While I was writing the CC on the 220D, I couldn’t help but remember the silver Corgi 240D I had as a kid. I still have it, in fact, and had sufficient pleasant memories of it to get a couple of mint-condition ones several years ago. So I’m going out on a limb and doing a mini-CC on this solid little British-made toy.
While the 1/1 scale 240D came out in 1973, the Corgi scale version came out in about 1975. There were several versions, with Police, Polizei and fire chief versions in addition to the stock sedan. There was even a rally version with painted-on mud and a roof rack. My original 240D was silver with tan interior, but this original condition diesel looks very nice in metallic silver-blue.
One of the things I like about vintage toys is not only the quality, but the detail. There are many excellent diecast cars currently being produced, but they’re specifically targeting collectors, not kids. This miniature Mercedes was intended to be used as a toy, yet it has great detail, a diecast metal body and base, and opening doors and trunk lid. Plus, these vintage toys have so much character. Corgi really knew how to build them.
Great write up… I had a few of these growing up, but don’t remember a MB being in the collection. My James Bond Aston-Martin and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” got a lot of floor time, and the ‘working parts’ are a big part of what made them favorites.
> There are many excellent diecast cars currently being produced, but they’re specifically targeting collectors, not kids
A telling observation. Its like making comics only for comic book guys. I resent it very much, but I don’t know if the trend is here to stay. I don’t buy any model cars now, but they sure should be more accessible to kids.
Those were the days. I seem to rembember I had the polizei version as a kid (I’m was born halfway thrue the seventies). I liked corgi but I loved majorette. I thought they had better wheels. Most of my toy cars died from abuse when I found out I could make a ramp and make them jump. In my room the only way they could launch was in front of the central heating system. Crash boom bang. My parents must have gone crazy for a couple of years. I want those cars back. Thanks for reminding me.
Yes, Majorettes were the best. We had an entire city built of cardboard for our cars. My favorite was a blue VW Super Beetle.
I really liked Majorettes too, especially their Volvo 760GLE – I have several in different paint jobs. They also had a mid-’80s Celica that had opening doors and pop-up headlights. They even had a B-body, with police and taxi versions of a circa 1985 Impala. I have a fairly rare version of the Impala, in olive drab with ‘Military Police’ on the side.
I thought they were neater and more detailed than Hot Wheels or Matchboxes at the time. I got most of mine at Osco or Target – not all of the major chains carried them.
Sadly, I haven’t seen any in stores for several years. I don’t know if they still sell them in the States.
I had a pretty sizable collection of Matchbox cars in the early-mid 60’s. I recall having an MB sedan, a Jaguar Mark 2, and an XKE. But the highlights of the collection were racing cars – Lotus 25, Brabham, BRM, D-type Jaguar. My god I loved those cars. I just hope they went to a succession of good homes and didn’t end up in a landfill somewhere.
I had plenty of Matchbox and Hot Wheel and Tomica (Tomy) Pocket Cars as a kid and my best friend and I used scrap pieces of plywood (large pieces) and with crayon or markers, drew cities on them and drove our cars on the streets.
He had one at their beach cabin that his older brothers had drawn, we modified it some over time and at one point, we widened a main street and the Safeway got cut back and it became the Afeway.
Those were some of the best times as we’d spend hours playing with our Hot Wheels cars with our cities, I had my own city, including one piece of wood that was the cut out of the lower portion of Scotland that I made into a park and the middle of the missing section was the “lake”. My best friend had one too and we’d play with both of our collections, his being partly started by the little cars that were his brothers that dated back to the late 60’s.
A few of the cars I had, a ’76 blue Honda Accord by Tomica, a ’76 Cadillac Deville Royale Brougham if I recall that was of a light lilac metallic (it also came in a darkish blue), a Porsche 928 (a bit larger than the other cars) and I did have a Hot Wheels Country set where it was of vinyl and plastic that folded up into a case, but when unfolded, it became a country farm with a barn, a house with a garage and I forget what else. But what I really wanted was the city set and remember seeing it in the old Sears Wish Book. These sets came with some cars and mine had a yellow horse trailer, a yellow convertible (I think a Mercedes, which got lost), a red Ford full sized wagon and I forget what else.
Good times!
I find it hard to imagine a police version 240D; perhaps it was used to chase down old people in wheelchairs?
“There are many excellent diecast cars currently being produced, but they’re specifically targeting collectors, not kids.”
Tom, I beg to differ. In just about any supermarket that you go into (not to mention Target and WalMart) you will find tons of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars that appeal to both kids and adults such as myself. I have bought the majority of the cars on display at my desk for $1.19 apiece.
I don’t collect the cartoonish cars that Hot Wheels is known for, just the accurately-rendered replicas of street cars. Great paint and super Tampo markings.
I break one of the cardinal rules of the wanker Matchbox/Hot Wheels collectors-I open the blister packs to allow me to enjoy the model. I still have the packaging for what its worth. I’ll be long dead by the time these things appreciate in value.
Sorry to have uploaded such a small photo. This should give a much better idea of what the cars look like.
I Figure That Is now True for me as well Kevin; “I’ll be long dead before these are worth much”…. I Open Them and Place Then side by side based on imaginary fdamilies who are sometimes very brand loyal in my worlds…
I Too collect the accurate street car relicas only, nothing cartoon or green Metallic seats,chrome exterior about it… real cars that represent detailed.
I Love my 1/64 1/43, 1/24 collection of mini cars…I even have several hundred Micro Machines… What Are they 1/200…?
Corgis I Had a 64 Imperial Convertible in Blue I loved, a 67 Lincoln with a TV in the Back and a 67/8/9 SS Camaro W/Diamond headlight covers in amber…
my favorite childhood memories are of playing in car villages with my cousin…
matchbox mercedes i rem include a blue coupe sedan, a orange/white conv, and a white conv w/red seats old matchbox.
have a look for spot on toy cars made by triang fantastic a long gone british toy company
What about the orange taxi version? I had it in 1978 or so and it is in my son’s bedroom right now!
