfortunately, closed down in 2008. It was then purchased by a collector in Ireland who commissioned a high quality re-spray because the paint was faded and brought this very low mileage example back to perfect condition. It is now owned by enthusiast Eric Elliot from Nottinghamshire who purchased it in 2012 at a Brightwell's auction because the family of his wife Claire (née Malkinson) had owned the registration plate '1300 E' for almost sixty years and fitting it to a real 1300E seemed appropriate.



VA10013
Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth 4x4, Smokestone
1/43
£19.99
Due October 2015
The Sapphire modelled was registered on 5th November 1992 as the demonstration car for Yorkshire Ford dealers Bond's of Pocklington and was fitted with the optional factory air conditioning and premium Ford 2040 audio system, but with standard 'Space' velour seat covering rather than leather. Dealer Principal Mr Bond then used it as his personal car before selling it to a local farmer in 1995. He retained it until March 1998 when the current owner, South London-based Chris Ellison, a former Chairman of the Ford RS Owners Club, bought it with just 28,200 miles showing for £12,995. Chris has kept the car in excellent condition and continues to enjoy using it. Although it's still only covered 36,000 miles, Chris has looked after it well and stored it in a dry garage, preventing the rust that can affect Sierras. To his credit he has resisted the urge to modify this now rare low-mileage original specification example which, like all Sierra Cosworths, was built in Genk, Belgium. Production ceased in 1992 and this car features the standard electric sunroof, body-coloured rear spoiler, catalytic converter (identified by a green engine cam cover) and revised the dashboard of the later models. Because sales had been stymied by the high insurance premiums of this budget supercar, Ford reduced the price by £6,000 in 1992 to £20,557.70 plus options of: leather seats £479.78, air conditioning £826.93 and the premium radio/CD £567.30.



VA10207
Leyland Princess 2, 2.0 HL, Snapdragon Yellow, '40th Anniversary'
1/43
£19.99
Due September 2015
The radical looking Harris Mann designed 'wedge' was originally launched as the Austin, Morris and Wolseley 18/22 Series in March 1975 then quickly rechristened 'Princess by Leyland' when British Leyland rationalised their badges. Originally designed as a hatchback, it actually has a traditional boot because BL's planners worried that, with a tailgate, it would steal sales from the older Maxi. Its ride, handling and comfort were praised when launched but its gearbox, engines and build quality were criticised. The Princess 2 of July 1978 addressed some of these issues with new 1.7 or 2.0-litre O-Series OHC units. Almost 250,000 Princesses were produced before it was re-engineered in 1982 into the hatchback Austin Ambassador. The 1980 Princess 2 automatic, modelled here, is one of a batch of Snapdragon Yellow Princesses made on the production line at Cowley in response to demand as, although the colour was available on most BL cars, it was never officially offered on the Princess' colour charts. It sat in a dealership in Ipswich for over 18 months after being produced but was eventually registered in September 1981 and has been owned since 2003 by Southampton-based Kevin Davis, the Chairman of www.leylandprincess.co.uk, an online club. He has re-sprayed the car as the paint had been polished through, and fitted the Leyland Special Tuning twin-carburettor conversion which has improved the performance. This 39,000 mile example remains in good original condition and has never been welded.



VA10815A
Ford Capri Mk3 3.0S, Peppermint Sea Green, 'Autocar Roadtest Car', RHD (UK)
1/43
£19.99
Due October 2015
The Capri modelled is a Mk2 converted into a Mk3 by Ford for press and publicity work prior to being registered on 3rd January 1978, two months before the Mk3's launch. It is the only peppermint sea green right-hand-drive Mk3 produced as the colour was deleted before true production commenced. After its launch PR duties Ford loaned it to Autocar Magazine for a year-long test where it was run by their technical editor, former F1 driver John Miles. Ford then sold it to Miles' company, WM Developments, where it was used to develop various suspension modifications on the 2.8i and Tickford Capris as well as their powerful 3.2-litre engine conversion which, in 1980, cost £765. Current owner Stephen Spraggon from Essex acquired the car complete but partially dismantled in early 1997 and found that, crucially, it retained most of its modified components, including the adjustable Bilstein gas dampers, vented front disc brakes and high-ratio fin-cooled racing rear axle. Knowing its history he set about sympathetically restoring the car, retaining the WM Developments modified 3.2-litre V6 and the various brackets and underside dents it had acquired whilst being used as a test mule for different suspension designs. He returned the car to the road in 2000 and was able to take it to the Lotus factory, where Miles was then working as development engineer, to reunite him with the car and examine the car's history file, which he had retained.



