#776 CORGI JUNIORS – E TYPE JAGUAR 2+2 and SUPER STOCK CAR (1970 and 1973)

Like many other manufacturers, each cast made by Corgi for its Juniors subseries was released in several colours (or decorations). After one or more years, the car was painted in another colour and put into catalogue again. I do not have many “variants” for Corgi Juniors, except these two couples, so I decided to present them together, although one model is very different from the other one.

The first model is the E Type Jaguar 2+2, which was released with Nr.33B (the B means, that there was another 33 reference before). It was available first in yellow (33B) and then in blue (33B1). The car was available (both versions together) between 1970 and 1975. Note that each version has a different interior color.

The Jaguar has opening bonnet, and compared to other reproductions, and to the real car (which I could see during a trip in Ireland) is a bit too wide and a bit bulky.

The second one is the Super Stock Car, reference number Nr.75A. The yellow version came first (75A1) and the blue version seems to be later(75A2). This nice model was available between 1973 and 1975. Note that one of them is missing a few stickers, most notably one that simulates a frontal grill.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: E TYPE JAGUAR 2+2 and SUPER STOCK CAR
• Scale: Around 1:64
• Year: 1970 and 1973
• Company: Corgi Juniors (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#775 BBURAGO – LANCIA DELTA, RENAULT CLIO RT and FIAT PUNTO (1987 and 1994)

Three more Bburagos in 1:43 scale, I like that Bburago made not only great sport cars, but also quite ordinary cars as well. Sometimes these were decorated with rally stickers (like the Renaul in the pictures), but other times, they were sold without any further add-on (like the Fiat).

The cars in the pics are:

Renault Clio RT (Nr. 0412) from 1994

Fiat Punto (Nr. 1842) from 1994

Lancia Delta S4 from 1987 to 1995

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LANCIA DELTA, RENAULT CLIO RT and FIAT PUNTO
• Scale: 1:43
• Year: 1987 and 1994
• Company: Bburago (Italy)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#774 G.I.JOE – SUB-ZERO, STRETCHER and ROCK VIPER (1990)

Interestingly, this is the first entry dealing with G.I.Joes from the 1990’s wave (which made number 9). This wave is considered by many to be the last greatest on the ARAH era.

The reason is simple, the main series (that is, leaving out sub-teams like the Eco-Warriors or the Air Commandos) are figures with great sculpts, nice paintworks (many colours in the same figure) and realistic colours. You probably know that G.I.Joe fans are sometimes quite purist when it comes to flashy outfits and strange filecard stories.

Subzero is, in my opinion, one of the best figures in this series: immaculate white uniform, lots of accesories and nice story/filecard. It looks like a real snow trooper, very realistic, some might say.
The small grey missiles and the rifle's bipod are often missing due to their size. The backpack can carry the rifle.

Stretcher, on the contrary, is one of the figures I dislike most in this series. It is supposed to be a doctor, like Lifeline or Doc, but the uniform is strange and the accesories are quite ridiculous (some kind of air skiff to cross swamps and water surfaces). The mini-vehicle has fragile "legs" and the control bar and plastic windshield are also very easily broken.

Rock Viper is considered one of the most interesting Cobra troopers and is usually among people´s favorites. I like very much his rock camo and climbing accesories (the rifle is unfortunately oversized), but I think Hasbro should have released it without moustache. Many people armybuild it, and it looks bizarre when every guy in the troop has one. This figure has a very fragile crotch.

Something most people don't know about Spanish filecards is that starting in 1990, many filecards have been rewritten an tell completely different stories from our favorite heroes. One example here i Stretcher/Tórax, whose story is all made up. Not a single fact from the original filecard has been respected.

In the case of Syb-Zero, only the name and birthplace have been changed.

The translations are also sometimes not 100% accurate, but what I meant in the previous paragraph is not a translation error, they are completely new stories. This makes Spanish cards somehow very interesting for other international collectors.

