Chevrolet Van

The Chevrolet/GMC G Series Van, also known as the Vandura is a range of vans, minibuses and chassis/cabs that was manufactured by General Motors from the 1964 to 1996 model years. There were three generations of the van, the first two being forward control with the engine between and behind the seats. The Corgi is the third generation van made from 1971 to 1976. For Corgi Toys and the post-Mettoy Corgi company it was the go-to casting when a van was needed and there are a lot of versions as you can see below. There were even more in the smaller scale Corgi Juniors range.

In January 1978 four versions of the van were released, Rough Rider (423) which remained in the catalogue until 1978, Vanatic (431) deleted 1979, Vantastic (432) deleted also in 1979 and Charlie's Angels (434) deleted in 1980 but later revived in the post- Mettoy period. In July 1978 the Superior Ambulance (405) was released remaining in the range until 1980.

In January 1979 the Superman Van (435) was released and withdrawn the following year, next month, February 1979, the Jean Richard Pinder Curcus Booking Office van (426) was released as a single unit, having already been part of Gift Set GS48 Jean Richard's Circus released the previous November. The solo van was deleted in 1980. In April 1979 The Spidervan (436) was released this item was still in the catalogue at the closure of Mettoy in 1983.

In August 1979 the Coca-Cola van (437) was released, being deleted the following year.

In May 1982 the radio roadshow van (1106) was released. This van featured a working transistor radio in the back, the controls of which were accessed by opening the rear doors. I have only seen one of these and that was in my very early days as a collector. It was in Radio Luxembourg 208 livery. I have a note in my records that it was also made in Radio West livery but can find no other records of that version.

I have so far found five versions released after the Mettoy era, shown below.