VA11009
Ford Escort Mk3 RS1600i, Diamond White
1/43
£19.99
Due September 2015
Ford enthusiasts Adrian and Becky Dismore from Dorset purchased their 1983 RS1600i in 2006 and had to travel to Wolverhampton to do so as, being a limited edition homologation special, they rarely come up for sale. Their original plan, to take the 120,000 mile car home on a trailer and carry out some light restoration work, was rendered impossible by Adrian's multiple sclerosis so the car remained in their garage. In early 2012 long standing friend and fellow RS Owners Club member Andy Farmer, plus Adrian's colleagues at Network Rail, conspired to have it secretly removed and restored by Fuzz Townsend and Tim Shaw for the TV series Car SOS. The Car SOS team completely stripped the vehicle and found it to be in a much worse condition than they had first thought, being both very corroded in a number of areas and badly repaired in others. The TV team's rebuild lasted three intense weeks, took in every area of the vehicle, and was hampered by the sheer volume of work needed as well as problems getting rare parts. However, after a final all night session by a team of mechanics, the car arrived at Beaulieu Motor Museum where it was unveiled to a truly flabbergasted Adrian who had no idea the car on display was his and, even two years later, admits he still finds it hard to believe that it actually happened.



VA11910A
Ford Cortina Mk4, 2.0 Ghia, Jupiter Red, RHD (UK)
1/43
£19.99
Due September 2015
Known as 'Gina' after the TV programme 'Gina, I've got a Cortina' (from the song of the same name), the Cortina modelled was originally purchased from Ford dealers Peterborough Motors of New Road, Peterborough on 19th March 1979 by farmer Arthur Lindsey, who was then 70 years old and had ordered the car three months previously. It cost £4389.57, which included £326.23 vehicle tax, £321.45 VAT and £18.50 number plates. Being the luxurious Ghia, 'Gina' featured tan-velour seats, a vinyl-roof, interior wood-trim and an AM/FM radio. The only extras were Jupiter Red metallic paint at £24.26 plus £2.02 tax and an underseal treatment which has helped to preserve the car in perfect condition. The Cortina was driven home from the dealers when new by Arthur's son Roger, also a farmer, and thereafter was stored in a garage and only used on special occasions. It was taken off the road in 1989 when Arthur retired from driving having covered only 7,400 miles and remained in dry storage until 2009 when Roger and wife Ginny decided to re-commission the still immaculate Cortina; fitting a new cambelt, replacing the hydraulic seals and obtaining new tyres to replace the hard, but unworn, original Michelins. They joined the Mk1-5 Cortina Owners Club, have since shown the car regularly and were delighted when their 11,000 mile example won Best in Show at the 2014 Baston Car & Bike Show against more exotic opposition.



VA13207A
Vauxhall Astra Mk2 GTE 16V, Arctic White, 'Vauxhall Heritage Centre', RHD (UK)
1/43
£19.99
Due October 2015
Vauxhall's Mk2 Astra was launched in 1984 and a GTE version followed shortly after. However, to counter competition from Peugeot, Ford and VW in the hot-hatch market, the GTE 16V was revealed in 1988. It featured a fire-breathing Cosworth-developed XE20 'red-top' twin-cam engine which sang above 4000rpm and made it, by some margin, the fastest hot-hatch of its era in a straight line; no surprise for a 150bhp car which weighed around a tonne and had class leading aerodynamics. Its torque-steer was almost as legendary as its straight-line performance although the later addition of ABS brakes helped tame the handling and the GTE 16V is now seen as one of the great cars of its era. The GTE 16V modelled belongs to Vauxhall's heritage centre in Luton and has never been modified. Its first and only previous owner was a Mr Richards of York who purchased the car from Easingwold Motors (then a Vauxhall and Ford dealer!) on August 2nd 1990. It was bought by Vauxhall for their heritage collection on December 23rd 2003 with less than 25,000 miles on the clock and required absolutely no work because it was in perfect original condition, a credit to Mr Richards who had looked after it fastidiously. It has been used for media and display duties regularly and was also the car that Corgi Vanguards 'plotted' in three dimensions when creating the tooling for our detailed model of GM's 'T-car'.