EXTRA: More pictures of loose figures

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SUB-ZERO, STRETCHER and ROCK VIPER
• Alternate Name: BAJO CERO, TÓRAX y VÍBORA DE ACANTILADO (Spanish)
• Toy Line: G.I. Joe (Wave 9)
• Year: 1990
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 9,5 cm (3 3/4'')

#773 MC TOY – CHEVROLET CORVETTE and PONTIAC FIREBIRD (1984)

 

These two are great American sportcars from the beginning of the 80s. The Pontiac Firebird (3rd Generation) was released in 1982 and the Chevrolet Corvette in 1983 after 3 previous generations. So, both are well established and beloved models from two great American carmakers. The were also kind of competitors to each other, so I guess they fit perfectly for a blog entry.

MC Toy made both in 3 inches size. The Corvette is the convertible version, which is quite nice, and good-looking, but that windshield is quite fragile. Careful with it. The Pontiac came in black with a “firebird” in golden on the bonnet.

The downside on this miniatures is that we have seen them hundreds of times. Many manufacturers made the same models in the same scale with more or less fortune. The models by MC Toy are over the average, I would say, although the tampographies could be better or the suspension a bit harder (this is for all MC Toys).

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: Chevrolet Corevtte and Pontiac Firebird (Ref. 8443 for Pontiac, unknown reference for Chevrolet)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: The two first digits in the reference number indicates the year of design and manufacture, so: 1984
• Company: MC Toy (U.S.A./ Macau/ China),
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#772 SCALEXTRIC – CHEVROLET MONTECARLO “COOPER” (Ref. 6021) (1998)

The NASCAR racing has never been popular in Spain, probably neither in other European countries. It surprises me that Scalextric still launched this model in 1998, being the first NASCAR racer in the whole history of the brand.

Tecnitoys somehow decided to bid on this new cast, maybe as an attempt to check what would be the response to such an exotic racer, and in 1998, they launched references 6020 and 6021, the Chevrolet Montecarlo in “Du Pont” and “Cooper” decorations.

The “Du Pont” version is much more colourful and nicer to the eye, while the “Cooper” colours are much more elegant. There would still come a third version which is referred as “55 mph” in 1999 with the reference 6030.

Those are the only three models that share cast. Tecnitoys would present a few years latee (in 2006) an improved cast for this model, with 8 different decorations between that year and 2008. I am not sure if they were ever sold in Scalextric boxes, or only in SCX boxes for the foreign markets. Probably they made good sales in the US and other countries where the popularity of this championship is bigger.

The car is ultra-light (cames with an SRS2 chassis) and the body is hollow and missing every unnecessary detail. Despite this, I think the NASCAR cars are actually like that maybe it is even an accurate reproduction of the real car.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: CHEVROLET MONTECARLO “COOPER” (Ref. 6021)
• Scale: 1:32
• Year: 1998
• Company: Scalextric Tecnitoys (Spain)
• Size: approx. 13 cm

#771 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER – UNIDENTIFIED TOY BOAT (Around 1987)

MONTH OF THE UNKNOWN

I have a few interesting toys that I have been collecting over the years from which I know nothing at all. They cannot be identified since they have no manufacture marking. Despite searching the internet, I couldn´t find anything about them, so I changed my mind, and thought it may be better if I publish them now, and people reading this could help me identifying them.

There will be 11 toys (all 11 entries from January 2017), but I warn you: it is not an easy task to identify them. Are you ready for this challenge?

If I get hints and information, I´ll be updating the posts to add information about them. Thanks!

 

If you like the challenge, there are other toys in this blog waiting to be identified, click here to see all unidentified toys.

 

 

To finish this month, I had to look deep into my pictures which have not been published yet to find an unidentified toy. Finally I found this uninteresting boat (I have another one, but it is not complete, so I am not showing it).

 

It was made in Italy, and its logo resembles a “V” letter inside a square/trapezoid. I have been looking for the manufacturer, I even asked plastic toy experts for help, but I guess only somebody from Italy could identify it, since it was probably made by a small company producing novelty toys. Any ideas?

 

The toy is made of two pieces, although the other one I mentioned had more (it is a rowing boat with four holes to fit two rows and maybe a plastic figure or a flag or something else.

Both actually float.

 

Additional information: Bought in bigger lot that included figures from the late 80s. Bought in Austria.

 

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: UNIDENTIFIED PLASTIC BOAT
• Year: Around  1987
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer (Italy)
• Size: approx. 12 cm