Kevin,
You’re correct in that Hot Wheels and Matchbox are making some pretty nice 1/64 scale toys, but I had the larger 1/43 and 1/36 scale toys in mind – the market that Corgi and Dinky dominated in the 1950s and ’60s. Another thing I really miss are the lack of opening doors, hoods and trunks on modern Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. A vintage Lesney Mercedes 300SE coupe in my collection has both opening doors and trunk!
That said, some of the newer Matchbox releases are really nice, I especially like the Citroen DS, 1969 Cadillac and Olds Vista Cruiser.
I still have all my toy cars from my late 70s-late 80s childhood, all well-used. I was a bit OCD as a child, so kept all the boxes all my toys came in too. Most are smaller Matchbox models, but Polistil made some beautifully detailed models in the early 80s, and I saved long and hard to buy their RR Silver Ghost SIII, Jag XJ6 and Land Rover 110 models. One of my joys is a Bburago RR Carmargue, with fake wood on the dash. I liked the bigger ones because I could disassemble them and see how they were made (hey, this was in pre-internet days lol!)
Tom, I too still have my Majorette 760GLE bought as a 10-year-old in the mid-80s, it’s silver with red stripe/s down the side and a red interior. I bought the Matchboox 760GLE too (also silver), and as a kid I enjoyed studying their differences. I thought they both had their merits – the Matchbox had lower ride height and sportier wheels, but the detail work on the Majorette was far superior and its proportions were a closer match to the real thing. One of them (the Majorette?) has a beautifully-detailed ‘760GLE’ badge molded on the bootlid, the font matching the real thing exactly.
I rarely buy models now, and only if they’re well detailed. But purchases from the last decade include a gorgeous stunningly detailed 1:64 ’57 Plymouth Fury (on my TV cabinet), and 1:64 JDM models of a ’68 Nissan Skyline sedan, a ’73 Nissan Laurel coupe and an ’81 Nissan Skyline coupe (all on the coffee table). I also have a few Australian 1:43 Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores. My bedroom dresser has a ’36 and a ’38 Chrysler Airflow, an Airflow Texaco fuel tanker and a 1936 Dodge fire engine (all serve as reminders of my sadly-sold 1936 Dodge Touring Sedan).
I remember Matchbox cars were about NZ$3 in the mid 80s, and I paid NZ$24.95 for each of my Polistil models in 1986-ish. Matchbox toys are still around the same price nearly 30 years later, which is great for kids like we were, passionate about cars and enjoying the dreams that the toys offered!
I have that very same 760, it was my first one. I also have a forest green one with the same stripes and red interior, an identical green one without the stripes, and a dark blue-green one with white interior. When I was little I saw they also offered a Volvo 245 (listed on the back of the card on another car my mom had gotten me) and we tried to find one, but never did. My Mom had an ’86 240DL wagon at the time, so it would have been cool to find a toy version. I did finally get a signal green one at a toy show about a dozen years ago.
It was the Majorette version that had the ‘Volvo’ and ‘760GLE’ logos cast into the decklid. I have Matchbox 760s too, a maroon one and the silver one.
Maybe I should do a Majorette post on CC. I am planning on doing more ‘Miniature CC’ posts.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention the Majorette 245, I have one which I bought new in the 80s too. Probably in 83/84 I think, as my grandparents still had their 264 (which they sold in August ’84), and the 245 was the closest model I could find. It was green, so may be the same colour as yours! My Dad let me use a large dirt area in the basement of our house for my cars, so I had blocks of wood for buildings and made roads everywhere. The 245 was my favourite toy, so is fairly worn now (yes it’s in my box of toys, no I don’t still play with them under the house lol!).
I bought the Matchbox Volvo 480ES too – a white one. I wasn’t playing with toys too much by then, so it’s still almost as new. I don’t know if you got the 480 in America, but we got them and the 440/460 here. The 480 was great looking, and when they pop up for sale here I gaze longingly at the ads. I also bought a 1:25 Polistil 740 wagon in ’88/’89. It’s nice, but nowhere near the standard of the earlier Polistil Rolls/Jag/Land Rover.
More ‘Miniature CC’ posts would be awesome, I look forward to them! I have several of the Matchbox catalogues from the 80s, will have to dig them out and reminisce!
Tom, I will see your 240D and raise you a Caravan 🙂
I am the custodian of the Grace Family 1970’s & 1980’s Die Cast Car Collection.
I don’t have every car I was given since 1968 unfortunately. Collection #1 was stored in a box and disappeared mysteriously in late 1977. It was either abducted by aliens or thrown out by the parental units accidentally during a spring clean.
Collection #2, starting at the beginning of 1978, still resides with me I am glad to say.
Most of the cars are mine but some are my brothers, I think we got the 240D & Caravan in about 1979.
I am fairly certain that 240D and the Caravan came as a set (just Googled it, yes it did).
Thanks for reminding me about it. The pair are now out of the storage cupboard and on a display shelf.
Thinking about all of the Corgi, Dinky, Majorette, Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars I destroyed as a child makes me very sad. I do have a new collection of Matchbox and Hot Wheels started about four years ago. I also have two cabinets full of 1/24 Franklin and Danbury and a shelf of very dusty 1/18 cars including a 59 Cadillac Hearse.
I know what you mean. I had a Corgi ( I believe) 1966 or 67 Lincoln Lehman-Peterson Executive limo. I decided that I was a good enough body and paint guy (at maybe 13) that I took it apart and painted it. I think that I still have it in pieces in a box somewhere.