VA13402A
BMW 325i Coupe (E30), Sport M-Tech 1, Dolphin Grey, RHD (UK)
1/43
£19.99
Due November 2015
The 325i modelled was first registered on 11th September 1987 in the North East and remained in use until 2003 when fuel pump failure led to the car being stood-up, unrepaired and unloved. However, it was eventually bought by local scrap yard owner Andy Morton of 'Andy's Autos' who, spotting its rarity, put it into a container where it remained for 10 years. Enthusiast Carl Morgan from Middlesbrough happened to casually mention to him one day that he was looking for an E30 325i Sport and this led to the car being exhumed. He purchased the basically sound and complete, but very shabby, example in 2012 and has embarked on a restoration. From 1986-90 only 3,928 BMW 325i Sports were registered in the UK so although this expensive niche model exceeded BMW's sales expectations it represented a small portion of the 129,640 3-Series sold in the UK during this period. At a time when the admittedly sparsely equipped 316i 2-door retailed at £10,750, the 325i Sport was £19,945 without common options such as PAS, electric windows and air conditioning. However, although the Sport shared its glorious M20 straight-six engine with lesser 325i models, enthusiastic buyers ordered it because it offered a much more focused driving experience courtesy of its manual Getrag close-ratio 5-speed gearbox, limited-slip differential, sports-suspension, green-tinted glass and sports seats. The M-Technic body kit, and BBS cross-spoked alloy wheels ensured it also looked good.



VA13505
Mini 1275GT, Glacier White, 'The 4,000,000th Mini'
1/43
£19.99
Due September 2015
The Mini passed the production milestone of four million examples in late November 1976 and was the first British built car to do so. British Leyland never missed a publicity opportunity so made sure the four millionth was a 1275GT, the top model at that time. They also issued press releases and pictures featuring Miss Great Britain 1975, Mini-owner Sue Cuff, driving the '4,000,000th MINI' liveried 1275GT off the production line at Longbridge. Miss Cuff was then photographed sitting on its bonnet but the photographers wanted to see her in a miniskirt, a garment out of fashion by 1976, so Miss Cuff obligingly cut down one of her own skirts! When this milestone was reached the Mini was still the UK's third biggest selling car; over 75,000 had been sold in 1976 alone. BL hoped their dominance in this sector would continue and their investment in a new model, design project ADO88 then known as the 'Mighty Mini' and eventually released in 1980 as the Metro, was announced the following week. The original Mini was launched in 1959 although only 19,749 cars were built that year. Thereafter manufacturing numbers rose consistently and hit a high in 1971 when a total of 318,475 were made. The Mini remained in production for forty one years and, although annual output reduced in later years, a total of 5,387,862 were made before production ceased in 2000.



VA13604A
Volkswagen Golf Mk2 GTI 16V, Oak Green, RHD (UK)
1/43
£19.99
Due September 2015
The Mk1 Golf of 1974 turned VW's fortunes around; at last they had found a strong viable replacement for the Beetle. In nine years of production they had sold 6.72 million Mk1 Golfs, over 450,000 of which were GTIs so VW launched the Mk2 in 1983 with high expectations. However, it was a larger heavier car and as a result the Mk2 GTI, which used the same engine as the MK1, initially suffered in the market against newer competition. The answer was the development of a new 16-valve cylinder head for the existing engine which was announced in late 1985 and offered an extra 27bhp, making the Golf GTI the hot-hatch to have once more. The GTI 16V modelled was first registered in December 1990 and is now owned by Luke Gosling from Hertfordshire who bought it in 2014 after searching for some time as he particularly wanted a 3-door 16V 'Big Bumper' in Oak Green; not a common combination. The car was unmodified, had a remarkably good interior, its original BBS RA alloy wheels and only 115,000 miles on the clock. However, it was shabby and ran roughly so Luke has machine polished the paintwork and sorted the car's running problems which were caused by various small issues rather than any fundamental mechanical faults. He then set the car up on a rolling-road and was pleased to get a reading of 143bhp, 4bhp more than standard.



VA13702
BMW 318i (E30), 'Design' Convertible, Neon Green
1/43
£19.99
Due September 2015
The convertible version of the E30 went into production in right-hand-drive form in June 1986, six months after the left-hand-drive domestic models. It was initially only offered with 6-cylinder engines, but in response to customer demand the more economical 4-cylinder 1800cc engine was added. This was followed in April 1991 by the 318i 'Design Convertible' edition which, although developed by the Motorsport division, was a purely cosmetic exercise using the standard 318i mechanical package. Made in limited numbers and offered in just two metallic colours, Neon Blue or Neon Green, it featured BBS cross-spoked alloy wheels, anthracite sports seats and other extras which, at under £20,000, made it a very attractive showroom proposition. The engineering and design development of the E30 convertible's hood was done by Shaer Waechter of Dusseldorf who succeeded in designing a mechanism that BMW approved for factory production despite previous contractors Baur and Karmann submitting proposals. Engineers dubbed the hood's folding action 'top-dead-centre' and had to support the hood frame with six transverse hood bars and seven longitudinal side bars. A total of 28 Teflon seated bearings were used on this large 4-seater's hood which were claimed to be life-long maintenance free and gave the hand operated mechanism, which packed neatly away under a panel behind the rear seats, a very smooth easy to use action. Power operated systems were developed later but the initial sophisticated and very watertight design remained.



VA14004A
Vauxhall Carlton GSI 3000, Starmist Black, RHD (UK)
1/43
£19.99
Due September 2015
The GSI modelled is owned by Derby-based enthusiast Mark Catherines, a graphic designer, who purchased the car for £150 in 2002 from a friend in the pub. After getting it home on a trailer he invited brother-in-law Frank North, a professional body repair engineer, to look at the tatty, rusty Carlton and give his opinion. After some thought Frank said, "There's two ways you can do this, bodge it up and sell it, or do it properly". That comment stuck with Mark throughout the next 12 years as he restored the car to perfect condition although he laughs now that "Even Frank didn't actually expect me to do it as properly as I did!" Mark's ambitious restoration, which would have daunted a professional let alone a first timer, was carried out to the original specification in exact detail and included using his graphic skills to perfectly replicate original stickers in the engine bay and wiring loom. Frank taught him to weld and he then stripped the shell completely before repairing it with his new found skills, fitting new panels and having it sprayed. Meanwhile all the components were replaced, rebuilt and, where possible, powder coated before refitting. The project halted for 6 years while Mark moved house but he built a garage especially for it and resumed in 2011. The now faultless car has been greeted by AutobahnStormers Club members as the best original specification GSI in Britain.



VA14202
Lotus Esprit S2, '1st Production Series 2', Championship Gold
1/43
£19.99
Due September 2015
Lotus announced the Esprit S2 in December 1977 and the first cars were delivered to dealers in June 1978. However, the first S2, chassis 400G (G being Lotus' code for UK market vehicles), was actually built in April 1978 and allocated to the engineering department for testing and development before being road registered in June. It was then reassigned to the company's PR guru, Don McLauchlan, was road tested by both Autocar and CAR magazines, and used it for promotional photography. The publicity image of this car, with Lotus founder Colin Chapman seated on the edge of bonnet in front of the black and gold Team Lotus twin-engined Cessna aircraft 'G-PRIX', has become iconic. The S2 featured an inch wider track, larger tail lamps with integral fog-lights, Lotus designed alloy wheels, vertical air intakes behind the rear side windows and a wrap around front spoiler, as well as numerous detail modifications to the interior, dashboard and engine. It entered the market priced at £11,235.52, including £800.26 VAT, and was the firm's most prestigious model until the Esprit S2.2 was launched in January 1980. Lotus sold YVG 789S to a private owner and records show that it was re-registered as YKO 48S and painted red in January 1990. However, it has not been heard of since the mid 1990s and is modelled here as it was when being used for Lotus press and publicity duties in 1978/9.